Good idea. I'll tell you what, that !"£$% stuff eats things. So far it's eaten a screwdriver and a pair of specs. I KNOW within a foot either way where the screwdriver landed, but gobbled it is. Where the specs went is a mystery. Hmmm, I wonder what happened to the tin bath. I'll wager that Edmund Hillary is up there somewhere.
I am sure there are a few very un PC remarks that could be made there ;-)
In which case, how about:
Temporarily support the upright - I would use a couple of 4x2"s run parallel to the floor spreader plate but higher up above the rotten bit of the vertical. Screw these to the face of the post in question, and also posts either side. Do one front and back if you can.
Pull any skew nails that fix the rotted post to the plate. Cut off the bottom of the post (couple of inches), and now cut out the rotten piece of the spreader plate 3x3", and scarf in some new wood (you are replacing the top of the timber that will be under compressive load, so the repair will be almost as strong as the original beam - and the fact that it is still there while only half as strong should give some confidence this is adequate).
Now add a new section to replace the bottom of the timber you replaced. For extra confidence you can laminate up additional timbers on the sides where you have put in new wood just to be absolutely sure.
Having done similar temp supporting jobs on my loft, it is surprising how easy it can be to hold up an entire roof with a couple of well placed straps and blocks etc when modifying structural bits.
In fact to enhance this bit - once you have cut off the base of the vertical, cut a half lap in the bit left. That way you can screw the new timber to it in a way that will much better resist any lateral forces should they occur:
Existing:
| | | | | | | | | | ================
================
Cut:
| | | | |___|
================
================
Scarf:
| | | | |___|
=|--------|===== |--A-----|
================
(new timber block inserted at A_
Cut half lap:
| | | _| | | |_|
=|------|======= |--A---|
================
Insert new stub:
Cut half lap:
| | | _| | | |
Tim S submitted this idea :
That doesn't look too bad. I would be inclined to get two lengths of similar sized timber then sandwich the damaged one between them. Use 4x threaded rods to bolt the sandwich together.
If the upper surface of the original or the either of the two verticals are weak/damaged...
Insert temporary replacements to take the vertical load, then lay some timber across where vertical load is presently taken, but wide enough to span your three horizontals above. Now refit the original verticals, shortening as necessary.
Above should be even stronger than the original and much cheaper than replacing the entire beam.
Rot update...
OK, maybe I was panicking too much (it always happens)...
I cleaned up the wood and the area around (which makes things look less depressing). The wood is buggered for an inch down from top in one place, but it seems that the rot didn't progress for the full depth (front-back) and half of it is actually more solid than I first thought...
I think I'll cancel the builder and review the excellent suggestions here, regarding sticking another section in front (new wood is cheap and if I don't have to remove the old stuff, then I can do it) and linking some of the load of the verticals onto it. It's belt and braces, but for maybe
20-30 quid of wood, and a few hours, why not... It can't make it worse and will buy me a bit of peace.I reckon I will also run a bit of 3x2" across the top and screw into all the random silly short horizontal sections - that'll stiffen them up and prevent silly things happening if one vertical alone has any problems.
2 questions:1) Do I need pressure treated timber or can I just use a bit of any old rough-sawn C16-ish (like now)?
2) If I augment, rather than replacing the beam (which makes it DIY for me because I don't have to take anything out or cut anything that currently works) - I thought about doing: ============ Roof ===^^^======================= Rafter ********************************************* | | | | | | --- | | | | | | | | |D||C| | || | -- -- |B||A|B is old beam view from end, A is new wood (Lets assume it's 75x75 rough sawn, but maybe 75x50 would be enough?).
I'm height limited on how to make a connection from the original vertical D to new beam A - about 5-6" overlap is the maximum or I'll foul the pipes which will run on the right side face of D (ie inside the room, later to be panelled in). If the bottoms of verticals D are rotten, it's only a tiny bit, like the last 1/4-1/2" at worst - they are mostly pretty sound.
If C were a short length (5-6") of 50x75mm bolted or screwed into D and sitting (with a skew nail or screw) on A, and A is bolted to B for good measure, would it work? Or is that too short to transfer the load?
Or perhaps some heavy iron angle brackets would be better, screwed to D and A??? I could even put angle/traingle brackets on the sides of D extending out over B and A. This would be good - anyone know where I can get such brackets - I can cut and drill, but not bend 1/4" steel. Pity I still don;t have a MIG or I'd weld some up from flat.
Thanks
Tim
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