We would like to think that roofing systems today are well thought out, easy to assemble and trouble free. And then there is the real world. We went to the manufacturers of roofing systems and roofing components to get a handle on what are some of the real world field problems that shouldn't be...
Most of you are aware that metal connectors are often used to hold things together in a house, much more than in the good old days. The most common one that most people can see in relatively new basements, even decks, is the joist hanger you see in the second photo. Rather than having to sit th...
If a 6x6 or 4x4 wants to twist, it will do so and you can do little to stop it. However you can decide which end will twist!Buried pillarsIf you bury the 6x6 into a concrete pillar, the bottom will be fixed and the top will move, perhaps before you get around to locking in the rest of the deck f...
Marian from Baltimore Ontario has a big hole in her foundation wall where a steel 'I' beam was removed, as you can see in the photo she sent us. Her contractor filled it in with mortar and bricks. She would rather fill it with concrete.So we set up a block of concrete with a similar hole, and c...
Karen wants more open space in her basement. It is possible to move and/or remove support posts, but it is not at all simple to do.First, the size of the beam above the posts is calculated by the weight above and the distance between the supports for the beam. If you move a post, you will most ...
Judy, the true answer is NO, but you can make it look like you have not put in a beam. Do you like that?Take a look at the photo. Here they show using joist hangers and a "flush beam" that is up in the attic and not taking up headroom in the room below.Whenever changing the structure in your ho...
John from Hillsdale, Ontario wants to create a storage area in the attic of his garage and wants to know just what he needs to shore it all up. His photos showed that what is there now is not designed to hold any weight at all.The short answer is that he needs to have a contractor or structur...
David from Tracadi, New Brunswick wants to tear a wall down in his basement and wants to know if it is load bearing or not. He says it runs perpendicular to the floor joists.
If a wall runs parallel to the floor joists, chances are that it is not load bearing, as it is only holding up one floor ...
At one time or another every renovator, professional or weekend warrior, has tried to determine what might happen if they remove or make a big hole in a wall – is it holding something up? This is not always easy to determine but you can get some help from this article.
Getting this right is imp...
The old days of stacking structure
In the old days, before we had specialized hardware like joist hangers, we would always create beams, or low lying ledger boards and place the joists on top of them with some kind of toe-nail attachment.
The arrival of joist hangers
When joist hangers came in...
