Dear Angie: I have a floor that has a broken joist under the house. The floor has caved in. How much will it cost to fix? The floor is wood. — Brad J., Cullman, Alabama Dear Brad: You definitely want ...

Dear Ken: We need to replace some rotting floor joists under my redwood deck. Someone said to use treated lumber. What do you recommend? - Ginny Answer: Treated lumber is a good choice. Chances are, ...

Warped deck joists can be a problem, whether you’re building a new deck or resurfacing an old one. Joists dry out, changing the moisture content and causingthem to twist and curl. That makes the ...

Q: Our 35-year-old house has a 7-foot cantilevered deck on the top floor -- about 25 feet above ground level. The untreated fir joists feel solid but have large black areas on the sides -- especially ...

Many years ago I wrote a blog post detailing one of the most common deck defects that I find: improper joist hanger nails. The issue detailed in that blog post was the use of 1-½" nails in places ...

Many renovated buildings replace wood and masonry structural elements with steel. The replacement of heavy wooden roof and floor joists with the lighter steel open-web bar-truss joists is a common ...

Q. Chris Neurath sent this long note that is important enough to run in the Handyman’s column: “You may have given bad advice that leads to safety issues when you said not to worry about deck joist ...

Q: Should we insulate the rim-joist cavities of a crawlspace foundation? I am a builder, and where I live the codes require insulation, but I have discovered that the insulation causes decay and mold ...