posted 13 years ago
I haven't been clear aobut what I'm building,. because it is so hard to describe. I will give it a try...
I have an existing chicken house. Conventional wood frame. It has a shed roof which slopes (down) to the north.
I am building a cob greenhouse adjacent to the chicken house, because I figure they can share warmth with one another. The east wall of the chicken house is the west wall of the green house. A cob wall (with flared end) joins the NE corner of the chicken house, and curves to comprise the north and east walls of the green house.
For the south wall of the green house, I am putting in a wood frame of some kind. The posts that are part of this south wall are what will hold up the green house roof. Next year I will build the south half of the green house, and this wall with the posts will be on the inside of the green house, those posts and beam now holding up the sloping glazed south roof as well as the north roof that is just an extension of the existing chicken house roof.
I just want to be sure that the posts are big enough for the load. Spaced close enough. The distance from the chicken house to the inside of the cob wall is 12 feet. I am planning to have a 2x6 extend from 2 feet beyond the exterior of the cob wall, across the 12 feet span, and along the ends of the rafters of the existing chicken house wall. Where the 2x6 is spanning the 12 feet, I intend to splice on additional 2x6 to have it in essence a 4x6 beam. And I was thinking of either3 or 4 posts, one a foot from each end and one or two in the middle. In addition to carrying the load, my worries have to do with keeping those posts fixed in all three planes. They are pretty well anchored in place at the top by the rafters and crossing over the wall (linked to embedded dead man), but at the bottom, I don't want there to be enough wiggle that anything could happen.
I only know enough about engineering to know what to worry about, not enough to know what is enough and what is over building.
I think pouring piers could easily stabilize the bottom ends of the posts. But, what size piers?
It's never ending, or so it seems, until finally I say, OK, I know what to do.
Thanks for the help
Thekla
Best luck: satisfaction
Greatest curse, greed