Questions tagged [design]
The design tag has no usage guidance.
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How do you deal with the giant foundation overhang when using ridged foam and a rain screen on an exterior wall?
When designing a building that uses modern techniques like those featured in this Building Science article, such as exterior ridged foam insulation and a rain screen, how do you deal with the hideous ...
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Lighting in a Detached Garage
I have a 20'x24' 2-story unfinished, detached garage. The first floor is a two-story garage. The second floor will be living space (kinda like a studio apartment). The ceiling of each floor is about 8 ...
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Door, space separator options with limited frame space?
I want to separate a big room into a working room and open kitchen space.
The problem in separating the space is to find proper door -- the problem is that it is very hard to get a door frame to a ...
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What kind of wall/ceiling texture is this?
Can you please help me identify this wall/ceiling texture and how to achieve it? I recently had to replace a patch and cannot figure out how to duplicate the pattern.
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How do I design an ice house?
Where can I find how to design a cold room storage building?
I have a 12x12 shed that I use as cold storage for tree seedlings for about a month each spring. The present construction is 2x4 walls ...
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Horizontal Fence on a slope; what's the best design?
I am replacing my neighbors low, 4' tall fence on the side of my yard with a new wooden fence.
I like horizontal fences.
I am going to put the horizontal fence boards between the posts. The span ...
CommunityBot
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Can a header be continuous across the whole wall if it is above the top plate?
I have seen that continuous headers can be problematic due to lateral forces. However, in my situation the "header" is actually a 4x6 purlin which is above the top plate.
The original purpose of the ...
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Construct 3-Sheave Pulleys for Hanging Objects from Rafters
I am trying to create a system of 2 3-sheave pulleys (along with terminal pulleys) that can hoist my hanging plants up to my rafters, such as here:
I am happy with my general design but what I am ...
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How do you achieve this stairway 'chaser' effect with an LED light strip?
Here is a gif showing it in action, once the motion is detected, the strip slowly lights up directionally from bottom to top, how is this achieved? I can't seem to find how this is done: Looping GIF ...
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Should crown molding go over stone fireplace?
I understand this is somewhat (design) subjective, but I have no reference to what is common practice when it comes to this type of application.
I'm going to be running (foam) crown molding with LED ...
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Lifting 200-300 LBS with 2x8 wood - design question
I want to lift the body off my 66 VW (not the whole car). Since I already have a 450 lb rated hoist, I decided to take an advantage of it and use it for lifting. This comes handy specially when try to ...
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Is a hexagonal house feasible?
Recently I have been considering the economics and feasability of building a house versus buying a used one. In my design I settled on a hexagon as the logical shape for the frame, which I am ...
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How do I design a shed to make optimal use of building materials?
I read Michael Pollan's A Place of My Own, in which he builds a small building to use as a writing studio. The architect's design called for wall studs to be cut to 8ft 1in (out of 10ft sticks), ...
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Should rooms be designed to minimize waste of sheet goods?
We are building a new home and I want some guidance on recommendations for design creating minimal wastage and maximum efficiency for the builders.
For example. Are room sizes best divisible by 4 ...
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Are these screws for bracket enough to support adult queen bed?
Picture of bottom right corner showing the foot board and side rail connected with the bracket, and the bed, at https://i.stack.imgur.com/mNIOH.jpg and couple more pictures https://i.stack.imgur.com/...
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How to attach wheels to the base of slotted-angle rack?
I want to build some heavy-duty racks with four wheels each as follows. The load is not more than 500 kg. The frame is made of slotted angle iron and the board is about 8mm thick.
The available ...
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Can I get away with 5/4" cedar decking across a 24" span in a children's play structure?
I am currently in the process of designing/building a play structure for my son. The structure will include a 5' high elevated deck, that is 6'x4'. The supports for the decking will be 24" center-to-...
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Why are U.S. residential circuit breaker service panels so poorly designed?
I find as a knowledgeable home DIYer, that my Siemens 200 amp circuit breaker panel to be a pain in the butt to use. It is less than 25 years old, and yet it seems to have been intentionally designed ...
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Laying bricks/blocks into a concrete slab during the pour
It is common practice to put a brick ribbon around a newly poured concrete walkway. Is it possible to put decorative designs, using bricks, in the middle of a concrete slab as it's poured? How do I ...
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What are the best practices for a low deck built half on a concrete slab?
In our current place, we moved the main access door from going into the kitchen, to entering an old laundry room converted to a mud room. In order to do so, the front door was moved over about 4', ...
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What types of materials should I consider when designing a bench?
I am building a dividing half-wall/shelving unit to separate my living room from entrance door. I am planning to put a bench on the side closer to the door (so me and my guests can sit down while ...
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Why in the UK would a garden room have a canopy?
I'm putting a gym and art / craft rooms in the garden for the kids to mess around without making a mess in the house. Typical garden rooms seen on architecture sites have patio doors, French doors or ...
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How to attach eye hooks to glass fish tank to support a lightweight light fixture? [closed]
I have a 30" fishtank that, due to the filter setup, requires a light bar that doesn't stretch the entire tank. I have a wooden dowel that fits well inside two eye hooks; the dowel will serve as the ...
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Marginal cost of window (framing) while in design phase
I've drawn up my sketch of floor plan I'll take to a house designer, but haven't added any windows yet. I'd like to have as much detail added to save designer time, but since I'm on a budget, I need ...
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How should I lay my engineered flooring to account for a hearth?
I'm scratching my head over how to layout some new flooring in relationship to our walls vs. hearth.
This is an engineered floor with somewhat wide boards (about 4.5")
As it happens, I could lay ...
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How to learn house construction? [closed]
I want to learn house construction engineering in very cold climate (Sweden), wooden and brick.
It should cover the following questions (you don't need to answer it):
How the roof, walls and ground ...
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Planning an oversized deck [closed]
we are planning on building an oversized deck 50 foot long, 18 foot wide, 9 foot high
Using 2x12x18 southern pine decking joist.
Planning on spacing post 6 foot apart.
I’m looking for advice ...
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Please suggest occasional heating for garage used as work room [closed]
Floor area about 550 square feet
Ceiling about ten feet
No existing chimney or other exhaust venting system
Insulated walls with insulated two vehicle doors
I would like to be able to maintain a ...
- 23.1k
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My living room needs more ambient light and I'm reluctant to drill holes in my ceiling. What are my options?
Problem:
My living room needs more ambient light.
Constraint:
My living room does not have an overhead light fixture and I'm reluctant to drill holes in my ceiling.
Questions:
What are my options?...
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Rules to make a box stable, hard to tilt
I have already built a cube-shaped box out of some wood panels I had lying around. It is perfectly solid, I can push it from every side and it will not tilt.
The next box should be not cube-shaped ...
CommunityBot
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Can I add four new ducts to my HVAC trunk line?
I am finishing my basement and need some insight from someone who understand HVAC design. I would like to know if my main trunk line (the 34' one in the diagram) can handle another four 6" ducts off ...
CommunityBot
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What Pex system and re-design would you use for this small bungalow update - Floor Plans Attached?
There is a small Bungalow in the Midwest that I have attached two new design drawings for. Its a smaller 740sqft home with a 1st floor and current unfinished basement. I wanted to see if the group ...
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Ideas for how to hide an 8ft sewer vent pole in backyard
I have a sewer vent pole in my backyard (about 8 feet tall) and I'm looking for ideas on how to best hide it. I haven't seen any fake rocks etc that would be large enough to cover or hide it so I've ...
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What is a sane height for a prow in a prow front home?
I'm working on designing plans for my new house, and would like to have a prow front that faces the mountain to capitalize on the view.
I only need about 21' inside for the second story, but because ...
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Are there concerns with leaving part of a home's ground level unfinished?
I'm designing a new house for myself, and I've always wanted a basement so I would have unfinished hobby space. The kind of space where you can get messy stuff on the ground like water, paint, sawdust,...
- 130k
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What is the formula used to determine blower fan size given total air volume and system BTU capacity?
I've completed a Manual J calculation for a new house and determined the BTU requirements for heating and cooling (35,352 and 15,772 respectively). In attempting to determine the turnover rate and ...
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Span of roof rafters, how to fix improper structure
I'm building a carport that is 30x24 ft including a 20x24 gable and 10x24 lean to. It currently has 2x4 roof rafters spaced 24" with collar ties about a foot below the gable peak, so 5-6 ft long ties. ...
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Can an electric water heater and electric air handler/furnace be installed in the same closet?
I'm working on designing a small cabin that is slab on grade with no garage and I need to place the air handler (with electric furnace) and the electric water heater somewhere. There are all sorts of ...
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How much wooded land should be cleared around a new home site?
I'm planning to build in a wooded lot, and want to leave as much woods as possible. What is the minimum buffer that is required or recommended to allow around the home's footprint, taking into account ...
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What type of insulation and waterproofing (if any) should be done for a monolithic slab on grade?
When building a new residential home with a monolithic slab on grade (footer and slab are poured at the same time), should any water proofing, insulating or drainage be added besides the vapor barrier?...
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What pages should be included in a complete set of plans for residential construction?
I'm designing the plans for my new house and plan to act as my own general contractor (hiring professional labor for most trades).
I feel like I'm close to being done with the plans, but need to know ...
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Should porch roof pitch always match house roof pitch? [closed]
This is question about design standards.
I want to build a small patio roof over a side door to our house, which happens to be the main door we use.
I wanted a gabled roof but realized it would ...
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How do I determine what load values I need to use when using door/windows header sizing tables?
I'm designing the framing drawings for a building with window and door openings in a roof-bearing wall (no floors above) and I need to determine how thick my headers need to be. There are span tables ...
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Building a deck: can you shift the load points?
The reasons for the below design are:
-I want to place the stairs adjacent to the wall
-I want to use the deck posts as rail posts as well
-this is replacing an old deck and I do not want to dig new ...
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How are grade-level garage slabs typically connected to a basement wall?
When you have a basement wall that needs to join up to a garage slab at the top of the basement wall, how are the footings for the garage slab placed, and how does the garage slab attach to the ...
- 23.1k
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Is there any advantage to pouring a thicker concrete slab for the basement?
I'm working on designing a new house and trying to determine how thick the basement slab should be. This home will have poured basement walls over the footings, so the basement slab isn't bearing the ...
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Who is the right type of person to create construction drawings for a home I've already designed?
As the ultimate DIY project, I want to owner-build a home. I've already "designed" the house, meaning I have a 1/2" scale floor plan, roofing ridge line, and elevations for all interior and exterior ...
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Deck or Patio - Landscape Design Opinions
My house has a nice backyard and I want to put on a deck or patio. Currently I have a covered side porch that is about 2-3 feet off of ground level in the back. My debate is whether to ask for a ...
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How do I design a quasi tamperproof shower curtain rod mounting point for eldery with Alzheimers?
Question
I am seeking another solution to keep a shower curtain rod from falling easily. There were other posts that mentioned drilling and mounting.
I would prefer, if possible, something that is ...
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Should I form and pour the concrete all at once?
I want to build a dog kennel/run that is 4' x 8'. I am planning on pouring a 4" concrete slab. However, part of my design is that I would like the slab to have raised edges all the way around it (...
- 202k