04-27-2018, 04:07 AM
Part of it depends where on the island you're building. They're now checking wind loads, seismic zones and requiring engineering on plans up along the Hamakua coast areas.
They seem to want all the piers connected with concrete beams (stringers?) now. At least, up along the Hamakua Coast, it may be different in Puna due to the lack of soil there. In any case, the piers are tied together with 12" x 12" concrete 'beams' and I forget the size and quantity of rebar at the moment, but the rebar is in there. Concrete has almost zero tensile strength so there'd have to be rebar.
There is now a lot of requirements for braced walls which includes the post and pier part of the house, too. For bracing requirements, the post and pier level of a house is considered as one floor level of the house so it would have the same bracing requirements as the first floor. And the braced walls are required each way every so many feet, twenty four? Twenty six? Twenty eight? and for a certain percentage of the length. It may be 55% of the first floor walls. Which pretty much knocks the 'traditional' post and pier methods out of the water.
So, for a post and beam house, the corners are minimum 4' x 4' braced walls, also 55% of the perimeter is now a braced wall instead of just posts. Under the braced wall there is about double the amount of concrete that there used to be and a lot more Simpson fittings than there used to be.
As for getting the trusses up, a lot of it depends on the individual construction. I've had them delivered to the top of the walls, but that was a slab on grade house. If it's one story on piers, usually one end of the trusses will reach the top of the walls so they are never fully lifted, more tilted and slid than lifted. There is the crane truck option as well for higher houses.
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Kurt Wilson
They seem to want all the piers connected with concrete beams (stringers?) now. At least, up along the Hamakua Coast, it may be different in Puna due to the lack of soil there. In any case, the piers are tied together with 12" x 12" concrete 'beams' and I forget the size and quantity of rebar at the moment, but the rebar is in there. Concrete has almost zero tensile strength so there'd have to be rebar.
There is now a lot of requirements for braced walls which includes the post and pier part of the house, too. For bracing requirements, the post and pier level of a house is considered as one floor level of the house so it would have the same bracing requirements as the first floor. And the braced walls are required each way every so many feet, twenty four? Twenty six? Twenty eight? and for a certain percentage of the length. It may be 55% of the first floor walls. Which pretty much knocks the 'traditional' post and pier methods out of the water.
So, for a post and beam house, the corners are minimum 4' x 4' braced walls, also 55% of the perimeter is now a braced wall instead of just posts. Under the braced wall there is about double the amount of concrete that there used to be and a lot more Simpson fittings than there used to be.
As for getting the trusses up, a lot of it depends on the individual construction. I've had them delivered to the top of the walls, but that was a slab on grade house. If it's one story on piers, usually one end of the trusses will reach the top of the walls so they are never fully lifted, more tilted and slid than lifted. There is the crane truck option as well for higher houses.
Kurt Wilson
Kurt Wilson