Not So quick, There’s more
When we tore up the floor, we discovered that not only were the floor joists damaged by a long-ago fire, but at some point a plumber had cut through them to make room for pipes. They were simply incapable of supporting weight.
The room we were creating would house a washer and dryer, plus Judy’s commercial-grade sewing machine. To ensure maximum stiffness and least vibration, I made a structural decision. In a balloon-frame structure like this, the joists typically run across the building, resting on ledger boards set into the studs. This would have been a 14-foot span. Instead, I elected to run the joists between the back wall and the cross beam in the middle of the ell between the kitchen and dining room. This resulted in a 10-foot span. The joists themselves were 2×10’s. Plus the floor was 3/4″ tongue-and-groove plywood. Probably way overbuilt.
This has one structural implication: the load is now transferred to the cross-beam, rather than directly to the exterior walls. There’s a post under that beam, running down through the kitchen to the basement floor. Any future plans about removing it will need some structural analysis.
Now the framing was complete, and the room’s ready for insulation and drywall.
To make more room for insulation in the 2×4 exterior walls, we filled the stud bays, then added 2×2’s horizontally and added another layer.
The windows were replaced with energy-efficient replacement units. They were close enough in size that we were able to fudge some of the rough opening and keep the original moulding:
Finally, the plumbing, electric, drywall went in.
Paint, new flooring, a washer and dryer… And now it’s a second-floor laundry and sewing room
