House for my Parents

[JimRB]

I am not an engineer or a true carpenter. I have built a few things but that is a long way from being a proper carpenter. When the neighbor built his addition he screwed up and framed around the perimeter. What I mean is instead of starting both outside wall layouts from a common wall he built the north wall starting from the west wall. Then he built the east wall starting layout from the north wall. Then the south wall starting from the east. So that means on the north wall the rafters stacked on top of studs. On the south wall they were smack dab in the middle of the top plate not directly stacked on top of studs. That seems recipe for sagging. What I saw in your pictures was double 2x10 or 12's joists stacked over the window headers in air. I would probably stick cripples under the double joists. But again I am not a framer so it may not be an issue with singles but with doubles they were made doubles for a reason. Again I may just be overly conservative but the weight starts adding up with shingles, plywood, drywall and maybe HVAC equipment.

 

[JimRB]

The little roof over the doors helps a lot with doors rotting and leaking. I have two doors I need to build little roofs over to keep the weather off. Door frames have rotted so that all needs to be replaced. It seems that you see the little roofs on many southern houses built 50+ years ago. Someone forgot why they did that detail in the last 50 years. I certainly did not know better when my house was built 16 years ago.

 

[EddieWalker]

I am not an engineer or a true carpenter. I have built a few things but that is a long way from being a proper carpenter. When the neighbor built his addition he screwed up and framed around the perimeter. What I mean is instead of starting both outside wall layouts from a common wall he built the north wall starting from the west wall. Then he built the east wall starting layout from the north wall. Then the south wall starting from the east. So that means on the north wall the rafters stacked on top of studs. On the south wall they were smack dab in the middle of the top plate not directly stacked on top of studs. That seems recipe for sagging. What I saw in your pictures was double 2x10 or 12's joists stacked over the window headers in air. I would probably stick cripples under the double joists. But again I am not a framer so it may not be an issue with singles but with doubles they were made doubles for a reason. Again I may just be overly conservative but the weight starts adding up with shingles, plywood, drywall and maybe HVAC equipment.

Since on 2x4 walls the studs are 16 inches on center, and the most common way to frame a roof is on 24 inch centers, it's impossble for your load bearing walls to line up with your joists or rafters.

I doubled the cripple over the door header and was thinking of adding two more just for the fun of it, but don't think it will matter one way or another. The load is spread out over the top plates easily. I will be building the exterior wall up there so it goes up under the roof of the porch and tying the roof line into the existing roof rafters this weekend. Part of that will include additional bracing to handle the size of the porch and the potential it might have to catch the air during extreme winds. 60mph winds happen a few times a year hear. Tornados have been within ten miles of the house, but I've never seen one in person.

Thank you, it's nice to know you noticed so much in the pictures.

Eddie

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Eddie, I like to set trusses 16" on my own projects but I prefer to overbuild. We can do 24" and still meet our snow loads but 16" sure does make a stout roof.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've seen them as close as 12 inches, and if somebody wants to spend the money, I'm all for stronger. There is a point of when you are just wasting money and what is going to do the job. I like to overbuild and I use code for a starting point, then I try to make it stronger. Sometimes I waste money by adding materials that really wont change anything, but make me feel better, other times I waste time focussing on something that later on I realize wasn't needed. One day I'll get it all figured out, but to be honest, the fun is in the trying new ideas and figuring out how to make them happen.

Eddie

 

[jimmyj]

I've seen them as close as 12 inches, and if somebody wants to spend the money, I'm all for stronger. There is a point of when you are just wasting money and what is going to do the job. I like to overbuild and I use code for a starting point, then I try to make it stronger. Sometimes I waste money by adding materials that really wont change anything, but make me feel better, other times I waste time focussing on something that later on I realize wasn't needed. One day I'll get it all figured out, but to be honest, the fun is in the trying new ideas and figuring out how to make them happen.

Eddie

My pal is a construction pro and he really overbuilds EVERYTHING. It's actually annoying when he helps me because we get into arguments as he's always saying "let's add this, and make that bigger, and dig that deeper, and add another one, and so on..." It always costs me a fortune.

That said, nothing I've ever built with him has been a problem. It's a matter of balancing the finances I guess. The place looks great Eddie.

 

[bindian]

Another AWESOME project Eddie. Bless you for helping your folks. Now I know why you have been absent from your Gazebo thread.
hugs, Brandi

 

[bindian]

Another AWESOME project Eddie. Bless you for helping your folks. Now I know why you have been absent from your Gazebo thread.
hugs, Brandi

 

[Dr Dave]

How is the parents home coming, has weather stopped progress?

 

[EddieWalker]

The weather, all of us getting sick and commitments to clients has all had a huge affect on what we have been able to get done. Dad finished the gas line. He ran black pipe, then filled it up to 70 psi and it didn't drop a pound for a week. We're comfortable that there isn't any leaks in the pipe. Granted, it took several tries to get it to do that, but he has the time and he kept at it until he found all the leaks.

He is also running electrical with my help. There are two three way light switches and one four way light switch. He got that confused, but it's all good now. He also forgot a few things, but it wasn't too hard to get them taken care of. He tends to get ahead of himself, and then forgets to check what he does. I walk through it and check his work.

The rear porch is almost done, but I just haven't had time to do it and Dad isn't capable of compound miter cuts, measuring accurately or figuring out the angle to cut the wood. We also don't want him up on the rafters, so I've done all of the roof framing.

Hopefullly I'll be able to get something accomplished this weekend. I'm very close to being able to put the sheething up, but I don't want to jump to that until I'm done framing the roof.

Thanks,
Eddie