Post brackets/#2 Prime lumber

[dajo41]

 Starting to take off here with this project (12x18 little house with 10 foot 2x6 walls with loft and shed dormer) and I have a few questions:

1. Are the USP tripple zinc post brackets as good as the simpson post brackets :question

2. Going to shop around for some douglas fir beams this weekend, but what does- Top choice #2 prime lumber (like lumber at lowes) mean :question are there some lumbers that are equal to D/f if douglas fir is to hard for me to find :question

3. If I was concerned about the load on the six post and pier foundation on my 12x18 as described above, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to add a post and pier to each side for a total of 8 post/piers and space them 4'8" apart :question or would this be over design :question

Thanks, Dan

[John Raabe]

Simpson's Zmax is a metal treatment designed for the newer preservative wood treatments. Hot dipped galvanized is also acceptable but not electroplated zinc.

Adding a post and decreasing the span of the beam makes everything stiffer and the load on the soil lighter.

For structural lumber talk to someone who knows how to read a fiber stress chart and can give you an equivalency to DF #2 or better lumber. This is not hard to do...  

[youngins]

Some relevant technical notes from Simpson:

http://www.strongtie.com/ftp/bulletins/T-PTWOOD06.pdf

http://www.strongtie.com/ftp/bulletins/T-PTBARRIER05.pdf

[dajo41]

Thanks guys, will check it out.