Beam me up Scotty - or Bearers, Joists and other things I don't know about

Up until now the shed has been a metal construction site.

And there had been some real discussion over the best material for the floor joists and bearers.

No if you, like me, have no idea the difference between what a joist is and what a bearer is let’s take a moment to recap: http://www.abis.com.au/joists

Joists run across ways and bearers run long ways.

Joists are the shorter ones, and bearers the longer ones.

Not that that will help me, I still will have forgotten by the time I get to the end of this post.

But just in case here is a picture that may help me:

At this stage we are trying to keep an eye on the budget, and given that I would dearly love to have a GIGANTIC floor to ceiling trifold doors that retail at $4500, any saving that can be made here will get  me nicer doors.  So.

Our block is bounded by National Park and State Forest, and just over the hill from us  they harvest pine, so in the interests of keeping it in the district, lowering carbon footprints and the budget, we organised to have the timber cut by Jed Bloomfield.

So we were all ready to lay the joists and bearers, and then, it rained.

And rained

And rained

And the water was pouring out of the sky and the hills.

Not only could we not get in to get Florrie out so she could be loaded with the timber, but the men could not get into the timber to cut it.

Timeframes are being pushed out, but that will just have to be ok.

On the day the timber was picked up, it was still pretty wet.  Florrie needed a hand from the old landcruiser to get over the creek, and through the first bog hole and the second. 

There was smoke, there was mud, there was swearing.

Back up the hill we went, past Queen Mary Falls caravan park, looking out for the tourists with their ice creams, and back down into the valley.

The FB went out to the site to pick up the timber, and I went to see the Amazing Walter! (my nephew). 

When the truck was loaded, there was much discussion as to how over engineered this floor was going to be.

You see we had hoped to line the shed with AAC, which is easy to work with and provides good insulation, and if you use it right, is self supporting. 

It was going to be quite heavy, when all was said and done,  so the other bits of the structure also had to be heavy.

You know, to be TOTALLY over engineered – which is the way we like things.

The beams (I told you I would forget which is which) run one in a ... hang on.... let me defer to a high power than I.

OK the FB tells me:

The Bearers are 75x200mm. The spans are 3mish and the timber is F7 pine

The Joists are 50x150. The spans are aprox 2.3m and the same F& timber is used.

So let’s see who was paying attention.

What is a bearer?

What is a joist?

What does it mean if I still don’t know?

Answers on a post card please.

Of course the bits don't come from the sawmill in the perfect size, or even a uniform size, so there is measuring, and sawing.

With a hand saw.  All 40 of them.  This is so there is a nice tight join between them, with pelnty of surface area.  The joists are then joined togther by drilling through both of them with a LONG fastener, and then onto the bearer with a triple grip.    They were counter sunk so it all looks professional like.

And here is a very complex graphical representation:

That graphics class really paid off!

We have spaced them out so at the back of the house, where the bathroom will be, there is more support to compennsate for the higher traffic.

Looks good!