Wow. That is very close to what I want to accomplish. If you are really holding all that up with 2x6's as posts then I think what I want to do (use 4x6's as posts) should definitely work.
How did you lift the beams into place?
Basically, my beams will be 16 ft apart rather than your 8', so...
vonhef, thanks for the detailed pictures. I've decided to make mine free-standing (see page 1 of the thread) so I can't really substitute your support ideas on my build.
Besides 3/4" CDX being 3 times the price and 4 times the weight along with it being almost impossible to mud? Nothing, I guess. If I was going to go that route, I'd look to use blows.
Hopefully, over the long weekend, somebody will have the time to let me know whether my plan to use 4x6's everywhere but one post (which will be 6x6) is viable.
Thanks
Chuck, (and others),
Slight correction. I went back and double-checked the calculators and it looks like every one is calling for tripled-2x12's, not just doubled, for the beams.
What I found interesting is that not even FatFenderBowTie's configuration passes muster with every calculator out...
Chuck, (and others)....
Thanks for continuing the discussion. Chuck, when I started the thread I had intended to do just that. One or more comments convinced me (at the time) that minimizing the number of posts was a better long term plan, as it left the lower floor plan as open as possible...
I admit to not understanding the 2x8's mentioned in step 2. If the beams are twinned 2x10' that takes up 3" of the 6x6 (which is really 5.5x5.5). If you then put a 2x8 on each side you have already used 6 full inches. Adding the ledger would mean the ledger is not supported by the posts. So...