Forum on "General Building"

[james]

I have a vested interest in this. As we are going to renovating our house, I was thinking of creating a forum on General Building, where owner builders can ask questions on more general topics -- beyond oven installation. Drywall, flooring, windows, doors, conventional ovens and kitchens, etc.

I have looked around for more general building forums similar to the FB Forum, but nothing seems to be as good, genuinely useful or active as our group.

Does this seem like a good idea? Invite your friends who are building pros -- they will be greatly appreciated.

What do you think?
James

[asudavew]

great idea James

I would be happy to add input

I remodeled houses for 10 years, so maybe I could help!

Love the forum !

[redbricknick]

Wow. This appeared just as i was looking for it.. I'm building a deck from untreatred pine.. My buddy Maximillian Sterling bought a house which while in escrow had a new deck built upon the skeleton of a really old deck.. It was built shoddily, so he sued the contractor, won, but had to tear thye old deck down as part of the settlement..
Instead of having it go to a landfill, i collected the undenailed lumber and brought it home.. 5 truckloads.. The beams were put up today.. four 4by8by twentyfives.. I'm treating it as i go with that spray on lumber treatment, just coating the joins, though it's nasty stuff, and i don't want all that much to do with it..
I have a LOT of fireclay and sand left over.. would it be advisable to lay it all out under my deck beams before i treat the rest of them, then sweep up the treated sand to use in a retaining wall? Is there a "Green" solution to treating my pine deck? I imagine diesel would do the trick, though the smell might put some people off.. If we can't find a solution on the market, we'll shoot a fake discovery of a vat of experimental deck oil from the sixties which someone found in the back room of the Thompson's water seal factory.. Recycled joist hangers are a pain in the ass by the way..

[BaconGrease]

I think a General Building forum is a great idea, sorry I don't have any answers on the deck, but "Maximillian Sterling" is probably the best name I have heard ever.

[Gareth]

I agree with this forum, I will gladly give my two cents worth.

[Archena]

Originally Posted by redbricknick

Wow. This appeared just as i was looking for it.. I'm building a deck from untreatred pine.. My buddy Maximillian Sterling bought a house which while in escrow had a new deck built upon the skeleton of a really old deck.. It was built shoddily, so he sued the contractor, won, but had to tear thye old deck down as part of the settlement..
Instead of having it go to a landfill, i collected the undenailed lumber and brought it home.. 5 truckloads.. The beams were put up today.. four 4by8by twentyfives.. I'm treating it as i go with that spray on lumber treatment, just coating the joins, though it's nasty stuff, and i don't want all that much to do with it..
I have a LOT of fireclay and sand left over.. would it be advisable to lay it all out under my deck beams before i treat the rest of them, then sweep up the treated sand to use in a retaining wall? Is there a "Green" solution to treating my pine deck? I imagine diesel would do the trick, though the smell might put some people off.. If we can't find a solution on the market, we'll shoot a fake discovery of a vat of experimental deck oil from the sixties which someone found in the back room of the Thompson's water seal factory.. Recycled joist hangers are a pain in the ass by the way..

Lifetime Wood Treatment - Eco-Friendly, Non-Toxic Wood Treatment that lasts a LIFETIME!

Yup. I just searched under "wood treatment eco friendly". This was first on the list.

[Archena]

Originally Posted by james

I have a vested interest in this. As we are going to renovating our house, I was thinking of creating a forum on General Building, where owner builders can ask questions on more general topics -- beyond oven installation. Drywall, flooring, windows, doors, conventional ovens and kitchens, etc.

I have looked around for more general building forums similar to the FB Forum, but nothing seems to be as good, genuinely useful or active as our group.

Does this seem like a good idea? Invite your friends who are building pros -- they will be greatly appreciated.

What do you think?
James

I like it! Despite my incredibly short list of accomplishments I have a number of projects I intend to work on once I move - and a few that have to occur first.


Some idiot 'repaired' (extremely loose use of term) the front porch decking by cutting the boards along the joist (no, I'm not kidding) and making the patch all the same length - no staggered seems for us, no sir. Predictably the thing fell apart. It's tongue and groove (old house) and the boards the patch was connected to extend up under the front door sill. If it were just a hardwood floor I know they need to be pulled out and replaced but I'm at a loss on how to do this with them up under the door sill like that. Out is easy - how the heck do I get the new ones in?

[attachment]

[dmun]

The tongue and groove boards, most likely pine or fir, are blind nailed on a diagonal through the tongue so the nails are not visible. Is the edge of the floor visible from the edge of the porch?

What you need to do is sneak in under the center board with your wonder bar

and start to lift the short board. This will be easier if you can reach from underneath and pry it at each joist, but you can also reach in with a regular crowbar once it starts to lift and urge it upward. Be careful because it's easy to rip the tongue off until you get the first board out. You'll be lifting several boards until the nails pop on the center one, then you can pull it out endwise. The other boards will come out easily at this point. Now the hard part, matching the flooring. You may need to do some ripping to get the new stuff to fit. The final board will have to be slid in from the side, and visible nailed, although you can recess it and fill it. You know about staggered joints and supporting ends of pieces on the joists.

The classy new porches around here are being done in Brazilian Ipe. It's beautiful and lasts forever with just an oil finish. I can't speak for it's sustainable harvesting, though.

[Archena]

Thanks!

The edges are under the siding on one side and a wall that was added later when part of the porch was enclosed. If you mean the interior flooring, no - the sill hides both edges.

The house is on piers so getting at it is no problem (although it's at its lowest point there it's still three feet off the ground).

I'll likely use pine since that's most likely what was used originally - and I'm cheap.