Replies

1. 
   BossHog | Jul 22, 2003 06:07pm | #1

   You don't need a book or article - You need someone to look at your specific situation and recommend a solution.

   There are too many variables in something like this to sum it up in an article.

   Think about this.....No one ever says "It's only a game" when their team is winning.

2. 
   Paularado | Jul 22, 2003 07:48pm | #2

   NoreenW,

   As Boss says, there probably isn't an article on this, but more like experience and know-how out there that you will need to find.

   We are building what seems to be Le Chateaux Glulam. What I mean by that is that we have a lot of glulam beams in our house for the very reason you mentioned: to eliminate visible posts.

   Our beams get supported in multiple ways:

   o Some rest on 2x posts concealed in frame walls

   o One glulam meets another glulam via a concealed bracket hidden in the connection. This was suppossed to be a simpson bracket, but my husband hates visible fasteners in addition to visible posts. So, he came up with the idea for the concealed fastener and had it blessed by our structural engineer He had it fabricated somewhere.

   o We have another form of fastener where log joists meet a glulam that were also designed by my husband and blessed by our structural engineer...again, to eliminate visible fasteners

   o and then there is a granddaddy of all: Where 7 glulams come together at the peak of our roof. This bracket was designed by our structural engineer specifically for our house and welded up by a welder. Here the visible fastener was unavoidable, but its pretty cool looking. (See pictures below).

   One thing I should note is that we didn't do any of this stuff without our engineer's blessing, but our house is a pretty complicated system with high snowloads. The point of this post is that there are many ways to do this, just make sure it is sound. I think getting rid of posts is normally a good idea....but I might have been brainwashed by my husband. We're starting a "no post, no exposed fastener" religious cult soon! LOL!

   

   

1. 
   NickNukeEm | Jul 23, 2003 12:23am | #3

   Paula,

   I'm not sure if it's my browser or not, but the photos didn't come through, and after your buildup, I'd really like to see them.  Any chance of reposting?

   Thanks.

   I never met a tool I didn't like!

1. 
   Paularado | Jul 23, 2003 06:44pm | #9

   Hey Nick,

   This time I attached them. See if that works better for you

   and Piffin, um, yeah, this house is a monstrosity....that is the only word for it. I always keep my mouth shut when it comes to threads about modern day home monstrosities.....guilty! The house is about 3000 sq ft, but the ceilings are really high, so it seems bigger

   
1. 
   NickNukeEm | Jul 23, 2003 09:30pm | #10

   Thanks for posting the pics.  Piffin was right, the originals came thru after rebooting.

   Hats off to your husband and everyone else involved in the design.  Impressive.

   I never met a tool I didn't like!

2. 
   Piffin | Jul 23, 2003 10:14pm | #11

   Mountainous design!

   Sounds better than Monsterosity!

   ;).

   Excellence is its own reward!

2. 
   Piffin | Jul 23, 2003 02:55am | #5

   That's a little bit bigger than your last house, Paula!

   How you gonna sweep the spiderwebs out now?

   Hey, Nick, I had that problem with my Netscape on another thread the other day. Restarting everything finally let me view them. The MS Exploreer openned them right up though..

   Excellence is its own reward!

1. 
   NickNukeEm | Jul 23, 2003 05:46am | #7

   Thanks for the info.  I'm running MS Explorer, because this computer hates Netscape.  Every once in while I get an icon where a picture should be, be nothing happens when I click on it.  I'll try rebooting and see.  Maybe tomorrow.  Too tired and the missus is upstairs waiting.  And waiting, and waiting. . .

   I never met a tool I didn't like!

3. 
   JohnSprung | Jul 23, 2003 02:40am | #4

   Measure and draw it all, and figure out what the loads are.  Take this info to your lumber yard, and have them figure out what you need.  Call a few yards first to find one that provides this service. 

   -- J.S.

1. 
   Piffin | Jul 23, 2003 03:05am | #6

   Now John, Don't you suppose that it's possible this poster does not have the experience to be able to analyse all the loads that might be getting transfered to this post? It might be simple enough for your advice to work, and it might have another few tons transfering in on it..

   Excellence is its own reward!

4. 
   fdampier5 | Jul 23, 2003 05:08pm | #8

   two warning bells are ringing.. 

     a beam supported by a post.

         Vermont house

      is this per chance a timber frame house? 

     If so you are in very risky territory.. few timberframe homes can eliminate a post.   Anyplace!