Bad day today :-( drilled a 20mm hole straight through top chord of a tji joist

[sparkyork]

Thanks chaps, the site manager said if I can hide it by plugging it then that'll do! In the big picture it's never likely to be a problem but could of been a different ending! Should be happy days fingers crossed.
Noticed today one of the tv cable blokes ran a coax between the tji joists and stud work tops which looked iffy to me but he said there's ten mill gap and is in zone!

 

[LankyWill]

i think your blowing this way out of proportion a 20-25mm hole in a flange wont cause the whole structure to become drastically weak and dangerous. An elliptical hole through a flange from above causes very little structural damage, if you had drilled from below across the flange it would have been more damaging result. I have drilled 4'' and 5'' hole through these joists and as long as you space them apart you wont have any issues. i have glanced and drilled a few flanges in my time because thats life and s**t happens its mostly due to other participating factors like positioning of stud work and accessories. Dont loose sleep 1 hole in the wrong place wont make the property fall down besides the tolerances of the joist are higher than what the manufacturers permit anyway. As for trad joist i hate them as they are a pain to drill and make wiring a nightmare.

 

[shanky887614]

i think your blowing this way out of proportion a 20-25mm hole in a flange wont cause the whole structure to become drastically weak and dangerous. An elliptical hole through a flange from above causes very little structural damage, if you had drilled from below across the flange it would have been more damaging result. I have drilled 4'' and 5'' hole through these joists and as long as you space them apart you wont have any issues. i have glanced and drilled a few flanges in my time because thats life and s**t happens its mostly due to other participating factors like positioning of stud work and accessories. Dont loose sleep 1 hole in the wrong place wont make the property fall down besides the tolerances of the joist are higher than what the manufacturers permit anyway. As for trad joist i hate them as they are a pain to drill and make wiring a nightmare.

if your drill struggles you need a new drill

 

[LankyWill]

if your drill struggles you need a new drill

im on about the specified drill zones and the fact their 15cm thick!

 

[davesparks]

im on about the specified drill zones and the fact their 15cm thick!

What joists are they? 6" is thicker than a normal joist

I did an extension a few years ago that was built with a proper oak frame. Those oak beams at around 10" thick were an absolute buggerance to drill.

 

[richy3333]

Well the OP has cheered me up this Monday morning. I drilled out for recessed LEDs on Friday and did a whole row in the wrong place. Customer now has 4 more lights than they expected!

I hit a gas pipe once, that was immediately behind the CU I was changing and 1 inch below the old one. New CU was bigger and I put a screw through the pipe (hidden by insulation)! As others have said, no dramas, just move on!

 

[LankyWill]

What joists are they? 6" is thicker than a normal joist

I did an extension a few years ago that was built with a proper oak frame. Those oak beams at around 10" thick were an absolute buggerance to drill.

These special softwood joists made from the same stuff cls is. We had a contract working on some fancy 3million pound homes for a national builder and the joists we over-specified it was an absolute pain as auger bits were all we could use and the space between joists were very tight!.

 

[edexlab]

Op I know this feeling too well !
I once drilled thru a joist from the side in the correct place and didn't check that it wasn't a double joist, I just got carried away slightly as you do when you're under pressure to get it done, and drilled thru the wooden joist holding up the staircase,
I realised what I'd done and immediately told the site manager who after a lot of erring and mumbled swearing said it's a long shot but I'll ring the structural engineer for his opinion. .......

I was very lucky as it was only a 20mm hole and he said 15 mm further to the right and we'd have had to pay for it to be replaced!

2 weeks later a plumber went through a joist twice with a bigger hole in a worse place on the same joist in another house ....
He was a favourite of the contracts manager as they played golf occasionally and said wet foot was semi pro, all that was said was
"oh well these things happen "
No charges incurred or implied! !

Proven case of "not what you know but who "working to his favour!!!
Taught me a good lesson though!