Good morning all,
This is my first post, though I have "lurked" to diy-not on a number of occasions but never signed up until now in order to ask a question
I'm having an extension built to my "shalet" style house, a large garage on the ground floor and a new master bedroom, ensuite and closet upstairs together with a bit of re-modelling of the existing space upstairs. An old flat-rooved dormer window ripped out, and replaced with a pitched roof with a new matching dormer in the new bit too.
An architect has done the drawings and got the job through planning permission/buildings regs with a little help from a structuaral engineer sub-contractor who did the calcs for the roof loading and glulam beams. I went for the "full plans approval" route so the buidlings inspector rubber stamped it before any work began.
The glulam beams have been in position since mid september, and for one reason or another didn't get put in until a gable was up so it had to come back down again to be done correctly (they form a T-piece and each length would have been on a different elevation, duh). All that was specified on the the drawing was the dimensions and positions of the beams, and of a supporting post - there was no detail as to how the beams should join together. The chippies took it upon themselves to decide on something like a normal joist hanger (but larger) would be adequate so got a local fabricator to make one up (this bit was with my say-so). Alas, the bracket would not fit in with the beams already in position (it was kept supported with props in the mean time) so I had to slice an edge off, slide it in to position and weld the edge back on again in-situ... photos make it clear!!
Now, three months on a crack has appeared in the beam, I understand it might be "checking" in which case I can rest easy. I've not spoken to the builder about it yet, next time he's on site I'll show it to him and see how he reacts.
I wonder is it worth getting in touch with a different structural engineer to assess the job and the bracket? I cannot approach the architect (or structural engineer) who originally "designed" it as I cannot stand to work with him after a dispute over the quality of work/deliverables from the SE regarding lack of details/joined up thinking between the pair of them!
My concern is that the chippies, in good faith, took in upon themselves to specify a bracket, and I had my hand in is blessing this off as acceptable - when really the hidden intention of the SE was for me to say there's not enough detail here and to levy another fee to add this detail (he happens to have a side line in glulam design...). I placed my trust in the experience of the chippie/builder and "if big is enough, bigger is better". I don't know if there is any fault with the bracket, the way the beam attaches to the bracket or the overall design on the system. Or even if this cracking is anything to worry about? I have marked on the current length of the crack (about 0.57m) and will be continuing to monitor it very closely indeed!
The photos are taking ages to upload to photobucket - I'll edit the post when they appear
Nozzle
This is my first post, though I have "lurked" to diy-not on a number of occasions but never signed up until now in order to ask a question
I'm having an extension built to my "shalet" style house, a large garage on the ground floor and a new master bedroom, ensuite and closet upstairs together with a bit of re-modelling of the existing space upstairs. An old flat-rooved dormer window ripped out, and replaced with a pitched roof with a new matching dormer in the new bit too.
An architect has done the drawings and got the job through planning permission/buildings regs with a little help from a structuaral engineer sub-contractor who did the calcs for the roof loading and glulam beams. I went for the "full plans approval" route so the buidlings inspector rubber stamped it before any work began.
The glulam beams have been in position since mid september, and for one reason or another didn't get put in until a gable was up so it had to come back down again to be done correctly (they form a T-piece and each length would have been on a different elevation, duh). All that was specified on the the drawing was the dimensions and positions of the beams, and of a supporting post - there was no detail as to how the beams should join together. The chippies took it upon themselves to decide on something like a normal joist hanger (but larger) would be adequate so got a local fabricator to make one up (this bit was with my say-so). Alas, the bracket would not fit in with the beams already in position (it was kept supported with props in the mean time) so I had to slice an edge off, slide it in to position and weld the edge back on again in-situ... photos make it clear!!
Now, three months on a crack has appeared in the beam, I understand it might be "checking" in which case I can rest easy. I've not spoken to the builder about it yet, next time he's on site I'll show it to him and see how he reacts.
I wonder is it worth getting in touch with a different structural engineer to assess the job and the bracket? I cannot approach the architect (or structural engineer) who originally "designed" it as I cannot stand to work with him after a dispute over the quality of work/deliverables from the SE regarding lack of details/joined up thinking between the pair of them!
My concern is that the chippies, in good faith, took in upon themselves to specify a bracket, and I had my hand in is blessing this off as acceptable - when really the hidden intention of the SE was for me to say there's not enough detail here and to levy another fee to add this detail (he happens to have a side line in glulam design...). I placed my trust in the experience of the chippie/builder and "if big is enough, bigger is better". I don't know if there is any fault with the bracket, the way the beam attaches to the bracket or the overall design on the system. Or even if this cracking is anything to worry about? I have marked on the current length of the crack (about 0.57m) and will be continuing to monitor it very closely indeed!
The photos are taking ages to upload to photobucket - I'll edit the post when they appear
Nozzle