Framing question

Totally off-topic. :slight_smile:

My garage has the horizontal “beam” on the ceiling.

Does anybody know how the framing is done inside of it. Trying to find studs to hook up to.

Time to build a Ultrasonic Fez stud finder :wink:

edit, see…showing my general ignorance again :slight_smile:

quick Google and it appears they are magnetic or capacitor jobbies…

still, build one :smiley:

My stud finder works pretty good. Especially when I turn it towards myself. :slight_smile:

For the garage, I just want to be sure before I start drilling.

You have to be cautious because so many builders are lazy and don’t do things the way they should. For example the 2x4 studs (the ones going vertical that the dry wall attaches to) could be toe nailed in. Which is weak setup, but good enough to hang drywall only on it.
A better way is to screw them into a 2x4 header piece and then screw the header into the rafter studs. Bottom line is since the drywall it up and you cannot see inside it, its hard to know how they did it so be careful how much weight you hang off it. I found this photo to show you the basic soffet box setup.
If you looking for the distance between studs, you can use a stud finder, but if that does not work so hot because of the texture you have as my garage has the same texture you could use a fall back method to find the distance between. take a very, very small drill bit and start drilling through until you find the stud. creep left a small bit and drill another hole to find the edge of the stud, then move right until you find the other edge. once you know the edges then you will know the center. Then move right 16", 18", or 24" depending on what mood the builder was in that day. and start drilling again to find the next stud. Once you do you now know the offset for the studs and can measure along the whole length of the beam to put a pencil mark to note where the rest are.

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What are you trying to hang from it?

The framing of concrete beams is done as shown below…

Oh the number of rebar’s and their size depends on the length of the beam… and other factors…

Cheers.

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@ VersaModule - Exactly was I wad looking for! Thanks a lot!

@ Jay Jay - Thanks man!

I am going to epoxy the floor. So I am trying to hang as much stuff as possible to free the floor. The first thing that will got to that beam is 3 section aluminum ladder.

I don’t know that I would count on standard framing, given the penchant of some carpenters to get creative with framing, particularly if the framing is not load-bearing. :slight_smile:

Depending on the weight you’re trying to support, I’d either use a stud finder and screws or lag bolts, or consider zip anchors (for lighter loads), which can screw directly into the drywall, and are very fast to use.

If the stud finder is having trouble with the metal beam causing false positives, you can also just use a small nail to locate the edges of the studs…only minor patching needed afterwards.

For an aluminum ladder, you can almost certainly use heavy-duty zip anchors, particularly if the bracket you’re using will allow you to have more than one per bracket. And if the zip anchor won’t drill in at a given location, you’ll know there’s a stud there. :slight_smile:

@ devhammer - Yes, 2 on each bracket (two brackets total)

Small drill bit method worked great!

Ah! for some reason I was thinking basement, not garage. If that beam is like the one in my garage, it’s probably a solid laminated beam, so most if not the entire thing could be used to anchor.

I used the beam in my garage to build a storage platform from perforated angle steel and plywood, with the platform anchored to the beam on both sides by multiple lag screws. Way overengineered, but I know it’s not going anywhere. :slight_smile:

@ devhammer - Nice! Our ceiling is not as high. That ladder is almost touching roof of my MDX.

I wish we had basement,but being so close to the ocean our houses don’t have basements.

@ Architect - Gotcha. Yeah, our garage has very high ceilings, even higher than the 1st floor of the house.

In the background of that pic, you can see my earlier garage storage project, which was insulating the studs, then covering with 1/4" plywood, then adding Plywood slats with a 1/4" spacer such that there’s a groove on the top side. Then made a bunch of cleats out of 1/8" aluminum stock and plywood, and attached them to a variety of shelves, hooks, and baskets, and I’ve got a configurable storage system, for much cheaper than commercially-available systems.

Basements rock, but only if they stay dry, which would not be the case in your area.

Finished working on garage floor. Soon will move my electronics lab into the garage.

Before and after:

I use to be a carpenter Architect. That beam should be solid as from what I can see it is carrying a load from above. Either you have a bedroom up there or attic storage space.

@ Jason - thanks. Yes there is a bedroom above the garage.

By the size of that beam, I’m going to say your house is old…lol. It looks way to short to actually carry the load…to today’s codes.

Now it would have to be at least 18" tall with three members to carry that span. Or even a steel “I” beam being called for it.

Don’t put a water bed up there…:wink:

Everything is non-standard in that house now. :frowning: Pain to fix things.

Looks nice … sure it was a bunch of work.