Blog Archives

MAKING A HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

MAKING A HOUSE BEAUTIFUL

Interior Trim, Cabinets, Countertops, and Closets

When I’m feeling nostalgic, I think about the fancy, well-crafted toolkit I carried from job to job before I switched to a 5-gal. plastic bucket. That kit had a place for all my finish tools—handsaws, levels, small hammers, razor – sharp chisels with their blades wrapped in soft cotton, and planes that left long curls of wood with each pass. My brother, Jim, still has his shiny, metal miter box with its long backsaw—that’s what we used to make perfect cuts in trim before chopsaws came along. Back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, those were the tools that master builders passed down to us “kids” as they taught us the craft.

Today, carpentry is different...

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Quality Control

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

In framing, the question of speed versus quality always comes up. You want to get the job done as fast as possible—but you must have a quality building, and quality takes time. The most important thing to consider is the structural integrity of the building. Once that requirement is satisfied, the faster the job can be done, the better.

It is a lot easier to talk about the importance of quality than it is to define it for a framer. Quality to one framer can be the product of a “wood butcher" to another framer. Framers learn under different lead framers who have different goals and objectives, and different standards of what quality workmanship is. You need to establish your own definition of quality of workmanship for the framers working for you.

The best way to do this is by observing...

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Blower Doors

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

Blower doors consist of a sophisticated fan set in an adjustable frame. They are used to test airflow and pressure in a home. There are many uses for blower doors, such as detection of leaks in walls and in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system duct­work. You can also determine if the ventilation is adequate and identify the location of energy leaks in the structure.

Since the equipment requires extensive training to use, we recommend that you hire a technician to carry out blower door testing. For most new homes this testing will cost sev­
eral hundred dollars. Dollars saved in energy conservation from identified and corrected leaks may soon offset the cost of testing.

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FLAT ROOF EDGE WITH CURB

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

 

Single-ply roof—A more recent development in roofing, the single-ply roof is less labor intensive and more elastic than the built-up roof. The single-ply roof is applied as a membrane and glued, weighted with gravel ballast, or mechanically fastened to the roof. Seams are glued with adhesive or heat sealed. Single-ply roofs are usually applied to large areas, but, like the built-up roof, can also cover small areas. Application is technical; warranties start at five years.

Liquid-applied roof—Liquid-applied roofing polymer­izes from chemicals suspended in volatile solvents to form a watertight elastomeric membrane that adheres to the sheathing. Application is usually in several coats, using brush, roller, or spray...

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Thermal Imaging

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

Thermal imaging using infrared cameras has rapidly become an affordable tool for diagnos­ing moisture problems. This versatile tool is also used for energy conservation audits (see the next section) and can detect overloaded electrical circuits, poor electrical connections, and “hot spots” on electrical equipment that may indicate a potential failure or fire hazard.

Infrared cameras are sophisticated devices that are used to examine the spectrum of en­ergy just outside our visual range. They “see” heat. We see the colors of the rainbow: violet, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Infrared is the portion of the spectrum just beyond red, which we can t see but can certainly feel with our skin in the form of heat.

Thermal imaging can frequently diag­nose moisture from leaks and co...

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Bridge in Wroclaw, Poland

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

The bridge in Wroclaw, Poland, is a steel construction with short spans but sub­stantial deflections and vibrations. A completely new pavement was laid in 1997. It consisted of an asphalt mastic protection layer (2 cm) and two 0/8 mm SMA layers—the first one as an intermediate layer and the second one as a wearing course. The mastic layer was spread manually, whereas both SMA courses were

(a) (b)

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FIGURE 13.2 The bridges in Plock and Wroclaw: (a) condition of the Plock bridge pavement; (b) condition of the Wroclaw bridge pavement. (Photos courtesy of Krzysztof BlaZejowski.)

laid mechanically. An SBS modified binder—with 50/80 Pen@25°C, SP > 53°C, and ER > 50%—was used in all the asphalt layers...

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There Are All Kinds of Ways to Cut a Beam

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

There Are All Kinds of Ways to Cut a Beam

Chainsaw

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Fig. 5.25: Chainsaw. The author cuts a heavy timber supported at a convenient height by sawhorses. The saw cut can be no better than:

1. The accuracy with which the pencil marks are trans­posed to the timber. Use a good carpenter’s square and mark all around the timber, to make sure that — after its circumnavigation — the mark returns to the point of beginning. If it doesn’t, the cut cannot be square. Always set your square on the beam being cut, not on the piece being cut off.

2. The quality of the chain and bar. The right – and left-side chain teeth must be sharpened equally to prevent pull to either direction, and the bar must be straight, with a clean, un-nicked groove.

3. The skill of the operator...

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NONGRAVITY CANTILEVERED WALL DESIGN

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

Nongravity cantilevered walls are those that provide lateral resistance through vertical elements embedded in soil, with the retained soil between the vertical elements usually supported by facing elements. Such walls may be constructed of concrete, steel, or timber. Their height is usually limited to about 15 ft (4.6 m), unless provided with additional support anchors.

8.6.1 Earth Pressure and Surcharge Loads

Lateral earth pressure can be estimated assuming wedge theory using a planar surface of sliding as defined by Coulomb’s theory. For permanent walls, effective stress meth­ods of analysis and drained shear strength parameters for soils can be used for deter­mining lateral earth pressures. Alternatively, the simplified earth pressure distributions shown in Figs. 8.45 and 8...

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Cutting and installing risers and treads

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

If the stairs are going to be covered with carpet, the treads and risers can be cut from scrap material leftover from sheathing. I use at least 5/s-in. plywood or oriented strand board (OSB) for the risers and 3/нп. plywood for treads.

Scrap material can be ripped to width on a table saw or with a circular saw (care­fully following a chalkline or using a ripping guide).

These rough treads and risers can also be covered with a fine, finished hard­wood to give the stairs a custom look. Often, this is done later, when the house is nearly finished. To help you get a perfect fit, use a stair-tread gauge, a tool that fits from wall to wall, adjusts to fit out-of-square skirtboards, and gives you the exact length and shape of the tread or riser. Finish treads often have a nosing (174-in...

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Estimating Maximum Reinforcement Load Using the ^-Stiffness Method

Posted by on 24/ 11/ 15

According to the K0-Stiffness Method, with reference to Dt from Fig. 8.44a and b, the peak load, Tmax (lb/ft), in each reinforcement layer can be calculated with the procedure summarized below (Allen and Bathurst, 2001):

Ф(ь = facing batter factor Ф(8 = facing stiffness (actor

Pa = atmospheric pressure (a constant to preserve dimensional consistency equal to 2110 lb/ft2 for the indicated units)

^global- ^ocal> Ф(Ь Ф(8> and are further defined bel°W.

K0 can be determined from the coefficient of lateral at-rest earth pressure for nor­mally consolidated soil:

K0 = 1 – sin Ф’ (8.17)

where Ф’ (degrees) is the peak angle of internal soil friction for the wall backfill. For steel reinforced systems, K0 for design should be 0.3 or greater...

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