TOPIC: This Is A Great Idea!

Did I get on Joe's nerves again!?

LOL, I think I got on my own nerves> ;D
Jay, It's the hungarian in me.  ;D

I apologize for any offense, but how did I offend you, cousin-o'-mine?

Hey Cous ole Jay, You didn't offend me. I was just giving you a hard time in my post about you needing to show pics of trades butchering up beams or headers if thats what they do as said, instead of a pic of header w/o it overcut. I removed it so as not to seem confrontational (of which unf. I'm good at) nor to offend you. 

That wouldn't have been confrontational Joe!

There are a couple on my website's photo gallery - one on page 2 and one on page 3.  That cut beam on page 2 actually picks up again about 3' away.  That's the center support for the first floor!  And the bathroom on page 3 was recently switched around to the opposite side.  They cut everything!  When I walked into it the floor bounced like a trampoline!

I probably have many more, but that wasn't the point of the post.  I think this manufacturer put the stamps on there because of all the "professional" carpenters and plumbers working now, whom I call 7-11 construction, who don't know what they are doing.  Putting holes and notches in this product can seriously weaken it.  I think the company was being proactive and trying to avoid liability.

I also remember all those old shows, like Bob Vila and This Old House, where they would make jokes about how beams and joists were cut to accommodate stuff.  It still happens as I have also seen it recently on Mike Holmes.  He cracks the same jokes.  I do inspections on some very old houses and see huge notches all the time.  But in those days they were dealing with cast iron and had no other way to run it.  But even the electricians then did weird stuff when they changed from knob and tube to wrapped cables.  Learning how to wire houses and hide it inside the walls was something that took a while to develop apparently!

But even recently I see it.  On one new construction the floor I-beam arrangement had 8 or 10 nearly half missing to accommodate metal HVAC ducts!  It was huge.  That was pre-drywall and the builder's supervisor had tried hard not to allow a pre-drywall inspection!  I understood after I saw the construction!  Good thing the clients insisted.

The thing that gets me is this:  do builders not know how to lay things out in a house?  How hard is it to tell the draftsman "this is how I want the floor joist to run" and accomodate everything inside them?  I know it's not feasible in all situations, but it's something my Dad has always tried to do...lay joist the way you want ductwork to run, lay out toilets and tubs...a little extra work early saves a lot of headaches later!