• Hi all and welcome to TheWoodHaven2 brought into the 21st Century, kicking and screaming! We all have Alasdair to thank for the vast bulk of the heavy lifting to get us here, no more so than me because he's taken away a huge burden of responsibility from my shoulders and brought us to this new shiny home, with all your previous content (hopefully) still intact! Please peruse and feed back. There is still plenty to do, like changing the colour scheme, adding the banner graphic, tweaking the odd setting here and there so I have added a new thread in the 'Technical Issues, Bugs and Feature Requests' forum for you to add any issues you find, any missing settings or just anything you'd like to see added/removed from the feature set that Xenforo offers. We will get to everything over the coming weeks so please be patient, but add anything at all to the thread I mention above and we promise to get to them over the next few days/weeks/months. In the meantime, please enjoy!

Mike's ext'n & renovation (solar panels)

Lovely work Mike. Just so I understand - you are effectively using the metal plates as beefy joist hangers at each end, and the saddle hanger in middle as an inverted joist hanger to hang the two cross beams on - correct?

If so.... why not make the end plates go round both sides of the beam rather than one side only - just the logistical nature of the job or is there a structural reason? And what did you fix the plates to the beam with - stainless coach bolts?

Majorly impressive as always!

Steve
 
:eusa-clap: :eusa-clap: :obscene-drinkingcheers:

Love it Mike! Love the detail and thought that's gone into supporting that whole thing, and those brackets, marvellous!

Cheers
Mark
 
Yes, Steve, you've pretty much got it. The two end brackets are effectively joist hangers. The reason they show a plate on only one side of the new beam is two-fold: firstly, and most importantly, because you can't lower the beam into them (the floor is in the way), they had to be slid into position after the beam was in place. Secondly, aesthetics: I didn't want to see steel there, really, so I have put the visible steel only on the back side of the beam, which is only 2 feet from the end wall, and thus no-one is ever likely to see it.

The saddle bracket in the middle of the new beam is essentially back-to-back joist hangers, hanging the 2 part bridging joist.

Nothing is fixed at all at the moment. It all just sits there held by gravity. However, I will be putting some SS coach screws into the end brackets to fix them to the ends of the new beam. There is no chance of getting any fixings into the old girding beam, but there is no chance of any possible movement with this bracket.
 
Thanks Mark. I've worried about this issue for about 18 months!! It's nice when big problems work out so well.
 
I mentioned that I lowered the dining room beam a few inches and cleared an obstruction above it before raising it again. Well, it now sits down onto the bracket perfectly:

Hyb8UhW.png

Then I turned my attention to the other end of the room. First problem.......a modern ceiling in the way:

1tyayUK.png

Note the softwood under the bridging joist, with the 2 threaded rods. For those who've forgotten, this is what is holding the beam up in the air at the moment, and with it, the floor & ceiling. Anyway, I hauled the ceiling down (I found a hoe from the garden shed to be the best tool for the job!):

oN1lA2C.png

fkYvlOI.png

Here is the problematic joint, still painted with the original limewash:

eiOGRh3.png

After cutting out:

e84N04r.png

I made up the beam as before, but left a little tolerance this time around the central saddle. learn from experience, I say:

qDOWjCI.png

This time I cut the right joist off!!! Here is the end bracket sitting out of the way where the joist end used to be, ready to slide into position in due course:

PdNU1g5.png

Ready to lift:

XmE4uo1.png

Going up:

KkPQO8A.png

IhhlUDh.png

The heights worked out less well than last time with respect to the length of the hoist chain, so I put up a scaffold to take the weight whilst I adjust the winch for a second go, Here you can see the RH end of the joist sitting in its bracket:

wtjx7qn.png

It's up. Last little bit by acrow prop. Perfectly onto all the brackets first time:

Ta2DrLm.png

dfR1iQP.png

Here is the left hand bracket sliding into place along the girding beam:

C71SIeb.png

v0sXZUj.png

The acrow was then removed, and some minor tweaks performed to the alignment of the beam with the fine adjusting tool:

HRbYtDY.png

The middle and RH joints went really well:

xlKt8ij.png

The left hand end bracket isn't perfect. Maybe the girding beam isn't quite straight in this location:

YxC4xwW.png
 
the bear":2496iaq5 said:
Agreed great stuff. Particularly like the way the brackets are let into the beams.

Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark. Details...........it's always the details that count. That's generally why Grand Designs is useless.
 
Looks great Mike, just one question, how green is the new oak beam? I seem to remember being told to use stainless steel fittings for green oak due to the corrosion caused by the tannin. Maybe that was because the oak was outside, yours is inside and the steel is coated?

Ian
 
It's about 9 months old, Ian, so still green. The thick dollop of red oxide paint should prevent the normal rusting problems of mild steel in contact with oak, and the fixings (coach screws) will be stainless.
 
I'm an avid reader of this thread and admire all the work. I think your comments about the router collet slipping on a piece of timber that will never be seen show your attention to detail!

Although I can't agree with comments r.e. Grand Designs love that show ;)
 
Have to love the bucket counter counter balance. How much fun did you have putting in just the right amount of rubble to make the beam level.
 
I part filled it with sand, then chucked a brick or two on top for fine adjustment. I wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't been by myself. It's just that when I was upstairs winch I couldn't really see what the beam was doing, so keeping it straight and level became a priority. If there had been someone downstairs to guide it up, it wouldn't have been necessary.
 
Mike G":4w1h4hlb said:
the bear":4w1h4hlb said:
Agreed great stuff. Particularly like the way the brackets are let into the beams.

Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark. Details...........it's always the details that count. That's generally why Grand Designs is useless.
Click to expand...

A long time lurker, gobsmackingly impressed by your efforts, and now you have used the same idea that I intend on a long-planned change to our old house. I too wanted to get some hangers made and let them into the beams so everything lays flush to the surface, but do not have the knowledge of where to go or how to order such things.

We have a well-known foundry nearby (in Holmfirth) and wondered if thats the sort of place you had yours made up. Also, did you use those drawings you so kindly included in your photos, or was something a lot official-looking used to get them?

In awe.

Greg
 
ParisinGOC":132yovt8 said:
Mike G":132yovt8 said:
the bear":132yovt8 said:
Agreed great stuff. Particularly like the way the brackets are let into the beams.

Mark
Click to expand...

Thanks Mark. Details...........it's always the details that count. That's generally why Grand Designs is useless.
Click to expand...

A long time lurker, gobsmackingly impressed by your efforts, and now you have used the same idea that I intend on a long-planned change to our old house. I too wanted to get some hangers made and let them into the beams so everything lays flush to the surface, but do not have the knowledge of where to go or how to order such things.

We have a well-known foundry nearby (in Holmfirth) and wondered if thats the sort of place you had yours made up. Also, did you use those drawings you so kindly included in your photos, or was something a lot official-looking used to get them?

In awe.

Greg
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum Greg. I am sure Mike will be along soon to answer your query, in the meantime why not introduce yourself in our Welcome Board. After 3 posts the spam trap will disappear and you will be able to post images. We are always keen to see what others are upto.
 
ParisinGOC":k74d0ut5 said:
......A long time lurker, gobsmackingly impressed by your efforts, and now you have used the same idea that I intend on a long-planned change to our old house. I too wanted to get some hangers made and let them into the beams so everything lays flush to the surface, but do not have the knowledge of where to go or how to order such things.

We have a well-known foundry nearby (in Holmfirth) and wondered if thats the sort of place you had yours made up. Also, did you use those drawings you so kindly included in your photos, or was something a lot official-looking used to get them?

In awe.

Greg
Click to expand...

Hi Greg, and welcome.

Yes, I used those actual drawings. If it were something more complex I would have done something in Autocad.

They wouldn't be made up by a foundry (which do castings), but by steel fabricators. Yell.com should give you a starting place if you don't know anyone to point you in the right direction. Here's your start:

https://www.yell.com/ucs/UcsSearchA...ns&location=holmefirth&scrambleSeed=836644619

Designing them is the most important part. Feel free to start a new thread if you need some help and I'll happily contribute. One of the key things I would suggest you think about isn't just what the brackets would look like, but, more importantly, how they would get into their final position. There is almost always some stuff in the way!
 
As someone that has made plenty of brackets in the past Mikes sketch drawings are all that is needed. Just be careful to make it clear which side of the material thickness the dimension lines run to. Good idea to tell the fabricator what they are for too so they now how strong you need them.

I'm guessing you used someone that knows what they are doing for your brackets Mike. I was a bit surprised they look fully weld fabricated from flat plates. I'd have expected the top hat section to have been bent for strength then just the fillet plates welded in. Nice solution to the problem in any case.
 
Can they bend 10mm plate to 90 degrees without leaving a radius? I dunno. They're made the way I expected them to be made, although in hindsight I should have asked for the welds to be ground flat, and should have had the central gussett of the top hat brackets made of say 4mm plate to give a bigger bearing area. The two top hats distorted slightly under the heat of the welding, and so the bearing feet were heels-down toes-up by a couple of mm. I just allowed for this in my housing out.
 
Looking good Mike.
I think you have given me the seeds of an idea to repair a really awkward joist end. Its currently propped on an acro (don't ask how long its been like that).
 
We didn't form much thick stuff but bending it on a press brake is not a problem and the inside rad would be around 2 mm. It's partly bending and partly a coining process. Guess a small shop wouldn't have a brake press though :)
 
Robert":3dzebfqu said:
We didn't form much thick stuff but bending it on a press brake is not a problem and the inside rad would be around 2 mm. It's partly bending and partly a coining process. Guess a small shop wouldn't have a brake press though :)
Click to expand...

It is quite a big enterprise, with a number of presses.
 
Thanks Erich.

I haven't done anything since, as my back has gone again.
 
9fingers":37aku1ng said:
Do you find the suspenders can get caught in your tools Malc? :lol:

Bob
Click to expand...

:lol:

You've got a smutty mind, Bob, and an old one at that!!!
 
Mike G":1peaw6p4 said:
Thanks Erich.

I haven't done anything since, as my back has gone again.
Click to expand...


That sucks, Mike. I've had a few back issues and sometimes you can go from zero pain to lightning bolt with a quarter inch move in the wrong direction.

Good luck getting past it...

Kirk
 
Andyp":hvqlikif said:
Are you seeing a physio Mike?
Click to expand...

I saw one of the very best in the country a few years ago for the same problem. He has worked with many of the Olympic athletes, top professional sportsmen, and so on, and written numerous papers on the subject of back pain. He put me in hospital with an injudicious bit of treatment. I'll never see a physio or similar again for back pain.

Andyp":hvqlikif said:
Hope this doesn't spoil your plans for Xmas.
Click to expand...

It amends the plans somewhat, but doesn't spoil them.
 
kirkpoore1":2m7dl95v said:
I've had a few back issues and sometimes you can go from zero pain to lightning bolt with a quarter inch move in the wrong direction.

Good luck getting past it...

Kirk
Click to expand...

Thanks Kirk. Yeah, I liken it to being shot....
 
As a fellow back pain sufferer you have my sympathies. Mines utterly debilitating when it's bad and the only way to make it bareable is to pay to see a chiropractor. Hope you are able to carry on soon

Mark
 
TrimTheKing":4kkiy1z2 said:
Do you know what the problem is Mike?

Mark
Click to expand...

Yep, and I know what the cure is too. I've been pain-free for 5 years, and then suffered 2 complete breakdowns and endless sciatica in the last 5 weeks. I'm waiting for an appointment for another bout of RFD (the D= denervation, where some very minor nerves which are misfiring are killed off).
 
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