May 07, 2020

Ponderosa Pine Vigas for Large Room


For the large room, six Ponderosa Pine vigas were utilized for the main roof support.  The room shape is an irregular oval roughly 15-feet by 17-feet.  The vigas were 10"-dia and rest on top of the concrete bond beam (see previous posts).  The building code requires that the beams rest (overlap) the bond beam 12" on each end.  The beams were spaced approximately 30" apart on center.


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The vigas were purchased at Southwest Ideas in Surprise, Arizona.  They were hard to find.  There are very few forest product companies left in Arizona.  Not sure why - with all the Southwest designed buildings in the state one would expect a healthy market for vigas, thus several suppliers. 

I rented a 24-ft 'Stake Truck' from Ryder Truck Rental to transport the vigas from Phoenix.  The length of the beams were 17-feet.

  
I hired a local contractor with a boom truck to assist in hoisting the vigas to the roof, where myself and a laborer set the beams at the locations and spacing I marked along the bond beam.



Below is a roof view of the vigas laid in place (below).  Notice the metal 'Strong-Tie' straps holding the vigas in place.  The metal securing straps were embedded in the concrete of the bond-beam as mentioned in the previous blog that discusses the pouring of the bond-beam.
 

This post will be the first of several that will discuss the construction of the roof structure.  The laying of these beams required the most coordination between the supplier, transportation and on-site equipment and personnel to install.  The rest of the roof construction will be mostly a labor effort.
 

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