Found this yesterday under a home. As an inspector you when see a notch or hole that doesn’t look right, it probably a problem.
One of the most complicated things a home inspector must grasp is the rules around notching and drilling framing. We spend quite a bit of time going over these rules, and anyone taking the state exam had better study them.
One way to repair this maybe be to add a post. This fix was a lot easier to do in photoshop then it is for real!
Since it is so complicated and important, you are likely to have questions on it. In this house there was a pretty short beam under the home with about 60% of it notched out.
I am not an engineer, but I can tell you that is a significantly compromised. There was no noticeable settlement or other issues found here, but I think putting a post under the beam is probably a good answer.
Here is one of the slides from our class
A slide from the class Fundamentals of Home Inspection – Structures. Now that you know the rule, take a look at that notch again!!
– Notches in floor joists may occur in the top or bottom of the member but may not be located in the middle third of the span.
– A notch may not exceed one-sixth of the depth of the joist except at the very end where it may be one-fourth of the joist depth.
– The length of joist notches cannot exceed one-third of the depth of the member.
– Holes bored in joists must not be larger than one-third the depth of the joists.
– Holes cannot be located within two inches of the top or bottom edge of the member, or to any other hole located in the member.
– Holes cannot be located within 2″ of any notch.
