question about joist length, in hangers.

[countryborn]

(I am not really new.  but the site did not accept who I used to be - Mia - so I reinvented myself, sorta.     miracles of modern technology!)

anyway, we have joists in hangers in our house-to-be, & some are a bit shorter than they should be.  these are 2x10's, 14 ft long.  some are about 1/2 inch short.  do you think the inspector will have a problem with that?  these are the joists for the main floor, over a full basement, top of 9 ft. high walls.  the walls are concrete on the east side, which will have dirt against it, & concrete & wood on the west side.  daylight basement, on a hill with about 23% grade.  engineered basement design, as per local building dept direction.
any other details needed?
if we have to take apart what we have done & rebuild (when it stops raining for a few days), it would be better to know now.   
thanks!

[MountainDon]

I think ideally the joists would fit with less free space than what you have, maybe an 1/8 inch overall. But passing, well it all depends on the inspector.    How god-like they are feeling that day?   

A half inch distributed on both ends amounts to a 1/4 inch on both ends. Some inspectors may not even notice that. Others might not be concerned in the least. Others might have a problem with it.

But it shouldn't be a problem the way I see it. If you use a joist calculator such as this one, the 14 ft span, 16" OC using #2 SPF 2x10 joists states that a bearing length of 0.88" will meet minimum requirements. You'd have that with a standard Simpson hanger.

[glenn kangiser]

I was looking for that info as I knew I had seen it, but I didn't page down to where the bearing length requirement was.

Glad you got it.

[John Raabe]

If you can balance the spaces at each end you should have plenty of bearing area and it should not adversely effect the nailing pattern into the joists. Those are likely to be the two concerns of the inspector.

[Rover]

Please take this with a big grain of salt.  Its just a comment; not advice.  I'm no carpenter.

If you wanted to improve the critical bearing factor,why not use a plywood spacer between the joist hanger and the header?  That would give you the full bearing between the joist hanger and the joist.

Problem is that it would red flag the situation to the inspector.

[MikeT]

I would do the following:

1. Place joists so that you have 1/4" gap per side.
2. Get joist hangers that allow you to nail at 90 degrees into the joists as opposed to a 45 degree toe nail.  that should give you good bite into the joists in addition to your connection to the walls.

mt