Restoration & Refurbishment

How do I tell if a joist is rotten and needs replacing?

Anonymous user 03/03/2024 - 2.56 PM

Help! Some time ago we noticed that when having a shower, water would drip through the suspended ceiling in the hallway below. Thinking that the leak was coming from a dated electric shower, we decided that it couldn't be left any longer and started to rip out and relace the bathroom. It seems that the leak has been going on for longer than we realised, as the strawboard walls around the bath, and the floor panels in one corner were soaking wet, so we started to remove these too. We can now see that there is a potential problem with one of the joists too. The joist in question is much thicker than the other joists that we can see, probably because it took the weight of the bath and it's the one that's suspended over the stairwell. It's become discoloured and the top of it is very uneven. How do we tell if it needs replacing, or if it can be repaired? Who is the best tradesman to ask, a builder, a carpenter or a plumber? We had a very tight budget to start with when we started this, as it had to be done by necessity rather than choice, so we need to keep the cost down as much as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.