Situation
I was running some new gas pipe and I notched one floor joist and drilled a hole in another. I have now learned that this is not appropriate. This was in the forbidden zone of the middle 1/3rd of the joist.
The joist is 7 inches tall and the notch is 1.5 inches tall. I think the wood is redwood. The span is roughly 100 inches. This is an old house, built in the '40s.
I went back a few days later and took a close-up picture. There are some horizontal cracks. If you look very closely in the original photo, these cracks were pre-existing to some degree.
This joist is close to the foundation (as you can see), and the notch is under a bedroom closet. I'm not sure if the closet wall is load-bearing.
Questions
- I've heard that I can glue/screw a 2x4 to the bottom of this joist to make it an upside down T shape. Will this restore enough tensile strength?
- Otherwise, does this need to be fully-sistered (with the pipe relocated)?
- How urgent is this repair?
Note that I've seen other questions about joist notching on this site. I believe my situation is sufficiently different to merit its own answer.