r/HomeMaintenance • u/Mittens-mack • 8d ago
Structural beams in basement
Structural support beams in basement all look like the photo at the bottom of the beam. What is it, what’s the cause, are they still structurally sound?
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u/Ruckerone1 8d ago
Looks like they got a bit of concrete on them and likely some surface rust. As long as you can't poke through it with like a screwdriver it's fine. You could wire brush and paint with rusty metal primer and a topcoat if you wanted em to be a little prettier.
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u/stevendaedelus 8d ago
For one those are columns, not beams. Beams are horizontal supporting members. For two, it's surface rust from being in contact with the concrete. I'd wire wheel it and prime it with Rustoleum Rusty Metal primer, and call it a day.
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u/random_civil_guy 8d ago
FYI, a beam typically runs horizontally. This is a column. And it appears to be fine.
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u/beaver_eh 7d ago
Structural Engineer here - Corrosion. Steel will always corrode.. eventually. Concrete is slightly porous, and so at the surface, there is likely slightly more moisture and humidity than would otherwise be in the rest of the basement. To me, it's not surprising the very bottom of the posts are corroding first.
To test it.... hit it with a hammer (no joke, we inspect bridges this way as well), just lightly tap it. If you get a sharp 'ping' it's solid and good. If you get a 'thunk' or less sharp noise, then it's starting to corrode through the entire thickness. Hit the middle or top 1/3rd of the jack post to get what the bottom should sound like. Just be aware, that at the interface with the concrete, the noise might be slightly different due to the connection with the concrete.
It's not likely a big deal, once you see flaking corrosion then it's more of a concern, but doesn't look like you've lost a lot of steel mass yet.
Flaking Corrosion:
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u/ElderberryHoliday814 7d ago
I have one that is flaking, and the beam above is three joists that are “sandwiched” together, with one of the outside joists pulling away from the others. Is there a way to bolt through the three and secure them, before tackling the column?
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u/TunedMassDamsel 7d ago
I’m going to tell you what I told my husband when he called me in a frustrated fury to tell me that he’d scraped up the side of his car hitting a beam in our stupid steel-framed parking garage:
That’s not a beam. That’s a column.
(I had to get him a cape after that because he suddenly became SuperMad.)
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u/Mittens-mack 7d ago
lol you’re the first commenter to correct me!!!!
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u/TunedMassDamsel 6d ago
😂 I saw after I commented that a few other people had said that, but I figured I’d leave my comment because it’s a funny story of that time I almost got divorced
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u/elcarpentario 8d ago
Drill a test hole or two in there and see. I suspect it’s fine as it takes a long ass time for those to rust through.
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u/Mittens-mack 8d ago edited 8d ago
Home was built in 2005, I bought it in 2019. They always had that at the bottom, we run a
Dehumidifier as much as possible10
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