Slightly blacksmithing related

As before, I am only doing this since there has been so little activity on this list lately.

In late December, our 40 foot by 60 foot pole building's roof collapsed from the huge amount of snow and then ice that fell on it. I store my power hammer collection and a lot of other stuff in there.

Here's a link to a picture essay about the collapse and the restoration:

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Pete Stanaitis

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Reply to
spaco
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Yeowch. Did you upgrade the truss load rating for the replacement roof? I went 20% above "code requirement" here as relatively cheap insurance when I built...And overdid the bracing on those trusses as well. No regrets so far.

Reply to
Ecnerwal

To answer your question, no, I did not "upgrade" the trusses. But---- the building was constructed in the late 1960's and the trusses were hand-buillt, using plywood gussets, some sort of glue that had failed, I think, and lead washers on the nails. This last, the lead washer nails, causes leaks, by the way. Anyhow, the old truusses lasted through many snow seasons of this magnitude and so I am certain that this building, in its new incarnation, will outlast me. There is a lot more material in the new trusses and,of course the components are fastened with those huge nailing strips. I couldn't have decreased the spacing between trusses since we had to deal with the exisiting pole positions.

Pete Stanaitis

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Ecnerwal wrote:

Reply to
spaco

That is tough Pete!

We just got most of our 1500' of 2-phase 38KV line back in.

I had a 100' pine on a neighbor plot fall across our road and take out the main line.

Yanked two transformers and the top of the pole to the ground, twisted the cross bars on 5 poles and the 6th on the highway was twisted and close to the three phase out there.

Got the power to the house and the shop. But the last 100' to my termination pair of transformers is in deep mud so they won't look at it - either ever or now.

Now to get the gas company to fix our driveway that the cut a T hole to work on their pipe. I don't get service from them. The front is now mushy when it was deep hard limestone rock.

But a building - what a bad deal of life is that!

Mart> As before, I am only doing this since there has been so little activity

Reply to
Martin Eastburn

I have a 30 x 60 building that I built as a shop using "reperposed material". I used 2 7/8" drill pipe to frame the building. The columns and the trusses are made from the old oil well pipe with c perlins on the roof and walls. I don't have the snow load problems you have, but I got 30' clear span and it stood through hurricane Katrina when 3' diameter pine trees went down all around it.

Reply to
G

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"Tree branch falls on power lines." Yeah right. LOL :)

That sucker was thrown up there and wasn't the first one neither, I'd bet. ;)

Alvin in AZ

Reply to
alvinj

update:

Transformers removed - they were chest high and big. The two powered the saw mill here when it cut thousands of trees a month.

Now just me.

Hasmat had to come in - transformers were on their sides and leaked. Snapped pole still there. Large trench dug in the back yard - (several hundred feet from the house ) and all of it into barrels. Still waiting for them to come back to refill and plant grass.

Driveway is still bad.

Mart> That is tough Pete!

Reply to
Martin Eastburn

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