Patio Cover Tear-down

[Guv Bob]

I have to remove an old wooden patio cover and replace with a sun room. All the wood is sound with some minor dry rot all over.

Can' access internet now (due to Verizon as usual) so I'll describe it. Looks like it was a joe homeowner job -- pretty basic cover...

Slab & cover are 12x12 feet. Nine 2x8's are fastened with joist handers to a 2x10 which is bolted to the house wall. The other end of the 2x8's is supported by a 4x8, 12-ft long (two 4x4's stacked). The 4x8 is on supported on five 4x4 posts. On top of the 2x8's are 12-ft lengths of

2x2 spaced about 2-inches apart.

My goal is to pull it down without it falling back and smashing the sliding door or killing somebody, mainly me.

I'm thinking about fastening some hefty ropes between some nearby trees and the 4x8 header and also to the top of the 4x4 posts to keep them from falling toward the house. Then knock the 2x2's loose from the

2x8's.

Then loosen one joist hanger one at a time at the house and lowering it. Leaving the sides and middle 2x8's for last. Then remove the 2 sides and last remove the center and push the posts/header back.

Another idea for safety maybe -- fasten 2x4 supports under each 2x8 near the house, so that the 2x8 won't come crashing down when the last screw is removed from the 2x10.

Am I missing anything.

[hrhofmann]

WHy not remove the 2x2's before you start tying anything to trees. Then, j ust remove the stringers/joists going from the house to the far end one at a time, and then remover the 12 x 12 framework,then remove the support post s at the corners, and then finally the bean that is attached to the house. Simple to do, no safety issues, just the reverse of how it was probably bu ilt.

[TomR]

I agree. My vote would be to take it down in pieces rather than trying construe some way to take it down whole and then have to take it apart when it's on the ground.

Use a crow bar to pry off the 2x2's. Then cut each joist (doing one at a time) near the house, and take down each joist that way. After every few joists, cut off the beam that goes across the low end of the cover and remove that section and the vertical posts up to that point. When done all of that, go back and take off the ledger board with the remaining short pieces of joists that were left up.

[micky]

You know that Usenet is part of the Internet, right? :-)

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I was puzzled. Any how piece by piece is safe and easy way even if it takes little longer. If helping had is available, even better. I built some thing like that to cover my rear deck out at cabin using ribbed steel panel roofing. It is just reversing the order.

[Guv Bob]

Then, just remove the stringers/joists going from the house to the far end one at a time, and then remover the 12 x 12 framework,then remove the support posts at the corners, and then finally the bean that is attached to the house. Simple to do, no safety issues, just the reverse of how it was probably built.

Sounds good to me. Thanks. I'll still tie the posts to the trees as insurance to be sure nothing falls toward the house. Best laid plans, etc....

[Guv Bob]

Yeah, I nose that. But website connects thru Verizon. Usenet connects via peoplepc aka earthlink. Verizon has not usenet access any more.

[micky]

Don't I know it. :-(

They also used to have free webspace and they got rid of that.

And they also had a program to help you build webpages, and I think they got rid of that. I used it, Sea Monkey, and just a text editor and a file, and got different results with all 3. I don't know what that means.

But in the middle of this, I checked again and found that someone else had written the page I planned to write, so I didn't have to bother.

[TomR]

I have both Verizon and Comcast Internet access at work, and Comcast Internet access at home. Both used to include Usenet, but I don't think either one does any more.

When they stopped providing Usenet directly, I found my own free ways to access Usenet via both Verizon and Comcast.

Here is how I do it:

At work, my computer uses Windows XP. Somewhere (either in Windows XP or in Internet Explorer -- I forget where) I have a program called Outlook Express. I can run Outlook Express (actually Outlook Express with Quotefix -- a free add-on program) and by using that I can set up Newsgroups. And, for Newsgroups, I use free new servers such as news.eternal.september.org and news.aioe.org to download and read Usenet newsgroups.

At home, I have Windows Vista which does not include Outlook Express. But it has something called "Windows Mail". I use Windows Mail to set up newsgroups and use the same two free news servers -- news.eternal.september.org and news.aioe.org to download and read Usenet newsgroups.

In other words, I don't need to have an ISP provider that offers Usenet for me to access and use Usenet newsgroups.

If you mention what operating system your computer uses (such as Windows XP, Windows Vista, etc.) we may be able to show you how to get Usenet for free.

[Guv Bob]

Thanks, Tom, this is great info! I've still got Win2000 for now, which has Outlook Express. I'm using earthlink for outgoing email and usenet because of all the limitations with sending email via Verizon. Earthlink includes all the newsgroups I've ever heard of and keeps adding more. However, it would be nice to drop the extra $15 or so per month I'm paying if I could get usenet for free. Will be going to cable Time Warner soon....

[TomR]

Since you have Outlook Express, you can try setting up free newsgroups by starting Outlook Express and then click on: Tools Accounts News Add News

Then put in a fake name that you want to be known as (such as Gov Bob), and a fake email address.

Then for News Server (NNTP) try putting this in: news.aioe.org

Don't put in that my news server requires a user name and password.

I think that should work.

Once it is set up, it will work on any Internet Service Provider that you are using, including when you switch to Time Warner.

Another free news server is: news.eternal-september.org

But that one requires that you set up a user name and password to log in. If you do the news.aioe.org one first and get it to work, and then want to also add the news.eternal-september.org one, post back here and I try to explain how to do that one.

[Stormin Mormon]

I ran usenet out of OE for many years, and very pleased with it. Sadly, I allowed XP to update to IE8, and lost that ability. I really miss it.

[TomR]

My computer at work has Windows XP and IE8 and that's where I run Outlook Express to access newsgroups. I didn't lose the ability to use OE when I updated IE to IE8.

[Guv Bob]

newsgroups by

I've always bought the el cheapo PC when I needed to upgrade instead of keeping the old one and installing new OS. Only because the old one generally is too slow or limited for the newer OS. So I have ended up keeping one computer with each OS. This really comes in handy when I find out after the fact that some software won't run on the newer system. I have 1 lap top with Win95, one with ME and one with XP. And a desktop with 98SE. The one I'm using now runs 2000 and I'll keep it whenever I get the next one. I have a Win7 OEM DVD, so I'll probably wait until the 9 or 10 is about to be released and pick up something with 8.1 on it, wipe the drive and install Win 7.