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I need to hang some floor joists in my brick garage to create a mancave. What would be the best way to do this? Mount a header beam to the wall and nail joist hangers to that? Attach joist hangers directly to the brick? Am I going to need to rake out mortar on the course above to get angled hangars to sit on a brick or can I get away with flush fitting hangars?
I'd normally wrap joists that went against a surface that could get damp (It's a dumbass single course wall), if I went down the header beam route will a layer of DPC membrane between the header and the brick be ok?
Did this 18 months ago in our garage to create a mezzanine floor. I simply screwed the joist hangers to the walls and dropped the correct sized joists in.
That said, this mezzanine is being used mainly for storage and I don't know if screwing the hangers in would be good enough to have a party on - but it works for me and feels very solid when I'm up there.
That would be my preferred / simplest solution. I'd probably use a few bonded plugs as well as regular rawl bolts into the brickwork. Any other suggestions?
My preference is to screw/bolt a big bit of timber to the wall then nail the joist hangers to that. Problem with screwing directly is that some will end up in the mortar and others will be near edges or close together and crack the brick. It's also much quicker to whack the nails in and easier to get the alignment right.
As above, easiest thing fix up with screws and plugs a timber plater to the wall the same size as the joists your using. Then I would chemfix it on as well, drill a bit hole, clean it out of dust, squirt in some chemical resin (from screwfix), push the threaded bar in make sure you spin the bar in through the resin and not just push it. Wait overnight and tighten all bolts up.
Then just use standard jiffy hangers or timber to timber hangers with 35mm twist nails in the holes. Don't use screws.
Why no to screws?
Just put a suspended floor in and had limited space so in some areas couldn’t wield a hammer, so used screws on the hangers.....
How high is your garage by the way?
Mine is about 11’ so that gives me just over 6’ beneath the mezzanine, and about 3.5' storage space above.
Although screws are strong, they are brittle, it won't take many blows from a hammer bending them side to side to snap them.
Nails are a better fit, will take many more blows side to side before they snap.
20 years a carpenter, builder and loft converter. Always use nails on structural timber to timber fixing, such as roof rafters and floor joists.
Structural screws would be OK such as a hex head carpenters Mate or timberloc but they are expensive and not necessary in this situation.
Why no to screws?
Just put a suspended floor in and had limited space so in some areas couldn’t wield a hammer, so used screws on the hangers
Yeah that will be fine, just try to use twist nails where ever possible.
The natural movement of the timber to timber will re-enact the side to side movement.
Thanks everyone. Looks like I’m going down the resin-bonded-bolted header beam with nailed joist hangers route. Ta.