Amoskeag Northern - Conrail Portland (PRO&C) Line Engineering Thread

[DKS]

Let's hope so. My old house, which I had built in 2006 had them every 12... but then again it was only supposed to have 2 under the stairs  but the contractor did not read the plans calling for a steel beam and not wood...

If there are four evenly-spaced lolly columns, instead of three, their spacing would be 13'. In which case things would look like this:

[LKOrailroad]

If you want to check to see if the contractor did the beam and posts right in this house here are the standards tables: http://www.toolbase.org/PDF/DesignGuides/ResidentialSteelLoad_SpanTables.pdf

[Ian MacMillan]

Ok, I was able to spend a few hours at the house yesterday. Here are the measurements and modified drawing. Lolly columns are spaced a shockingly 6' apart. It is truss construction.

This puts one column in the wall at the bottom of the stairs that I want to move the door to. I will most likely have to move this column 8" to the right to clear the proposed new door/hallway.

[central.vermont]

Lolly columns are spaced a shockingly 6' apart.

So this means  that you have NINE columns!!!!

Just curious but what is your ceiling height? Also what is the height of the center joists running down the middle.

Jon

[Ian MacMillan]

Bottom of center beam is 7'

[DKS]

OK, so a couple of things. First, the drawing is nowhere near scale, which makes it very difficult to judge how the space is divided. Second, if the house is 64' long, then the columns can't be spaced 6' apart; or, if they are, then not all of them, because the space cannot be evenly divided into 6' sections. When I render the floor plan to scale, it looks like this:



Note that the columns are spaced 6' apart up to the last one in the utilities room, which makes for some even stranger numbers: if the utilities room is 7' deep, and the columns are spaced at 6', then there is a free-standing column inside the utilities room. Also, we wind up with a lolly column dead center at the bottom of the stairs. (I also don't understand the purpose of that long, 4' wide space that runs along the top wall and wraps around to the utilities. That's a real WTF, unless you already know why it was done that way.)

Now, if we assume the columns are really spaced closer to 7', then we get a slightly different picture. Note, however, if all of the other dimensions are correct, we don't have a lolly column in the way of the door you want to make at the end of the stairs.



If we get really radical and make the column spacing 8', then we not only have a perfect multiple for the length of the house, but now we have a lolly column at the end of the stairs that would need to be offset by the amount you described in order to clear the proposed door.



So, bottom line, nothing quite computes correctly based on the numbers provided so far. Which is not the end of the world; it just means we need to wait until the numbers are fixed before we can have an accurate picture of the space.

[DKS]

Just doodling...

[Ian MacMillan]

^ this is pretty much how they are set up, and I know for sure that column is at at the bottom of the stairs as you can see the steel plate for it at the top of the drywall.  That 4' space was set up by the previous owner as a hallway to the utilities so that they would not have to go into the other rooms as they wanted to set it up as an in-law apartment.   I measured the visible columns to be 6' apart.  There are only 3 in the current "open area" of the large room "playroom"

I show inside the kicker foundation to be 63.5'.

Here are some photos. Not too great as they are just grab shots but they may help.

Workshop area
Towards the 4' hall


Towards lower left corner of drawing


By stairs wall


Looking towards stairs and door to large room


Office
Looking from office into large room


Office closet


Large Room
Looking towards hall to workshop. Office wall on left


Middle of 3 Lolly


Last lolly in big room, utility room wall side


Woodstove area

[Dave Schneider]

Looks like a this will be a great spot for a railroad....however based on my experience, the need for "a playroom" has the potential for greater disruption to building a railroad than the location and number of support columns. Good luck with all that!   

Drop me a PM if you want to stop bye and visit while on your Alaskan adventure.

Best wishes, Dave

[Ian MacMillan]

Looks like a this will be a great spot for a railroad....however based on my experience, the need for "a playroom" has the potential for greater disruption to building a railroad than the location and number of support columns. Good luck with all that!   

Drop me a PM if you want to stop bye and visit while on your Alaskan adventure.

Best wishes, Dave

She just said it has to have one...didn't say how big it had to be!

I will try and hit you up Dave. I will be leaving here at 0400hrs on 7/11, and will be out there until 1800hrs 07/23.

[central.vermont]

Good thing  your a short person from the looks of the ceiling height! 
Seriously thou I would get rid of all that 2x4 ceiling joists laying on their side!! That could be a big mistake latter on down the road when you want to close it in. I would go with a suspended ceiling.
Looks like we need to get there SOON!!!

Jon

[DKS]

You gotta love the fan, what a great touch:



I thought finishing was a lot further along. Honestly, if it was me, I'd just nuke everything from end to end and start over. Easier than trying to adapt, IMO.

[Ian MacMillan]

I would go with a suspended ceiling.

I DO NOT want a suspended ceiling.

You gotta love the fan, what a great touch:

It's high class!

I thought finishing was a lot further along. Honestly, if it was me, I'd just nuke everything from end to end and start over. Easier than trying to adapt, IMO.

I had honestly thought about that but I want the layout room to adapt and not the other rooms to adapt to the layout. I fear that if I go the other way I will end up building a much larger layout room than I think I want.  I can't off the top of my head think how else I would layout an office and family room in there. I'm open to suggestions and willing to do it if I like it enough.

[Dave Schneider]

I guess the fan is there to distribute the heat from the wood stove, or possibly to keep the plastic sheeting cool so it doesn't melt from the heat of the flue? Yikes! That looks like a recipe for disaster. When you see stuff like this is makes you wonder about all the things you can't see. What is the deal with the insulation in the ceiling? Sound? I would get a really good inspector to take a look. Just a thought.

Good luck, Dave

[Ian MacMillan]

I guess the fan is there to distribute the heat from the wood stove, or possibly to keep the plastic sheeting cool so it doesn't melt from the heat of the flue? Yikes! That looks like a recipe for disaster. When you see stuff like this is makes you wonder about all the things you can't see. What is the deal with the insulation in the ceiling? Sound? I would get a really good inspector to take a look. Just a thought.

Good luck, Dave

I was thinking about the same thing for the fan. I plan on taking the fan out and putting in a pellet stove. Inspection has already been done with no issues found. Insulation in the ceiling is very very common here.  Thing to remember is that these rooms were never really used as the house was foreclosed on before they finished. ( I had actually been to this house several times on calls for their out of control deadbeat 22yo daughter who lived with them and then destroyed the house )