New house, new renovation project :)

[Gabe]

Curious if you stapled the wires to the studs or just left them hanging.

Right now they're just hanging, I wasn't planning on stapling them, as they weren't stapled originally.
Haven't gone back to that room yet, worked in the bathroom today, found another clusterfuck in there, took care of it.

Took pics, will have them up later.

 

[Gabe]

So, today I pulled the drywall from the right-side wall in the bathroom.
It was showing signs of being repaired in several places, and I wanted to put up new sheeting that won't look all patched up.

Of course, I pull the drywall and stand back, wondering "WTF is this shit?"
(referring to the weird 2x4 studding in the middle of the wall):

I removed all that mess, installed a new vertical stud, sistered it to the existing short stud that has drywall screwed into it on the other side, installed some pieces of stud in-between the studs at roughly 36" height to give something more to screw the new vanity into, moved the electrical box one stud over to the left (still need to add one on the right, for another light assembly there), and secured the water-supply lines better, since one of them was tied to the board behind it using ground wire:

Replaced the old blackened yellow insulation with fresh faced stuff and installed some new studs under the bottom horizontal stud in the "window":

On a side note, anybody know what size/type of beam I'd have to use as a header in a load-bearing wall for a 12-foot opening?

Currently the opening is about 8-9' and it has 2x8's above it I believe ... I don't think they're really strong enough, but I was told I might need to do laminate pieces with plywood sandwiched in-between, glued and screwed together ...

Anybody have any more info on this?

 

[Badd GT]

depends on whats above it ie, 2nd floor and roof load, roof load only, 2nd floor only etc. need more info. What is the ceiling height?

 

[Gabe]

depends on whats above it ie, 2nd floor and roof load, roof load only, 2nd floor only etc. need more info. What is the ceiling height?

8' ceiling, the opening is between the kitchen and an addition, and I really only need the opening to be about 9', not 12 like I said above.
Wall construction is 2x4's
The wall in question used to be an exterior wall, now it leads to the added room.
Above is just the attic.

 

[Badd GT]

sounds like roof load only w/ possible overframe roof load from addition distributed evenly ie. no point loads. If it were mine double 2x12 w/ 1/2 in. plywood between (not osb). nailed 16" on center w min 12 penny frame nails in rows of 3. Put 3 jacks under each end in addition to kingstud and if possible from underneath, solid block down to top of foundation under the jacks. I'm assuming this is on the first floor. is it snowing?

 

[Gabe]

sounds like roof load only w/ possible overframe roof load from addition distributed evenly ie. no point loads. If it were mine double 2x12 w/ 1/2 in. plywood between (not osb). nailed 16" on center w min 12 penny frame nails in rows of 3. Put 3 jacks under each end in addition to kingstud and if possible from underneath, solid block down to top of foundation under the jacks. I'm assuming this is on the first floor. is it snowing?

Barely snowing. Heavy stuff coming in a couple/few hours. Tomorrow morning should be fun.

Yes, first floor.
Don't wanna go to 2x12's since that would rub about 4" of headroom and there's not that much room available.
A buddy mentioned doing two 7.5" LVL's which would keep headroom the same, and make sure the ends are sitting on doubled-up 2x4's

What's a king stud?

Edit: nevermind, Google told me what a king stud is, lol

 

[i am ryan]

What's a king stud?

Edit: nevermind, Google told me what a king stud is, lol

Boy, would I love to be a fly on the wall when you Googled that one.

 

[Kenaizer]

Boy, would I love to be a fly on the wall when you Googled that one.

Lol.

 

[Badd GT]

The double 7.5"lvl might be sufficient , I'd run it by a structural engineer that usually costs about $300, that's why I suggested 2x12 that's overkill( kinda like a forged crank) no engineer necessary 3 feet of snow is a hell of a load. Triple jack whatever you go with at that span

 

[Gabe]

Boy, would I love to be a fly on the wall when you Googled that one.

Lol ...

The double 7.5"lvl might be sufficient , I'd run it by a structural engineer that usually costs about $300, that's why I suggested 2x12 that's overkill( kinda like a forged crank) no engineer necessary 3 feet of snow is a hell of a load. Triple jack whatever you go with at that span

Thanks, I might just have somebody come and check it out.
Considering the amount of things I've found that were done half-assed in this place, it wouldn't surprise me to find out that even the current set-up is not good enough.


Today was a snow day.
We got over 25" of the white stuff.

Went by there with a buddy that has a Ram with a plow on it, he did a couple quick passes and then I finished up with my new snow blower

The "before":

And how it looked like when I left:

 

[skwerl]

Gabe, does your driveway circle around behind the house or is it just a single driveway on each side?

 

[Gabe]

Gabe, does your driveway circle around behind the house or is it just a single driveway on each side?

Single driveway on the left where the garage is.

On the right it's a dirt area that I've been using as a driveway, but it's not paved.

We're thinking we'll eventually to a circular driveway, but that's 1-2 years down the road ...

 

[Shaggy]

Single driveway on the left where the garage is.

On the right it's a dirt area that I've been using as a driveway, but it's not paved.

We're thinking we'll eventually to a circular driveway, but that's 1-2 years down the road ...

It would look awesome with one. Are you able to extend the front porch out in the future, like having an over hang in the front with pillars and what not?

 

[Gabe]

It would look awesome with one. Are you able to extend the front porch out in the future, like having an over hang in the front with pillars and what not?

We're thinking we'll do pillars eventually, but probably not a front porch ... the lower floor being in the basement kinda makes that odd

 

[Badd GT]

hey Gabe looks like the wind blew all the snow of your roof! Google " Table R502.5 (1)" this should help answer header questions for you. the first table "roof and ceiling" applies to you I believe. These are header sizes by code absent an engineer's override to which they provide a letter w/their seal applied which makes them liable if it were ever to fail.

 

[Gabe]

hey Gabe looks like the wind blew all the snow of your roof! Google " Table R502.5 (1)" this should help answer header questions for you. the first table "roof and ceiling" applies to you I believe. These are header sizes by code absent an engineer's override to which they provide a letter w/their seal applied which makes them liable if it were ever to fail.

Thanks, I looked it up.

Also spoke with my GF's bro-in-law the contractor, and he had a great idea of how to keep the 2x4 studs/wall that's there now and use 2 longer-than-needed 2x8's with 1/2"-plywood sandwiched in-between, glued and screwed together.
I will end up with 3 jack studs at each end of the opening, 3 more at the actual ends of the 2x8 "sandwich", then full-height studs, then screw half-inch plywood across the whole face of that wall, making a reinforcing web distributing the load across the whole wall.

Quite ingenious, I thought.

The 2x8's that are there now are showing no deflection whatsoever, and they've been up there for about 18-19 years.

Current opening is 77.75" wide, we're not going to 12 feet. Only going about 9" wider, so his idea should work perfectly.



Yesterday I bought and installed a temporary sink in the kitchen, since we need a sink for various jobs:

 

[GallopingFord]

Your GF doesn't need a sink to make sammiches!

 

[Gabe]

Your GF doesn't need a sink to make sammiches!

Lol ... noooooo .... not what it's for ... we need a sink to wash paint brushes in, to mix cleaning agents in, etc .... she bought this cleaning stuff that needs to be diluted, will clean off smoke residue and all kinds of other crap.
The 80-year olds that lived there smoked, so the doors are brown instead of white, and so on ...



Today I had the electrician over, to go over all the plans of where things get changed, added, removed, etc.

Finally took the sledge hammer to the old mint-green quartz counter-top:

I also got the trailer hooked up and shoveled the 2 feet of snow out of it:

Got most of the trash that's gathered in the sunroom loaded up into the trailer and the truck, in anticipation of the dump trip tomorrow morning.
We'll make 2 trips and all the trash will be gone

And as it sits, waiting for tomorrow morning to go get unloaded, then repeat.

 

[GallopingFord]

I donno how you don't have a HGTV show yet.

 

[Gabe]

I donno how you don't have a HGTV show yet.

LMAO !!!