Confirming the Last Measurements for Our W8×18 Steel Beam
Friday, March 26th, 2010Bryan was at the job site early this morning to confirm the last measurements for our steel beam. Then, off to Watsonville to pick up 4 of our 20 remilled wooden beams from the original house. And, finally, a stop at Peninsula Building Materials for our Simpson Strong Tie connectors.
And, it was a beautiful, blue-sky California day.
Confirming the Last Measurements for Our W8×18 Steel Beam
Bryan worked with Francisco Espinoz (Earth Bound Homes) to confirm the locations of the steel plates on our W8×18 steel beam. These 1/4-inch steel plates will connect the 4×6 and 6×6 posts to the 6×6 wooden beam that supports the upper-level flat SIP roof.
The spacing of these posts will establish the width of the clerestory windows, so it is important to get the correct dimensions. As noted yesterday, we want to have a ‘clean’ and simple look, with minimal trim around the windows, so there isn’t any room to hide measurement or fabrication errors.
Picking Up Our Original Wooden Beams in Watsonville
We deconstructed the roof of the original house nail-by-nail, board-by-board and beam-by-beam. All of the 2×6 T&G Redwood decking and 4x Douglas Fir beams were trucked to Jackel Enterprises in Watsonville on October 8 and October 9, 2008 for milling.
Today, Nik and Bryan went to Watsonville to take a detailed inventory of the 20 4x remilled Douglas Fir beams and bring the first of those original beams to the project site to go back into the roof structure.
They measured each of the beams and selected 4 of the 20 beams to use under the Paralam ridge beams supporting the gable roofs. The structural design of the gables is for a 6×6 post to support either 7.00 x 16.00 Paralam or 5.25 x 16 Paralam beams. In order to see wood, we are putting the non-structural Douglas Fir beams under the structural Paralam beams.
Since the framing team is ready to construct the ridge assembly, we needed to retrieve the original beams from storage at Jackel Enterprises’ warehouse facility in Watsonville.
After delivering the original beams to the job site, Bryan went to Peninsula Building Materials‘ Sunnyvale yard to pick up our of Simpson Strong Tie CCQs, ECCQs and AC6 connectors. Obtaining these structural components is now on the critical path for completing the roof.
Tom Regan of Peninsula Building Materials had visited our job site a couple weeks ago as he wanted to be part of our project. We had obtained our five Hardy Frames from Peninsula on Friday, February 12. It is good to have Peninsula on our team.
View of the components at the corner of the concrete wall between the Garage and the Atrium. This is a critical area for transferring lateral forces from the roof assembly to the concrete foundation (shear wall).
Measuing the distance between the beams so the posts can be spaced evenly, resulting in the same size clerestory windows around the Atrium.
The opening in the Atrium is 20 ft 2 inches, so the center of the first post will be at 60-1/2 inches. Since the steel beam starts at 49-1/2 inches, the center of the steel plates will be 11 inches from the South end of the steel beam.
Our truck waiting (patiently) to be loaded.
Our 20 4x Douglas Fir beams from the original house. After taking a complete inventory, Bryan and Nik selected the first four beams to take to the project site today (marked with red tape).
Loading the beams on our truck.
Nik, stretching to ensure the 30 ft long beams are secured to the truck.
Going to Peninsula Building Materials' yard in Sunnyvale to pick up the Simpson Strong Tie connectors.
Scott Andersen noted that our conduit was not marked clearly and it could be a safety hazard. We had it marked in red tape. Look OK now?
