Recent content by Snap50

Prefab trusses are Never overdesigned. That is the point of economy. One-thousand pounds is alot for a 24' truss, presumably spaced at 2 feet o/c. That is more than 2/3 of the required snow load on my town here in the northeast.

With your unbraced beam lateral buckling failure is the concern and greatly reduces the beam's carrying capacity. I didn't run the calcs but assuming what others have advised is correct, you want to secure the ends so the beam is restricted from rotating and movement and be careful how you load...

You've got some structural issues with that cross section. You need plywood sheathing on the roof and walls and not the nailers at 2' o/c. You need a nailing surface for the roofing and wall siding not to mention that without sheathing (plywood,OSB etc, not insulation) on the roof and walls you...

There is really no limit on the grade differential if you properly design the foundation and get a contractor who knows how to compact structural fill, preferably a commercial contractor. The structural fill is not your average soil and you might have to have the appropriate material trucked in...

Any current code?

Not big; motorbike sizes.

Looking for a quality whitworth combo wrench set. No asian imports please.

It always amazes me what lack of knowledge residential construction exhibits.

You are pretty much guaranteed to get cracks where the haunch meets the slab; going from thick to thin is a no-no for slabs. Around here, there is no choice but to go to the frost line. It's code, even for things as insignificant as deck piers, so it's best to know ahead of time rather than...

Wow, I bet those wheels are tough on the concrete. You definitely don't want a thin overpour. I'm thinking it's going to break up, delaminate and fall apart. I think you need to do some research on the requirements for steel wheeled vehicles.

Concrete actually gets much strength from crushed stone. That being said, concrete mix is a finely calculated mixture of cement, sand stone, water and in some cases (commercial) chemicals that enhance the workability endurance of the concrete. I said finely calculated because you can not...

Isn't the material usually hardened? Wouldn't that make manipulation of the material difficult and prone to overheating damage?

I wouldn't do anything but concrete all the way. Just a concrete footing under block or brick has very little capacity to act as a beam to bridge soft spots (which may be deeper that you dig, so unknown to you) because it is so shallow. Beam action is much greater in deeper members (think 2"x4"...

Thanks for the input. The consensus is that the ball ends are handy but use the full hex end to sock it down.

Interested in hearing opinions on ball end vs standard full section in regards to L Hex keys, or what I call Allen wrenches. It would seem that the market for the non-ball ends seems to be fading, but I would think that they would be preferred in the larger sizes where one exerts a bit of...