Thursday, November 18, 2010

Beat to Fit - Part Deux


On this episode of "Beat to Fit, Paint to Match", we have this dandy plate washer that was bent to allow the sheetrock to be attached to the wall.  The stud wall in question consists of 2x4's at 16.  The plate washer, if I remember correctly, is 2"x2".  You can see that the problem is the location of the anchor bolt, which barely fits behind the edge of the sill plate.  For a 3 1/2" wide sill plate, there is a tight tolerance for locating the anchor and placing a 2" plate washer.  Had this been a 3" plate washer, there would be a 1/4" tolerance each way from the center of the plate.  

I have to ask, at what point would it be better to use post-installed anchors instead of cast-in-place?  From conversations with two different Contractors, a Titen HD is about twice the material cost of an L-bolt.  For a job with 50+ housing units, that would be a substantial impact on the overall cost.  In my opinion, labor savings may cover the cost difference, especially when bolts and/or studs have to be replaced when they align with each other (see previous posts).  If the framing crew is working on contract, and not by the hour, then the labor savings may not be seen by the owner.     

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