Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [building]

116 questions
19
votes
10 answers

Could a layman build a house from plans?

i am looking at pre-made architectural house plans on the Internet ranging from 300 to 800 square feet, some multi-level. I have no housebuilding experience. I don't imagine many of the millennials for which these are designed do.. I'm not even an…
DVCITIS
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13
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5 answers

How to stop a wall from falling

My Beloved Barn roof has almost gone and, without the money to repair it, I had to let it go. This has meant the walls have started to go and, as you can see from the picture, half the front part has gone. I now have to protect the road from debris…
Jason K
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9
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1 answer

What is the purpose of these small unaligned studs for building a precut chest of drawers?

I was working on building this drawer by FOTOSOK I had ordered from amazon. and in the instruction booklet on page 11 step 12 there is a mysterious step which I don't understand the purpose of. I have attached a photo below: Basically it involves…
Sidharth Ghoshal
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8
votes
4 answers

Bridging one deck joist over a formal pond

I have built a small formal pond out of concrete block. I have also constructed a deck frame which part crosses the formal pond. Visually, I intended for it to appear that the water disappeared away under the deck. There are 4 joists for the…
Chris Evans
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5
votes
4 answers

Is framing with screws legal?

A friend used trim head screws for ALL of the 2x4 framing (including the outer walls) of his 2400 sq. ft. house. The house uses 8x8s to carry the load; none of the 2x4 framing is load bearing. The inspector did not see a problem with it (but maybe…
Ben Welborn
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4
votes
2 answers

How to drain grey water in clay ground in safe and secured manner

I have a building which sits on top of clay ground so I couldn't soak away the grey water. I explored solutions like leechfield,soakaway,cement ring well but all fails in clay ground. I'd like some insights on how to handle the grey water coming…
CuriousMan
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4
votes
2 answers

Is stacking material under an I-Beam to make it level structurally sound and passing code?

Saw this in my new home construction, I am concerned, wondering if this is common. Thanks!
bladefist
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3
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0 answers

Can the parties who sign a building permit be liable in any way, shape or form of water damage to a building?

Suppose you have a condo building. That condo building was built 10 years ago. The statutes of limitations is only good for 6 years (for negligence purposes). There is water damage to the condo's exterior, and was discovered 10 years after…
JustBeingHelpful
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3
votes
1 answer

What effect does attic insulation have on comfort in lower levels of a three-story building?

I live in a 1926 co-op building in PNW USA (3 stories + partially underground ground level) with radiator heat served by a gas boiler. The attic insulation is pretty minimal. We can get some money from the city to pay for insulation. As far as I…
Maximilian Press
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3
votes
1 answer

What is the advantage of applying Tyvek HomeWrap or Huber Zip System on only one wall?

Unfortunately a window of my 1920ies California lath&plaster/stucco home was leaking, causing dry rot in the framing and requires to demo the stucco, redoing sheathing, tar paper, stucco and painting of one exterior wall. My contractor will replace…
divB
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3
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1 answer

Do we need to put cement on all sides of bricks when building house walls?

I have started building walls on my house and I have noticed that the builder in the third row just put the bricks next to each other without any cement in between at all? just to note the first three rows will be filed with sand inside. I am not…
Madian Malfi
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3
votes
2 answers

Fixing very old, very undersized ceiling joists

I own a 24x60' uninsulated building that's about 100 years old. The roof is matched 2x4 rafters (no ridge board) with 2x4 ceiling joist (technically rafter ties I guess). As you can imagine, the joists are sagging quite substantially. Previous…
Jack Baker
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3
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1 answer

Ridge Beam Crack?

My wife and I are roofing our home, we are retired and living on a budget. I came across a rather deep and long crack on what I believe is the ridge beam and I am wondering if it's something I should be overly concerned about. Thank you for your…
J MP
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3
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0 answers

What is this noise from next door?

There’s a strange mechanical whirr coming from the building next door. It buzzes every four minutes. Listen here: https://clyp.it/3qwn1qhc We keep the windows open in our bedroom during the winter so this is been wreaking havoc on our sleep. More…
joeforyou
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2
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1 answer

I want to build a simple wooden outhouse but the ground is soft - how to make sure it's stable?

The old outhouse at our rural property has been slowly collapsing for years already. The two problems with it are rotting wood at the base, and soft ground which has resulted in one side slowly sinking down. We have some old wood lying around,…
Vilx-
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