Then I'll begin...
Daughter has a huge 8m x 8m 'veranda' at the front of the house... Concrete slab, 90mm steel posts, C section & snaplock roof sheets... All council approved... And then... decides she wants it enclosed to make a family room and an additional bedroom - and get one of her friends hubby's to do it (he's a 'handy-man') - and bypass the Council... So, she pays nearly $7k for insulated cladding, along comes the handyman and up go the frames - and somebody dobs her in to the Council...
DAD..??
The Council have been pretty good about it... After a few meetings I put the plans in and they have been accepted and we have a Certificate of Construction with me as the nominated "builder"... (with a couple of mods to the plans)
Along with the certificate come the stipulations:
(1) all work carried out must be in accordance with the provisions of the Building Code of Australia (BCA)
There's my first stumbling block: How to access the BCA..?? "You can access online at the library for free".
Yes... But that's the 1999 edition... And from what I can gather it *does have all the 'provisions' for Constructing Class 3 Residences - but then directs you to AS1684.2-2010 for details about construction materials, dimensions, spans, fixings, etc... That costs another $200 or so...
So... Here I am... Cap in hand...
I'm okay with the building techniques - and I have tools like sliding chop saws and framing guns etc - plus some impressive machines in the shed.
I'm *not okay with the 'specs'...
I have a hundred questions... But I won't flood the thread with all of them at once...
The Council haven't told us to remove any of the frames - but neither have they said that the frames are compliant...
As they stand, they "look okay" to me: 90 x 45 F10, each frame ~1600w - 2590h, studs spaced about 400mm - noggins a bit haphazard.
Each of the frames at the front is fixed either side to the 90mm steel posts (1600mm spaces) with #10 hex-head screws
Let's start there:
Footplates: Should these be bolted-in to the concrete slab..??? if so - what size dynabolts?
Should there be a 'dampcourse' between the footplates and concrete..?? what's recommended??
Are those #10 hex-head screws okay as fixings into the steel posts...?? if not - what..??
Is there a 'standard' for noggin spacing..?? (vertical spacing...)
I'm gonna hafta take all the frames down at the sides and the centre as the 'handyman' hasn't double-headed these, and they are load-bearing for the ceiling joists (I know that much...)
That's what Dads are for... Isn't it...?


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