TOPIC: Be Very, Very Careful Where You Sit!

This house is 52 years old.  The sellers decided to remodel.

The little gem you see here is the underside of a former coat closet and part of an entry way that was converted into a full bathroom.  A powder room elsewhere was converted into a coat closet, nearer to the most-used door.

The far corner is the drain (the vertical pipe) for the new bath sink.  To the left is the drain (you see the trap) for the new bath tub.  The vertical drain under the toilet is in the center of the picture, beside the old drain stack.

The old cast iron drain was utilized variously to accommodate the new bath.  All in all the bathroom looked pretty nice from above.  Nice floor tile, heavy appliances and cabinets - very nice looking.  But heavy...

What bothers me is the support.

Look closely.  The new toilet is supported by a new cross joist, which looks slightly grayer, which is toe-nailed into the original floor joist.  They apparently notched the original floor joist to be able to toe nail it.  That tells me they may have added it as an after thought because the other end of that gray joist that is hidden behind the vertical toilet drain is merely resting on the top of the cast iron drain.  It is attached to nothing.  That cast iron drain is newly supported by the 1x4" board near the wall.  That 1x4" is attached to nothing, top or bottom - it merely stands there.  The end of the gray joist is toe nailed to the floor joist which was cut to accommodate the toilet drain line.

That corner is resting on an old piece of 2x2", which, you can see, is bowing under the load.  This is approximately the center of the bathroom.

A large, heavy visitor sitting on the toilet, or Grandma and Grandpa using that bathroom at the same time, might just cause that little 2x2 to snap!

What a mess!  Well, at least they used purple primer!  Notice that the new plastic stuff is strapped!

My recommendation: If you see a remodeled bathroom, see if you can check the underside before you use the toilet!  You might avoid a real surprise if you do...

Does plumbing strap work well when it's rusty and corroded? That has to be over 100 pounds of cast iron. I am sure the board will hold it up!

Jay, you seem to outdone yourself,
great post

Add to think, they don't build em like they used to

Have a great day

Tim

As always, good information and find.