"lot of people say you can't build these things yourself..." - I hear that a lot. Engineering is mostly knowledge of how things are agreed to be done, safely and cost-effectively. I stumbled on this page as I need to create joists. Majority of people seem to offer free opinions about what can or can't be done. 🙂
I built my own house in Mexico and built these at 30cm high and up to 4.8 meters long using 12mm plywood instead of USB. Used these for complete second floor. Cant buy them in Mexico so we made them ourselves and they were all perfect. Interestingly, as we built the second story, we placed 2.5 ton of tablaroca wall sheeting in the center of the upper floor... we put a string and plumb bob on the center beam and a metal plate under it...and as we used up all the sheeting, we checked the beam flex and it was only 2mm over the 2.4 x 2.4 m2 area for the stacks. Each beam cost me around 400 pesos a piece, which was roughly $20.00 usd each. Its too easy for the individual to make and ours have been there 11 years now without even a squeak.
Engineers, doctors, and electricians. They all say 'Don't install your own service panels.' I read all the directions and installed one in 2 houses. Passed the inspections from the town and the electric company. And I'm female with almost no electrical orientation prior. The key is, do your homework thoroughly. If you have a specific engineering, doctor or electrical problem, you can usually find specific answers that apply to your local situation. Thank you for this useful information.
I had to make 2 of these 35 years ago because I was 2 joist short except I used a 2x4 on each side top and bottom to sandwich the osb board instead of 1- 2x4 on the bottom and staggered the joints then glued with pl400 and nailed both sides. They were 28' long free spanned and still doing the job today .
It appears that you and one Australian guy are about the only ones on RUclips or anywhere else to show how you would build a TJI (Truss Joint I-beam). Thank you for this, because you're helping people save money, which can be really tight, while building high quality essential shelter.
Sorry I was offline for a few days, finally got them all build, and ready. Making the supports that you see in the video were a great help because they not only raised the I-Joist up and allowed me to clamp them before I rotated them down and flat, but made it easer to keep them flat and straight. Good Luck, and if you have questions just holler.
i built gambrel trusses out of i-joists and plywood gussets with no engineering about 20 years ago. that house is still standing! one can do this with a relatively good margin of safety if you were to test them. you just need to build a test unit or two, support the two ends above a gap, evenly load it and measure the deflection. depending on span, around L/500 will feel pretty good. it should either pass or give you an idea of what part needs to be beefed up. rinse and repeat.
Yeah if I had the equipment They are all set And seemed to be pretty solid when I was walking around on them so that's a plus. I will be using some long pieces of Unistrut for an overhead gantry , so we shall be testing them that way kind of sort of
I guess I qualify as an "engineer", and your assessment of "engineers" is 100% correct. Fyi, I'm planning a build abroad where you can't get engineered I-joists so I thought about this very method of making them...and I must have been reading your mind.
You've more or less addressed my concerns. I have a badly constucted garage. Roof MUST be replaced. Has big hole. And I need storage space. Garage is right at 20 x 20. I'm intending to make I joists as you have done, to support a gambral roof, but a little different: I'm thinking of splittling 2" x 6" fir, grooving them with my router to 3/4" and using two layers of 3/8" OSB staggered and glued. If I use 8" wide OSB and make the groove in the fir about 1/2", I'll have 10" tall joists. I'd install on 16" centers on existing walls; just the roof that's rotten. Nominal loading is something I'd have to calculate based on field test of deflection of a sample joist. Comment???
TJI joists typically don’t use solid wood for the tops and bottoms. They use something more akin to “Parallam” type construction. Think of plywood with all the strands running lengthwise. Why? Cause it’s stronger than solid wood and doesn’t have knots or other surprise weak spots to ruin your day.
How did you join the pieces of OSB where they butt together? Are the mfg joists made with continuous OSB vs sectioned on your joists? Curious. GregM 12:24
Yes, just butted together, I noticed that in another video on how the factory makes theirs this way also. The difference is that the factory is able to finger joint then and if I want I could just glue a 6" wide scrap over the joints, but they seem quite ridged. Also I will still need to add a 3"X6" truss plate on the bottom joint where the two 2"x4"x12' lengths come together.
@@Prepper_Guy the old statics and dynamics classes from college are rattling around in my brain now, and they're telling me than OSB bridge plate over the butt joints is both a good and bad idea... good in that it'll help prevent a point bending moment on the joist, but bad in that if it's too stiff it'll transfer increased loading to where the bridge plate ends. depending on your loading of the joists I'm willing to bet it probably doesn't matter, but what wouldn't hurt is during building assembly you make sure the seams on the plywood and 2x4's are never in line with each other from joist to joist, and ideally, not until at least every 3rd joist. that way if any joist decides to be weaker at that point, whatever flooring (or ceiling) you've installed will help transfer the load to the adjacent joists. if you do decide to plate the seams, I believe the plate should be an elongated diamond shape; 2:1 or 3:1 in ratio (probably the former), with the longer dimension spanning the full height between the 2x4s. granted i'm drawing on knowledge gained about 30 (!!) years ago in college, but I do remember loving those classes, and getting excellent grades. I was considered... weird... by some of my classmates. :D
Stumbled upon your channel. Interesting videos. How did you determine your dimensions and spans? You are right, there aren’t any good videos of this subject. Want to learn something, go to the foreign channels, Americans don’t share knowledge
I basically guessed base on buying manufactured ones, and because I went with 2x4's and 12" webbing I was kind of over killing them compared to manufactured ones. What still scares me is the joint in the meddle of them at 12 foot, and I will be adding piece of 1/2" plywood at the bottom about 12" by 3 1/2" to help with a downward flexing.
I think it was pretty close to 16 inch on center for the clamps and usually I clamped them up and then let them set overnight, then I just unclamped them stack them. Thanks for watching the video I actually had a pretty good time building these and though it took a while doing it just on weekends. Once I got the jig set up and the proper way to glue and clamp then went pretty quick so I was able to do 1 per day. They're up now and I have a video of the completion seem to be pretty danm sturdy so I am impressed with myself but that's the joy of doing it yourself
@@Prepper_Guy man I love it sweet. I’ll watch your other video tonight for sure! I have everything to build a 30x30 addition but I need a few joist. All stuff from work lol 👌
0:09 that will be the point of failure. you should offset the 2xX ends by at least 3 times the height of the trusses (I dont know the exact math, but usually 3 something is a magic number to avoid load concentrations). or you could just offset them by half the length of the 2xX to be safe. those points have a lot less load resistance than the rest as there is like a pre broken I beam with only the middle part intact. aside from that, that does not mean that it will fails and you should repent for your actions. this only matters if the design load is really close to half the failure at those points (you still have some compression resistance in the upper 2xX butts). but offsetting them isn't hard at all, especially after how you dealt with the notching. another way to reduce the weakness of those points is bracing the lower flanges "butt joints". as said before, the upper flanges will usually work in compression and after the load squish them close, it will act mostly as a continuous piece, but the lower flange at those points are concentrating the load a those points as they have zero tension resistance (hence the usefulness of bracing them) (thanks for making the video tho, it is a lot easier to debug this things when someone has already done it xD)
I agree and my design kind of happened without double checking, that said, they are quite sturdy. I will be using a 1foot long strip of plywood glued and stapled on the bottom of each cords to help out with my poor planning, I think this will solve any tong term sagging. These only hold a very low dead weight so if worse case I'll chalk it up to lessen learned. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for making this video. Yes, there is a real shortage of videos on this. Please do not put music in your audio , its horribly annoying and its a huge distraction. We are hear to hear your words not the dam horrible music. I cannot get over how much a distraction that music is. Its as if its deliberate jamming of the audio.
NOT the same quality!!! A single 16' 2x4 is not the same as (2) 8' 2x4's!! I see some major issues with you doing this. First, you do not have solid lengths of anything. That is why they are engineered! Tension is a BIG part of why they are engineered!!! Now if you were somehow able to finger joint the 2x4's together along with the OSB sheets, then I'd say go for it! Since you did not, you are waiting for a disaster to happen! I think you are asking for trouble just like Stockton Rush did! it worked for a little while, then it DIDN"T! That goes for anyone who has copied your design and you could be held liable. Another thing you could have done, is to make some gussets for each side of the OSB. That would help a lot! You have at least 6 joints that can fail at any time if the glue doesn't hold or the 2x4 cracks. Now if you had also offsets the joints on every other joist, that would help a little by spreading the load away from a single line. I know a little about what I'm talking about. Designed a paper bridge in college and I think the record still stands from 2002. A bridge made from 0.48 pounds of paper, held 279 lbs. Any engineers out there? This is just my opinion. Let me know if I'm wrong.
I know it’s better quality. I’m doing the same thing. 16’ 2x4s top and bottom. Either 1/2 or 3/4 in the middle. 8’ splice of 1/2 on each side othe the splice. Subfloor glue
Here is the wrap-up on the I-Joist with some thought on the process. Enjoy and thanks for all the comments.
ruclips.net/video/KY99Ot6jkac/видео.html👍😎
"lot of people say you can't build these things yourself..." - I hear that a lot. Engineering is mostly knowledge of how things are agreed to be done, safely and cost-effectively. I stumbled on this page as I need to create joists. Majority of people seem to offer free opinions about what can or can't be done. 🙂
I built my own house in Mexico and built these at 30cm high and up to 4.8 meters long using 12mm plywood instead of USB. Used these for complete second floor. Cant buy them in Mexico so we made them ourselves and they were all perfect. Interestingly, as we built the second story, we placed 2.5 ton of tablaroca wall sheeting in the center of the upper floor... we put a string and plumb bob on the center beam and a metal plate under it...and as we used up all the sheeting, we checked the beam flex and it was only 2mm over the 2.4 x 2.4 m2 area for the stacks. Each beam cost me around 400 pesos a piece, which was roughly $20.00 usd each. Its too easy for the individual to make and ours have been there 11 years now without even a squeak.
Engineers, doctors, and electricians. They all say 'Don't install your own service panels.' I read all the directions and installed one in 2 houses. Passed the inspections from the town and the electric company. And I'm female with almost no electrical orientation prior. The key is, do your homework thoroughly. If you have a specific engineering, doctor or electrical problem, you can usually find specific answers that apply to your local situation. Thank you for this useful information.
Awesome! But please let a friend or family member know before you attempt anything like an appendectomy or gallbladder surgery 🙂
@@zarro_boogs_found Haha Will do. Got one coming up next week.
I had to make 2 of these 35 years ago because I was 2 joist short except I used a 2x4 on each side top and bottom to sandwich the osb board instead of 1- 2x4 on the bottom and staggered the joints then glued with pl400 and nailed both sides. They were 28' long free spanned and still doing the job today .
Awesome, Glad to hear. Thank You
It appears that you and one Australian guy are about the only ones on RUclips or anywhere else to show how you would build a TJI (Truss Joint I-beam). Thank you for this, because you're helping people save money, which can be really tight, while building high quality essential shelter.
I’ve been waiting for someone to do this….I will be making my own now. Thanks
Sorry I was offline for a few days, finally got them all build, and ready.
Making the supports that you see in the video were a great help because they not only raised the I-Joist up and allowed me to clamp them before I rotated them down and flat, but made it easer to keep them flat and straight.
Good Luck, and if you have questions just holler.
I have got these up now and will be adding a new video soon.
PS they didn't collapse...yet
i built gambrel trusses out of i-joists and plywood gussets with no engineering about 20 years ago. that house is still standing! one can do this with a relatively good margin of safety if you were to test them. you just need to build a test unit or two, support the two ends above a gap, evenly load it and measure the deflection. depending on span, around L/500 will feel pretty good. it should either pass or give you an idea of what part needs to be beefed up. rinse and repeat.
Can I see pictures of these trusses you made
Wow very cool Mark! Thanks for sharing.
thanks for a good explanation on building these, nice work Godbless
Love your ill do it myself attitude
They look good. I’d love to see a side by side stress test to failure with a factory made joist.
Yeah if I had the equipment They are all set And seemed to be pretty solid when I was walking around on them so that's a plus.
I will be using some long pieces of Unistrut for an overhead gantry , so we shall be testing them that way kind of sort of
I guess I qualify as an "engineer", and your assessment of "engineers" is 100% correct. Fyi, I'm planning a build abroad where you can't get engineered I-joists so I thought about this very method of making them...and I must have been reading your mind.
Thanks for making this video!
Thanks for the instructions.
You've more or less addressed my concerns. I have a badly constucted garage. Roof MUST be replaced. Has big hole. And I need storage space. Garage is right at 20 x 20. I'm intending to make I joists as you have done, to support a gambral roof, but a little different: I'm thinking of splittling 2" x 6" fir, grooving them with my router to 3/4" and using two layers of 3/8" OSB staggered and glued. If I use 8" wide OSB and make the groove in the fir about 1/2", I'll have 10" tall joists. I'd install on 16" centers on existing walls; just the roof that's rotten. Nominal loading is something I'd have to calculate based on field test of deflection of a sample joist. Comment???
TJI joists typically don’t use solid wood for the tops and bottoms. They use something more akin to “Parallam” type construction. Think of plywood with all the strands running lengthwise. Why? Cause it’s stronger than solid wood and doesn’t have knots or other surprise weak spots to ruin your day.
How tall did you cut those OSB pieces? Assume each OSB section is 8’x ? 12-18”?
12" or divided 48" by 4 allowing for blade kerf, or thickness.
How did you cut the channel for the OSB?
Nice work
How did you join the pieces of OSB where they butt together? Are the mfg joists made with continuous OSB vs sectioned on your joists? Curious.
GregM 12:24
Yes, just butted together, I noticed that in another video on how the factory makes theirs this way also. The difference is that the factory is able to finger joint then and if I want I could just glue a 6" wide scrap over the joints, but they seem quite ridged. Also I will still need to add a 3"X6" truss plate on the bottom joint where the two 2"x4"x12' lengths come together.
@@Prepper_Guy the old statics and dynamics classes from college are rattling around in my brain now, and they're telling me than OSB bridge plate over the butt joints is both a good and bad idea... good in that it'll help prevent a point bending moment on the joist, but bad in that if it's too stiff it'll transfer increased loading to where the bridge plate ends. depending on your loading of the joists I'm willing to bet it probably doesn't matter, but what wouldn't hurt is during building assembly you make sure the seams on the plywood and 2x4's are never in line with each other from joist to joist, and ideally, not until at least every 3rd joist. that way if any joist decides to be weaker at that point, whatever flooring (or ceiling) you've installed will help transfer the load to the adjacent joists. if you do decide to plate the seams, I believe the plate should be an elongated diamond shape; 2:1 or 3:1 in ratio (probably the former), with the longer dimension spanning the full height between the 2x4s.
granted i'm drawing on knowledge gained about 30 (!!) years ago in college, but I do remember loving those classes, and getting excellent grades. I was considered... weird... by some of my classmates. :D
Stumbled upon your channel. Interesting videos. How did you determine your dimensions and spans? You are right, there aren’t any good videos of this subject. Want to learn something, go to the foreign channels, Americans don’t share knowledge
I basically guessed base on buying manufactured ones, and because I went with 2x4's and 12" webbing I was kind of over killing them compared to manufactured ones. What still scares me is the joint in the meddle of them at 12 foot, and I will be adding piece of 1/2" plywood at the bottom about 12" by 3 1/2" to help with a downward flexing.
Could also try a metal truss tie to span the butt joint at 12’ mark.
Good video. To the point
Thank you sir😊
Best video ever. How long did u let them dry for before removing the clamps? And did u clamp it like every 16” or so?
I think it was pretty close to 16 inch on center for the clamps and usually I clamped them up and then let them set overnight, then I just unclamped them stack them.
Thanks for watching the video I actually had a pretty good time building these and though it took a while doing it just on weekends.
Once I got the jig set up and the proper way to glue and clamp then went pretty quick so I was able to do 1 per day.
They're up now and I have a video of the completion seem to be pretty danm sturdy so I am impressed with myself but that's the joy of doing it yourself
@@Prepper_Guy man I love it sweet. I’ll watch your other video tonight for sure! I have everything to build a 30x30 addition but I need a few joist. All stuff from work lol 👌
@@mikeyjohnson1696 I'll do a short video showing the process and how I made the jigs if you would like
What kind of glue did you use
Gorilla Glue, Waterproof Polyurethane Glue from Lowes but this is slightly less expensive from Amazon, I Love Amazon.
amzn.to/3tOaE4J
0:09 that will be the point of failure. you should offset the 2xX ends by at least 3 times the height of the trusses (I dont know the exact math, but usually 3 something is a magic number to avoid load concentrations). or you could just offset them by half the length of the 2xX to be safe. those points have a lot less load resistance than the rest as there is like a pre broken I beam with only the middle part intact.
aside from that, that does not mean that it will fails and you should repent for your actions. this only matters if the design load is really close to half the failure at those points (you still have some compression resistance in the upper 2xX butts). but offsetting them isn't hard at all, especially after how you dealt with the notching.
another way to reduce the weakness of those points is bracing the lower flanges "butt joints". as said before, the upper flanges will usually work in compression and after the load squish them close, it will act mostly as a continuous piece, but the lower flange at those points are concentrating the load a those points as they have zero tension resistance (hence the usefulness of bracing them)
(thanks for making the video tho, it is a lot easier to debug this things when someone has already done it xD)
I agree and my design kind of happened without double checking, that said, they are quite sturdy. I will be using a 1foot long strip of plywood glued and stapled on the bottom of each cords to help out with my poor planning, I think this will solve any tong term sagging. These only hold a very low dead weight so if worse case I'll chalk it up to lessen learned.
Thanks for watching.
Ya 4’
Thank you for making this video. Yes, there is a real shortage of videos on this. Please do not put music in your audio , its horribly annoying and its a huge distraction. We are hear to hear your words not the dam horrible music.
I cannot get over how much a distraction that music is. Its as if its deliberate jamming of the audio.
NOT the same quality!!! A single 16' 2x4 is not the same as (2) 8' 2x4's!! I see some major issues with you doing this. First, you do not have solid lengths of anything. That is why they are engineered! Tension is a BIG part of why they are engineered!!! Now if you were somehow able to finger joint the 2x4's together along with the OSB sheets, then I'd say go for it! Since you did not, you are waiting for a disaster to happen! I think you are asking for trouble just like Stockton Rush did! it worked for a little while, then it DIDN"T! That goes for anyone who has copied your design and you could be held liable. Another thing you could have done, is to make some gussets for each side of the OSB. That would help a lot! You have at least 6 joints that can fail at any time if the glue doesn't hold or the 2x4 cracks. Now if you had also offsets the joints on every other joist, that would help a little by spreading the load away from a single line. I know a little about what I'm talking about. Designed a paper bridge in college and I think the record still stands from 2002. A bridge made from 0.48 pounds of paper, held 279 lbs. Any engineers out there? This is just my opinion. Let me know if I'm wrong.
I know it’s better quality. I’m doing the same thing. 16’ 2x4s top and bottom. Either 1/2 or 3/4 in the middle. 8’ splice of 1/2 on each side othe the splice. Subfloor glue
Thanks for the video. Nope, talking would have been much more interesting for most occasions, but chipmunk tunes is not a reasonable. compromise
SERIOUSLY!
WHAT"'S WITH THE HEADGEAR AND INSET?
amzn.to/3G3xkkd There GR8