Homeowner Forum / Construction / January 2007

I want to buy a tiny house or cottage or trailer on a piece of land for
$ 10.000 or 1-2 acres for $ 2000 in or outside a little town. I need no
basement, no garage but electicity and water and Internet access. I can
move to any state or town in the western USA.

I have to install a flitch beam to accomodate a 16' span. The engineer
called for it to sit on two 4x4's on each end. What type of hardware
do I need to tie the beam to the 4x4? Is there some kind of boot or
sleeve that I am supposed to use?

I am trying to complete a set of drawings for a room addition that, due
to property line proximity, will require a fire-rated wall on its south
side.  Per the city's code enforcement . . .
   "plans shall state all walls that are to be built with one-hour fire

I am buying a house with an Entran II radiant floor heating system.
This system has a known high catastrophic failure rate. The house is
rastra block exterior construction and a flat roof with no attic. I am
considering removing the tile floors, installing an electric floor

We just bought a new spec house, and we're painting it ourselves as
soon as the drywall is textured.  I've heard a lot of bad things about
Wagner Paint Crew power sprayers.  What's the best way for a DIY person
to paint the interior of a new house?

I'm building (and contracting some of the work) my own house.  This is
my second house and learned a bunch from the first.  One thing that I'd
really like to know is that after putting up drywall, ceiling, etc,
what order do I do the door frame and flooring?  Do I go ahead and put

Question on construction
I have seen a few posts on chimneys recently in this group.
What is the general rule on chimneys in terms of height ?
How much higher than the roof do they have to be ?

I  bought an old Army Corps of engineers 30kw 3 phase genset with Hercules
DD298ER 6cyl motor.
The numbers on it say GE 5SJ4324Y2Y6
Jetta power

I took a cup of dry green split peas, rinsed them under fairly
hard-running cold water from the kitchen sink faucet, in an ordinary
wire-strainer, and dumped the peas in a pot of lukewarm distilled water to
cook.

Apologies if this isnt the correct forum, but it does indirectly affect
building construction!
We bought a lot in a "sub-division" of 10 lots, VERY rural, with no
Cable access. Currently we are the only lot built so in effect we ARE

When a developer tells you that your property has been contructed "up
to Plinth" what does that actually mean?
Does is actually make any sense?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

urgent ..pls help -construction question
Background
*****************
My friend is buying a home in the SF Bay Area, CA.

Just a few years ago we remodeled our bath, now we are thinking of
completely building a new house. The bathtub is cemented into place when
installed. Is it possible to remove the tub to reinstall into the new house,
or is it going to be so much easier to replace it.

We own a 1948 constructed Art Moderne design, flat roofed, concrete walled
home on Vancouver Island (wet winters, warm dry summers). The
exterior of the home was clad in vinyl siding in 1989 because the previous
owner was tired of repainting the old stucco every three years and ...

My name is Jeff and I just wanted to let you all know that if anyone
has questions regarding shower doors, measuring, installation, care and
Maintenance, glass, mirrors, or any glazing questions please feel free
to post them, and I'll answer them as soon as I can.