Cohousing-L Mailing List: Wood framing

[Graham Meltzer (g.meltzer]

Tom asked ...

>I would really like to hear (or better see a wall section) of the
>1/6 wood houses in the land of Oz.  

Tom, I could fax or mail you some typical framing details if you like. It's
true that our timber framing is quite lean in Australia, but in fact that
has only come about in the recent past.

When I was building 20 years ago, the standard timber frame wall comprised
4x2 Australian hardwood studs (stress grade F14, if that means anything).
Studs were at 18 inch centres. 10 years ago, plantation pine had been
discovered and a typical stud was a dressed 3x2 stick of F8. These days they
seem to be using dressed 3x11/2 in. F5 at 2 foot centres. This has all been
the result of the realisation that the major role of stud framing is to
resist lateral wind load as apposed to vertical roof load. So now, integral
with the framing, extensive sheet bracing is applied in the form of very
thin plywood that's closely nailed and strapped to the top and bottom plates
at regular intervals. There may also be a range of tie-down rods and metal
nail plates and connectors thrown in for good measure. So the whole system
becomes diaphram based, not a load-bearing series of frames.

I hope that helps.


Someone else asked ...

>
>Someone suggested I read a book called "The Spirit of Community" by Amitai
>Etzioni....
>
>Has anyone read it?   Could you give a capsule summary?  Is it worth reading?

I read most of it recently and found it quite strange. It's unabashedly a
manifesto for some official or unofficial organisation or movement, and
whilst I agreed with its sentiments, I found it to be a bit of a rant. I'd
be very interested to hear from people who may know more of the credentials
of Etzioni and his supporters. 

Cheers

Graham Meltzer 

School of Architecture, Interior and Industrial Design
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Tel:(07)3864 2535(w)  (07)3870 2090(h)  Fax: (07)3864 1528

"The neccessity to unite with other human beings, to be related to them,
is an imperative need on the fulfillment of which, man's sanity depends" 
                 E. Fromm (The Sane Society(1965))