This photo was taken in the basement of a converted beach cottage. It's apparent that the person who installed the heat duct didn't let a floor joist get in their way. Aside from the obvious weakness caused by cutting through the floor joist, this added insult to the floor structure because the spacing between the floor joists was already 24 inches on center (most floors are constructed spacing the floor joists 16 inches on center.) Now there was a 48 inch span between two floor joists, which happened to be under the kitchen. You know the old saying, "too many cooks spoil the broth", in this case too many cooks in the kitchen could collapse the floor!

Photo taken by Dennis Robitaille of Able Home Inspection, Inc.