Loft Advice

[Happy]

Dan, I know I'm bringing this up too late, but we found that the studs for the Grate Flooring should not be farther spred than 16" on center for stabilitly of the Grate.. I notice your studs are already in, & from the Pic. look farther spreed than that, but maybe they are at 16"??? Many of us have Grate here in Calif. & just thought I'd mention it after seeing your Pic's... Looking good though, Loft & Crew. Hap

[george simon]

HI DAN, Glad to see you making progress,looking at the pictures,I feel that you need to have more upright support.It seems that to me that the distence between upright is about 8 or 10 feet. When the loft is bulit that platform and the loft will cause a lot of pressure on the uprights,also you will need up right support under the platform. I see that you have two fine helpers I bet the little guy is the foreman on the job. GEORGE

[hillfamilyloft]

In regards to grated floors, I do have an opinion. If I could do it all over again I would do grated flooring under the perches around the outside of the section and wood in the middle of the compartment. I remember seeing a loft that had the floors this way. I think the loft was in an article in RPD. I like having a solid floor under my feet. Breakaway loft has there gratting on the whole floor. This seems to be sagging and hard to walk on. I have wood throughout. I have seen some build a grated box under their perches to catch the droopings. I scrape once a week. I have been using Van Elsakers phylosopy. He became king of the union when he quit scraping twice a day and put his birds on the same food year round. I am working on a good fed mix. I am using his as my starting point.
I use the flooring board. Great if it does not get wet. It will swell if it gets wet. I have some seams that are bulging a bit. After a bit it gets a good coating of pigeon dust on it and it becomes almost waterproof. I painted the floor of one section, but I cannot tell now. It scrapes nicely. I use OBS to build parts of nestboxes and do some of my walls in obs. It takes about three coats of paint to get this stuff where it resembles a washable surface. I can scrounge up freebees from the local building sites. I am in the process of re-modeling my old shed loft. It had medal roofing for siding. I have some freebee log type siding that I am going to put on the outside. I am using obs under. I am thinking of running some tyvex over the obs. I am adding a flying section. Happy building
Randy Hill

[learning]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the input. George, as for the post suports, my father-in-law is an engineer and he did a lot of research as far as different sizes and spans as well as species of wood and their load factors. He thinks what I am doing is overkill. They are 2X8 double stringers set 10' apart. I am not sure what you mean by upright support. If you mean cross bracing, I am going to put cross bracing on the posts under the higher portions of the deck. I can assure you that it is quite sturdy and stable from standing on it and shaking it. Once the flooring and decking are attached it will be even more solid.

Randy, I plan on using the 39" X 47" wooden floor grates from Jedds. They claim that they do not need any additional support underneath them. Also, I will be cutting them lengthwise so I will be using them in 20" X 47" strips. The floor will be solid 3/4" plywood with the grate strips spaced for ventilation. The floor joists are 24" on center. If they feel weak when I get them installed, I will certainly reinforce them. I do have a question for you though. I will be putting a large 8' X 12' X 6' high aviary on the fromt of the breeding loft. I want to put a metal grate floor of some kind in it. I am having a hard time finding a material that will support my weight. I am pretty sure I will have to put in more floor joists at 12" spans to support it but I still need the material. Everything I have found at Home Depot and such has been too flimsy. Any thoughts?

Thanks In Advance,

Dan

[Happy]

Dan, Ok, now I understand. You are not using Metal Grate Floors for the flooring, you are using Jedds Hardwood Floor GRILLS they call them, & your just using them for ventilation, not for droppings to fall through...... Here in our Hot, Dry Deserts, we can use full Metal Grate Floor except for the Hallway that is solid. I have a cement slab tapered on all sides at edges 14" under my full loft & spray "Oxine" through Metal Grate on droppings, & just use long Landscraping scraper to clean the droppings monthly. Of course I have the bottom 14" sides boxed off & ventilated. Just slip it out, or hinge it up & clean... Of course this might not be good in Europe or real wet foggy areas. I could only find this Metal Grate at Metal Fabricater Suppliers. It comes in 4' X 8' with 3/4-1" diamond shape holes (that I use) & Smaller like 3/8' holes that is too small throughout. It comes in 2 diff. gages, & of course I get the heavy gage that supports any normal persons weight easy with 16" on center spaced 2"X10" treated stringers on the floor........... Hap

Hilltop Loft, A guy can always screw 3/4 plywood down over the Metal Grate where ever they wanted if they thought it was too much ventilation & still be able to take it out in the Hot Summer time etc.. I read that some lofts in Europe have covered there Metal Grate for Race Team because of problems, but there weather factor is much diff. than our Calif, High/Dry Desert, & would think yours in New Mexico? Course I don't know how high your elevation, snow etc. is...... I know one thing. This metal Grate is so nice to be in for the Pigeon Flyer (ME), as there is almost NO DUST to BREATH, very short time cleaning, & so easy to install .......... Hap

[Trees Gray]

Hi Dan,

I don't have anything to add either, other then I can't wait to see the finished product.

You have a real nice family (from what I see of them), glad your boys are excited about the whole project too!

[hillfamilyloft]

Happy was it 1" pvc? How was it attached to the structure? Do you recal where you found the pictures?
Randy

[hillfamilyloft]

I meant to say 1/2" pvc.
Thanks Randy

[Happy]

Randy, I never saw this on any site, I saw it in person, but has been over 15 yrs., ago on a few Lofts in the San Fernando Valley, Ca., & on Birds of Prey breeding Chambers.... I didn't pay too much attention how they were attached. Remember one that had mostly 3/4 PVC verticals & doors instead of wire from inside of hallway. This particular one was drilled like the top side of our older Dowel release crates. All the way through about 2"X3" Metal/wood in the middle, & Half way through on upper & bottoms that secured them Also saw this for Water Fronts in 1/2" PVC, built the same way. I'm sure there could be some more ingenious ways to do this, but that's the best I remember. Some of the Falcon/Hawk Breeding Chambers/Lofts had this on the outside, with about 1&1/2" spacings, but they didn't have to worry about Sparrow's, mice, etc. coming into the Loft, as they would be more food!
Birds can't hang on PVC hurting feathers etc., & is pretty Bullet Proof for weather etc....
Hope this helps, Hap

[SmithFamilyLoft]

Originally Posted by george simon

HI DAN, Glad to see you making progress,looking at the pictures,I feel that you need to have more upright support.It seems that to me that the distence between upright is about 8 or 10 feet. When the loft is bulit that platform and the loft will cause a lot of pressure on the uprights,also you will need up right support under the platform. I see that you have two fine helpers I bet the little guy is the foreman on the job. GEORGE

George,

Dan has expert help in regards to the weight loads, but I am with you, that looks like a lot of weight on a single 4x4 ?.... I can just see the entire loft up, and a few "fat" boys like me walking along the left side and then crash !!!!

[learning]

Hey Warren,

Look at it this way. Think of it as the ultimate burglar alarm. Anyone too big for the platform and all they get for their efforts is a broken leg! Rest assured guys, it really is quite solid and my engineer father-in-law thinks I am wasting money on materials that are "beefier" than needed. Hey, come to think of it, maybe I could work up some kind of workman's comp deal if I fall off the edge. Injuries sustained in the process of educating one's pupils. Hey, I am a teacher, sounds plausible to me!

As a side note, the vast majority of the weight is going to be on the back side of the loft which gets no higher than about 5 feet and averages about 3 feet. It is only the front left that gets to about 7 feet. The only thing on that corner is the stock aviary.

Thanks for all your concerns and may none of them come to pass!

Dan

[learning]

Linda and Treesa,

Thank you so much for the compliments regarding my family. I could not be more proud of our two boys and the real glue that keeps everything running around our house was on the business end of the camera! That would be my wife of almost twenty years, Lori. Yes, 20 years...with the same woman! Hard to believe these days I know. Anyway, we are all really looking forward to the day we can welcome our winged family members to their new home!

Thanks again for the kind words,

Dan

[learning]

O.K. guys and gals, I have finally got to the point where I am ready to start going up with the walls! (Only took a year!). This is purely a construction question. As has been addressed earlier in this thread I am doing this by myself so it is progressing quite slowly. I have finished all of the platform the loft will go on including the metal grating for the large stock aviary as well as the flooring and decking. All of the flooring is covered with plastic to try to protect it from the elements until I can get a roof over it. My question is this. Should I wait until I can afford all of the framing for the outer walls and roof and have the time to throw it up in a week or so, or should I just put it up as I can afford it and have the time to do it? My concern is the exposure to the elements. I am worried that the framing material will get damaged if left exposed to the elements over a long period of time, (several months).

For those of you that are interested I am including the latest version of the floorplan which is mainly different in the moving of the individual breeding pens to the other side of the loft. This puts their aviaries on the sunny side of the loft so they can get as much sunshine as possible since they will be prisoners.

As always, any input or opinion is greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan

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[TAWhatley]

Dan,

It looks absolutely fabulous to me .. sadly, I am construction challenged and don't have a clue .. others will be along shortly.

Terry

[Lovebirds]

Originally Posted by TAWhatley

Dan,

sadly, I am construction challenged

Terry

Well, so am I but I do know that in the process of building our loft, my husband would go and buy a few 2 x 4's at a time because they warp so easily. I saw many 2 X 4's go from straight to curved in a matter of a day or so, so, I would think that it would be best to save your money, go on a BIG shopping spree when you have the money and time and work your butt off for a week and get the walls up. I have to say, I admire you patience for one thing and the fact that you are doing this alone.........wow.........you are really going to have something to be proud of when your done.