Floor question in an old house...?

Question

My basement has an old wood center beam with 2 sections of the floor. The one half of the basement floor joists appear very old and dark, and dirty and the joists contain bridging.

On the other hand, the other side, the floor joists appear cleaner and lighter in color. They look newer and there is no bridging between the joists.

Were these floor joists and floor boards likely replaced by the previous owener or is this likely original and just aged differently. Also, is the bridging added after the house is older, or before it is built?

btw, this house is approx 86 years old.

Answer 1

A picture would be nice....but Yahoo doesn't do that....

It SOUNDS LIKE an addition was added on....Old section and Lighter NEW section...

The Bridging was required when they used Strips of wood instead of plywood to keep the spacing consistant....that way your cracks wouldn't open/close during the year.....with plywood you bridged several beams tying them all together with one sheet of plywood....you didn't need the X-bracing to get rid of the Left/Right Flexing of the floor.....

NOW....IF there is NO addition....then a previous owner had to replace the flooring for SOME reason....Fire....Water Damage...BUGS....Who knows?? But does it really matter, as long as it's good craftsmanship? That's important......

Answer 2

Very likely the darker joists and bridges are original.

One of two things has occurred regarding the newer joists.
Either they have been replaced at some point, possibly termites, but not necessarily. It sounds more likely that an addition had been added to the house.
The fact that the beam divides the two sections leads me to believe the latter. That beam may be the original supporting outside wall before the addition.
If you measure the width and thickness of the old and the new, the new is probably less than the old, as lumber dimensions have decreased over the years.

Bridging was more often done in the past, but the price of lumber probably affected the new addition, or it was a DIY job. and bridging was neglected.
The previous owner may have had nothing to do with it, as it could have been added before the the last ownership.

Answer 3

Wood gets darker as it ages.. the older joists are the darker ones. The bridging was a method of construction about the time your home was built.. and is probably original. If the bridging is as dark (or even close) as the floor joists...its a clincher, it was installed upon original construction.

The other side you mention sounds like a new(er) replacement. Look at the beam running down between them... you may find that the new joists are slightly off from the original ones. Tell tales would be a lot of extra nail holes, or lighter sections of wood. Don't let me scare you by saying they are 'off'... I simply mean they may not be in the exact location that the old lumber was.

Many 'old school' contractors continue to use some form of bridging when using standard lumber, but many have gotten away from it, leaving it to the homeowner to adress any warping/bowing issues themselves at a later date, rather than put in the expense and time to install the bridging. A floor may be just fine for 30, 40 years that way......

Of course, nowadays... you have your choice of bridging materials.. wood or metal, and joist brackets for the ends... rather than toe-nailing.

Answer 4

I suspect the newer joists were replaced...no good reason for them to age differently if they were put in at the same time. The bridging is installed as it's built, usually attached on top and left to hang until the flooring and interior partitions are installed above, then they are nailed on the bottom.
You might consider adding bridging to the newer joists, because it makes the floor stiffer.