While I feel that rim (band) Joists should be in contact with and be supported by the sill plate, the structure pictured here was given the green light by Nashville “Codes” department.
What are your thoughts?
Note:
The rim joists overhang the foundation and thus are hanging in mid air. 2) The rim joists on two sides of the home are supported by nothing, even though they support a wall plate above them that supports the exterior walls on the ends of the home.
I can’t figure out what I’m seeing. I see what looks like 2 joists, one on each side of a foundation wall, a wall that is not doing much of anything as far as I can tell. Then there is sawn OSB along the top…what’s that?
What’s the block wall? The foundation wall? The rim joist has to be resting on something.
This house is a victim of the Nashville Flood. The water rose to about 3 feet up the first floor wall. Therefore, the sheet rock is gone, the carpet is gone, the subfllor has been cut out in areas to facillitate drying the crawlspace below. The first picture were taken from the first floor looking down onto the top of the foundation wall. Remember… there is no sill plate! The wood outside and above the foundation wall is the rim joist which hangs in mid air.
The second and third pics were taken from the crawlspace, with the camera up in the bay between the rim joist and the next joist in. Your looking at the top of the foundation wall.
The Nashville Codes Inspector was asked by the owner “Why bother to have a foundation wall at all?” His answer was “for aesthetic purposes, people expect to see a foundation”.
I swear to God!
Engineered lumber used for rim joist are meant to be used in compression only and must bear along their length. Nominal lumber like this used beneath a bearing wall is often required to be doubled by an engineer. It’s an engineers call. That’s what I’d state in the report.
In this situation it’s not actually a rim joist, since it’s not bearing along its length. It’s just the last joist in the run.
Pictures do not always reflect what you are seeing which makes it difficult to give an honest opinion.
Bandjoist may or may not required a foundation…example, a proper cantilever band joist needs no foundation under same because the joist are providing the support and depending on the amount cantilever, not additional support may be needed…yet an exterior rim joist does need support based upon the limitations of what the joist will span.
I would simply state that rimjoist shows not structural support under same, while there are no indications of structural failure in progress, it would be prudent to have the noted area further inspected by a licensed structural engineer.
