December 5, 2010 AsktheBuilder Tips And Newsletter

Posted on by Tim Carter

What's in This Newsletter?

Latest News
Follow Up on the Save-Energy Article
Kitchen Remodeling
Builders Show
Your Garage Door
15-second Survey
Update on my Heel Pain
Deicing Salt and Concrete
New Videos

I do product reviews frequently. Please read my Disclosure Policy to understand the relationship between me and the companies that make the products or offer the services I review.

 

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

Friendly Question Reminder!

If you have a question for me, don't hit the Reply button just yet. Go immediately to my web site and type in the keywords about your problem into my Search engine. The search box is at the top of every page of my web site. You could have your answer in seconds if you do this! Please pay attention to all links you see at my web site. The exact products and services you often need are right in front of you, and you might be ignoring them.

Latest News

I survived the planes, no trains and automobiles trip from New Hampshire to Chicago to Cincinnati, OH and then back to New Hampshire in a space of 57 hours this past week. I was joined on the journey with Brent, my new CEO of Stain Solver.

As happens this time of year because of weather issues, we just made our return flight connection in Cleveland with only minutes to spare. I so wanted a piece of pizza that another traveler was holding as we rushed from gate to gate in CLE, but there was no time to stop for food. Good thing I had my stash of cashews in my backpack.

I want to thank you for your kind words about my Roofing Checklist foopah. Some brought tears to my eyes. Look for plentiful future specials, as I got many, many emails asking if some other checklist would be on sale soon.

Follow Up on the Save-Energy Article

Carl M. contacted me after last week's newsletter where I talked about spending money to save money on heating bills. Carl said:

Your window math may be a little pessimistic. If you indeed save $1000 per year on a $15,000 investment, that is about a 6.5% return on investment! That is pretty good these days!

While it is true that the straight line payback is 15 years, few people buy windows that way.

If you borrowed the 15k from the bank at, say, 4% interest, you would have a positive cash flow your very first year, since the interest on the loan would be $600! If your point was to do the work that has the highest potential return for the least first cost, you are, of course, prudent and on target.

Best regards,
Carl

I'm spending the time on this to once again drive home a point. A slick window salesperson sitting on your sofa or at your dining room table could easily shake some of Carl's magic dust on you causing you to sign a contract that could never have a payback while you own the home.

Carl's numbers and logic are correct - assuming you're looking at it from the *investment* angle. But it misses the point in my opinion. To get that return on investment that he's talking about, you must SPEND or BORROW money. His last paragraph clears it all up.

Bottom Line: You never ever SAVE money on any energy upgrade until such time as the energy savings pay you back, with interest, the complete amount of money you SPENT. After that, you do begin to reap savings.

Kitchen Remodeling

Just after Christmas, I'll be starting a major kitchen remodeling job here. I'll be taping many videos. What exact things or steps would you like to see? Do me a HUGE favor and respond to this email but do two things:

  1. Change the Subject Line to: Kitchen Videos
  2. Erase the content of the newsletter and just tell me briefly what steps you'd like to see.

Builders Show

I'll be attending the Builders Show the second week of January. It's in Orlando, FL. I may have time to arrange a meet up if you live in or near Orlando. I'm also considering a two-day stay at the end of that week just south of St. Petersburg. I may be able to grab a drink with you there. I'll have more about this just after Christmas. If you're interested, reply to this email and let me know. If you're a golfer, I can bring my sticks and we can play.

Your Garage Door

When was the last time you checked the hardware on your garage door? Look for loose bolts on all hinges and hardware. Have you lubricated the wheels and bearings with some of the aerosol lubricants? Do NOT try to adjust the spring yourself or work on the bottom brackets where the cables attach that lift the doors. Leave that to a garage-door professional.

PLEASE HELP ME With This 15-Second Survey

I've had a major epiphany over the past week. But I really need your help. Would you please answer just one question? Well, it may be two questions depending on how you answer the first one.

Allow me to set the stage.

Let's assume you've got a problem with your home. You come to my AsktheBuilder.com website. There's a possibility you're experiencing a high degree of anxiety, because your problem could be serious.

Maybe a pipe is leaking. Maybe there is a horrible odor at your home. Maybe you've ruined 3 pieces of expensive crown molding making the wrong miter cuts - Yes, I've sold a fantastic Crown Molding eBook for about 10 years!

But I digress.

After searching at my website for 30 or 40 seconds for your answer, something happens. What is that something? Click this link to discover WHAT might happen, and then please answer the question(s).

 

Update on my Heel Pain

Two weeks ago, I told you about my plantar fasciitis problem. I want to thank you for your great advice! I told you about a shoe that I saw that may help. Several days ago I got this email:

Dear Tim,

As a regular follower of your Newsletter, I read your November 16th Newsletter with great interest regarding the MBT shoes you mentioned. Like you described, I too have suffered from this heel pain for years and despite great care in the selection of my shoes and use of orthopedic inserts, I still experience problems. So I was very eager to try these shoes.

I located a local retailer here in Montreal that sells them and went to try them on. I have to say that they are so comfortable that I did not want to take them off in the store. After the long walk from the mall parking lot to the shoe store, my heels were sore. When I tried on these shoes, I felt instant relief. After two weeks, the difference is amazing. I don't want to wear any other shoes! I also found there is another brand with the same sole design. These are called the Sano line made by Mephisto shoes. I now own three pairs of these unique shoes in different styles.

They are wonderful. Thank you.

Best regards,
George

As for my situation, while on my trip this past week my dear friend Rosie, who's an RN, told me about Powerstep orthotic shoe inserts. Rosie and I went to a shoe store a mile from where we had lunch and I was fitted by Priscilla the pro. The molded shoe inserts gave me the same instant relief that George did! The inserts are pushing up on my arch which is helping to stretch the fascia. If you have the heel pain I had, you may get relief like I did. Here's what's in my shoes now. I don't get a penny from these folks.

 

Deicing Salt and Concrete

I've written extensively about deicing salts and concrete at my website. Here's the scoop. If your concrete was mixed, installed, cured and finished correctly, salt will NOT harm it. I can show you concrete sidewalks that have had salt on them each winter for decades and the surface is not pitted, scaled or spalling.

How do you know if your concrete is installed correctly? After the fact, it's pretty tough without expensive destructive testing. But if you're getting ready to have new exterior concrete installed, you need my Concrete Checklist. It'll tell you how to install it correctly and/or find the pro who can do it for you.

To protect existing concrete that you're not sure about, try this Salt Shield Sealer.

 

New Videos!

I'll have a list of new videos for you next week. Did you watch all those I sent you last week?

AsktheBuilder.com
100 Swain Rd.
Meredith, NH 03253, USA

Wood Beam

Posted on by Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: Can you tell me a few things about the wood beam I uncovered while doing a plumbing repair? How is it possible for this beam to carry the load of everything above it? I’m worried it might not be large enough. How do I know if the beam is sized correctly? Do carpenters just guess at wood beam spans? What’s involved in wood beam calculations? It seems very complex to me. - Randy C. Montrose, CO

DEAR RANDY: Without seeing the plans for your home, and being present to do a physical look-see inspection of my own, there’s not too much I can tell you about that wood beam.

This wood beam in the center of the photo is in the same plane as the floor joists allowing it to be hidden up in the ceiling. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

This wood beam in the center of the photo is in the same plane as the floor joists allowing it to be hidden up in the ceiling. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

I can tell you that if your home has been lived in for some time and if you’ve gone through several winters with heavy snow on your roof, you’re probably fine and there’s no imminent danger of collapse.

Wood beams are indeed complex. Actually, any beam is fairly complex whether it’s made from wood, steel, concrete or some combination. Structural engineers specialize in beams like this. It takes years of schooling and additional years of practical day-to-day experience with beams to understand their limits and what goes into the calculations to properly size them.

Engineers, architects, builders, etc. do wood beam calculations aided with wood beam span charts. These are not to be used by do-it-yourselfers as there are many things that can go wrong if you don’t put in the correct data when sizing a beam.

The beam in your house is successfully carrying the load because it was sized correctly and it was made from material that can handle the loads above. You’d be shocked at how strong certain species of wood are. For example, Douglas Fir, that’s the highest grade, is incredibly strong. If you take two, three or even four 2x12s and bolt them together making a beam, you’d be stunned at the amount of weight you can place on the beam before it fails.

Keep in mind that as the span increases, the amount of weight the beam can carry is reduced. Span is defined as the farthest distance between the two points along the beam where it doesn’t contact a support point. Typically a beam rests on a column or a wall. These would be the contact support points.

There are computer programs that contain wood beam span tables that can give you some idea of the load capacity of different wood beams. Some lumber mills publish these in booklet form.

You can also get modern wood beams made from engineered lumber. Beams are made from lumber strands that are glued together. I used this type of beam material in the last home I built. They performed well.

Beams can be made by gluing together flat pieces of traditional framing lumber. You can make a beam by gluing together 2x4s and 2x6s. I wouldn’t recommend doing this yourself, but I would tell you to purchase a beam made like this from a lumber company. They build the beams using the correct glue, lumber and they make sure the beam is clamped the correct time to get the maximum adhesive bond.

If you need beams sized for your home, don’t allow anyone to guess. Hire a structural engineer to do the calculations. They are pros at it.

Many people love the look of a faux wood beam. It was a popular style in the 1970’s. You often see it in homes that are trying to mimic the English Tudor style and a few others that have exposed wood in the homes.

You can make these fake beams from foam that’s made to look like rough-hewn timbers. You can also make faux wood beams with regular lumber. I’ve done it on many of my past jobs.

Wood beam design, both structural and fake, is a job for a pro unless you want to experiment. If you do decide to be a lab rat, start with fake wood beams first. Make a few mockups and hold them up to the ceiling and have someone look at them to make sure they are the right scale.

That’s where most rookies make a mistake. A faux wood beam on two saw horses may look splendid, but when lifted up and secured to a ceiling it can look like a puny racing stripe on a vaulted ceiling.

Architects and designers know all about scale. Trust a professional when it comes to wood beams of all types.

Column 859

November 28, 2010 AsktheBuilder Tips And Newsletter

Posted on by Tim Carter

What's in This Newsletter?

Holiday News
New Videos
Save on Heating Bills
Roofing Checklist Survey and Sale
Storing Important Home/House Information
New Video Listing

I do product reviews frequently. Please read my Disclosure Policy to understand the relationship between me and the companies that make the products or offer the services I review.

 

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER

 

Friendly Question Reminder!

If you have a question for me, don't hit the Reply button just yet. Go immediately to my web site and type in the keywords about your problem into my Search engine. The search box is at the top of every page of my web site. You could have your answer in seconds if you do this! Please pay attention to all links you see at my web site. The exact products and services you often need are right in front of you, and you might be ignoring them.

The past two weeks have been a blur. Now we're in final approach for Christmas. Yesterday I hung some great LED Christmas lights on our deck railing. I love seeing them through the glass doors at night as I go to bed. The color in the energy-efficient LED lights is so intense.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, I went shooting with my son. He recently purchased a WW II Russian Mosin Nagant carbine rifle and  wanted to do some target shooting. The muzzle flash from that carbine is amazing. I can see why soldiers who came back from the war had hearing problems. We were both wearing great hearing protection and it was still loud. 

It's great to have a hobby I can share with my son. He's so knowledgeable about guns as he's studying video game art and animation. Guns happen to be a big part of many of these games, and it pays to know about them as you create them in a game. 

New Videos

Over the past two weeks since I've been back from my road trip, I've been taping many videos. There's been a lot to tape at the new home site just south of my home. Steve the builder is doing a fabulous job. The links to all the new videos are at the end of this newsletter.

I hope to chronicle the entire process of this home. I also will have some great kitchen remodeling videos for you soon.

 

Save on Heating Bills

Every year I get the same press releases from all sorts of companies. They say to caulk gaps, check your furnace, install insulation, new windows and doors, etc. all in an effort to save money on your fuel bills. I'll beat the drum once more: You only start to Save Money on an improvement once you've recaptured in fuel SAVINGS the money you spent on the improvement.

Some things like a few tubes of caulk have a quick payback time. But things like new windows, that could easily cost in excess of $10,000, might not begin to generate real savings for you for well over ten years or more.

Here's an example at my own home. Last year I spent about $4,000 on propane. The majority went to heating costs, some went to cooking and some for hot water. Let's just say that $3,000 went to heating.

Imagine I get new windows put in that claim to save me 35% on my fuel bill. Let's say the total installed price is $15,000. I have to write a check for that as soon as the windows are finished. I'm out $15,000 in cash - money that could have been spent on propane.

Let's assume I do save 35% on fuel. In my case, that would be a little over $1,000 per heating season. Forget about interest on your money, the fact that propane may go up in price and that winter weather could change requiring more or less propane. It would take about 14 years for me just to break even. I have to recapture $15,000 in fuel savings to BREAK EVEN. Once I do that, then I start to SAVE money.

The bottom line is that you can save money NOW. Install a programmable thermostat. Train it to go no higher than you can tolerate. Try not to let the temperature get above 60 F. This means you wear more clothes, long underwear, sweaters, even a hooded sweatshirt while indoors. You may own these clothes. You only spend the money for the thermostat. 

Yes, it's chilly at 60 F, but you'd be surprised how warm you can get at that temperature if you're bundled up inside. If you want to flit around your house in shorts, a tee shirt and no socks, then be prepared to pay for that luxury. 

 

Roofing Checklist Survey and SALE

The last newsletter I asked for your help. As usual, you really came through for me. The survey responses were amazing.

I asked about your fears, frustrations, wants and desires when getting a new roof. 

You also told me you wanted the best roof for the best price. I can do that for you. I HAVE the product.

Here are some of the survey numbers:

  • 91% wanted an itemized cost breakdown the roofer has to complete
  • 88% of those responding wanted "Questions to ask the roofer to see if he's a pro"
  • 56% wanted photos of roofing materials 
  • 44% wanted short videos to watch to see how to "easily discover a pro roofer in your town"

It turns out that my existing Roofing Checklist contains ALL these things! It's easy to use and it shows you how to find the true professional roofer that WILL give you the leak-free roof you truly desire.

Just before the survey was published, I got this email from Jay Berkowitz. who lives in Florida:

" ... My roof is going to cost $25,000 (we bought your checklist recently). $17 or $37 for the expertise to not get ripped off is almost too good to be true. I would easily pay $97 if I knew I could save $3,000 with the information you'll give me."

Jay brings up two great points. First, my Roofing Checklist no doubt will save you money because you'll get a roof that will be done right the first time - no need to have someone come in to fix leaks. Second, my Checklist buys you peace of mind. You'll have the pro contractor at your home.

Jay may be right about the price. Perhaps my Roofing Checklist "Cheat Sheet" is priced too low. Maybe it's time to do some price testing to see if Jay's right. 

Here's what I'll do. I'll leave the checklist at it's current $17 for the next three days. After midnight on Tuesday (November 30, 2010), I'll start to test the price at the $37 price point. If you do the math, it means right now I'm offering it at a whopping 54% discount from what the price may be going forward.

You may want to buy one now to have it handy when your roof needs to be redone. Remember, it comes with my standard No-Hassle Money-Back Guarantee. It's an Instant Download PDF file in living color!

Remember, the $17 price may be a thing of the past in just 3 days. You've got nothing to lose. Buy it now. I guarantee you'll be blown away by it, just as Jay was.

Storing Important Home/House Information

I had a great conversation after Thanksgiving with a dear friend Patricia Allen. She's moving and has a mountain of paper organized neatly in file cabinets. Some of these papers are things that are very important to her and deal with her house. As you can imagine, those cabinets are heavy and they take up valuable floor space!

I have that same problem, but I'm rapidly moving away from paper. For the past year, all incoming paperwork has been scanned. All I need to do is scan some past documents that are very important and I'll have very little use for manila folders and file cabinets.

Pat and I talked about the amazing Fuji Snapscan Scanner that we use here at AsktheBuilder.com in an effort to go as paperless as possible. This unbelievable scanner can scan a two-sided document at one pass and is incredibly fast. I know many who have the scanner and they rave about it.

http://go.askthebuilder.com/fujiscanS1500M  

That's an affiliate link. If you end up buying the one I have, I get a small commission from Amazon. NOTE: The link takes you to the Mac version. If you have a PC, then you'll see the PC model at the BOTTOM of the page.

This Fuji scanner creates great PDF documents that are easily searchable on your PC. This allows you to find something quickly if you forget what folder you saved a document, bill or invoice. All you need to know is you know the keywords to look for. 

Here's how the search works. Let's say you know the company name of a set of invoices. Using the file search feature on your PC, enter in the company name like "Ace Plumbing" or "Stick-it-to-Me Propane Company". Boom, in an instant you have all the scanned documents with that name in front of you to open and review.

But keep in mind you have to make copies of these electronic files in case your computer crashes. Pat said she uses one of the companies you may see ads for on TV. Think carbon. I mentioned, "What happens if they go belly up? How do you get access to their servers where your files are if they go out of business?" 

After a pause, I then blurted, "Google Documents allows you to upload files to their servers for free. Do you think Google's going out of business anytime soon?" I know I don't. If you exceed the free upload space, you can rent more space easily from Google.

Consider one of your New Year's resolutions to go paperless. It's so easy to find things when you need them!

 

New Video Listing

This will keep you busy!

And finally, a silly video I shot while on my road trip a month ago. Sorry about the wind noise. My wife stopped watching the video halfway through when I made a fool of myself.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/timcartertv#p/a/u/1/Os39bAvBjKM

AsktheBuilder.com
100 Swain Rd.
Meredith, NH 03253, USA

Engraved Brick

Posted on by Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: I’ve seen engraved brick on different plazas in public places. An idea popped into my head that one could possibly engrave just about anything into a brick or series of brick. I was thinking of having a special poem placed on several brick for my patio. Is this possible? Are there different ways to engrave brick? Lisa M., Orlando FL

DEAR LISA: Engraved brick pavers are nothing new, that’s for sure. Visit any number of towns that still have exposed brick streets, and you’ll see that brick can be imprinted, engraved, sandblasted and even scored with high-precision lasers. I wish I had a photo of the brick that are used in the streets of Athens, Ohio. Some of these engraved brick are well over 100 years old and look as good as the day they came out of the kiln.

The nearly black letters on this brick are not paint. It's glass created from a laser that melted the silica-rich clay in the brick. This glass is permanently bonded to the brick and can last decades, if not well over 100 years. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

The nearly black letters on this brick are not paint. It's glass created from a laser that melted the silica-rich clay in the brick. This glass is permanently bonded to the brick and can last decades, if not well over 100 years. PHOTO CREDIT: Tim Carter

There are several reasons the Athens, Ohio brick look so good. One is that the brick were made from a very dense clay that was fired in a hot kiln for a long time. This vitrifies the brick and transforms the clay into a very hard rock. The heat of the kiln causes the mineralogy of the clay to change.

In addition, those brick were stamped before they were fired in the kiln. This important step allows the edges of the stamped letters to become very hard and resistant to wear.

Many modern engraved brick start with regular paving brick that may not be as hard as they can be and the letters and characters are sandblasted into the brick after the brick is fired in the kiln. If the brick is not that hard, the sandblasting reveals a softer layer under the skin of the brick that may not last for decades under harsh weather or wear conditions.

I’m a fan of laser engraved brick. The reason is pretty simple. The high-powered laser can create very crisp lines along the letters. The laser melts the clay in the brick turning it to glass. Yes, glass. Because the brick has a high silica content, this glass surface wears like iron. The glass surface of each letter is permanently bonded to the brick because the laser welds or simply melts the clay. It’s not a coating as you might find on some less expensive brick.

Just about anything can be engraved on a brick. Most fonts, drawings, symbols, logos, etc. can be easily engraved onto a brick. The brick are available in different colors, so there’s a great chance you can find one you like.

As crazy as this sounds, you can even have a child’s scribble drawing engraved permanently in a brick or series if brick if you want it full scale. If it can be scanned, it probably can be laser engraved.

The best part of the laser engraved brick is they require no maintenance. If they get dirty, just hose them off.

Remember that traditional sandblasted or deeply carved brick engraving is not necessarily the best thing. The deeper the grooves that create the letters, the more susceptible they are to permanent damage. Think of the capital letters A and R. The grooves create a small inside island of brick. If these break off, the letter becomes somewhat illegible.

Laser engraving doesn’t create these issues. The laser cuts a shallow area out of the brick, but because the resulting glass is dark, it’s very legible and will remain so for decades, if not centuries.

The bottom line is that you can have that poem engraved on brick. It’s going to look gorgeous. Take your time and be sure to order some sample brick to make sure you get the color you want.

It’s also very important to get the correct sized font. Remember, people will be standing up reading the poem, so the font has to be fairly large. The brick engraving company can send you one or more sample brick you can place at your feet to test. Make sure you can read them clearly.

Wall Sheathing Video

Posted on by Tim Carter

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com and today I want to talk a little bit about wall sheathing. Wall sheathing is a material that is nailed to the exterior studs on a home. On this particular home, there are large green sheets of this material.

This is a unique material. It is a plastic coated, oriented strand board. In this small sample, you can see the various layers. This one is about a half inch thick and on the interior side it just looks like regular OSB board. The advantage of using the plastic coated material is that it is pretty much weather resistant. If water should get behind the brick or siding of the home, this plastic coating will do a good job of making sure that the OSB doesn't rot.

Now another really important aspect of the wall sheathing is also strengthens the house so that the house doesn't fall over. As crazy as it sounds, if you just built a 2x4 or 2x6 wall, you could go to the top of it and just push it over. Collapsing it sideways. But when you nail this OSB sheathing every 6 or 9 inches on center along each of the wall studs, it makes the wall very rigid. It would almost be impossible to push it over.

Wall sheathing is engineered wood. It is a very good product. Make sure you use it on your home. For historical purposes, back in the late 1800's (not 1900's as I mistaken said in the video), they used tongue and groove 1x6s were used for exterior wall sheathing. That was following by plywood and now we are using oriented strand board.

Sill Plate Video

Posted on by Tim Carter

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com. Today I want to talk about foundation sill plates. This is the first piece of lumber that is typically put on a masonry foundation. Here you can see it resting on top of the foundation wall.

The sill plate goes all around the foundation. And more importantly, this particular foundation changes height. Where the foundation wall goes down from one height to the other, there is a vertical sill plate. This keeps regular lumber away from the masonry. The sill plates are treated lumber that have chemicals in it to resist termite attacks.

Between the foundation and the sill plate, there is a foam layer. That foam is very important. You want to put that foam between the wood sill plate and the masonry foundation, both vertically and horizontally, along the whole foundation. This foam layer helps seal any air from leaking in between the wood and concrete. No matter how hard they try, the foundation contractors can't always get that foundation concrete perfectly smooth. Or the wood might even have a little warp in it.

But the point is, you need to seal that air to help reduce your energy usage. Seal that area to reduce drafts into your home. Sill plates are very important and need to be treated lumber.

House Framing Techniques Part 1 Video

Posted on by Tim Carter

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com and I want to show you the way houses should be framed. It's called stacked framing. Look at this.

In this video, you can see that the roof rafters are placed, or stacked, right on top of the wall studs. They are sitting directly on top of them. If you follow the wall studs down, you will see nail heads that line up with the floor joists. These floor joists are directly below the wall studs.

But it gets even better. Go further down in the house and you come to the top plates. And stacked directly under the floor joists are the studs for the next wall down.

The point is this. You want to make the loads all the way from the roof, all the way down the structure stack on top of one another until they get down to the foundation. That is the proper way to do framing. You don't want the floor joists or roof rafters offset off the wall studs. If they aren't stacked, it makes the harder on the plumbers, heaters, electricians, etc. and structurally it isn't as solid.

Diagonal Bracing Video

Posted on by Tim Carter

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com and I want to show you a couple of diagonal braces. These are very important and help to keep a structure square, so it doesn't collapse as you are building the home. Because there is a lot of weight and some crazy things can happen on windy days. Look at this.

This is a flat 2x4 that is nailed on the underside of the common roof rafters. It goes up at an angle all the way to the ridge beam. When it is nailed into each individual roof rafter, it helps keep those roof rafters nice and square.

Now look at this wall. This big wall is carrying a lot of the weight from the roof rafters. It is important that this wall doesn't collapse. This wall uses a piece of metal bracing that runs all the way from the bottom plate to the top plate. It is also nailed at each wall stud. This bracing is shaped like a letter "T" which makes it very strong. The way is it installed is the contractor strikes a chalk line from the two attachment points. Then where the line crosses a stud, the contractor will cut out notch for the leg of the "T" to fit flush with the stud.

Bracing - very, very important. Don't forget it on your home construction and don't let your builder do it without bracing where needed.

Precast Concrete Deck Pier Video

Posted on by Tim Carter

Precast Concrete Deck Pier

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com. I want to show you a concrete deck or porch pier. See the little concrete pad sticking up from the ground? That is the concrete deck pier with a treated-lumber deck post resting on to of it in a special support bracket.

EB015 Cleaning & Sealing Deck eBook CoverBut look at this. You won't believe this. Most of that deck pier is hidden under ground. This is the actual deck pier! The only part that sticks above ground is the top 1 or 2 inches. This precast concrete deck pier is nearly 5 feet tall. The reason that it is 5 feet tall is because in New Hampshire the frost level is 4 feet down. So you have to make sure that the bottom of the pier is at least 4 feet down. This will keep the frost from pushing it up out of the ground.

Here is an interesting thing about these precast concrete piers, there are pros and cons. The actual pier in 2010 dollars only costs a little over $100 and there is a $30 delivery charge. If you try to price out what you would spend in concrete and labor to make your own, you would be shocked if you could do it for that amount of money.

Now the only problem is that this particular precast pier weights about 2,000 pounds. Therefore you would need a crane or a backhoe to install them. That is the offset to the precast concrete piers. But if you have these pieces of equipment already on the jobsite, consider using one of these precast concrete deck piers.

Concrete Footer Part 3 Video

Posted on by Tim Carter

Concrete Footer Part 3

Hello, I'm Tim Carter from AsktheBuilder.com and I'm down in the excavation the day after the foundation footer was poured. I want to show it to you. It's really pretty cool. Look at this.

Here is the concrete that has hardened up overnight. But notice the groove in the center of the footer? The groove is called a keyway. What the keyway does is forms a way to mechanically interlock the foundation walls, that sit on top of the footer, to the footer. This makes it harder for the foundation walls to shift sideways off the footer when the weight of the backfill soil is placed against the foundation.

If you recall, the footer had to go up over some solid bedrock. Here you can see the form for making the vertical step in the footer to get to the higher elevation. You can see how they made the forms to contain the concrete at the step. At the other end of the footer rise, there is another step form. You can see some concrete that oozed out the side where they didn't put in a form board. This would have saved some concrete, but it is not the end of the world.

This is what a concrete foundation footer looks like the day after pouring. The contractor will come back today or the next day and strip off the footer forms. They will then start setting the panels for the foundation walls. And I will be back to show you that step.

Starts in Concrete Footer Part 1.

Click here for Part 2.