im knackered, my knees hurt. im a whinging pom (englishman) photos now appended

[dirtydeeds]

today i installed a flitch beam in a loft and a load bearing stud wall off it act as a purlin for the rafters

i'll convert to imperial so the majority of the forum have more idea, and will understand how i feel

its a brick built house, so i took a diamond grinder to the mortar joints (huge amounts of dust)

the joints are taken out 1 foot long, 3 and 1/2 deep into the joint and and increase the joint withd to 5/8th wide

now install two purpose made joist hangers welded out of 3/8th plate

hammer in welsh roofing slate into the gaps to take up 2/8th slack

using the slate means you dont need to mortar the plates into place, then wait 2 or 3 days for the mortar to harden

slates are a totally perfect, its an ancient method and better and quicker than any other modern method

REASON................  its a mudstone so it delaminates BUT it WILL NOT compress, this means it fills the thinnest gaps, plastic shims are expensive AND worthless for this type of work 

the beam is 9 inch deep (14 foot 6 long) and is a sandwich of two 3/8th steel plates with two 1 and a 1/4 inch beams

[ each single flitch weighs 177 pounds (that is heavier than i am, i weigh only 154 pounds) ]

that is 15 percent heavier than my bodyweight

drill and bolt the flitch beam together.  20 holes of 1/2 inch diameter then install 12mm threaded bar with 2 inch x 1/8th washers

my makita 18 volt Li Ion impact driver and impact socket wrenches tightened every thing up something chronic

...

the reason for drilling 1/2 inch holes and using 12mm threaded bar is that it gives .7mm clearance / tollerance (1/2 inch is 12.7mm hence the .7mm tollerance) 

the reason for telling you guys in north america.  is to show how useful working in two different dimensions (metric and imperial) can be

...

birds mouthing the existing rafters 4x2s insitu did not appeal to me, they have 3/4 inch thick concete tiles on top (ie concrete shingles)

the house was built in the mid 1930s so the the 2x4s have a finished size of 2 inches x 4 inches (not 1 and a half by 3 and a half as you guys might imagine)

so i cut a pair of modern regularised 4x2s (metric finished size of 47x95 mil) with a 35 degree pitch on the upper edge

in england we do not use the american system of pitch worked in inches

so a 35 degree pitch for you guys works out as 8.4 inches over 12 inches

then i nailed this pair together as a head plate (then nailed them to the rafters) then screwed them together and into the rafters with fastenmaster 4inch bolts

next a sole plate laid flat on top of the flitch beam, nailed to both of the timber memebers of the flitch

its an old roof so nothing aint simple (so each of the rafters have deflected differently) so each stud had to be measured and cut individually

its not difficult if you measure and number each one ( i shortened only one stud of 12, which aint bad) the rest were perfect

i cut each stud 2 mil longer than the meausrement to take the weight (2 mil is shy of 1/8th)

ALL THIS WAS DONE ON MY KNEES, there is no headroom. now you know why my knees hurt

.........................................................................

last bit

the plasterbord we are using is metric so its 1200 mil wide rather than 4 foot

4 foot is 1220 mil, so the studs are at 400 centres not 16 inch

the reason for telling you guys this is that you have to alter your stud distances if you are using metric size sheets

..............................................................................

i do hope i havent bored you guys

THE VERY VERY LAST BIT

there aint no headroom............. so ive been on my knees ALL day

AND lifting 115 percent of my bodyweight twice ON MY KNEES might explain why im a whinging pom

 

[Eli]

Doesn't your white van have a car jack in it?!!! ;D

Car jack and some cribbing........

 

[dirtydeeds]

three problems there eli

the van is grey  :

some previous bastd owner had the jack away

and the "cribbing" comment has gone way over my head

 

[poto]

Yow. Winge all you want. That all sounds painful.

Cribbing would be the matrix of wooden beams (joists?) you construct (spanning existing beams) to support the jack that you'll use to save your back. Hence, "Yo mufuh - outta my crib" or words to that effect.

 

[dirtydeeds]

cribbing is now perfectly understood

grillage is a term we use, but is generally on a bigger scale, used mainly on civil engineering sites for supporting bridges

civil engineering sites ?

no swearing (not even the foreman) and theres no wolf whistling at the tottie walking by

......................... even if they have big mellons

 

[Eli]

I put up a big (150 kilos?) Lam beam myself with a car jack and a crutch made from 4x4 and some legs nailed to the outside. I've seen plywood 'steps' used as well, just grunt and bump it up one step at a time until it's up. The one I did almost killed me/almost punched a huge hole in the floor, before I put a double 19mm ply pad under it to spread the load the second time up. Yeah, cribbing (not cheating on a test) think Jenga, where you stack the blocks criss-cross. Jack it up, add two more, jack it up, add two the other way. Keep your head out from under it  ;D

 

[Per Swenson]

Hook it to the ridge.

[attachimg=#]

Your favorite wise acre.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Can't wait to learn the vernacular English term for this. 

In the States it's usually called a "come along". as in, when you hook something to this thing it can't help coming along once you start cranking the handle.

 

[poto]

Your favorite wise acre.

That would be "wise hectare" in England...

 

[Michael Kellough]

Your favorite wise acre.

That would be "wise hectare" in England...

Wise Hector. 

 

[dirtydeeds]

per's photo and mk's question, there are various names

its a puller / cable pull

hire compays call this a tifor      BUT          the photo is a toy

on building sites (houses / office blocks /multi storey buildings)

this toy is known as a rack / racker    (medieval torture instument)

on civils sites we wouldnt use a toy like this

we'd use a tifor (much bigger)

also know as a  jack  : .................................  dont ask me why, it just is..........   

on motorway / railway jobs (which are "heavy" civils sites)

there is ONLY one tool for the job (it aint no toy like the photo)

we use a tifor and call it a tifor

the guys on site and in the office use no other term

 

[Per Swenson]

DD,

My Man,

I dunno what to say.

Except that toy is rated for 5 tons, or 10,000 lbs

Which means it won't break until you yank it with 10 tons.

Yes, Yank it. Thats three American pickup lorrys.

Now if you are doing second fix or first and third for that matter,

and you need to pull more n 5 tons,

You need to hire some riggers and give that stiff uppa lip a rest.

Per

PS

Every redneck owns one of those as the going price is about 40 bucks.

Per

 

[dirtydeeds]

appended photos of flitch beam and load bearing stud

"stud" is an english term for stud wall

although the studs are strictly speaking only the vertical members

the two photos are split because i cant get back far enough for a single

so the beam looks longer than it is

yes the stud looks bowed at the top, because IT IS, the rafters regardless of the 4x6 purlin (full finished size) have bowed

 

[Per Swenson]

Now I understand,

Sorry DD, I would be knackered also.

Dontcha have one of those midget hiring halls over there?

Oops, that's down under in OZ. My bad.

Per

 

[Bill Wyko]

You just reminded me why I'm not in construction anymore. I feel for you bro. If you were doing that here you could add a temprature of about 130 degrees in an attic along with 40 to 50 percent humidity. Just do what I do and repeat after me. "This too will pass, This too will pass" That's what I say in an f'ed up situation.

 

[dirtydeeds]

per

in england (we ARE on a different planet)

a 3200 Kg pull tifor (7000 pound pull)

it costs over 100 dollars a week just to hire the damm thing.................................

(the hire company with this price is HSS)

   

buy it ? ........................   

its poa  (price on application)

 

[dirtydeeds]

the brick courses give you the exact height im working in

they are imperial bricks so.......... each brick course (with mortar) is three inches

now you KNOW why my knees hurt

 

[dirtydeeds]

ps, forgot to say, because of the angle of the photo is taken from

the timber in the foreground (which looks like its below the flitch) is a binder

the base of the binder is the same level as the bottom of the flitch

 

[Per Swenson]

DD,

I don't wanna be a creep.

But around here, your studs would have to be directly under

your rafters, or the inspector will look at you funny.

Then tell you to move them.

Unless he is your brother in law.

Then he gets a cut of the job.

Per

 

[Michael Kellough]

slates are a totally perfect, its an ancient method and better and quicker than any other modern method

REASON................   its a mudstone so it delaminates BUT it WILL NOT compress, this means it fills the thinnest gaps, plastic shims are expensive AND worthless for this type of work 

Here is an instance where I prefer the English term to our sedimentary ("my dear Watson").