Michigan Hurricane Season
So I am through the rigors of my rough-in inspection. No bribes needed to be given, no first born children needed to be offered, and the township and I are at peace with one another.
So maybe I got myself worked up over nothing. I mean, I was sweating it. I was sick to my stomach worried about this silly inspection. I was so afraid the inspector would come in with his cloak and sickle, remove the dark hood from his head revealing two glowing lights where eyes should be, pull out his magnifying glass and start looking at the wood grain of every board I used. "Hmm, this species of spruce reaches maturity later than I would like, replace this board with a freshly hewn stud from a forest in Northern Michigan. This one is clearly from Indiana and doesn't pass code here." So off I would go with my axe into the forests of northern Michigan, looking for that one perfect pine to bring home on the hood of my Taurus and harvest into acceptable lumber for my family room.
I thought he might bring in his tape measure and measure every space between every stud, rafter, and floor joist. I was prepared to spend the afternoon drawing charts and diagrams and taking down measurements to fix the one rafter that is off by 1/2". I was ready to haul a load of concrete block underneath the house when he changed his mind and decided that due to new code requirements, the span of my floor was now 2" too long.
I was prepared for all of this. And, of course in case he came in and said, "No, the roof is all wrong. Take it off and start again." I was prepared with a can of lighter fluid, a match, and a really good cover story.
As it was, he was here for maybe 7 or 8 minutes. We chit-chatted about the weather and the drum set sitting conspicuously in the laundry room (I mean really, who keeps a drum set in the laundry room?) He pointed out the ventilation I needed to install, and said he would have to check his books to see if I could use one jack stud for the patio door header instead of the usual two (oops.) Then he kind of frowned and said, "You don't have any hurricane straps."
Now in my defense, I have lived in this wonderful state for over 5 years now. Hurricanes in the last five years? Zero. So while I understand the concept behind them, and fully intended on installing them just in case they were required, I couldn't figure out how to attach them due to my less than conventional rafters.
He gave me a couple ideas on how to install them and he was on his way, but insisted they would need to be up before he came back to inspect again. So, I took his advice and installed my little 8" by 2" pieces of metal on every rafter. I am now confident that if the wind blew hard enough that my entire roof were about to lift off like a kite (the shingles alone weigh literally more than a ton), my little pieces of metal would hold it securely in place.
The next day the guy called back and informed that I could "get away" with the single jack stud under the patio door header. This was extremely good new, seeing as how replacing that header with one that was 3 inches longer would be an enormously longer project than I was looking for at that particular time.
So with Hurricane season nearing its end, we are safe and secure in our inspected and now insulated family room addition. Now comes drywall - and the best news of all...
No more inspections until it is all done:)
So maybe I got myself worked up over nothing. I mean, I was sweating it. I was sick to my stomach worried about this silly inspection. I was so afraid the inspector would come in with his cloak and sickle, remove the dark hood from his head revealing two glowing lights where eyes should be, pull out his magnifying glass and start looking at the wood grain of every board I used. "Hmm, this species of spruce reaches maturity later than I would like, replace this board with a freshly hewn stud from a forest in Northern Michigan. This one is clearly from Indiana and doesn't pass code here." So off I would go with my axe into the forests of northern Michigan, looking for that one perfect pine to bring home on the hood of my Taurus and harvest into acceptable lumber for my family room.
I thought he might bring in his tape measure and measure every space between every stud, rafter, and floor joist. I was prepared to spend the afternoon drawing charts and diagrams and taking down measurements to fix the one rafter that is off by 1/2". I was ready to haul a load of concrete block underneath the house when he changed his mind and decided that due to new code requirements, the span of my floor was now 2" too long.
I was prepared for all of this. And, of course in case he came in and said, "No, the roof is all wrong. Take it off and start again." I was prepared with a can of lighter fluid, a match, and a really good cover story.
As it was, he was here for maybe 7 or 8 minutes. We chit-chatted about the weather and the drum set sitting conspicuously in the laundry room (I mean really, who keeps a drum set in the laundry room?) He pointed out the ventilation I needed to install, and said he would have to check his books to see if I could use one jack stud for the patio door header instead of the usual two (oops.) Then he kind of frowned and said, "You don't have any hurricane straps."
Now in my defense, I have lived in this wonderful state for over 5 years now. Hurricanes in the last five years? Zero. So while I understand the concept behind them, and fully intended on installing them just in case they were required, I couldn't figure out how to attach them due to my less than conventional rafters.
He gave me a couple ideas on how to install them and he was on his way, but insisted they would need to be up before he came back to inspect again. So, I took his advice and installed my little 8" by 2" pieces of metal on every rafter. I am now confident that if the wind blew hard enough that my entire roof were about to lift off like a kite (the shingles alone weigh literally more than a ton), my little pieces of metal would hold it securely in place.
The next day the guy called back and informed that I could "get away" with the single jack stud under the patio door header. This was extremely good new, seeing as how replacing that header with one that was 3 inches longer would be an enormously longer project than I was looking for at that particular time.
So with Hurricane season nearing its end, we are safe and secure in our inspected and now insulated family room addition. Now comes drywall - and the best news of all...
No more inspections until it is all done:)
posted by Jeff at 1:40 PM
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