Hello, good forum with lots of great information.
I have a question regarding foundation pier spacing. We are currently designing our home - it is a mostly square house (Craftsman style), single story, measuring across the front 44'6" and depth 42'8". Exterior walls will be 2X6 and interior 2X4. I am working on the foundation and floor joist plan at this time. I am supervising / sub-ing out the construction but will not be "swinging a hammer".
The foundation will be cement block, 4" pier curtain wall, with a continous footing for exterior wall and individual footings for crawl space piers. Floor joists run front to rear. We want the crawl space to be at least 4 blocks high. (I hate low crawl spaces)
I am unsure of the pier spacing within the crawl space, of course not counting exterior foundation walls. By spacing I mean beginning from front wall to first row of piers to second row, etc, and distance between piers withn a row.
Is the spacing of piers begining from the front wall dependent only on the size, wood type and length of floor joist spans allowed by code?
Thanks in advance for any ideas of answers. By the way we are building according to North Carolina Code.
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Is the spacing of piers begining from the front wall dependent only on the size, wood type and length of floor joist spans allowed by code?
I a nut shell yes . Your joist size will drive the spacing of your beams . If you use "I" joist I'd recommend NOT using there max span guide , they (the joist) tend to bounce if spanned to the manf. max possible , I like to reduce the span generally by 2 to 4 feet. Beams are "realitively" cheap in the whole sceam of the cost.
G/L Welcome to the forum.
PEG
Normally loads will be calc'd by an engineer or architect for your particular set of plans.
Welcome to the forum.
Thanks PEG and Glenn for your reply and comments. Now we can move on to other items in this project.
A little history - we are building ( our retirement home) in the foothills of NC on 35 acres. The bldg lot is about 1,500 ft from the main road. We built the road ourselves. clearing trees, digging ditches, grading, etc. The elevation goes from 700 feet at the highway to 1,100 feet at the ridge where the house will be located. This sharp incline enables a great view west back to the mountains and then east toward the piedmont and Charlotte about 35 miles away. I like to call it our "Seclusion in the Confusion" of the mad growth taking place in this part of the country.
We have a few large mining prospects, pre- civil war era, one identified Indian trail on the ridge (across our front yard) and several old mining trails. Our project includes the house, of course, a family chapel, and a barn/shop.
I look forward to participating in this forum. I am sure we will have some questions but may also be able to offer a tip here and there.
Thanks again,
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I look forward to participating in this forum.
I am sure we will have some questions but may also be able to offer a tip here and there.
Thats what we like to hear , more participating less lurking ;D
Oh ya your welcome 8-)
To learn a bit more about how floor joists, spans and beams are designed do a site search on "load trace".
Here is one link to an overview description:
http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1177698128
John I did the searches as you recommended and found a load of info. It appears our house will be well within the code range. I have read that most single story houses are quite light anyway and most code load requirements are actually overkill because of worry about poor soil conditions which never get tested.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Now it is onto the roof layout and design. :-/