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    Shear Collapse or Vertical Failure

    Joe: If I understand your elaborate graphic correctly, that’s neither “a shear collapse or vertical failure,” although it might have lead to a vertical failure or bldg. movement. That 3' high cripple wall just rolled over, it had essentially hinge connections at the top and the bottom plates...
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    Beams Supporting purlin braces

    Thanks ICE, I’ll do that..... He seems to have the exact same question.
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    Beams Supporting purlin braces

    Durant: What is a beam supporting purlin braces in an attic? If you are using manufactured wood products you want to use the load tables from that manuf’er. because there are minor variations in the products and processes which affect the mechanical section properties and the allowable...
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    Roof frame pics to make you smile

    The birds mouth on a rafter bearing, on a wall top plate, is not a notch in this discussion because of the way the stress act on the member at the point of what obviously looks like a notch to all of us. The eave overhand puts the member in compression at the reentrant corner of the notch, that...
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    Retaining wall question

    Sifu: That does seem to be one hell of a job to be doing some of your learning on. Not much support from your superiors, maybe because they don’t know what they are doing, a kinda screwed up set of criteria about what you should or shouldn’t have some authority over. And then to top it off...
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    Retaining wall question

    Sifu: The question might be, would a retaining wall failure undermine the house foundation, or do harm to another’s property? It sure will take out that parking slab, or garage slab if that’s what it’s intended to be. I don’t think you will find anything in any code which says you shouldn’t...
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    Floor openings IRC

    Yup..., less than 4", so a kid with small ears can’t get his/her head btwn. the boards. That’s what the code writers were worried about.
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    Lateral Tension Device

    These prescriptive codes are driving me crazy. We will never be able to prescribe the perfect magnitude for loading or whatnot and the perfect detail for every conceivable condition that someone could come up with. Someone who knows what the heck he/she is doing has to be able to make a good...
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    Deck stair stringers

    Fatboy: The argument/discussion might go something like this... The stair stringers act kinda like rafters against a ridge board (rim jst.) and on an ext. brg. wall (the support at grade). That rim jst. better be strong enough to take the thrust and so should the support at the bottom of the...
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    Deck stair stringers

    ICE: Regarding your post #15: “The holes are always in the same place.” Since you were so emphatic, I trust that you guarantee this. And that it applies to all models of all joist hangers, by all product manufacturers, under all situations. Otherwise, it’s a profound profundity that...
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    Deck stair stringers

    Codeworks: I like your approach. Do a little teaching and explaining along the way, it doesn’t really take that much more time and effort. Explain why the code requires it this way, assuming you know, and you should, or you have a heck of a time convincing the other guy of the importance of...
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    Deck stair stringers

    The nails or screws should be the proper quantity, length and shank diameter for the hardware and application. Per the hardware manuf’ers. tables for a given (tabulated) allowable load. And, new nails in existing, pre-drilled, screw holes of unknown size are not worth a damn. It might be...
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    Roof frame pics to make you smile

    Globe trekker: The dangling tit that DRP suggests cutting off serves no purpose and hurts nothing. The reentrant corner is already there and that’s the danger point. By removing the dangling tit he allows the 2x4 to be inserted, which now does a better job of supporting the heel of the...
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    Bearing location

    Sifu: In your photo, you are measuring the critical depth of the notch correctly, parallel to the member depth, square to the t&b edges; from 7.5" at bot. edge, to 6.25" at the reentrant corner, or 1.25" notch depth. I can about sketch on that photo how that member will split up its length...
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    Bearing location

    Sifu: You’ve just made my point about a complete question, with enough info. so the real problem can be discussed, with your last post. Look at how you have expanded the info. and scope of the problem from your OP. The trick always is knowing how much detail and info. is enough. A brief OP...
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    Bearing location

    Sifu: So far, I think we are talking about several different things. I think your OP was asking ‘what is the span length of a beam or jst., a spanning member?’ Do I measure this from inside to inside of bearing points/surfaces (the clear span) , or from center to center of the bearings? But...
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    Bearing location

    Since your question lacks much in the way of specifics; I would say it depends on whether you are talking about ball bearings, spherical roller bearings or journal bearings. It might also be that this doesn’t have much bearing on your real problem, you just didn’t splain it well.
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    stabilizing a very old house. HELP

    Daddy-O: What is the foundation below the 14x12" sill beam, and what is its condition? Draw a full height wall section sketch, showing framing above, dimensions, etc. I assume some of these ext. walls have floor framing above running parallel to the ext. wall, thus fairly lightly loaded...
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    roof pitch

    I think DRP has it exactly right, without putting exact numbers on the problem. When you raise the ties you increase the tie tension forces (thrust reactions) for equilibrium of the roof system, thus making the tie to rafter connection more difficult to make adequately and more likely to be a...
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    roof pitch

    Sifu: The mix-up is that you didn’t define your problem very well in your OP. DRP’s rafter thrust calculator is for a symmetrical gable roof system. It will show you how trust is related to roof slope all else being equal. Your’s is not symmetrical, with two different rafter slopes and a...
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    Notching jack studs?

    MikeC: I completely agree with Rogerpa’s thinking on this detail, and he has laid the thought process out very nicely. Except I wouldn’t say “think outside the box,” rather I would say he’s applying a little common sense, being practical, seeing what he can do to make it work, however dumb it...
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    Plant Shelf & Guard Rail Requirement

    Gary: It’s not so much a matter of “thinking like others....,” it’s a matter of using some common sense and then a bunch of smart people will generally come to about the same conclusion. But, the use of common sense is pretty uncommon these days. Why is it that if something isn’t explicitly...
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    deck ledger through veneer

    GPExam: That Arch’s. detail is not a good detail. The primary problem with any ledger or canopy attachments through brick veneer is the potential of imparting lateral loads on the veneer perpendicular to the plane of the veneer, either tension or compression; then secondly that lateral loads...
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    2012 IRC Deck Attachment

    Daddy-O: I did understand that this was a local addendum to the IRC, but now others have expressed like mind. It seems to me that the real intent of this must be to force free standing decks, which can be every bit as problematic, from the stability standpoint, as a deck connected to the bldg...
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    2012 IRC Deck Attachment

    Daddy-O: Do you really mean a treated band board or rim jst.? You won’t find that on many houses, will you? Or do you mean a treaded ledger board affixed directly the house rim jst., and properly flashed? Certainly, the free standing deck structure requires more attention to design and...
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