20' x 20' Sun Room Adition on Piers

Ernest T. Bass · July 16, 2009, 10:37:46 PM

Hey, Folks... Just thought I'd share my latest project with you; an addition onto a modular home for a friend. The two of us, along with another carpenter went from undisturbed soil to shingles in about a week... A little faster pace than I'm used to.

We didn't take a whole lot of pics, but I'll share what I've got.

Setting the floor joists.. The concrete piers are spaced 6' oc, and have a 20'' footer below the frost line. We shimmed the beams in place and simply hung the sonotubes with wire from them. Worked real good without any fussing over braces and such. It was a little tricky filling the tubes as they are only 8'' diameter, and the beams cover half of that.

Walls framed, LVLs in place and rafters set.

Lot's of windows! The room will be separated from the main house with french doors, so it will probably be kept cooler in the winter to avoid lots of heat loss.

All wrapped in, sheathed and shingled.

Facia... I was pretty pleased with my first effort, if I do say so myself.

Current status. Just needs windows, siding, insulation, electrical, t&g paneling and carpet and she'll be all done..

Redoverfarm · July 16, 2009, 10:51:12 PM

Looks like you made good time on this one. Faster than the log one huh.

July 16, 2009, 11:09:32 PM

Yeah.. It was fun to do something different, but speed isn't everything. I can put a puzzle of the Mona Lisa together faster than I can paint an equivalent, but that doesn't make it as rewarding.

secordpd · July 17, 2009, 12:30:02 PM

I like how you did the piers, I'm getting ready to do mine and I might try that trick rather then the stakes, or at least make a template of the beam with a couple 2x6 and spacers in between to make sure its all lined up...then stake the tubes.. I wish you guys were here to help me, i wish mine could go up that fast......

Ernest T. Bass · July 17, 2009, 01:29:58 PM

I was real happy with the foundation system... We attached the anchor brackets to the beams ahead of time and wired them directly to the rebar in the form tubes. There was no need for a transit or water level, or even strings to get everything straight. Getting the floor square was also super easy, as we started by nailing all of the joists/rims together and securing the joist brackets to the beams only. The brackets keep the joists lined up but still allow you to get the floor absolutely square before nailing it off.

July 17, 2009, 06:04:46 PM

What is the ridge beem in your roof made of ? Is that a big TGI? Nice job.

Mark

Ernest T. Bass · July 17, 2009, 06:56:56 PM

Thanks. The ridge is doubled 1 3/4''x16'' LVLs.

2zwudz · July 18, 2009, 09:00:05 AM

Sorry but here comes a STUPID QUESTION.....what does the LVLs stand for??

Sorry Mark

Don_P · July 18, 2009, 11:39:34 AM

Hi Sorry Mark, my sister always said I should have one of those "Slow Children" signs printed on my T shirts

. I'm just picking, there's not too awful many stupid questions

LVL- Laminated Veneer Lumber, microllam, think plywood with the grain of all the veneers running lengthwise in the beam, there are no crossbands. Roughly twice as strong and stiff as sawn dimensional lumber and available in longer and deeper sticks.

PSL- Parallell Strand Lumber, parallam- think osb with all the chips oriented along the length of the beam, roughly equicalent to LVL's strengthwise, heavier and usually used in full beam dimension rather than being built up of multiple plies. These can be heavy!

Glulam- Basically a stack of 2x lumber glued together flatways to make up a beam of sufficient depth. Always used one piece of full beam dimension, heavy but not as heavy as parallam. NEVER buy a used glulam and rip it down to a smaller size for reuse, I've seen it done. The laminations contain different grades of material with the strongest on the upper and lower faces where stresses are higher. Ripping one down puts high stress on weaker wood, not good.

And another alphabet soup, OSB, Oriented Strand Board. Flakes of wood laid up and glued together much the same as plywood with the face grains oriented along the length of the sheet and internal flakes laid up across the sheet as crossbands. The length of the sheet goes across rafters and joists and never with them, this is often misunderstood, it does have a strength axis.

HTH