North East Texas 40x44 pier & beam

Started by SDD74, July 16, 2013, 06:26:20 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

SDD74

New guy here, my name is Shawn and my wife and I are in the process of building our new home. I have been lurking here for a while and thought I would share my build with you guys. I searched the Internet wor weeks to find a house plan that I liked but the end result was with me and a piece of paper with calipers and a calculator.

The next task at hand was laying it out and drilling holes. In my area the ground is the consistency of concrete. I drilled the holes at an 8' spread north &south and 80" spread east & west
Comes out to be 49 pier holes in the ground about 3' deep

We even managed to get the kids to clean out the holes

After a lot of back and forth on the piers trying to decide what to use we decided we would use telephone poles concreted in the holes.

This is where we stand now. Waiting for some rain to clear out to set some more
I am planning on using 6x6 beams to set on top of those.

John Raabe

Make sure you have worked out all the loads coming down from the roof, floors and walls onto the beams and posts and how they are all connected. This is an important stage to firm up the plan with joist, rafter and beam sizes. Over building can mean money wasted but underbuilding can mean things won't work right or can even fail under heavy loads.

An experienced local builder/designer can tell you what has proved successful in your type of environment and what will be the best value for money spent.

Have you seen this story of another Texas project? http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=11727.50? An owner-builder project hit by lightening - literally!
None of us are as smart as all of us.


SDD74

Well this is why I posted this here. Hoping to get some constructive criticism. I will be using prebuilt roof trusses running the length of the 40' width as well as my floor joist running the same way. I planned on using 2x6 lumber for the floor joist 2' spread with blocking thruout. The walls will be 10' tall. And the roof pitch at a 5/12.  The floor joist will be sitting on top of the 6x6 beams that are running 44' length. I hope this makes sense. If not then I can draw it out and post it. I am always open for advise. I know a little about framing but I have never built a house before.

SDD74


rich2Vermont

Welcome to the forum! I'll defer the load discussion to John but I do have what is probably a minor point to you. You have your porches both at 4 feet wide. In our little house I made the porch 5 feet wide. If the house were bigger, I'd make it even wider. It's relatively easy/cheap extra living space. In any case, good luck with the build!


SDD74

First of all thanks for any and all input. I really appreciate it. I kinda laid it out on paper how the roof trusses and floor joist along with the 6x6 beams. The 6x6 beam are the red lines in the pic. Sorry for the crappy pic it's all I have on hand. And the black lines are the floor joist and the roof truss these will be set at a 2' spread. The 6x6 will be at a 80" spread. All the black circles are where the piers are.

John Raabe

I would agree on the porch sizing - I made my porch 8' and it works well for a group sitting. At 4' there is only room for a chair against the wall and people probably have to step off the porch to walk past you.

Are the loads from the roof trusses coming down on the left and right hand side beams? Is this a one-story house with gable trusses? If so, those are your major load bearing walls and the floor beam will need to be heavier (check locally). Inside of these the beams and piers are only carrying smaller lighter sections of floor load.

The porches (beams and joists) should be done separately since the top of the decking boards will be set lower than the inside finished floor level.
None of us are as smart as all of us.

SDD74

Yes this is a single story and the load from the trusses will be on the left and right side of the house. I also have the the interior walls at 12' and 28' from the left side running the length of the house. Do these walls not play a role in roof support as well? If not then should I add more piers on the side or a larger beam. Yes the porches are small but they will have to do for now. Yes the trusses are gable trusses. John thanks for taking the time to discuss this with me.

John Raabe

The easy way to do this is with full span trusses bearing on the outside walls. That leaves the interior free and open with no bearing walls. Check with the truss company as they may have other suggestions.

There is a pretty substantial load on those right and left walls. I did a quick back-of-the-envelope calculation on the beam size (which should be checked locally) and came up with a built-up beam of 4 2x12s or a 6x12 beam (but not two stacked 6x6s).
None of us are as smart as all of us.


SDD74

Wow that's a huge beam. Thank you so much for the help. I will talk to the truss mfg about spreading the load on the interior walls

John Raabe

Yes, each of those sidewalls is carrying 1/2 of all the weight that will ever come down from the roof (both dead loads such as the weight of the roof structure) and any wind or snow that will ever accumulate over the lifetime of the building.

Here is cabin building a book I recently dug up that might be helpful:

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=13160.0
None of us are as smart as all of us.