Pigsfoot

Hi All, Thank you for all the idea's @George, yes the roof will be covered as it needs to offer shade. I'm fully expecting the roof to be something like 300mm deep but to be fair i'm looking for that type of look.. substantial.. the legs will be min 150mm box and i'm only stopping there as larger box section gets very expensive due to increasing the wall thickness also so i may pack it out with timbers as its being clad and just make them look bigger.. possibly match the roof thickness @Iceverge, yes the first picture is what i'm looking to achieve but on a much bigger scale. I did speak to a manufacturer of those type of Pergolas but nearly had a heart attack when they told me a estimated price of around £72,000 ! The sail is a nice idea and we have had one before. The downside is you have to have at least one side which is very high to get the correct fall and still have the lowest side around 2.5 mtrs to be able to walk underneath. The other issue is no matter what you do to make sure you never get water sitting on it they always seem to go green and dirty. @Bonner. I'l try to find some, are they the square type frames with the diagonal cross joints? I agree ( and pretty much everyone i spoke to also ) re the centre post but that would just ruin the whole look unfortunately... and although this is certainly a challenge i know it must be possible.. i guess if steel is the only way it comes down to how big ? Thinking allowed... although the 10 mtrs span must to totally clear i could have 45 degree angle beams from the roof to the legs on the 6 mtrs sides i guess.. maybe that woudl help with stability ?

Hi, I after some ideas please before i go to a structural engineer for guidance. I am looking to build a pergola in my garden which will be 10mtrs X 6mtrs. The 10 Mtr span needs to be completely open so as to not obstruct a view. Initially i was thinking of a steel structure using a 152 x 152 I beam's forming a ring all around the outside sat on legs with another beam in the middle and infill with 3mtrs long timbers... basically a large flat roof design on legs. I'm not 100% sure if the steels are big enough to span 10mtrs hence why i will get advice from a structural engineer but i started to wonder if there is another way to do this hence why i'm after idea's. So far i have thought of maybe using Pozi Joists, Ladder frames, the steel structure.. i'm open to any idea really as long as it is capable of the open span i need. When built the whole structure will be clad so doesn't really matter what the frame actually looks like. Loading wise i guess i need to consider snow and also myself climbing up to sweep off the roof maybe. The drawing shows my initial idea, ignore the 10.5 mtr span, its actually only 10Mtrs. Thanks ning the 10mtr width

Hi, I am trying to work out the best direction to run in some perforated land drains and i'm getting myself all confused. On the attached picture, the red lines is a drainage ditches which runs all the way around the plot apart from the front. Everything runs to the far corner away from the house, goes under the railway line and into a brook. The white lines show the direction of fall which we have just finished working using a laser level and bulldozer... At the moment we are pretty much just down to clay and sub soil and are getting ready to push back all the top soil, all 1500 tonnes of the stuff 🙄. The main fall from corner to corner is 2.5 mtrs, the one going away from the house to the rear is only around 1.5m and the one going to the right is around 1.8m. What i could do with knowing is the best direction to run the drains, i personally think they should run across the fall to capture the water but the guys helping me think they should be at 45 degrees to the ditch which would mean they run with the main fall to the corner of the garden? Can anyone provide some pointers. Thanks

Apologies for the weird title. We are building a new workshop which eventually will be converted to a bungalow. The building layout is two large rectangles laid out as a large letter T with a connection between the two sections which is the entrance lobby. This lobby section will have wall to wall glass which will be glass panels with a door in the middle. The plan attached may help. What i'm concerned about is the block work from the outside wall carries on to become the inside wall where the side door way is as there are no returns needed due to teh loby being full wall to wall glass. Is that OK, do i need to split the wall somehow and add in some DPC ? Any pointers would be very much appreciated. Thanks

Thanks Russell, i believe the top chord is 54mm deep so I will have 200mm left to play with hence why i think is the ledger board should be 200mm long as it will then sit flush with the bottom of the joist and provide surface contact all the way down the joist as you have mentioned. I have put together a simple drawing to try and explain what i mean. If the top chord turns out not to be quite 54mm i will adjust the ledge board width to accommodate.

thanks @PeterW, much appreciated so a zig zag type of layout for the studs. Any suggestions on the size of the ledger board i read on another forum that someone used 200 x 75mm which to be fair sounds like a monster but i imagine woudl do the job ?

Hi all, sorry to resurrect an old post. I seem to be having an issue with getting the ledger board size out of anyone. The floor designer keeps saying hes waiting for someone to get back to him and my architect won't commit so i guess I'm going to have to find a structural engineer to help. Just out of interest has anyone had a similar ledger plate put in, my joists are 254mm deep and 5.9 mtr long ( easy joists ). They will be supporting a std floor however there will be a en-suite which will have a bath in. One side to be supported by the ledger board, the other on a cavity wall. Any suggestions on wall fixings too, its been suggested to use 12mm threaded rod glued into place using resin at 400mm centers. Thanks

Hi, We are building a new two story extension with a double garage single story on the side. The plans show the garage as having a cavity which i have no issue with but do i need to insulate the cavity as i would the main extension. Its quite a big garage at 7.5 mtrs wide and 9.5 long not that I think that should make any difference. Thanks

Thanks everyone for your input, much appreciated. I did speak to a designer at Wolf Systems ( Easi Joist ) today and he confirmed it would be OK but i just need to speak to the company providing the joists to have the dimensions changed to include the Wall Plate and add in the top chord. I will also mention the end of the room upstairs is an En-Suite with hopefully a bath going in so just need to check everything can take the weight. Thanks

Hi PeterW, the issue is room length, the width is 6mtrs and length is 12 Mtrs. Th eonly other option woudl to put in steel to shorten the length span which i dont want to do.

Thanks OzO7, when you say to spec a 2" top chord would that then sit on top of the ledger board and then if so do i still sit the joist into a hanger or purely rely on the top chord to take the whole weight of the joist. Thanks

Hi, We are building a two story extension off the side of our property. The outside wall which will eventuality become a new internal wall is a 9" solid brick wall. We are using easi joists for the floor joists but i am unsure how to hang them from the 9" solid wall. The manufacturer seems to suggest i need to use joist hangers hung straight off the brick work but as its a solid brick wall there is no way i can nail into it so the only option would be drill, raw plug and screws. The issue is every hanger would need min 6 - 8 screws and i have 22 joists to hang. I was wondering if i could bolt timber to the wall and then nail the joist hangers to that, the concern being would it all be strong enough to support the floor ? Any suggestions ? Thanks in advance.