Second Floor Trusses and an Oops!

From August 27 - 29

Long ago, Vince decided that he wanted to have a chase between the first and second floors to hold the services for the house, like the ducting, wiring, and plumbing. In this case, a chase is a rectangular housing for mechanical things and not the same thing as running in hot pursuit after something else that is running away. The important thing about the chase is that it is a convenient and available passage that prevents awkward placements for ducting and pipes and gives back a tremendous amount of flexibility when designing the floor plan. The concept of a chase between floors works only if there has been a careful assessment of how large or small the systems of the house really need to be. There are two types of calculations to be done: One is called a Manual J Calculation, which analyzes the heating and cooling loads for residential use. The second calculation is called a Manual D, and it determines how much and how big the ductwork for the house needs to be to accommodate the Manual J assessment. Vince sent the details of the windows, the insulation, the roof, etc. to Steve Jenkins, a mechanical engineer who did both sets of calculations, spoke with Johnny Ghee about the truss design and also will work with Jesse Owens, our HVAC project manager at Norris Mechanical, to plan the installation. A lot of people consider the calculations to be an extra and unnecessary step, but these numbers work together as an important and valuable tool for saving time and money and also for providing a comfortable home. We are trying to be energy conscious, both because it is good, green thing to do for the planet and also because we want to have a sustainable lifestyle as we get older.

For this house, the chase was designed into the second floor trusses, which have a rectangle in the center and angled webbing on the sides. The rectangle is 20” high and about 22” wide. The most important aspect of the installation was to be sure that the trusses are perfectly aligned, so that the hard ducting can be fed into place. The second floor trusses, like those on the first floor, lay east to west and span the width of the house. They sit on girders that run north to south across the length on the house. The second floor trusses are taller than those on the first floor, and they include a series of 11 four foot trusses that run the length of the space over the hall. Jesse warned us to be sure to check the truss alignment, a suggestion that we took seriously. Vince and I headed up to the house to eyeball the trusses on Saturday afternoon. We weren’t able to climb up into the house to look closely, but it was obvious that, sure enough, there was a big “Oops!” in the truss alignment. Vince said a lot more than “Oops!” but thankfully the problem is solvable in the field. Vince and Karl went back up to the house and examined and measured everything, and it turned out that only one big truss was flipped, but all 11 of the short trusses had the interior rectangle nearly five inches off. The error was in the manufacturing, not in the installation, but the surprising thing was that no one noticed it. Since there is no elbow room in the chase, those trusses will have to be altered in the field according to Johnny Ghee’s plans for the repair, and they will be given an engineering stamp of approval for supporting the necessary loads. The flipped truss on the end can’t be moved, but because it is on the end it is acceptable to remove the webbing, put the ducting into place, and replace the webbing. Problem solved, thankfully, but it was good to find it before too many other things were put into place. As Karl would say, we are all flawed humans and mistakes will happen, but I am learning that finding them early stops one mistake from becoming a series of multiple problems and compensations instead of just one problem.

My son, Zach, and grandson, Ayden, were here at the beach last week. I took them up to see Grandma’s new beach house on Wednesday morning, and Ayden was thrilled to watch Stuart lifting the trusses up to the second floor with the forklift. Ayden is three years old and loves all things related to heavy equipment. He has watched all of the raw footage of any video that I have taken, and he knows the names of each guy who work with the trucks. I told him that the big truck with the crane and the augur belonged to Duncan, but that Steve was the man who worked the truck, and Ayden knows that Stuart drives the forklift. On Wednesday night, when it was time for a bedtime story, Ayden and I made up our own story, and he made sure to include the guys whose names he knows as the folks who save the day. His little story is fun and quite wonderful, so I am including it here. Like Ayden, I am hoping that the men with the trucks will make my dreams come true and save the day! I think they will, don’t you?

Here's the little video showing the trusses going up. Ayden's story is in the next post.

Stuart and the Happy Star, by Ayden and Grandma Phyllis

Early one morning, when Ayden was staying with Grandma and Grandpa at the new beach house, Ayden and Grandma Phyllis went for a walk on the beach. “Look, Grandma!” whispered Ayden, “What’s that?” Near the water, something was glimmering brightly in the sand! Ayden and Grandma tiptoed carefully towards it for a closer look. It was a star! Not a sea star but a real, huge, nighttime star from the sky! What was it doing there?

Grandma Phyllis spoke quietly, “Ayden, its eyes are closed. I think the star is asleep.” Ayden touched it gently and said, “Good morning, Star! What are you doing down here on the beach?” The star opened its eyes and sighed sadly, “Oh my, I think I’m in big trouble.” “Last night I was playing too close to the beach, and I fell.” “I’m afraid I can’t get back to my home in the sky.” The star began to cry, “I want my Mommy!” Ayden said, “I think you are a little boy just like me! Don’t worry, Star! Grandma and I will think of something!” Everyone was quiet for a moment until Ayden said, “I know! I can blow bubbles all over the star, and the bubbles will float the star up to the sky.” “That’s a good idea,” said Grandma. “I have a bubble bottle right here in my pocket.” Grandma took out the bottle of bubble liquid and the wand, and Ayden blew and blew until bubbles covered the star completely. “This stuff is sticky and itchy!” said the star, “but maybe it will lift me up.” Soon, the star began to rise just the tiniest bit off the sand. “Hoorah!” shouted Ayden, “It’s working!” Just then, the sun began to shine more brightly. The bubbles dried up and the star dropped back in the sand, only now it was stickier. “Yuck,” said the star. “Now, what?”

“I know!” shouted Ayden. “Let’s call Stuart to help us! Stuart can use his forklift to pick the star up and put him back in the sky.” “That’s a great idea!” said Grandma, and she took her cell phone out of her pocket to call Stuart. In no time at all, they saw Stuart bumping along the beach in the forklift, waving hello. “How can I help?” he asked when he reached the star. “It looks like you have a friend in trouble here!” “I need to go home,” sighed the star. “I fell out of the sky, and now I’m all sticky, and I know my mother is worried about me.” Can you help?”

The star told Stuart that his home in the sky was in the sky up 7 clouds and on the left. Stuart gazed up at the sky and back at this forklift, and he shook his head sadly, “I have to tell you that this forklift is not going to be able to reach quite that high.” “I can reach up to the first cloud and give it to you for a blanket, but I can’t reach 7 clouds up.” Stuart reached up into the sky with the forklift and pulled down a piece of cloud for the star to use as a blanket, and then everyone was quiet again as they thought about what to do next.

“I know!” exclaimed Ayden. “Let’s call Duncan and Steve. They can bring the augur truck with the crane. Stuart can pick up the star with the fork lift, and Steve can pick up Stuart and the star, and then the star can get home.” “That’s a great idea!” said Grandma and Stuart at the same time. Once again, Grandma took out her cell phone to call Duncan, and in no time at all, they saw Duncan and Steve driving up the beach in the big augur truck. “How can we help?” asked Duncan, and Stuart explained the plan. Duncan and Steve looked up into the sky, trying to see how far it was to the seventh cloud. “That’s very high,” said Steve, and he turned to the star to ask, “If I can get you up as high as the third cloud, do you think you can climb the rest of the way home?” “I can try,” said the star, “I am a good jumper and a great climber once I am back in the sky.” “Hoorah!” said Ayden, “Let’s try it!”

Stuart gently wrapped the star up in the cloud blanket and carefully picked him up with the forklift. Then, Steve hooked Stuart and the forklift to the crane and slowly lifted them higher and higher. The forklift was a bit wobbly hanging on the crane, and the star was scared, but Stuart began to extend the arm until the star had passed first one cloud and then, two, and finally he set the star gently onto the third cloud. The star stood up and peered up into the sky. “I can see my mom!” he cried, “She’s coming to help me up!” “Thank you! Thank you!” Stuart carefully pulled in the arm of the forklift, and Steve carefully lowered Stuart back down to the beach. Up in the sky, the star jumped from cloud number three to four and then to five and then his mother reached down to help him up the last two clouds in the sky. Everyone cheered, and far away in the distance, the star twinkled, “Good-bye! Thank you!”

Grandma said, “That star was up way past its bedtime. I’ll bet his mother will put him right to bed.” “Well, I hope he has a snack and a story first,” said Ayden, “That’s what we do at your house. Right, Grandma?” Stuart and Duncan and Steve were ready to go home, too. They said, “Ayden, you really had a good idea for helping that star get back home. Good job!” “Thanks, guys!” laughed Ayden. “It was a lucky thing that you had those great trucks!” Stuart drove the forklift away, and Duncan and Steve drove the augur truck away, while Ayden and Grandma Phyllis waved good-bye. “Do you know what?” Ayden asked Grandma. “What?” she answered. “I’m hungry,” said Ayden. “I thought so,” said Grandma. “I think your Grandpa has made blueberry muffins for breakfast.” “Great!” said Ayden, and away he ran back to the house.

The end.