10-17-2006, 06:40 AM
I'll chime in for Dave's "light roof" construction. If anything is going to fall on me, I don't want it to be heavy. Also the more weight at the top of the swing has got to put more stress on the walls holding it up. Our roof is very light with just tin on 2" x 4" rafters at 4' on center with 2" x 3" purlins at 4' on center and that's about it. Doesn't weigh all that much and should it fall, I think we would be able to crawl out from underneath. Bruised and battered no doubt, but still crawling, one would hope. The eaves are only about a foot and a half wide which is odd, but the house was built about 100 years ago and getting supplies up the coast was a lot harder so maybe they built to match the tin they had available? Anyway, the eaves are narrow enough that the roof may survive a hurricane, too, I dunno. Wish they were wider for day to day sun on the side of the house protection, though.
Puna and Kona have almost no soil, so if the house is directly attached to the ground, then the house would get the earthquake shocks directly. I would think some sort of gravel base or something which could shift sideways would lessen the shocks going to the house. Maybe double the 6" gravel base to 12". That should help the house structure shift - if it is slab construction - and lessen the impacts but it would stress the inground plumbing connections.
We have two houses here built side by side both where the bagasse pile was from the old sugar mill. One house was built on a standard 4" thick concrete slab/6" gravel base and it has had extensive cracking from the lack of ground support under it. The other house is on a "floating" concrete slab, with enough concrete and rebar in it to make it self supporting without much soil support. I'm thinking the house on the "floating" slab will have had less damage than the "standard" slab, but I haven't gone to look yet.
I personally don't trust Simpson ties and nails to be the only thing holding the joists up. It isn't any harder to set the joists on top of the beams than to face nail them with Simpson fittings, so unless the homeowner absolutely demands the joists be face hung, I always put them directly on top of the beams. I think people are beginning to rely too much on these metal ties and straps. IMHO a house should be built so it is structurally sound without the clips, ties and straps. You can add them, you are required by code to add them, but I still don't trust them. Maybe fifty or a hundred years from now, then I will consider them a "proven" building system, not that I'm going to be around then anyway.
I dunno, with post and pier foundations, you can go look at the foundations and if nails were coming loose, they can be nailed back in or a larger nail put back in. When building houses for myself, the nails are galvanized and nailed in with hammers instead of with nail guns. And the nails are set in different directions so they can't all pull out in one direction. If a board is properly nailed on, it almost has to be destroyed to remove it. I would think folks would assess their own houses after an earthquake or hurricane and nail back in popped nails and check foundations and other structural items.
Is there any general discussion or public input about the building codes before they are adopted? If we can request the County to amend the heavy roof covering requirement because earthquakes are historically more prevelant than hurricanes, I would think that would be a good thing.
Brian, you may have something about "stay away from big cracks in the ground". While discussing the earthquake with a neighbor, when I mentioned going outside during the quake he was alarmed and said the earth could eat you up if you did that and it is safer inside the house since it would require a bigger hole to eat the whole house. He's been through five or six big earthquakes and that's his opinion.
Puna and Kona have almost no soil, so if the house is directly attached to the ground, then the house would get the earthquake shocks directly. I would think some sort of gravel base or something which could shift sideways would lessen the shocks going to the house. Maybe double the 6" gravel base to 12". That should help the house structure shift - if it is slab construction - and lessen the impacts but it would stress the inground plumbing connections.
We have two houses here built side by side both where the bagasse pile was from the old sugar mill. One house was built on a standard 4" thick concrete slab/6" gravel base and it has had extensive cracking from the lack of ground support under it. The other house is on a "floating" concrete slab, with enough concrete and rebar in it to make it self supporting without much soil support. I'm thinking the house on the "floating" slab will have had less damage than the "standard" slab, but I haven't gone to look yet.
I personally don't trust Simpson ties and nails to be the only thing holding the joists up. It isn't any harder to set the joists on top of the beams than to face nail them with Simpson fittings, so unless the homeowner absolutely demands the joists be face hung, I always put them directly on top of the beams. I think people are beginning to rely too much on these metal ties and straps. IMHO a house should be built so it is structurally sound without the clips, ties and straps. You can add them, you are required by code to add them, but I still don't trust them. Maybe fifty or a hundred years from now, then I will consider them a "proven" building system, not that I'm going to be around then anyway.
I dunno, with post and pier foundations, you can go look at the foundations and if nails were coming loose, they can be nailed back in or a larger nail put back in. When building houses for myself, the nails are galvanized and nailed in with hammers instead of with nail guns. And the nails are set in different directions so they can't all pull out in one direction. If a board is properly nailed on, it almost has to be destroyed to remove it. I would think folks would assess their own houses after an earthquake or hurricane and nail back in popped nails and check foundations and other structural items.
Is there any general discussion or public input about the building codes before they are adopted? If we can request the County to amend the heavy roof covering requirement because earthquakes are historically more prevelant than hurricanes, I would think that would be a good thing.
Brian, you may have something about "stay away from big cracks in the ground". While discussing the earthquake with a neighbor, when I mentioned going outside during the quake he was alarmed and said the earth could eat you up if you did that and it is safer inside the house since it would require a bigger hole to eat the whole house. He's been through five or six big earthquakes and that's his opinion.
Kurt Wilson