i joists

[tesa]

our i joists are going to run $1.85 per linear foot

20' joists 16" oc for a total of 32 joists, plus blocking for a total of $1240

using lumber it would cost us apx. $1150

now heres my ?

i'm not sure which material is better for us, beginners that we are, and 'po folk to boot

since those 2x12x20's are special order, will they make sure they'r tru, or will we have to order
an extra 10 incase some of them aren't usalbe, i've seen lots of people diggin' thru the 2x's till
they found that just perfect stick, my budget can't allow for too much of that when the item
is 30 bucks a pop and special order
my theory in choosing the I joists was that they would be straight, and true, and ready to roll

IF home depot could guarantee that i could use all 32 of them with no problems i might be
willing to go that route

thoughts??

tesa

[Onkeludo2]

I-Joists are usually "perfect" as delivered.  This is one the biggest attractions.  The others are available lengths (longer) lighter and easier (marginally) to run utilities through.  For me, the best advantage is they almost always come with an engineering and cut sheets/drawings!

Disadvantages are few but significant.  They MUST be blocked correctly and sheeted before they will develop full their strength...it is part of the system.  They are floppy which can make some installations difficult.  Lastly, they do not like extended exposure to weather.

From most lumber yards, these also come rough length so unless you are really good with circular saw, you will have to build a very simple jig to square one end and cut them to final length.  I found them very easy to use except for the floppiness of 32' x 16" deep I-Joists.

If you have a non-big-box lumber yard anywhere within 50 miles, this and your roof trusses are absolutely something that makes sense to get from them...actually an entire lumber package is normally plus or minus 10% of HD's best offer and you can often specify how they delivery the load (first stuff you are going to use on top).  Their pros tend to be real pros as well...wealth of information.

Mike

[MountainDon]

With the prices so close I'd tend to go with the I-joists. The likelihood of getting each and every 2x12 perfect is not 100%. Keep in mind though that you can order a few extras and use the worst ones to cut for joist blocking. That's what I did. I also got lucky and had very nice 2x's delivered.

Ask if the I-joist pricing includes blocking and proper rim joists. I-joist sizing usually does not follow the dimensional lumber sizing.

[tesa]

my plans call for three 10' lenthgs of the i joist for blocking,

i should call back and ask if that price includes proper blocking? maby they'll throw that in 'cause i'm cute??  LOL

what do you mean "proper rim joists"? is that another special type thing i need from them? (the i joist company, or HD?)

tesa

[MountainDon]

Sorry, I should have re-read what you posted, you said blocking was included.   



rim joists...   I'm at a disadvantage as I do not know what John has drawn for using the I-joists. I'm also making comments without a full load of knowledge on these joists. Maybe if you have a look at the plan sheets and then one or more of these websites you can get things to make sense....

http://www.lpcorp.com/

http://www.apawood.org/level_b.cfm?content=prd_joi_main

http://www.ilevel.com/

[tesa]

i did a google search using john's item number off the plans, and that exact website came up!

looks like i'm gonna be calling HD back in the morning, and getting a price on those as well

dimentional lumber might be the way we go if these get too costly, but as you can see so far,
the numbers are fairly close

yet more number crunchin' for me

tesa