Your thoughts on this framing job

[Oldoak]

You get more thermal transfer with the steel which significantly lowers the R rating of insulation.

That is the main reason, among others, that I would never accept metal studding in a residential house. Never in my home, that is.

 

[lilranch2001]

The vertical walls were built with a hinge in the middle, of course it failed. Continuous framing members are required from the floor to the roof. They built in a sill plate in the middle. Are building permits required where this was built?

Exactly

 

[TractorGuy]

I dont.know about the concrete. I hope it's right. I see a seam at the door that makes me hope its correct. With the catastrophic failure of the framing, everything should be checked. The house is outside city limits, so there is no permit required, which means that there is no code.

Better not get caught building or adding on in our county without a permit.

 

[EddieWalker]

Better not get caught building or adding on in our county without a permit.

Here in Texas, at least where I live, each city has it's own rules. Most just follow the International Building Code, but some have their own little twists to it that you have to be aware of when getting your inspections. Outside of city limits, there is no code other then septic, and that's all done on National Law, or something like that. I haven't come across a County that had any sort of Permit process, or Code requirements. This is both good and bad. Good that we can do what we want on our land, bad that you never know what you are buying when you buy a house outside of city limits.

 

[GLyford]

As to the collar ties, it looks like they had a ridge beam (not just a single convenience nailer) that was supported all the way to the floor, that is often an acceptable substitute for rafter ties or collar beams. Hurricane straps across the ridge fastened through the sheathing into the rafter pairs is recommended to help with uplift.

I used a supported ridge on my much smaller porch, but I also added a couple of roughsawn collar beams. Since they are redundant, their size did not matter (they are full dimension 2x10s) and one could technically call them decorating. My inspector did not mind at all that they were lagged in, though.

 

[turnkey4099]

Sure it does. If you sheath with plywood or OSB, there is no need for diagonal braces. Common practice today is to fully sheath walls since OSB is readily available and cheap. However, I'm old enough to remember when the old style insulation boards (what were they called?) were used for sheathing. You could either add cross bracing or you could use a sheet of plywood at each corner.

Yep, you are correct. Now I recall that from a correspondence course I took back in the 60s. However, there should have been at least a fiew temporary diagonals.

 

[turnkey4099]

Here in Texas, at least where I live, each city has it's own rules. Most just follow the International Building Code, but some have their own little twists to it that you have to be aware of when getting your inspections. Outside of city limits, there is no code other then septic, and that's all done on National Law, or something like that. I haven't come across a County that had any sort of Permit process, or Code requirements. This is both good and bad. Good that we can do what we want on our land, bad that you never know what you are buying when you buy a house outside of city limits.

One odd one that I recall here was the requirement that any window within ?3 ft? of a door had to be safety glass. I got called on that when I rebuilt a back porch in the 90s. I still don't know what purpose that serves.

 

[pmsmechanic]

One odd one that I recall here was the requirement that any window within ?3 ft? of a door had to be safety glass. I got called on that when I rebuilt a back porch in the 90s. I still don't know what purpose that serves.

My guess would be that if you have a package your carrying through the doorway or something of that nature and you tap your window that it won't break into shards of glass.

 

[pmsmechanic]

One odd one that I recall here was the requirement that any window within ?3 ft? of a door had to be safety glass. I got called on that when I rebuilt a back porch in the 90s. I still don't know what purpose that serves.

My guess would be that if you have a package your carrying through the doorway or something of that nature and you tap your window that it won't break into shards of glass.

 

[lilranch2001]

Sure it does. If you sheath with plywood or OSB, there is no need for diagonal braces. Common practice today is to fully sheath walls since OSB is readily available and cheap. However, I'm old enough to remember when the old style insulation boards (what were they called?) were used for sheathing. You could either add cross bracing or you could use a sheet of plywood at each corner.

Celotex?
I think my dad used to call it beaverboard as well