COMPUTER CARPENTRY

You're going to build a house or an addition on your present home,
and you'll be drawing up the plans yourself and doing much of the
construction work. None of that worries you, but figuring out the
necessary supplies looks like a headache. How many studs, joists,
rafters, sheets of plywood and how much wallboard will you need,
and how much will it all cost? Can you really afford to do everything
you have in mind?

Here's a computer program that will supply the answers. Based on the
advise given by Dale Mc Cormick in this month's (NEW SHELTER Magazine
September 1984) Trade Secrets (page 26), it produces reliable
estimates of all the construction materials you will need for your project,
and it keeps a running total of the costs.


USING THE PROGRAM

For the most part, the program should prove to be self-explanatory, but
here a few pointers.

1. "On Center" (OC) spacing is the normal way distances are measured
between studs, Joists, etc. An O.C. measurement is the distance from
the middle of one piece of wook to the middle of the next piece.

2. When estimating the number of joists needed for a floor or ceiling
the program asks for the length of the "far wall". this is one of the
walls that the ends of the joists run into.

3. When estimating the number of joists needed for a floor or ceiling
the program asks if the joists meet in mid-span. Sometimes joists run
all the way from one side of a room to the other side. But when a room
is very wide, the joists may not be long enough or strong enough to span
the distance without sagging. So, short joists are used instead, and where
they meet in the middle of the room, they are supported at mid-span by
a beam or a load-bearing partition.

4. To figure the number of rafters and 4 x 8 sheets of plywood you will
need for a roof, the program asks if the roof has one pitch or two. Roofs
commonly have two pitches, although shed-style roofs have one pitch.
(Note: The program assumes that the slopes of a two-pitch roof have equal
dimentions. If your roof has two pitches of unequal length, treat your
roof as if it were two shed-style roofs. For example, the rafters for one of
the pitches might be 30-foot long, while the rafters for the other might be 26
feet. Estimate the number of 30-foot rafters you'll need for one shed-style
roof, then estimate the number of 26-foot rafters you'll need for the
"second" shed-style roof.)

5. The number of studs calculated by the program may seen to be wrong but
the extra pieces are to be used for the ends and double studs around doors
and windows.