The Log house Project begins........

[dstig1]

Did you say you are cutting into TRUSSES? :no: That there is bad hoo-doo. Trusses are not made to be cut in the web regions at all. You might as well take them out at that point.... What should be done is like typical stair opening framing - double up on either side of the opening (or whatever the truss company spec'd) and use a header to span the opening and tie the trusses together. Beyond the simple stuff you are into engineer land, but the truss mfg should be able and willing to help you out there. Don't just start whacking those!

 

[MotorSeven]

No, not cutting into them....cutting three of them completely in two. My trusses are 24" tall set on 16" centers. The stairwell hole is 54" in diameter, so yes the trusses are getting reinenforced/sistered with 2x10's. They will end up stronger then they were before they were cut.

Besides, I put on my engineer hat when I got up yesterday morning....no worries mate

All kidding aside, there is no load on these trusses except for the weight of the subfloor and floor. Bracing & reinforcing them is not really hard to figure out.

 

[bindian]

Besides, I put on my engineer hat when I got up yesterday morning....no worries mate

It's always nice to have more than one hat.:laughing::thumbsup:
hugs, Brandi

 

[MotorSeven]

Today I cut the trusses and inserted 2x10x12's:

 

[MotorSeven]

Then ran a rope through the cut out area to hopefully catch it when the final cuts were made:

It worked perfect:

The cats were impressed:

 

[MotorSeven]

Assembly began...

Directions said build from the top down and I could not figure out why so I tried from the bottom up. The treads bolt holes are slotted leaving up to 1 1/8" inch adjustment per tread which meant I was 18" short at the top.....time to re-do it top down{sigh}:

This is where I quit for the day:

So far so good, no big issues, just tedious work leaning off a ladder. Hope to get it usable by tomorrow.

 

[dstig1]

Not so sure about your truss reinforcements there, but you seem to have a pretty good grasp on these things, so I'll keep quiet now...

The shot with the cats is pretty funny...

 

[ben2go]

Looking good.You got a free coffee table out of the deal.:thumbsup:

 

[MotorSeven]

Not so sure about your truss reinforcements there, but you seem to have a pretty good grasp on these things, so I'll keep quiet now...

The shot with the cats is pretty funny...

I'm not done yet, there will be more box framing all the way around the opening. Yep the black one(Jezebel) kept climbing down and walking around on the trusses....until she fell. Landed on all fours in the basement, twitched her tail a couple of time & casually walked out like that's what she meant to do:confused3:.

 

[MotorSeven]

Yeah Ben....not quite sure what to do with it since I have no place to put it

 

[Bilko]

What about that big covered porch.

 

[MotorSeven]

Bilko it's just too darn big....54" on a 8' deck takes up a ton of space. Now if I had the 60'x80' barn finished it could go down there..............

 

[pacerron]

I'm not done yet, there will be more box framing all the way around the opening. Yep the black one(Jezebel) kept climbing down and walking around on the trusses....until she fell. Landed on all fours in the basement, twitched her tail a couple of time & casually walked out like that's what she meant to do:confused3:.

Have you considered enclosing the stairs from under the sub-floor down to the basement floor in a tube or a box?
That could offer more support to the cut floor trusses, close the view from the main floor to the basement stuff, eliminate a lot of dust coming up to the main floor, and eliminate the draft effect from the basement to the living quarters, perhaps lowering your fire insurance rate a bit as another result.
Everytime you open an upstairs door or window with an open 5 foot hole in the floor you are going to suck in dirt and cold air from the basement garage up to your living quarters. Ask the folks on TBN who have lived with one like that.
Ron

 

[Iplayfarmer]

The cats were impressed:

I'm with the cats... impressed.

I also agree that you ought to do something with that round piece you cut out of the floor . Consider cutting it in half and making two half tables for the porch. Or, just keep it until you get the barn done.

 

[MotorSeven]

Pacer yep I have been looking at that today as we finally got the staircase built to the main floor, as there is quite the gap to the chasm below.


Three times is a charm. First time it's my fault(built from bottom up), second time we went from the top down and used the tread height that was on the build sheet. Even made a fancy stick to use as a guide for the tread height...nope, when I got to the basement floor I was 4.5" off... too short. Had to go back up and move every tread up a quarter of an inch.

Then like an idiot I assumed our fancy stick would be correct for the tread height from the main floor to loft. Nope it was off again by 4"....I shoulda known the tread height had to be different for two different measurements between floors:duh: Sheesh....3+ days to assemble a staircase....I'm starting to feel a little inadequate:jaded:

Pic's tomorrow when it's DONE.............grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

 

[dstig1]

I wouldn't feel so bad. Stair case work is amongst the toughest headscratchers in house building. I assume you have already got all the finished floors in place, IIRC. If not, you need to account for them when setting your risers still, but I think you did all the flooring previously so you should be good...

 

[MotorSeven]

Stair case work is amongst the toughest headscratchers in house building.

I have to run a big 48" shop fan when I am trying to figure tread height and run.......to clear the smoke that's billowing from my ears..................

 

[pacerron]

I have to run a big 48" shop fan when I am trying to figure tread height and run.......to clear the smoke that's billowing from my ears..................

Run on a spiral stairway... Depends on whether you are pole dancing or hugging the handrail
How much tread depth will you have for your left foot when you are going up in a comfortable position between the handrail and the pole?
Ron

 

[MotorSeven]

I'll have to measure the treads, can't remember the size.

Well, it's up, handrail is on and boy did it take some time. Two sections of rail for the top stair, three for the bottom. The third section was not drilled to accept the inside tube joining brackets and we had to figure those out ourselves(the instructions are useless). I also had to cut the middle section to fit, so trying to mate a 90 degree cut on a compound curve is quite fun There was some bending, some cursing, some baluster height adjustment, some stripping of the baluster to handrail sheet metal screws(I think I'll weld them some day), but in the end it all came out pretty good:

Loft landing

Loft to main looking down

Main staircase

 

[MotorSeven]

And the basement staircase

I still need to build cedar rails for the loft landing and integrate it to the staircase, re-paint everything that got scuffed up, concrete anchor the base to the basement slab, build a round skirt(tube) around the staircase where it goes through the main floor to cover the trusses, finish boxing in the trusses & reinforce the underside of the main floor landing.