Any construction takes a lot of time and effort. Especially if the construction is done by hand. You need to know a lot: understand the principles of building an object, the properties of materials, how to connect structures. We need not only knowledge, but also experience. Experienced builders work quickly and efficiently, they can distinguish high-quality material from a cheap fake, they have all the necessary skills for docking and joining structures. Beginners in construction are deprived of all this. All that remains for them is to collect information and learn from their own mistakes. This article will talk about what cranial bars are, as the people call the support bar, what they serve for and how to properly mount them on the beam.
Assignment of support bars
Support bars are used to fasten floor boards, ceilings or truss systems. In the old days, when not a bar, but a solid log was used for beams, the skull was chosen by the craftsman with the help of an ax and an adze. Now somebuilders, in order to save money, also use logs for logs, but they saw through the skull with a chainsaw, and then choose it with an ax or a chisel. Recently, a beam has been used to lag the floor or ceiling, and cranial bars are stuffed onto it to fix the ceiling. This is due to the fact that ordinary log houses are now a rarity, and round timber is almost never sold, and timber of various sections is always available at construction bases.
Methods of subfloor installation
Beams with cranial bars are mainly used for subflooring. It, in turn, serves to insulate the ceiling. Boards or OSB sheets can be used as a subfloor. They are laid on the bars, and a heater is laid on top. All beams, bars and boards must be treated with an antiseptic from a bug and mold. Sometimes a cranial bar is used for additional fastening of the beams themselves. In this case, they are stuffed around the perimeter of the lower trim, and the beams lie on them. Subfloor battens can be secured across the joists by nailing them underneath.
Methods of mounting truss systems
A cranial bar is also used for mounting the truss system. What is it for? It simplifies the installation of rafters, especially complex hip or yand roofs, where cross connections and rafters of different lengths are required. To evenly distribute the load along the main load-bearing rafters, the bars are used as additional supports.
Installation is carried out as followsway. Roof rafters are installed on the hip ridge. They are attached to them with long self-tapping screws or nails. But for good strength to the joints, it is necessary to nail a cranial bar between the sprigs on both sides so that it bursts the sprigs along the entire length of the rafters with its ends. This will help to evenly distribute the load across all the rafters and increase the strength of the entire structure. The bar must be cut at the appropriate angle with a hacksaw or miter saw. In the same way, you can strengthen the racks of the rafters.
Skull beam for fixing the ceiling
For fixing the ceiling, the bars can be used in two ways, as is the case with the floor. The first is to nail the bars on a par with the end of the beam. In this case, the draft floor of the second floor or attic is laid on top of the bars, and the ceiling lathing is attached from below across the beams, and the final version of the ceiling is already mounted on the lathing. In the second version, the bars are sewn from below across the beams, and the crate is attached directly to them. In either case, you can use ready-made beams with two cranial bars. In the future, a vapor barrier and a layer of insulation are laid between the beams of the second floor.
How to fasten a bar to a beam: expert advice
You can fasten the bars to the beam with nails or self-tapping screws. Their length is selected depending on the thickness of the bar. The thicker it is, the longer the nail. Fastening from two sides is allowed: from the side of the bar or from the side of the beam. You can nail, alternating both methods. It is important to observea flat plane so that the ends of the bar are on a par with the beam.
You need to fasten the bar through the same segments, visually dividing the distance between its ends. If you use nails, then pay attention to the hammer. To avoid injury, the tool is chosen with a non-slip handle and a smooth, flat striker. If the striker is beaten, then the hammer can slip off the nail head, thereby injuring the hand. The cranial bars are chosen even, with a planed surface. You need to hammer the nail to the very head, making two or three control blows for a tighter mating of the surfaces.
To fix the bar with self-tapping screws, a screwdriver with a bat is used. Self-tapping screws are used with a wide thread pitch and a protective coating. Oxidized self-tapping screws quickly rust when in contact with an aggressive environment, therefore, in order to fix subfloors, a cranial bar must be screwed onto yellow or white self-tapping screws. When tightening, it is important to pay attention to the condition of the bit. Its edges must be intact, if the edges are erased, then the bit will slip in the head of the self-tapping screw, not providing tight contact between the surfaces. On the ratchet of the screwdriver, you need to choose a value that ensures the most dense abutment of the surfaces.
Sizes of support bars
The most important drawback when using support bars is a decrease in the usable volume for insulation. The larger the bar, the less insulation you can put.
Standard dimensions of the cranial bar are 50 x 50 mm. Some of the mastersin order to increase the volume for insulation, use dimensions of 40 x 50 mm or even 20 x 40 mm. But such savings can go sideways. The smaller thickness of the beam has a reduced coefficient of reliability of such fastening. In order to use narrow bars, you need to reduce the distance between the beams. This means that in the calculations you will have to add one or two beams. This is not very economical, as a cranial beam is much cheaper than a thick beam. It's best to stick to standard sizes for heavy loads.
In conclusion
Building a house is always a responsible test for the owner. Knowing what cranial bars are and how to install them is just one of the things that a home craftsman needs to remember. In fact, there are many stages of construction, from the correct pouring of the foundation to fixing the ridge. But if you have already managed to build a house under the roof, this does not mean that you can immediately move there to live.
Interior decoration can be more expensive than the frame itself. The house needs to be insulated, sheathed or plastered walls, heating, equipped with sewerage, plumbing, gas. After the construction of the house is completed, there will still be a thousand unfinished business: garbage collection, landscaping of the site, construction of a bathhouse, utility rooms. But even when everything is completed, a quiet life is not guaranteed. There will always be things in your home that require further attention.
