Why do they always build the walls first

[jw]

When they build a house, Why do they always build the walls first? It would make more sense to build the roof first so the workers dont get soaked if it rains during construction.

[DerbyDad03]

Since roofs are made from the left over pieces after the walls are built, there is no material available to build the roofs first.

[krw]

Because once the roof is built it's too heavy for them to lift.

[willshak]

[e-mail] wrote the following:

Idiot!

[mm]

Well, couldn't they put like a tempoary 6' 2x4 at each end of one side, so they woudln't have to liff it?

[RicodJour]

Roofs are usually a fair bit higher than 6'. They'd have to use 18 footers.

R

[Dean Hoffman]

Or a creative thinker.

[Tegger]

" [e-mail]" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I recently saw a very, very strange thing: last winter, in one of the new subdivisions that's helping to destroy our formerly-little town, I saw the workmen assembling entire roofs--including dormers and shingles!--ON THE GROUND.

The entire roofs for several houses were being assembled in the middle of the (then unused) street on steel posts not more than 4' tall. Once assembled, these roofs were somehow positioned on top of their receiving houses. How they did this I do not know, as I did not get to see the installation procedure.

This must have been a test of some kind, since other roofs by the same builder in the same subdivision were assembled using conventional methods.

[krw]

They do. They're called "walls".

[DerbyDad03]

[e-mail]:

It's done pretty often.

Sometimes they build them on the first floor decking since they can be pretty sure that the decking is flat compared to the road.

Here's one thread where it's discussed and has pictures.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, What is supporting the roof? I think they build floor first.

[Tony Hwang]

Hmmm, Maybe he is talking about play house, not real house.

[The Daring Dufas]

Could you tell if it was one of those newfangled steel framed homes? :-)

TDD

[willshak]

Tegger wrote the following:

With a crane. Like they do with pre-manufactured home sections.

[mm]

No, they'd just have to tip the roof, lift it up 6 feet at one side. That way if the sofa was too big to get through the door between rooms, they could pass it over the walls.

[jw]

If I have to explain it, here goes......

You put in the foundation of the home. In each corner of the house you put a 2x4 in one of the holes in the corner concrete block. The

2x4 must be the height of the finished house, so if the walls are going to be 8 feet, use 9 foot 2x4s, (remember, the 2x4 is stuck on the concrete block about a foot deep). If its a two story with high ceilings, you'll need a 22 foot 2x4 in each corner. Build the roof on top of those four 2x4s, and complete the entire roof with shingles and rain gutters. This way the workers are protected from rain. When the walls and floors are all built, those four 2x4s are removed.

An optional method is to build scaffolding to the finished height of the walls, and build the roof on top of them. After the walls an floors are completed, the scaffolding is removed. The problem with this method is that there will be holes in the floors after completion, because the floors have to be built around the scaffolding. Therefore, the four 2x4 method is the preferred one.

And last but not least, get four hot air balloons with chains hanging from each one. Space the balloons the size of the roof to be built, then build the roof attached to those chains. However this may not be the preferred method because you will have to be an expert at climbing up and down those chains to go to and from work.

[The Daring Dufas]

What? You've never used the anti-gravity construction units for holding up structures? The first ones on the market were a little bit finicky but the modern systems are automatic and virtually trouble free. You have to encrypt the access control codes to keep kids from taking the darn things for a joy ride but that's not hard to do with the newer DNA scanner options. ^_^

TDD

[Tegger]

The Daring Dufas wrote in news:is1nb6$3l9$ [e-mail]:

These were normal wood-framed.

Somebody said they use a crane to put the roofs on. I'm sure that's correct, but I hadn't imagined a roof as large as these--with extensions and dormers and stuff sticking out all over the place--would have sufficient structural integrity to be picked up by a crane.

[Steve B]

Hey, Bob, hold my beer. I got another bite ..........................

Steve

[The Daring Dufas]

Oh yea, you can use them to go fishing too. ^_^

TDD