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Securing Load Bearing Columns with Metal Straps to Prevent Wind Lift

Steel straps are tied down on the band joists of the home. These steel straps are threaded through the columns to the top and prevent uplift during a hurricane. The columns are hollow but are made of marble dust and polymers that make it strong and load-bearing. A four-by-four is put on a house jack to hold the load up so the column can be slid into place. The column has a Tuscan design which features some swelling near the base and tapering near the top. After the column is in place, the connection is secured at the top with steel straps.

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Installing the Rumford Fireplace Throat and Flue Now Playing

Installing the Rumford Fireplace Throat and Flue

Securing Load Bearing Columns with Metal Straps to Prevent Wind Lift Now Playing

Securing Load Bearing Columns with Metal Straps to Prevent Wind Lift

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Reviewing the Home's Framing

Building a Rumford Fireplace Now Playing

Building a Rumford Fireplace

Clip Transcript For:

Securing Load Bearing Columns with Metal Straps to Prevent Wind Lift

computer-generated transcript - may not be 100% accurate

" -Kevin, we've already put some of these in place, and it's a little bit more complicated than it would seem, right?"

" -Yeah. They're a little easy to install, but they're---- they have to be installed in a correct order."

" -Well, and the thing is that we're trying to meet the code requirement of tying the whole place down. So, Russell has already nailed down the strap to the actual band joist on the side of the house, and he actually was down there a little while ago with the palm nailer, which is the best tool I've seen on a job in awhile, and he put in about a half a dozen 16 penny nails so that this steel strap right here is really secured there. Then you gotta thread it through the base in the column and then tie it up at the top so that we have a continuously tied house."

" -That's correct. We really need the whole thing tied together to prevent uplifts."

" -Yeah, to prevent uplift in a hurricane because columns for thousands of years have been holding weight put on top of them, but when you've got a hurricane, the winds are trying to push the roof off, so this holds it all together."

" -Yes, that's that the purpose of the strap."

" -Alright."

" -These are our weightbearing columns."

" -Okay. Well, let me know if I can help. Alright, so----"

" -You ready?"

" -[unk]."

" -Yeah. I got it. What do these weigh?"

" -About 250 pound each."

" -Uh huh."

" -Now you told me. And you wanna put it on that block, Russ?"

" -Yeah."

" I want something to sit on the roof."

" -Now, what are they made out of?"

" -It's a marble dust is what you got on your hands."

" -That's marble dust."

" -And it's marble dust with the polymers and it's a very heavy material, but it's very load bearing.-It is load bearing. That's what's amazing because it's hollow. The thickness of the column itself is maybe"

" -It's about 3 quarters of an inch."

" -About 3 quarters of an inch. And, when I first saw them, I said now they can't be structural, but they are."

" -This column itself is about---- would hold about 16,000 pounds approximately."

" -You can't just prop them into place. You have to put up this 4 x 4 in a house, Jack."

" -We put that in there, Bob, and we just barely put some pressure on it. Crank it up just enough so when we stand that column vertically, it'll just slide into place and then drop it out and put the load right on the column."

" -Right. When you take the house, Jack, back out, the load comes back down."

" -That's correct."

" -And you're talking maybe what? 14 of an inch or so?"

" -Just enough to get it in."

" -Yeah, alright. Well, let me help you from this end. Would that do anything for you? So we've got a couple of shims here just to keep this base out of the way. And jeff, does the---- the low bearing---- does the base have anything to do with the load bearing?"

" -No, it's purely decorative."

" -Yeah."

" -The weight is actually carried by the column shaft all the way from the flooring up with your soffit."

" -Yeah. Not like back in the old days."

" -Not sir, not at all."

" -What you call this particular design?"

" -This is a Tuscan design. It's one of the simplest of all the 5 orders of architecture, and it was done after by a Truscan man from the Greek and Roman period. It's very simple as far as the stout base. It goes up 1/3 of the column shaft before it starts its taper, which gives us an entices effect or against the bulging of the column."

" -Yes."

" -which is the classical----"

" -Yeah, that's correct."

" -and the old temples in Greece went when you were, you know, down here you were looking up at these 40-foot columns. They swelled up a little bit and then they tapered back up. And that gave them that that really impressive look. Oh, it's a totally straight column. Looks a little bit too mechanical."

" -Well, it is, and it also counters an optical illusion. It makes any 2 straight lines look like they're leaning inward."

" -Yeah."

" -And so, it works perfect on houses."

" -Yeah. How did you start this company?"

" -Started it 13 years ago. You know, I grew up in the south with a lot of columns, and I tried to get some columns."

" -Yeah."

" -I didn't find any, and ends up designing them and----"

" -Here we go."

" -Get them in."

" -That's a good story. Now this is all that you need, huh."

" -That's it. That's all you need. You're not picking up any more than a quarter and half an inch, Bob. It doesn't take a whole lot."

" -Yeah. Okay, so, now, at this point, the capital gets attached, but have you already nailed the strap into the top?"

" -No. We'll fish the strap out of the top now Bob and pull it tight. And then, the same thing, we'll use the palm nailer, and we'll throw all those nails into every holes that that----"

" -Just watch."

" -gets the beam."

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