Well it's been awhile since my last post.  Maybe I can bring it up to date some.  Since the recent snowfall of 7" I decided to go back through my thread.  Just wondering who is still around on the CP site?

It's been almost 2 years since my surgery for bladder cancer.  My last followup with the doctors in recent months showed no sign of cancer.  Just dealing with the lifestyle change and trying to retrieve my stamina .

New development on Dogtrot.  This year I noticed that Carpenter bees have attacked my facia boards.  Prior I did notice a few places and built traps but they don't seem to be working as well as I would have liked.  Anyway I attacked the entry holes with various pesticides injecting into the holes.  Immediately I noticed the bees exiting and falling out.  Just hoping that it will kill the larva.  Sprayed the wood with a residual pesticide hopefully to slow down their penetration. 

Try to upload a couple photos.  It appears the woodpeckers attempted to retrieve the larve.  Those places have been repaired since.

I hope everyone is well and have a Happy Holiday.

Tutorial 77 - Mitek vs. Simpson (11:00 min.)

Tutorial 76 - Double Stud Walls (18:03 min.)

Version 4.1.7 - 12.05.2025

Enabled XPS (blue, green, pink and grey), ISO, EPS, GPS, and PU foam insulation within the wall sheathing options.

Version 0.8.5 - 12.05.2025
- Updated the licensing system with an improved algorithm (bug fix for SU 2022 and greater).
- Added a "Deflection Analysis" tool to the main toolbar.
- Added deflection analysis as an option within the beam context menu.
- Updated the "Beams" tab of the Global Settings with various options.

You can exaggerate the deflection to better understand what is happening with the beam.

There's no reason that wouldn't work, but it's probably not cost effective.

I would compare the price of that to a full foundation with a basement, or even a frost protected shallow foundation without the crawl space storage plus a separate building that could serve as garage/workshop/storage.

I did our house as a 4' frost wall with a slab on grade. We have 3 kids now and after building a garage/workshop with attic storage it's doable, but honestly a basement would be nice, and if I could magically trade 20-30k for it right now I would. Although, it below the water table for at least half the year.

Tutorial 75 - Updated Context Menu (5:22 min.)

Version 4.1.6 - 11.30.2025

- Updated the context menus for walls with an "Edit Opening..." option if the selected (right click) wall contains a door, window or garage door.
- Added "Arial Bold" as a font within the Annotation Formatting section of the General tab of the Global Settings.
- Fixed a bug with Single and Double Hung QHQ windows.
- Added a QHQ Double Hung window to the window draw and edit menus.

Version 4.1.5 - 11.29.2025
- Enabled Green, Pink and Grey options for XPS headers and SIP wall panels.
- Added an option in the door draw and edit menus to change the door hardware material/color: None, Brass, Nickel, Bronze, Black, Copper, Gold.
- Updated the file/component loading method for door hardware and shearwall holdowns to increase plugin performance.