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Roof Framing and Making a Turret

Bob confers with general contractor Bob Ryley as he begins demolition of the roof dormer to prepare for a turret in its place. Ryley points out the dormer is not designed for added weight so he reinforces the structure from the second floor to the footings. Bob and Ryley construct a laminate beam from two two by tens and a half inch plywood to match the thickness of the space to span from wall to wall.

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Roof Framing and Making a Turret

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" The second floor of our little camp is pretty cramped and what we want to do up here really is to give this dormer above the camp the effect of a turret by adding this much roof, and, Riley, you're already doing a little of the demolition, right?"

" Yes."

" We'll be removing the roof from the dormer. What have you found so far?"

" Well, interestingly or not, this dormer here is not the original to this camp."

" I can see that. Yeah."

" Yeah. As you can see, this is an old 2 by 4 and I've got the old doors on here."

" And they just added that teak."

" Yes."

" To create the dormer."

" Yeah. Right on top of it."

" And of course, these are the old doors that were probably on the original roof"

" That's right."

" How's the structure?"

" Structure I think will hold the canopy. With the added weight, we plan on it, it's not gonna do the job."

" So what I've done here is, you know, try to get into the corners where we know our weight is gonna be bearing."

" And follow it down to the concrete footing. As you can see, there's nothing behind here and we have just a little cripple right there."

" Let's look at the first floor."

" Okay. Yeah."

" Down here, Bob, all I found really were these 2 by 3 wall. We're kidding. They're not gonna support the weight we're gonna be putting on it."

" Okay."

" I've located the corner of the dormer right here and doubled up with some 2 by material."

" 2 by 4?"

" Yeah. And brought it right straight down and so we've got support right for the footing below."

" And you've already done that on all 4 corners. So what's next?"

" Next, we're ready to take the roof off."

" Great."

" Okay. It's all loose here, right?"

" It should come off."

" Okay. Yeah. Okay."

" Just a little spring?"

" Yeah. 1."

" 1."

" 2."

" 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. 1."

" Heads up. 3."

" Okay. We'll create some beams to carry the load of this new turret roof using a pair of 2 by 10s sliced together with some half inch plywood in between. That will give us just the right thickness to match up with the 2 by 4. We'll put them all together using a 16 penny nail. The laminated beam will fan from corner to corner of our room up here. This is 11 feet square. They don't really touch the ridge. Right now, we're just putting this up on for temporary support. [unk]. But the corners will be essentially one continuous doubled up 2 by 4, goes all the way down and to the first floor down to the foundation. With the 4 beams in place, we're ready to actually go up to the top of our turret now with the concentric frame."

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Engineered Wood Framing

Framing a house using engineered wood has many advantages. Glue laminated beams are stronger than their conventional solid sawn counterparts. (Laminated veneer lumber comes in smaller dimensions for headers and ridge beams.) Engineered I-joists span greater distances and their stiffness prevents squeaky floors. Oriented strand board sheathing prevents racking and provides good nailer for siding.

Discussing Efficient Framing Materials

Bob outlines the steps involved in framing up the house. Once the first floor joists were in place, the crew started in on the subfloor using ToughPly, a thicker plywood product from Georgia-Pacific. A single layer of ToughPly can be used under hardwood, tile, or carpet, and its quick-fit tongue and groove design saves time fitting the panels together. Next the crew framed the sidewalls with Riverside CDX plywood sheathing harvested from sustainable forests in British Columbia. While only slightly thicker than standard OSB or plywood, it's three times as stiff for a greater load carrying capacity and its favorable weight to strength ratio makes its easier to work with.

Framing with Engineered Wood I-Joists

Bob and Ryley meet up with framing contractor Kevin Parquette of Timberline Building Specialists. Kevin comments on the advantages of working with the 28 ft. long engineered wood All-Joists from Boise Cascade. Designed for high performance and stiffness, All-Joists significantly speed up the framing process. Next Kevin points out the 1 1/8" engineered wood rim board. For fastening Kevin's crew used 12-penny nails covered with a glue which is activated by the speed of the nail coming out of the gun.

Tour of the First Floor Framing

Bob tours the newly opened up first floor of the house and the turns his attention to the little family room addition. The wall has been bumped out a couple of feet and at an angle. Bob flashes back to the construction of the new addition. The carpenters began by framing the deck with pressure-treated 2 x 10s anchored to the existing frame and set on concrete footings in the ground. The framed the walls with conventional 2 x 4s and attaching plywood to stabilize the structure. Then they framed knee walls to supports the windows that will fill in the corner of the addition. The second floor is now supported using LVLs attached to a 6 x 6 clear fir post which transfers the weight of the upper floors to a new footing directly below with the addition is framed around it. The effect when finished is similar to a greenhouse.