Q. This week: My house is about 70 years old and the floors on the first story shake when someone walks on them. The problem, I think, is that the floor joists are too narrow. They're only 7.5 inches ...

Editor’s note: Welcome to the Brownstone Boys Reno, a reader renovation diary about renovating a brownstone in Bed Stuy. See the first one here. They also blog at www.thebrownstoneboys.com. In many ...

Building codes governing framed floors include an allowance for sagging, which sounds bad. But the allowable limit is 1/360 of the span, which isn’t much. Spread over a 45-foot-long joist — if you ...

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, ...