Floor to Floor Connectors Prevent Damage to Home Additions

                                                                This 4 minute video will tell you everything you need to know about additions

 

Older homes were much smaller than they are now.  It is not uncommon for an older home (such as the 1955 house I live in) to be 900- 1200 square feet.  Over time, demand for larger homes increased considerably and this was often achieved by building additions on the back of the house.

The building code does not tell a contractor how to connect an addition to the main house and if they are not properly connected, the addition can tear away with catastrophic consequences.  At that point, the addition can lose vertical support and fall to the ground.

In most cases a contractor will put in enough nails to make sure the addition does not fall down after he jumps on it a few times and no consideration is given to future earthquake damage.  We have seen this many times.

Floor-to-Floor Connectors

Floor-to-floor connectors are special hardware made to keep an addition attached to the main floor.  Lag screws, machine screws, and nails are the most common types of connectors.  Assuming the two floors are butted up to each other, Simpson SDS Heavy Duty Connectors often do the trick.  Be sure the screws go all the way though both floor joists if you screw them together.  They come in 1-1/2″ to 8″ lengths. Sometimes custom-made floor to floor connectors must be designed on site. As far as the quantities go, the engineering principles discussed on this webpage will help you figure that out.  This connection is critical, make sure your contractor understands why it is so important.

 

Floor to Floor Connectors attach the two floors together and make sure these two floors do not separate.  There is no one size fits all,  manufactures make them out of bolts, large screws, and special hardware known as hold-downs.