Al and Robins 20x30 1 1/2 near Lake Eufaula, OK

[ajbremer]

I forgot to add a picture from iLevels specs about i joists connecting to each other perpendicularly:
(Pic coming soon)

[Rensmif]

AL - I am really enjoy your build and learning a lot from your project.  Your trials and errors have helped us all.

I have been concerned about weather/water damage for you without it having a roof, you mentioned a while back that some of the OSB siding was a lil swollen from rain, I am guessing the advantech is holding up well (please update on how it is holding up BTW).

My question/concern is now that you have installed the loft I-joists (good progress photos BTW), how do you plan on protecting them from water damage until you have your house dryed in.  They are load bearing floors and dont have the protection that Advantech offers and I dont believe they will be nearly as forgiving in dealing with the elements.

[ajbremer]

Thursday Late Afternoon - April 26th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Thanks for your comment rensmif, it's great to hear from you and I appreciate your helpfulness and concerns.

That Advantech is holding up really good. The 'very minor' lift-up of just a couple of very thin layers in a couple places don't have me worried. There were a few spots in my floor that weren't perfectly level so the water would stay there and puddle after a rain (a very shallow puddle). In those 2 or 3 places I simply drilled a small hole in the floor so the water would drain, those holes are probably only about 1/4" in diameter. I'm going to cover the Advantech sub-floor with osb (I guess 1/2" or so) after the roof is on. From there, I'll decide what I'll want for my finish floor.

As far as those loft i joist getting wet, your right, I sure don't want them totally soaked and continually rained on. I'm almost done with the loft i joists and then I'll put Advantech on top of them. Then the Advantech will get wet and not the i joists...at least not too wet. Another thing I thought of was that since the osb portion of the i joists are vertical, the rain should run down them and water should not accumulate anywhere near that part of the i joist. Bottom line is: I hope it don't rain too much.

Thanks again Rensmif, now it's time for me to see how many more i joists I can get up before dark. Have a great weekend sir.

[ajbremer]

Friday Morning - April 27th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Well, I got in 2 more nook loft i-joists last night. Two more to go there, 1 more on the top of the main loft wall, and then 3 - 12 footers for the catwalk runners that will meet perpendicular to both lofts. Then I'll put a post and beam under the center of the nook loft i joist.

When all that's done, I'll cover it all up with 3/4" Advantech.

I have also made plans to beef up the area under the exact center of the build, the center pier. This area is where that middle ridge beam post will sit on top of, I want total solid support going right into the ground and concrete. I'm going to gang 2x6's together to make a center post that will hold the middle of the ridge beam. That post will be just the same as the 2 end ridge beam support posts.

Remember, my build is a weird type of angle iron pier and beam. The exact middle pier is 4" x 4" x 1/4" galvanized angle iron going 3' into the ground in a hole 3 foot deep by at least 2' square filled with 8 to 10 bags of 80# quikrete. A type of girder is used going down the middle by way of 2 - 2x12's screwed to the vertical angle iron and sitting on horizontal angle iron, everything is braced and welded also. The 2x12 pressure treated joists run perpendicular and on top of that girder with blocking between the joists and then the Advantech on top of all that.

I'm going to screw and weld a small steel platform that will sit right under the Advantech and right under that middle ridge beam post above. I also don't want that middle ridge beam post to just sit on top of the Advantech floor so I'll be slipping a steel plate between the post and the floor, it will be just a little bigger than the footprint of the post.

So to sum things up from top to bottom: I'll have the middle of the ridge beam sitting on the top of the middle ridge beam post, the bottom of the middle ridge beam post will sit on a plate of steel, Advantech under that, and another steel plate screwed and welded to the angle iron below that.

Here's a picture of that exact middle angle iron pier I'm talking about:
(Pic coming soon)


Ok, enough about that middle pier. Here's what has been done with those nook loft i joists:
(Pic coming soon)

(Pic coming soon)

[ajbremer]

Friday Night - April 27th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Worked into the night with a little mag-lite in my mouth while nailing. All of my nook loft i joists are in now. Tomorrow morning I'll put the last i joist on top of the other side interior wall. Then I'll put 3 more i joists perpendicular to the other loft ends along with i joist hangers in order to make the catwalk.

I'm getting excited now about putting the Advantech floor down on all of the loft area and then getting up there to see how it looks and feels. I'm also looking forward to camping out up there all night under the stars.

Wow, to think that all this framing will one day be behind me and I'll be onto other systems...what a thought!

[Sassy]

It's all coming along nicely!  Hey, get yourself one of those headlights - then you can be hands free - they're less than $5 at Harbor Freight & not much more than that at Lowes etc. 

[ajbremer]

Hi Sassy,

Hey, good hearing from you. I had one of those caps with a clicker that went from high beam to low beam, to both beams. It was cool but I lost it. I keep my mag-lite in my pocket so it's never been lost.

When it begins to get dark I start to finish up on the build. I get cautious about all the noise I make. I think of my neighbors and how they must want peace and quit some times. Man, when your pounding with a hammer, turning on and off the circular and table saw, and throwing wood around it gets kind of loud and I'm pretty sure it resonates throughout my area pretty far. People around me have been hearing me build now for many months so I try to create some peace and quiet once and awhile.

Well, it's almost day break right now so I'm going to stop creating peace and quiet pretty soon!

[rick91351]

........................snip
Well, it's almost day break right now so I'm going to stop creating peace and quit pretty soon!

That is a good one..............

[jackel440]

I can't believe how amazing it is that your rv is almost identical to the one that my cabin is replacing.

I wanted to ask if you know that there needs to be a taper to the sill under the window so that any moisture or water leaks can then leak out the bottom of the window and down your house wrap.I applied a tapered shim to my sill ,and then applied my 4" wide window sealing tape.That way there is a damn that keeps the any water from penetrating into the interior.
I think you and your wife are dong a great job!
Keep up the good work

[ajbremer]

Saturday Night - April 28th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Got the nook loft i joists in and supported by a post and beam. Shims are between the beam and i joists. A 2x6 is under the end of the beam holding it up and it is nailed to the wall, actually nailed to the east ridge beam post. Yes, it may be a weird thing once the inside wall boards are put on but I'll make it look nice.

Also, I trapped the bottom of the post by nailing strips of osb around it. The post isn't actually nailed to the floor yet. I think I'm going to Lowes to look for some kind of Strong-Tie attachment that is made for such a configuration...any ideas on that?

Here are the pictures: (Pics coming soon)

[dablack]

Where, the three middle Ijoists hit the wall, it looks like they are floating.  It doesn't look like there is anything under them?  Are they just nailed to the outside OSB?

[ajbremer]

Hi dablack,

Thank you for checking out my posts.

None of the Ijoists are floating, they are nailed to filler blocks which in turn are nailed to sistered studs in the wall cavities. This happens on each end of every Ijoist.

A horizontal block goes between wall cavity studs and sits on top of the sistered stud. I apply a vertical block under the horizontal block just for nailing purposes on the end opposite the Ijoist. I nail the Ijoist to the stud with 4 or 5 10d nails through its osb portion. Then I put 2 nails at a 45 degree on the bottom outward Ijoist flange and also another nail at 45 degrees through the top flange and into the stud.

If you look back through a few of my past posts, you'll see some good pictures of how I do this. In fact, I'll include one here:
(Pic coming soon)

[dablack]

Ok Great!  Just wanted to make sure.  The ones above the window appear to be floating.  It must be the camera angle. 

[ajbremer]

Friday Afternoon - May 4th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Got ridgebeam post #3 up today, final and last post that is right in the center of the build.

Now I'll run an i joist beside it to begin the catwalk i joist runners. This weekend I hope to put in all the 3/4" flooring up there on the loft.
(5 pics coming soon)

[ajbremer]

Monday Morning - May 7th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Started to lay my floor down up on the loft. I have all of the I joists installed, even the 3 I joists that I'm using as runners for the catwalk. They're connected by way of I joist hangers using backing and filler blocks.

I'm going to make sure that I lay my sub-floor about 18" past the point of perpendicularity at both ends of the catwalk. There would be a weak hinge point if I laid the sub-floor with the ends meeting up with the main lofts sub-floor. Here's an illustration showing the catwalk in the middle and how the floor sheets meet up with one another:
(Pic coming soon)


I had to be sure I had that first I joist straight, perpendicular, and up against that middle ridge beam post so I made a little device that would let me slip my I joist in and slide it back and forth. That way, I could easily get it right where I wanted it without having to make a long string-line across the whole build. What I mean by that is that I could have put a string-line on each end ridge beam post and then marked that line on the 2 outer loft I joists and go from there. BUT, that would have required me to walk the I joists up top with string and I didn't want to do that.

Here's a picture of the first catwalk I joist being positioned by way of that slider thingy I made:
(Pic coming soon)

[MountainDon]

Maybe I don't understand the way the sheets are laid out?  I'm thinking I think I would have tried very hard to overlap the joint between the loft areas and the catwalk with a full sheet and then spread out across each loft from there.

If you're not that far along consider it... otherwise it's a note for readers and future projects.

[ColchesterCabin]

Funny MountainDon you woud say that as I was looking at his loft picture with the 4x8 sheets of ply and was wondering if it would be best to overlap the loft and catwalk. Good to know as mu build progresses.

[suburbancowboy]

Have you thought of using 2X6 T&G on the second floor?  It then becomes the ceiling for the first floor.  That is what I did in mine.  Here is what it looks like on my catwalk.

[ajbremer]

Monday Night - May 7th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Thank you suburbancowboy, your catwalk looks really strong! Nice to hear from you too ColchesterCabin. Also, thank you again Mountain Don.

I do show that I'm overlapping the joint between the loft and the catwalk in my drawing, it's not 1/2 a sheet though. Instead of overlapping the joint by 48" (1/2 a sheet), I overlapped the first joint only 18". The other end I'll do 1/2 a sheet.

I'm going to be adding bracing under each side of the catwalk edges.

[MountainDon]

OK, it becomes more clear....

I erased the lines that made it confusing (to me).



Is this what you mean?

[ajbremer]

Hi Don,

Yes, exactly - I should have drawn it more clearly - in a rush to get to work - got switched to the night shift so I now work hard all morning and then go to work. Thank you Don.

[ColchesterCabin]

If your catwalk or bridge whichever your calling it is lets say 8 feet long and appears to be roughly 4ft wide why couldn't you split the catwalk boarding in half with your 4x8 sheets. I am thinking that the more even overlap between the two surfaces the strongerthe joint between the two will be IMO anyways.

[ajbremer]

Thanks ColchesterCabin, great to hear from you again.

My catwalk is more like 11 feet long and your correct, it is 4 feet wide.

Yes, the perfect scenario is to evenly split sheet widths at perpendicular joints. I'm going to add bracing under each of catwalk ends for extra support.

[ColchesterCabin]

I am assuming you are using a laminated beam in some capacities between your outside walls then spanning that difference with your joists and catwalk? Which means you should double a 2x8  or tripple a 2x6 for the outside supports to your catwalk based on 11 ft span then if you joists perpendicular to that you probably wouldn't need extra barcing.

[ajbremer]

Wednesday Morning - May 9th, 2012 Mid-Oklahoma

Thanks ColchesterCabin, that's good advice.

The way I've decided to go is just using the I joists that I've always used throughout the loft - TJI's #230 (11-7/8" x 2-1/4"), no LVL's, no 2x8's, and no 2x6's. Just I joists held up by hangers using filler and backing blocks. I wanted to be sure that this was ok so a few weeks ago I talked extensively on the phone with the I-level representative. I emailed him a drawing and then he did the calcs and sent me the pdf of the findings. I could have went with the calculated smaller #230 I joist (9-1/2") but I already have the larger (11-7/8") ones.

Because of the questions just now, I called and spoke with the rep again today. I just got off the phone with the representative over at I-level and I told him everything I did. They keep the pdf's and he assured me that all is correct.

Just a side note: It feels real stiff and nice when I walk on the catwalk up there!

Here's the pdf calculations:
(File hopefully coming soon: Link is inoperable)
http://hockeya.com/14x24Pics/catwalk_calcs.pdf