I spent my Monday evening running a material list of lumber for the upstairs partition walls. I recruited Dski for the trip to Menards on Tuesday night to pick thru the piles and extract the arrows. They successfully landed at the project early Saturday morning. - We spent the rest of the day hoofin' 'em up the stairs and stockpiling them in the living area. This, and preparing all the necessary tools, lighting, blah blah. The next morning, we dug into the pile. I suppose I should admit that I continue in my pursuit of overkill and hair-brained schemes. Here's the deal. When we built this thing, we used 28 ft long I-joists to support the second floor. There are no center supports, so the first floor is completely open and unobstructed. I really like it. The second floor is structurally sound and design-approved by the engineers at Georgia Pacific, but it does have some give when you jump in the center of the room. We're not talking trampoline here, but you can feel it. I knew this going in and I am not disappointed in the result. It will hold up a small pack of elephants so long as they don't jump up and down. My only concern is drywall seams; particularly corners where the walls meet the ceiling. If I frame these partition walls conventionally with nails, it is possible (at least I think it's possible) that if the roof trusses move (ie; during extreme heat or extreme cold) and/or a significantly heavy point load should occur in one concentrated zone of the floor (ie; I install an indoor hot tub or something crazy like that), the roof framing and the floor will separate that ever-so-slight of a margin to crack drywall tape seams and corners. So...what to do? I meticulously screwed all the partition walls together, including tying the mass into the roof trusses above and the I joists below. Yeah, I know...nuts. I decided that 3-1/2" construction screws would exhibit far more holding strength than nails. I figure the additonal cost will run about $60 for fasteners. The additional labor time just gets racked up on my already overrun DIY time card. In the end, the difference was impressive. - We only got one side of the structure framed, but the floor beneath it is solid as a rock; huge difference. I don't know how long this will last, or what other issued I might have created, but for now it is a very rewarding result. - The part we just completed is outlined in blue -
