Home Improvement Today?

we just have one , all the rest we can build with standard HDU5 hold downs

 

We typically set them on both sides of a garage door opening. Last new frame I did there where 6 of them. They effectively act as the trimmers for the header over the doors. Great product and the sheer values are insane.

That house also had a shit ton of HDQ14 and HDQ16s. Biggest hold downs I've ever installed. It was a very open build with huge windows so the engineer needed to get sheer in smaller then normal runs. There was also a moment frame that tied in the back covered decks that he was able to gain some sheer value with. It was a fun build.

 

There you go with those words again.

 

Yeah. The few of us that understand those words should probably start a Home Builders thread. lol

 

we only need the Strongwall capacity on one rake wall that is pretty much all glass . Everywhere else we have enough wall area to use HDU5 with site built shear walls . We do have 2 continuous site built shear rake walls that go from the basement to underside of roof sheathing to pick up the floor and roof diaphragms . There is a substantial load on the 2nd floor as we are going 1 1/2" of concrete over the framing for hydronic heating

 

The Simpson Strongwall is on the top of an 11' 6" high foundation wall I'm currently forming lol , I'll take a pic of the rebar in that wall and the adjoining grade beam tomorrow

 

Those are amazing nail pullers if you ever need them. Used them to remove 9,992 staples when we ripped up underlayment in the first house my wife and I owned. The oak floors underneath thanked us.

From a brass or copper header and all home runs with shutoffs I would 100% choose pex, this would also be in a utility room that has access and room to work, however some of us just have to deal with the headaches we bought into…

If I had an unlimited budget I would have a utility wall on the west side of my house. Where there was easy access to all the utilities throughout the house.

 

One thing I haven’t seen much of, stud bay panels for non electrical purposes. Confused why there aren’t a ton of those things on the market.

 

you talking about access panels ?

 

Yeah, the options are lousy. I would think this would be a worthwhile game for every panel maker to be in. Like pedestals for laundry. But it seems most people want drywall above and below the panel.

 

Make something from MDF , paint it wall colour and use magnet catches , we do that kinda thing for hydronic manifolds and low voltage controls / transformers all the time

 

There are drywall door options. Just sort of surprised. I should have kept my old panel and cut out the back. But I think it was too tall anyway.

And we foamed up all the holes anyway so no good point to access other then surface mount runs for a generator feed which would make me sad anyway.

MDF won’t stop a screw or nail. That’s what I’m after. Access and protection. Tricky combo.

 

put your utilities at centre of stud wall and there should be no issues unless somebody decides they need 4" screws to install cabinets (seen the results of that one)

 

So, doorbell. Code says high and low voltage should be separated, makes sense. But with this style of ceiling fan box, is the separation adequate? Or must I send doorbell wire through the drywall.

I’d rather route it through the box then out the cover plate with a gasket.

 

This really irks me.......

 

Put a dead bolt in the hole, even if you rarely need or use it. Keyed both sides.

 

I'm assuming you're talking about the garage door openers being out of plumb and not spaced evenly and not the dead bolt in the door

But, yes, that would irk me as well.

 

At Least the screws on cover plate are vertical