I am going to be rebuilding an old addition to my house. The addition is relatively small, about 6' x 12'. I haven't demolished the existing yet but I have looked into the crawl space to get an idea of what I will be dealing with. A drawing is attached, hopefully it is readable. Basically, the foundation for the addition is just about 6" lower than the foundation for the original house. My guess is that this addition started out as a small porch out the back of the house, so it accounted for... Framing when foundation has different heights ..read more

I am considering building a sloped roof to cover this deck. The frame and deck boards are in pretty good condition. I had a new patio poured a few years ago so I replaced three of the old 4x6s with 6x6s. My plan is to install new support post at the edge of the deck and remove the existing ones I have. I think they were installed and the spot that you see in the pictures due to the old smaller patio not extending out... Cover deck and move posts ..read more

I have several 6x6 posts supporting my deck. At the top they are notched to support a joist, as seen in these photos. I was cleaning a bird nest off of there (and tapped in some nails that stick up so they don't build new nests) and noticed the wood is soft at the very top. I discovered we never painted the top of the posts, and then water drips down from between the decking boards and is rotting the posts, even though it's treated wood. What... How to waterproof top of deck posts that are not visible? Some kind of rubber sealant like what you put on foundations or roofs, maybe? Coppercoat ..read more

So I'm finsihing my basement and have about (5) doors I have to hang. The openings are framed out. I do have a few doors left over from my upstair renovation. Pre hung?? I beleive they are called as they have framing/jambs around them. I do already have the sheetock and flooring installed. How to I know what size door I need/could use based on opening size? What's the maximum distance/space I can have between jambs and rough opening? Thank you very much ..read more

Simpson Strong Tie makes column base & cap connectors that utilize either through bolts or their proprietary Strong Drive connector screws. Is there any conventional wisdom as to whether one is better/stronger than the other? I've only ever used those with the bolts, but using screws seems like it would be a lot faster and easier. For what it's worth, the SDS (screw) versions seem to be... Simpson Strong Tie Connectors - Through bolts vs Strong-Drive® Heavy-Duty Connector Screws ..read more

Hi, A section of the sill plate in my crawlspace was damaged and 6 joists on it have shearing at sill plate and have around 1 inch bearing on sill plate given large gap, so they suggested me to replace sill plate and sistering the 6 joists that have issues. We double check couple time only 6 joists have issues. After the work done, I checked the 6 joists sistering are ok but the other joists that were previously ok now have a large gap, they now have a bearing distance on sill plate below... Can sill plate replacement and joist sistering cause the gap distance increase for other joists ..read more

My intention is to build myself a new shed this spring, 9' x 12'. I drew up this floor plan to figure out how much wood I need. Sheed floor plans aren't exactly rocket science, but it occurred to me that if I use a certain thickness for the ledgers and all the joists that are going too be resting on the foundation supports, I could probably use one size thinner joists for all the rest without loosing any strength. Here is the plan, what do you think of this? The "wood" colored boards... Shed Floor Plan ..read more

Okay, here goes. Open shed here is where someone attempted to build an open gazebo, which sits about 6' from swimming pool that came with house. Shed is 12' x 12' with 8' from floor to outer edge of roof. Shed sits behind privacy fence in backyard, and goes right up to edge of concrete pad surrounding pool. Shed/gazebo looks good in photo; two of the supports were eaten up with termites in the past, it has a rotten wooden 2 x 4 floor that sits directly on ground, and the OSB roof, pitch... He Shed, Not a She Shed ..read more

I am going to create a garden bed with concrete blocks in my backyard. I want the border of the garden bed to be square. I plan on doing the layout using string and batter boards. Question, how do I accurately transfer the layout from the string line to the ground? Do I just follow the string with a shovel / digging / tracing the layout? Spray paint? Any tips would be appreciated. It feels like anyone of these approaches will still be off / have variation ..read more

What's everyone's thoughts on Owens Corning Rebar, the pink fiberglass rebar that supposedly outperforms steel rebar? It can't be bent, but they claim the stuff is great. I'm contemplating using them in some deck concrete piers 48' down below grade. Thanks ..read more