At Home In The Woods

[Pops15]

Obed,
Good to see progress being made on your new home.

To expand on what Eddie mentioned.....since your floor trusses are on different centers than your outside walls it's important to install solid blocking between the ends of the trusses . Left open the weight of the walls and roof can lead to sagging between the trusses.

Of greater concern to me is the garage door header. It would have been much easier, faster, a had much more strength if they had used 16" tall LVL's.

The stair rise also looks steep from the pics. I try to keep riser height in the 6 1/2"-7 inch range. The shorter riser height is much easier for older folks to navigate.
Pops

 

[Obed]

Obed,
Good to see progress being made on your new home.

To expand on what Eddie mentioned.....since your floor trusses are on different centers than your outside walls it's important to install solid blocking between the ends of the trusses . Left open the weight of the walls and roof can lead to sagging between the trusses.

Eddie and Pops, I follow you now. We'll talk to the framer.

Thanks a bunch for catching this.

Obed

 

[dcyrilc]

Eddie and Pops, I follow you now. We'll talk to the framer.

Thanks a bunch for catching this.

Obed

I have to agree... good eye Eddie.

 

[Obed]

The black tank thawed enough that I was able to dump it today. We now have a toilet again. Yay!

Obed

 

[dcyrilc]

The black tank thawed enough that I was able to dump it today. We now have a toilet again. Yay!

Obed

Sometimes it's the small things in life that mean the most.

 

[Obed]

Of greater concern to me is the garage door header. It would have been much easier, faster, a had much more strength if they had used 16" tall LVL's.

The stair rise also looks steep from the pics. I try to keep riser height in the 6 1/2"-7 inch range. The shorter riser height is much easier for older folks to navigate.
Pops

I agree with you about the basement garage door. However, it is a gable end wall with a floor truss sitting on top of it. The truss designer said that wall does bear some weight but not anywhere near as much as the front and back walls that are perpendicular to the trusses. I'm guessing we should be ok using the 2x12's for that garage door. There will be one very long LVL over the 2 main floor garage doors. We also have a 12' window span for the back exterior wall of the living room that will have an LVL header.

My wife spent a ton of time working with the house designer and truss designer to get enough room for the stairs. The steps are 7" or 7 1/2" high, I don't remember which. When walking up them, they don't seem at all steep to me. Maybe that will change when I get older.

Obed

 

[dave1949]

My wife spent a ton of time working with the house designer and truss designer to get enough room for the stairs. The steps are 7" or 7 1/2" high, I don't remember which. When walking up them, they don't seem at all steep to me. Maybe that will change when I get older.

Obed

Stairs take up lots of space, for sure. If I remember your floor plan correctly, you have exterior access to your basement level. This takes a lot of pressure off the stairway design since large/heavy objects don't need to go up/down the stairs as they would in a 'regular' basement.
Dave

 

[WBWI]

Obed, glad to hear things thawed out and things are moving forward again. Seeing walls go up is very exciting. Don't get discouraged though, some days you know the contractactors were there but you have a hard time seeing what they accomplished. Keep the photos coming.

 

[Obed]

How flat is flat?
This question is meant for those who work in the construction trade.

I used a string to find a straight 9 foot 2x6 board. I took the board around to various spots on the subfloor to see how flat the floor is. We intend to install hardwood and ceramic tile flooring everywhere on the main floor.

I found a spot where the subfloor had a hump. Can someone tell me how to determine whether or not a hump is an issue? How much is a problem? How do you measure it? Can I use a straight 9' board and a ruler?

I could use some input from people with experience in the trade. I talked to a friend who is a general contractor but I couldn't get a definitive answer from him.

Thanks for the feedback.
Obed

 

[mikefromnh]

If you can see it or feel it when you walk over its a problem. Carpets can hide a lot -- not so much with wood floors or tile.

There really is no excuse for a hump at this point other than shoddy building. Make him fix at his own expense.

This is not a good sign, framing errors tend to compound themselves as you go up. If the first floor is crooked I don't have much faith the roof will be straight flat or square.