My New House & Workshop

[franklin2]

I've nailed quite a few singles in my day. Never thought of it as easy. Not terribly hard, but easy? NO. Also backbreaking for us that are over average height and weight. LOL. That said, I'll never nail another shingle on anything more than a doghouse or small pump house. Everything else will be covered by metal. It's better all the way around, IMO. Lasts longer, better insurance rates and goes on quicker and "easier" if you know what you're doing and looks just as good to me. If you really want shingles, use metal ones. They make those too.

I agree also with the above. I have put on plenty of roofs in my day, those shingles are heavy to get on the roof, and it takes forever to get them nailed down by yourself. Now that I am older, not sure I could do it.

I put my own garage doors up. If you get one over 7ft tall it's considered commercial and the cost goes way up. I never installed them myself before, but I installed 3 in my last garage and it took a little head scratching to get them in there correctly. Later on I got a lift, and the garage door was in the way. I had to make sure I remembered to pull the door down before I lifted the car.

In the building I have now where I modified the trusses, I had a big problem, it had 7ft garage door and once I had all that room in the building for the lift, I had no where for the door to go when it was up. I took 2x4's and made a frame. I then took the old door and screwed the sections flat to the wooden frame, and then put a track on the outside of the building and made a sliding door. This worked out great. No intrusion into the work area, and it's very easy to open just a little bit to walk in without needing to add a personnel door.

 

[Jazzer]

^That was pretty innovative. How did you manage to seal it?

-Jazzer

 

[G8orFord]

Wow, really?

Damn Swype keyboard. I try to catch it's inaccurate guesses, but miss one every now and then.

At least they were singles though, multiples would have been too much work.

 

[97RangerXLT]

This seems appropriate for this thread

 

[Rick W]

@G8orFord said:

I nailed quite a few singles in my day.

Impressive, really, but then:

Never thought of it as easy. Not terribly hard, but easy? NO. Also backbreaking for us that are over average height and weight. LOL. That said, I'll never nail another

Amazing, truly. But he got the job done! Inspiring for us older guys.

I BOW DOWN ! ! ! I’M NOT WORTHY ! ! !

 

[scotts90ranger]

I installed the two metal doors in my shop, the 10x10 almost all by myself and it wasn't bad, there's times when two people help but it wasn't too bad... of course on that door I need to move one of the door tracks over 1/2" since the door latch catches at the corner...

 

[1990RangerinSK]

The front and back sections of the roof, if they taper down like the front, Will be harder to work with, but yes, but it doesn’t give you this flexibility.

View attachment 58681

& to my detractors ;-), of course you shouldn’t have gaps in the 2x4s, I was saying it to demonstrate the strength of the glued plywood plates. Having said that, even with gaps, it would be plenty strong to hold up the roof, but I agree with you it would be better and stronger if there were no gaps.

As an engineer, you should no better than to say "even with a half inch gap it's plenty strong enough". The only thing that matters is BUILDING CODE. An engineer should know that. For the record, I'm pretty sure that any inspector worth his title would take one look at a truss that has a half inch gap between pieces of 2x4, and FAIL IT. An engineer should know that.

Let me be perfectly clear, here: if somebody reads this thread, and builds trusses that have a half inch gap (that is plenty strong enough), and that truss fails, you could be in a WORLD of trouble.

For the record, as a person who is NOT an engineer, I would NEVER trust a piece of 1/2 inch plywood to hold my roof up. I wouldn't even tell somebody that it WOULD.

as regards the asbestos possibility, I was not going to advise anything illegal. Along the way I got all my asbestos certifications and I’ve done tons of abatement. I was simply planting the seed in Jim’s head, so he could take a look and send some pictures, so I could tell him how to get it sampled and removed if necessary at the lowest possible price, like all my advice on this and any other project. Don’t jump too soon boys, I’ve got all of his best interests at heart and I don’t have any dog in the hunt myself, no reason to propose substandard anything. Be calm, the final plan will be that, the final plan!

That lowest possible price bit is a HUGE problem. But the bigger problem is that as somebody who has asbestos certification, you should know, don't EVER tell a customer to "take a sample". You should be telling the customer "call in a professional to take a sample". That's the ONLY right way to deal with it.

 

[Jim Oaks]

In regards to the tile....

It's 12x12. I grabbed and it peeled a square up. Seems to be an old vinyl peel and stick tile.

 

[fastpakr]

As an engineer, you should no better than to say "even with a half inch gap it's plenty strong enough". The only thing that matters is BUILDING CODE. An engineer should know that. For the record, I'm pretty sure that any inspector worth his title would take one look at a truss that has a half inch gap between pieces of 2x4, and FAIL IT. An engineer should know that.

Let me be perfectly clear, here: if somebody reads this thread, and builds trusses that have a half inch gap (that is plenty strong enough), and that truss fails, you could be in a WORLD of trouble.

For the record, as a person who is NOT an engineer, I would NEVER trust a piece of 1/2 inch plywood to hold my roof up. I wouldn't even tell somebody that it WOULD.



That lowest possible price bit is a HUGE problem. But the bigger problem is that as somebody who has asbestos certification, you should know, don't EVER tell a customer to "take a sample". You should be telling the customer "call in a professional to take a sample". That's the ONLY right way to deal with it.

At no point did Rick suggest building it with a half inch gap, or taking a sample himself. In both cases, you've read meanings into his posts that simply aren't there.

 

[Rick W]

@fastpakr

Thank you. Yes, I believe some may be making assumptions and coming to an incorrect conclusion. But I still applaud @1990RangerinSK. He is clearly looking out for Jim, for everyone, and more minds and a few questions are always welcome in the brew. I might suggest, in all situations, the approach may be better like this: “Hey Rick, I have a couple concerns. What about...” & if I’m wrong, I’ll always admit it, and then we can work out a solution.

I’m a thousand miles away with very limited information and I’m not telepathic. Jim has to be my eyes and ears. But once I understand the situation, I will only guide legally and ethically.

But I do dispute any criticism of “lowest cost.” Who doesn’t want lowest cost? Did Wal-Mart and China evaporate before all this? Don’t confuse lowest cost with cheap and substandard or sloppy. I think we all want to know the least expensive legal and ethical way for an adequate solution. Then we can spice it up if we want.

Unfortunately, when folks need help with whatever, some of the “experts” they contact sell them more than what is adequate and legal. A lot more. It’s probably better than adequate, but that should be the client’s decision. All I’m doing here, for a buddy, is trying to go for the least expensive legal and ethical solution, present options, and my gray hairs can maybe streamline the process and save some money. I certainly do not want to undermine the process! Don’t all of you do the same for your friends?

And this may surprise some, but @1990RangerinSK , you keep challenging me! Point out potential flaws and how to do things better. We all learn and do better and it’s good. But, , maybe ask a few questions instead of chopping heads!

All is good, and we’ll have a great party at Jim’s new party shack and laugh about it all!!!

 

[Rick W]

& we need a volunteer with a little free time. Get one of the truss staple plates and cut a piece of 1/2” plywood and cut it to the same size. Then, using the same amount of force, pull on both any way you can in steps, where you increase the amount of force each time.

Know where I’m going? The staple plate will deform way earlier than the plywood, at 10-15% of the force it takes to warp or pull apart the plywood, if you can pull apart the plywood at all!

And then consider how each is attached to the truss members. If the truss gets in a strain, gets twisted, the staple plates will start to pull out, then deform, and then fail. In the same size truss in the same twist with GLUED plywood plates, the truss members will twist split or crack before the plywood.

Staple plates are used because they are a low cost adequate solution and they lend themselves to quick mass production construction to save money (no glue to apply and no time to set). The plywood is the more expensive option and much stronger, but it takes more time.

& you know what? You can have a few gaps in the member fit, and it’ll still be more than adequate. But a little bird told me it’ll be even stronger if you take a little more time and tighten up the gaps

Some of you guys might be thinking “that snotty engineer is making fun of us.” Not at all, on the contrary, I didn’t learn any of this in school or books. I learned it from guys just like y’all working in a hardware store and on construction as a kid, and then from the work crews during my career.

No, this stuff isn’t the reason at all that I’m snotty and arrogant!

 

[rumblecloud]

No, this stuff isn’t the reason at all that I’m snotty and arrogant!

What is the reason?
and

 

[Rick W]

 

[1990RangerinSK]

At no point did Rick suggest building it with a half inch gap, or taking a sample himself. In both cases, you've read meanings into his posts that simply aren't there.

See below:

& you know what? You can have a few gaps in the member fit, and it’ll still be more than adequate. But a little bird told me it’ll be even stronger if you take a little more time and tighten up the gaps

And, now, hear me clearly. No, he didn't say "build it with a few gaps". He said "it will be fine if it has a few gaps". Look, I'm not an engineer, but I an pretty confident that Rick's truss, with "a few gaps between members" WOULD FAIL any inspection.

 

[1990RangerinSK]

@fastpakr

And this may surprise some, but @1990RangerinSK , you keep challenging me! Point out potential flaws and how to do things better. We all learn and do better and it’s good. But, , maybe ask a few questions instead of chopping heads!

Of course I'm challenging you. You gave bad advice. You may think I'm reading something that isn't there, but here's a reality check for you: You have repeatedly said that a half inch gap between structural members of a truss will not lead to that truss being unsafe. You have yet to acknowledge that that half inch gap would result in the truss failing inspection.

However, since you want me to ask questions, here's one: are you a member of The Structural Engineers Association of Georgia (SEAOG)?