Saturday, August 25, 2007

How to Build a Wood Bulkhead

This is a sketchcast of how to build a wood bulkhead. It covers the basic design and components of a wood bulkhead. This is a follow up of how to build a vinyl bulkhead a few weeks ago.



Here are the basic wood bulkhead components covered in the sketchast:

  • Pilings
  • Wales
  • Center Match
  • Filter Cloth
  • Tie Rods
  • Dead Men
  • Hardware
One main point is to always make sure you use properly treated wood when building a wood bulkhead as it will have a huge impact on how long the wall lasts. If you are building in saltwater, use wood treated to a retention of 2.5 pcf. If your bulkhead will be in freshwater, use at least .60 pcf treated wood.

If you have any questions, please leave a comment.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Parts of a Structural Timber Truss

This is another sketchcast about the basic parts of a structural timber truss. This should give you some basic knowledge about structural timber truss terms and components so you will have some idea of what you are talking about when you discuss your project with your supplier, architect, or engineer (or all of them).

There are many kinds of timber trusses (not all are structural) and most consist of the same basic components, as covered in the Parts of a Timber Truss Sketchcast. Enjoy.



I liked this first-hand article from Deer Tracks & Trails about Timber Roof Trusses. He also suggests that trusses should be engineered - sound advice.

Here is a good page with truss types with pictures. There are WAAAY better ones out there but I cannot find the one I really want right now.

If you are looking for someone to build your structural timber trusses, American Pole and Timber manufactures excellent custom structural timber trusses. Ask for Eric Lincoln. Eric will help you with the design, if needed, and will make sure you end up with a beautiful structural timber trusses you will be proud to display and show off.

If you are looking for simple roof trusses - trusses that are used to build a regular house (trusses are NOT exposed) this Manufactured Roof Truss page.