Floor Decking Question

[cchen]

Preface: my wife and I are first time owner-builders early in the education/planning phase.

I've been looking heavily into panelized homes. I was looking on the website of one supplier in our area, Harvest Homes (

and noticed that in their construction process ( ), it seemed like the floor decking is sitting on top of the girder and sill ( see image ->

). It'd kind of a bummer because now there's this huge beam running the length of the basement ceiling...

I'm wondering I were to ask them to use floor trusses 18" OC, we could install the decking without using any girders on a house that's no more than 28ft. deep ( first floor ->

).

As a followup to that, on the second floor of this plan ( second floor

->

), I am not sure I understand how the floor would be framed. Specifically, Bedroom 2 seems to have only two walls at 90 degree angles supporting it! It seems like the first floor column that's marked as being "Decorative" should actually be some sort of structural support column, right?

Any info and input would be greatly appreciated; I'm just trying to get a basic understanding of these things. Thanks

- Chuck

[marson]

) and noticed that in their construction process it seemed like the

->

It'd

If a beam (which you call a "girder" is a problem, it can be buried in the floor system, with the joists hangered off it. This is a bit more expensive than setting the joists on top of the beam, but not a lot. Can't really tell from your floor plan what is going on up on the second floor, but usually there are walls where posts to hold up a second floor beam (similar to the beam for the first floor) can be hidden. Floor trusses might be an option, but spanning 28' would get expensive, I'm thinking.

[Michael Bulatovich]

I've never spanned more than about 22' in a house. ($$$) Remember that flush beams have big implications for forced air mechanical systems.

I don't know why someone who doesn't know much about the subject would try anything out of the ordinary. You're base of information support is so much smaller...As for the structural question, you could only answer it if you could see a framing plan and I don't.

[HockeyFan]

Having built my own home after years of research, I was successful both in building, but also building one-off from what most people do. This being said, my advise to you is to speak directly with a construction engineer about what you are wanting to achieve. The engineer will tell you absolutely what you can get away with and what you cannot. In fact, he might end up with a better solution for you than what you are planning.