Recent content by Ditchmonkey

Heh yeah now that you say that - obvious really. :facepalm:

I had an electrician out and got some good info. I have a question now regarding the subpanel on the outbuilding. Does it matter where it is placed on the outbuilding? I have a spot about 2 feet off the ground that would be ideal and sheltered from the weather.

Not much. 3 lights, 2 outlets, and maybe a 4amp convection heater (or maybe propane), but nothing bigger than that in terms of heat. The biggest load it will see is on occasion I'll turn everything off and run my circular saw off one of the outlets.

I live in the country and I don't plan to get inspected, however I am concerned with safety. I plan to run conduit, but probably at just 12 inch depth so I can run in the same trench as existing PVC water piping. I figure I know it's there so the depth should be fine. Already doing better than...

I have a 100SF cottage that I want to run power to. My initial idea was to put a 30 amp breaker in the garage and run wires to the cottage. The run would be about 170 feet, and calculators state I would probably need a 6 or even 4 gauge wire, and my eyeballs just about popped out of my head when...

Yeah that is what I meant. Thanks!

Thanks for the info. Part of the deck is 7 feet wide (between the trees), and part is 10 feet wide with cantilevered joists. The 10 foot sections are 7 feet between the beams (attached with joist hangers), with 1.5 foot overhang on each side. Do these 10 foot joists need blocking if they are...

Ideally, in treehouse design between two trees, your mounts would be floating in both the x and y axis so tree movement in any direction will allow the tree to move independently of the platform. In this "tribeam" design, the mounting bracket can slide along the treehouse attachment bolt...

Yeah I used TABS (treehouse attachment bolts or Garnier Limbs) that will allow a little play between the trees. The company that sold them to me said this should be a fine setup, but I'm a little concerned about it. Originally I was going to build a treehouse but after pondering the setup, I...

Couple early pics for reference.

Separate question - would you use blocking between 8 inch joists that have a 7 foot span between beams?

The deck is 12 feet off the ground. From an aesthetic perspective, less posts is better as they block the forest view.

I really doubt I will ever have an inspection as I'm in the country and I doubt a deck built in the trees is going to get a stamp of approval in any case. I'm just wondering what people would consider safe.

I read that deck railing posts are supposed to be maximum 6 feet apart by code. I have an odd-shaped deck that I am building in the trees. One section of it is 7.5 feet long. Would you experienced carpenters call it good and have the rail span that 7.5 feet between posts, or add a post midway...

Thanks for the info. By PDF do you mean the instruction manual? I tried to download that from Porter Cables website but I just get a blank page. Anyway, given my project timelines I might just need to get a new saw since this one is now on sale for $55 at my local home improvement store. I just...