Tips
A Sagging Ridgeline
I visited a client last week who was asking about a portion of his home that had a sagging ridge line. The roof is also the style that has two different roof slopes along the rafters. It is an older home so my first thought was that it was not built using trusses and the rafters and or ridge beam was undersized. I asked to go inside to see what internal effect this was having and was somewhat surprised to find a room with a vaulted ceiling which did not follow the roof line at all! While this is not unusual and is often accomplished in current designs using a scissor truss, the age of the structure and the lack of a transfer of the exterior failure to the interior ceiling indicated this was not the case.
One of the advantages of a truss roof is that the roof load is transferred directly down on the perimeter walls. When properly designed, the loads in a rafter roof design transfer the loads down as well, but when the ridge beam is undersized, it will sag causing the rafters to exert lateral pressure on the perimeter walls. There weren’t any particular indications of this occurring. And then there is the puzzle of the vaulted ceiling. According the the owner, it was a later addition, so was a new ridge beam and rafter system put in below the roof to support the ceiling? Is the ceiling hanging from the roof beam and rafters? (Which would add to the stress on the roof.) Unfortunately I had to admit that my X-ray vision was not up to the task of determining the internal workings of the roof and ceiling situation.
In recent years, particularly with the installation of some of the new residential metal roofs, I’ve seen sagging roofs being hidden under new roofs. Sometimes this is accomplished using “sleeper” purlins that are shimmed to level the roof. In some extreme cases new rafters are cut to lay on the roof at the proper slopes to correct the problem. All too often I see this entire new system going on over the existing roofing. Some of the concerns here are:
- The failing roof is hidden and not corrected. Out of sight, out of mind is not a solution.
- The underlying failing roof is now under additional loading, potentially increasing the problem. While the metal roof can at times reduce the potential snow load since snow won’t stick to the metal like it does to shingles, it is still an increase of the day to day material load on the underlying structure.
- Often there is rot and deterioration associated with the sagging roof. Under the additional roof, it may continue to deteriorate unobserved potentially leading to failure.
But back to my client’s problem. I had to tell him that there wasn’t a quick fix. Due to the hidden problems, some selective demolition would be needed to determine a solution. That’s not generally something a client likes to hear, but it is the right thing to do.
Source: Sagging Ridge image borrowed from Prugar Consulting,Inc.
Source: Truss Load image borrowed from Next.cc
Heartland Artists Easel
You never know what kind of call you will get around here. Diane Osborn called around the first of August and asked if we could build a 12′ tall artist easel for Heartland Artists to use for sign displays during the Blueberry Festival. That’s not exactly something we get asked every day… We did a little research to try and determine what standard dimensions for an artist easel are. It didn’t take too long to figure out that there aren’t really any standards. We eventually found one that we liked and we went about modifying it to increase dimensions and make it collapsable.
We started with three 12′ 2 x 4’s for legs, joined at the top with bolts and nuts. The front legs are the outer legs and these were beveled to allow them to come in against the back leg when spread. A fourth 12′ 2 x 4 was cut in half for two 6′ lengths. One of those pieces was ripped in half again. One of the ripped pieces was joined to the full piece in an “L” shape to create the tray to hold the display. This would be where the canvas would sit on a normal easel.
We loosely bolted the “L” piece to one front leg. At the other front leg, we placed the bolt through and inch lower, leaving it stick out slightly longer. We then notched the “L” to rest on this bolt and lock it in place. This allowed the whole thing to fold up as one linear stack when not in use and without disassembling the parts. When completed, we had things set up so that it could be assembled without tools and could stand with the nuts and bolts just finger tight. We considered adding chains from the front legs to the back leg to set the open distance, but decided this would limit the flexibility of use and would impede how it folded up.
Easel in use at the 2014 Blueberry Festival
The final touch was to drill holes in the bottoms of the legs for anchoring. These were drilled horizontally through the legs to allow attachment to stakes if the placement was on earth or other mechanical fasteners if the placement was on pavement. At 12′ high with the potential for more than 32 square feet of signage, we were concerned that it would become a big sail and blow over in the wind. (Live & Learn. This was a problem with the film reel we made several years ago and that was a lot heavier and less top heavy!)
Thanks to Bob Cooper and Mugurel Stefan here at Easterday Construction for finding the parts from stock and assembling the structure. Shelley Heiden with Heartland Artists sent us the pictures which are greatly appreciated. Best wishes to Heartland Artists for many years of use.
Paint Cans
A common problem with paint cans is the build up of paint in the lid groove. This can cause spills outside the can and the inability to close the can properly. To reduce this issue, take a 6 penny nail and puncture the can in the groove. These holes allow the paint to drain back into the can. They don’t affect the seal on the can as they are below where the lid friction fits when reinstalled.
Another suggestion is to use a pour spout. This is a flexible plastic piece that fits in the inner groove of the can and form a spout to pour from without drips running down the side of the can. I’ve used these with good success, though there is till some dripping to watch for. It is undoubtedly better than just pouring from the can lip itself. They are fairly inexpensive and reusable.
Picture Source: Amazon.com
Solar Shutters
Plantation shutters are useful for keeping sunlight out, but they can also be adapted to harvest solar power… at least that is the vision of the San Diego company called Plug ‘n Save Energy Products. Placing these shutters on the windows on the south side of your home will do double duty reducing heat gain from sunlight while collecting the solar energy. Connect the photovoltaic panels on the louvers to an inverter that plugs into an outlet and returns power back to your electrical system.
Picture Source: latimes.com
