Kwality Konstukshun

[E. maculata]

If using this crap can save one more tree for me, Im all for them.


Al

Now Al I know you're tongue in cheek, cause masonite is made from what?
not commenting on the pale crap either side of it tho.

[ozwinner]

I dont think Id like them in my place.

I used 250x50 Irish pine for my exposed ceiling with a tiled roof at 450mm spacings.
How would these things stack up to that?


How would you like them as an exposed feature? :eek:


Al

[ozwinner]

Now Al I know you're tongue in cheek, cause masonite is made from what?
.

Sweepings off the floor?

Al

[E. maculata]

Mmmm, i believe Hardwood fibres might be present in that there masonite, no glue just shredded hwd liquified, stirred and pressed into board using heat & pressure.
My understanding anyhow

[Driver]

You`d be amazed what is being used in construction.

You got that right! :eek:

That splitting is probable caused by the nails that are driven in to secure it to the top-plate.

I'm sure you intended this comment to be reassuring. Why don't I feel reassured?

[bitingmidge]

http://www.hudsontimber.com.au/ibeams/default.asp

http://www.tilling.com.au/smartframe...ods.htm#Ijoist

Well see what happens when a bloke goes to sleep for a bit! The world just keeps getting smarter.

Ply and chipboard I've seen, but now hardboard too!

Why do I suddenly long for the good old days?

P
:eek:

[ozwinner]

Well see what happens when a bloke goes to sleep for a bit! The world just keeps getting smarter.

Ply and chipboard I've seen, but now hardboard too!

Why do I suddenly long for the good old days?

P
:eek:

Just wait for the cardboard to come on line...

Al

[Bodgy]

Guys, this is a standard construction technique nowdays. All our neighbours have sold out and subdivided and without exemption all the McMansions going up use this technique for the upper storey.

I have a suspicion that these joists are probably as strong as the traditional. They don't seem to mind getting wet either, as it has rained lately and there's been no attempt to keep the water off. They cant all be shonky builders, can they?

[ozwinner]

Even though I do work on the McMansions, I cant see them outliving 30 years.
Maybe thats the thing, built in obsolesence.
" Im sorry Sir, but you house has reached its use by date"
"please select from the following new houses ( at your expense of course ).

Al

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Built-in obsolescence? Is that what they call shoddy workmanship nowadays?

I managed to take the trend towards laminating treated pine for bearers and joists in my stride, I can even turn a blind eye to the use of sheet ply and a nailgun in lieu of lintels over doors'n'windows... but the latest has me stunned. For a few years a polystyrene cladding has been used in lieu of blueboard for external upper stories, with good reason; but to use lightly rendered polystyrene as the sole cladding on the groundfloor? :eek:

Can you imagine? Your kid flies up the driveway on his bike, comes to a screaming halt throwing the bike up against the wall before belting inside to throw himself on the couch.

Only to find that he can't, 'cos the bike fell through the wall and beat him to it.

Seriously, at the latest site I'm working on, a new house of dubious quality sited on high-value beachfront (suitably priced for the rich but stupid, methinks), I leaned a crowbar against the side of the house while chipping some conc away to run a drain. Picked it up again and... uhoh... there's now this permanent imprint. A closer look showed similar marks & worse all around the place, and it hasn't any residents yet!

Tradies may be rough in the initial stages, but most at the finishing stages take at least a modicum of care, far more than a gaggle of kids would anyway.

[DavidG]

Ozwinner
(usually outside walls are loadbearing).

I repeat.

Should there not be a double top plate on a load bearing wall where the load is not carried directly over the studs. :confused:

Ps
I am not a builder but I think I read it in one of the council requirements. Somewhere....??? :confused:

[ryanarcher]

TJI's (truss Joist incorporated) are used almost exclusively for floor joists here, though the web member is usually OSB, and the chords are usually 2"x2" not 2"x4" like in your photo :eek:. they are indeed very strong if used as intended. i can't see masonite bieng any worse than OSB in the presence of moisture.
their performance under fire load however is alarmingly poor. at relatively low structure fire conditions the glue delaminates the web from the chord causing acute and early floor collapse.

[sol381]

I doubt whether you`ll find many guys using kd hardwood for joists any more. Even they are never the same width and the do bow as well so you are forever packing or planing to get the levels. With these kind of joists they are dead straight, are the same width, can span much further. They do work and after the plasterboard is on you wont even think about it. I doubt whether they would be used or even get approved if the didnt work.
stef

[bennylaird]

The basic idea is quite sound, aeromodellers have been using the webbed spars like this for years. Very strong in compression for high loads but we use spruce spars with balsa webbing, call it an "I" beam.

[silentC]

I don't think it's the I beam idea people are objecting to, it's the use of masonite for the web. I beams have obviously been around for awhile, we're using some in our house but it's LVL, not this stuff. Dunno, I can't see why it would be any weaker than LVL. Similiar principle to a torsion box when you have a heap of them side by side under your floor. As long as they can't tip over, it should be strong enough.

Ryan's point is a good one though. My joists are going to be LVL beams and I suppose they will suffer the same fate in a fire. If the glue lets go it's just a bunch of pine veneers standing on edge. We're only single storey though, so maybe not such a problem as it would be in a two storey house. If it gets hot enough to melt the glue, it's probably going to be a knock down and rebuild anyway