Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin.

   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin.
  • Thread Starter
#71  
The only thing that I have seen that I'm not wild about is the way they made columns to support the girders. Column stacked blocks lack lateral strength, and I couldn't see any way that the girder was attached to the pilasters. There may be fasteners that I can't see, though.

Are the pilasters filled with concrete and rebar?

I'm not a big fan of I-joists, but they are certainly becoming the prevailing choice for floor framing, at least around here. I would give them the advantage of consistency, but I've never had too much trouble with 2x10s or 2x12s over the course of a floor anyway. I wouldn't be any more concerned about shrinkage in a floor joist than I would be the inevitable settling that foundations are apt to do.

Overall, I really like the thread and the posters willingness to share his project. There's no project that somebody won't nitpick anyway. As long as the owner's happy with what is being done, that's really all that matters.

Good luck and take care.

They are filled with concrete, no rebar. They are not connected to the girders. The continuous foundation has rebar running uderneath. My old house had individual piers, block not filled and no rebar. There was terrible shrink swell but my home was not affected. I don't see how they could move now that they are locked in place? County gave it a thumbs up, but that is not much of an endorsement.😊
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin. #72  
I've never seen main beams attached to the columns at least here in VA -- they always just sit on top. So that seems normal to me. I believe that the block stacking arrangement is based on the height required and the footing area required. In our home, some are single stacked like shown here, while others are stacked double wide for the bottom 2/3 and single wide for the top 1/3. You are right rtimgray that there is no real lateral (buckling) strength, so it would seem there isn't a buckling concern.
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin. #73  
hcallaway - as long as you're satisfied, that's all that matters. The only time it would really matter is if the building were to be subjected to severe lateral forces like in an earthquake or hurricane-force winds. Basically, without reinforcements and connections, as soon as there is any sideways force, the column is likely to topple and leave the girder unsupported. If the column is connected to girder, if it is subject to lateral forces, then the whole thing should (theoretically) move together.

If the area that you're building in isn't subject to earthquake or hurricanes, then I wouldn't worry about it. Again, what I'm used to in this area is double wide interlock pillasters. The footings have J-rebars that go from it to the top course, and the top has a sill plate anchored just like the perimeter sill. Then there is usually a metal bracket to connect the sill to the girder. In the end, it makes a stronger support and more integrated structure; however, if it is never subject to such forces, it's just a waste of money!

Again, so long as you and the local authorities are pleased with it, that's really all that matters. And thanks again for sharing - I do appreciate seeing projects like this.

Good luck and take care.
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin. #74  
[snip]

I have had 5 large pads poured and this was the best surface finish by far. [snip]

Slab looks nice! That's a big pour. Have you considered sawing control joints while the concrete is green? 3/4" deep or so will go a long way to keep it purty.
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin.
  • Thread Starter
#75  
The joints were cut within 2 days. Not sure if that was optimal; however, we have kept any real weight off of it. Trying to get 21-28 days if possible before any load. Thanks
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin. #76  
The only thing that I have seen that I'm not wild about is the way they made columns to support the girders. Column stacked blocks lack lateral strength, and I couldn't see any way that the girder was attached to the pilasters. There may be fasteners that I can't see, though.

The house I grew up in had similar beams in a crawlspace, but the pillars were 3 blocks high stacked _on_end_. 40 years later when my Mom was having us clean out the basement so she could move, we found about a half dozen that had already failed. A contractor family friend and I spent a couple of days replacing each of them with a pillar made of triple chunks of 2x, nailed together. Dad had horded lots of chunks of 2x over the years, so we were able to do it all with stock on hand.

Once we had all the pillars replaced, we then noticed that a bunch of the joists were leaning at funny angles too. So we took more pieces of 2x and blocked all the joists at the pillars, and then bridged them all halfway between there and the outside wall.

Then in the full basement section, we noticed that the main beam was just resting on column jacks and also starting to settle. We doubled each of those up with a proper concrete filled lolly column. There were a couple of seams where ends butted together that weren't directly supported, we made sure to "catch" those in the process.
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin.
  • Thread Starter
#77  
I think I am going to be OK. There is anchorage on the perimeter. It was a stamped engineered foundation that was designed after 2 sets of soil samples. I searched the web and did not see any examples of interior pillars attached to the joists. Typical block masonary like in my foundation seem to be the norm. The footing was poured 24 wide x 18 thick. This was set on top of 24" compressed rock with rebar. Pour was inspected prior to the concrete delivery by the engineering firm. Concrete tickets had to be given to the firm for them to inspect the Qty and specifications. The county inspected the exposed foundation and piers prior to backfilling and the deck being installed.

(A continuous spread footing is commonly used to provide a stable base around the entire perimeter of a structure. Buildings with spread footings often include interior spot footings. A spread footing supports the weight (load) from the exterior or foundation walls. The footing thickness provides the strength needed to support the weight. The wider width of the footing base creates a large area to transfer this weight to the ground and to prevent settlement.

The dimensions of a continuous spread footing vary according to the soil conditions under the building, the load placed on the footing, and the construction style of the structure being supported. It is common practice to make the footing thickness equal to the thickness of the foundation wall, and to provide a footing projection on each side of the foundation wall equal to one-half the foundation wall thickness. Spread footings are frequently 16″ to 24″ wide, 6″ to 16″ thick, and made with reinforced concrete rated to 2,000 to 5,000 psi in compression. Table 9 lists the minimum footing widths required for a range of allowable bearing capacities and building sizes.)
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin. #78  
Yeah, I think your setup is much better than my Mom's was. I would have no worries about them...
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin. #79  
I'm sure that you're foundation is fine. After all, it doesn't matter one bit what a knucklehead on the internet thinks compared to the engineers/designers/inspectors (and I promise, I'm saying all of that seriously, not sarcastically). All of the information that you give leads me to believe that there is no need for consideration of lateral loading in the area that the house is being constructed, as all of it pertains to compressive strength, and I'm sure that the engineers/designers/inspectors know what the prevalent conditions are.

Girder pier connection.gif

Just out of curiosity, I searched for "girder to pier connection", and this was the third image result. For clarity's sake, this is what I was talking about and have used similar means in the past. I looked at the Simpson Strongtie website under masonry connectors and they show a range of products. Again, the use of this type of material is this situation is obviously unnecessary, but I thought I would post it for anybody who was following the thread and was curious about what I was talking about.

Again, thanks for posting the project. I have enjoyed it so far and I'm sure I will continue to do so.

Good luck and take care.
 
   / Virginia Garage and House - Let the process begin.
  • Thread Starter
#80  

The framing has started. Trusses will be up next week.
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

2020 CATERPILLAR 289D3 SKID STEER (A51242)
2020 CATERPILLAR...
2006 GMC 4500 Bucket Truck with Altec AT200 - 34FT Working Height (A51039)
2006 GMC 4500...
2017 Peterbilt 567 Tri-Axle Dump Truck (A49461)
2017 Peterbilt 567...
Wooden Dump Barge Wagon (A50515)
Wooden Dump Barge...
PENDING SELLER CONFIRMATIONS (A51219)
PENDING SELLER...
500BBL WHEELED FRAC TANK (A50854)
500BBL WHEELED...
 
Top