Bearer problems

[snowyskiesau]

I've just been checking under the house to see if the floor in the back room/workshop,
is up to supporting a small lathe (around 100Kg)
The bearers have been notched to fit into the wall and onto the brick pier.
(see attached).

I'm planning to put in a post under each end of the existing bearer so that the notch is no longer the support point.
Will this be sufficient or should the bearer be replaced as well?

[OBBob]

100kg is only 1 largish person ... would you be worried about having two people stand next to each other on that floor ... probably not? I guess the other consideration is whether the lathe is likely to vibrate ... that could add a fatigue factor I guess ...

[silentC]

I was going to say that putting in a post might give the termites easy access to your sub-floor but I see that you don't have pier caps anyway...

Assuming that your bearer is up to spec dimension wise for the span etc. notches can be cut up to 1/8th the depth of the bearer, or 25mm (whichever is the lesser) deep. Judging from your pics and without knowing the scale, I think you might be over that already.

However, as Bob the Owner Builder points out, 100kg is not over the top for static load. A 100kg person actually exerts more than 100kg of force when walking around. So it's you plus the lathe plus a bit for you walking around.

Personally, I probably wouldn't worry too much about it assuming the lathe is going to be close to the wall. If you feel that it's a bit on the light side or it bounces, you could fix a length of C purlin to the side of the bearer to span piers as reinforcement.