What's a strongback?

hi SF,
A strongback is the board in Daox's picture going perpendicular to the ceiling joists and is just above the ceiling joists. That is what my inspector calls them. Maybe there is another term for them. They are called that because they support things from above just like a strong back. The main reason for having them is to avoid intruding into the living space when supporting structure. They are also used as way of economizing on lumber. You can go with 2x4 ceiling joists spanning a 20' room if you put in two big strong backs perpendicular to the ceiling joists so that the open space any ceiling joist is carrying is only 6 2/3 ft.

Like strapping? I thought most people didn't strap ceilings out west.

No, strapping is typically 1x3s, are below ceiling joists, and generally spaced 18 or 24 inches on center. Strongbacks are located ABOVE the ceiling joists, generally 2x8 all the way up to 4x12s and usually spaced 6 to 8 FEET apart. The size of the strongback is determined by the perpendicular span to the ceiling joists that they must span.

Far out. I've never seen or heard of that. You learn something new every day.

Edit: like purlins (as opposed to trusses) for an attic/roof assembly?

Glad to return the favor. I've learned a lot from you, especially about insulation.

Yippee! I just moved from lurker to helper.

I'll run a string across the 2x4s to make sure theres no sag. It seemed fine before but I didn't really pay attention too much.

Well, I am finally feeling up to working on the house again. I also had some help today, so we started putting up the concrete board on the wall. I've been told it looks like a prison now, haha.

Its nearly impossible to get a good picture during the day with the bright windows...

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1356549633

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1356549633

How has this all been performing Daox? We are just about through the depths of winter now.

I recently did a house that involved replacing all of the windows with Serious (ly expensive) windows. We rapped up there on new year's eve. From my limited exposure and experience they didn't "feel" much different that the Marvin's or any of the other good windows. Not too sure about price differences there though. Oh, and they were the ones with the suspended film with the higher SHGC. Isn't that what you decided to get?

I wish the rest of the house was done already. :) It does seem to be working. That wall was pretty horrible to begin with, and with such a large step forward I did notice a reduction in my gas usage.

The windows are great... if you have the money. You can touch them and they don't even feel cold. I did get the higher SHGC mainly because the VT (visible transmittance, aka how much light gets through) was higher, and the whole reason I put the windows in was to get light into the room.

I actually just worked on the room this past weekend for the first time in ages. It now has drywall up over the concrete board.