Drilling Floor Joists For Pex

Drill through the sill plate and sub floor for each water line.

Drilling floor joists for pex.

Drilling floor joists to run plumbing wiring or ducts can be tricky. Engineered floor joists can be drilled only according to their manufacturer s guidelines the code specifies the maximum size of the holes you can drill or the notches you can cut where you can and can t place them and how far apart they can be spaced. Let s review what is wrong with this particular joist and discuss what the proper technique is for. When drilling through a stud be sure that each hole is at the same level so the pipe runs parallel to the floor.

Place the bit up to the stud and slowly start the drill allowing it to build up speed. The picture above shows what can happen when an untrained plumber is working on your home. If you have a 12 span and the joist is a full 12 you can drill a full 4 hole in the first and last 4. Drill holes with a diameter of no more than one third the depth of the joist staying 2 in.

Of walls and rim joists. Run your main lines first. Have a helper feed the line to avoid kinks and snarls. Where and how to drill joists for electrical cables or.

Some manufacturers recommend adding abrasion clips at each hole. There are very specific locations and sizes in the code telling you what is allowed. You can t drill a hole more than a third of the thickness of a joist in the middle third of the joist. If you re running pex through joists or studs drill 3 4 in.

There is a side to this that i have discussed with inspectors. Holes anywhere in the web area of engineered i joists except within 6 in. The maximum allowable diameter of a hole in any solid lumber joist is one third of. If the span requires say a 2x 10 joist spanning 12 the above rules apply.