The Wall Brace System consists of a 3″ steel lightweight “I” beam that is attached to a single floor joist and bolted to the existing concrete floor. The beam can be tightened with an adjustable bolt. The holding capability of a single wood floor joists is very limited. Using 2 – 3/4″ bolts drilled through the floor joist has the hold strength of 1280 pounds before a failure will occur. Either the joist itself will split and break or the sub floor above the floor joist will fail. The bottom of the beam is bolted into the existing concrete slab. Most slabs are only 3 or 4″ thick and do not have any steel reinforcement the slab is not capable of withstanding additional forces. Since each beam is only able to hold a small force before failure the spacing between each beam is very important. If your foundation wall has already failed the soil condition around your foundation is more than likely at least moderate in it’s expansive capabilities. For soil conditions like that spacing can not be greater than 30″ apart in order not to fail.
