I am starting to build an addition to my house, a dining room with screened room adjoining. I`m not sure about the windows in the screen room yet as to how much rain might get in. I want to lower the floor in the screen room slightly below the dining room. I am going to lay the blocks on the same level and I don`t want to notch the floor joist in the screen room to lower it 1 1/2 inches. The only other way I can come up with is to use two plates under the dining room joist. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
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Not knowing the size and span of the porch framing I may just be poking in the dark...Is it feasable to shrink down one size for the porch joists? (i.e. 2 x 12 joists in dining room and 2 x 10 in porch)
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
Thanks Jaybird, I think that might be better than anything I can come up with. The span is only 12 feet, 2X8 will be OK for porch.
No prob!
Good luck with the project and post some pics when you`re done.J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
From a design and safety standpoint, you should not do this. People will trip and fall. A step should not be less than 4" or more than 7.5" . Someone will get hurt
But on the other hand how big of a transistion does it have to be to become a "step", or more importantly a trip hazzard?
In between 0" and 4" or 4-1/2" it is a trip hazard. It needs to be that high to make it an obvious step to be negotiated. Many people with vision and balance handicaps will be extremely challanged by the 1-1/2" change. Most normal ones will be caught offgaurd a few times until they get used to it. eg. When working on the staging, and planks are lapped over each other, you step off the higher one onto the lower without being awaree of it and have that brief heart attack- the saying around here is "that first two inches will kill you" from being scared into thinking you've stepped off the world...
Many archtects tell me that it is considered improper to have less than two steps at any transition too - Can't explain that one but it does seem more tasteful, if not safer.
Excellence is its own reward!
"In between 0" and 4" or 4-1/2" it is a trip hazard" So you get your machinist friends out with there NBS calibrated standards so that all floor transistions are flat with 0.001" inches. And if you are going from a hard surface to carpet do you measure with no load on the carpet or do you compress the carpet and if so how much loading do you use?
Seriously, this is one of the areas that every one says that there should be no transistion, but in fact there always are and no one can give any realistic numbers or anything to back them up.
In my mind there are several different circumstances. If you have an interior transistion it does need to be alot closer. Specially if it is a open area, such as a 6ft wide opening that if the transition is beveled that you can might be able to get by with 1", but 1/2-3/4" would be much safer. If it is not beveled then probably less than 1/4" or you could catch a heel.
Now all of this is speculation and guess work on my part as I have limited experience.
But going through an exterior door is a very different cases. Unless it was designed for handycap accessable there will be a significant thrashold to go over. This made me go and measure my front door. The top of the threashold is 1" over the inside finished floor, but 2" over the outside floor. I would have never guessed in 1000 years that there was any difference between them.
" When working on the staging, and planks are lapped over each other, you step off the higher one onto the lower without being awaree of it and have that brief heart attack- the saying around here is "that first two inches will kill you" from being scared into thinking you've stepped off the world..."
BTDT, but I think that is a special case. You are already know that you are not working on a solid "floor" and it is of limited size.
But I think the worse problem, in genral, is going through a doorway and having an immediate step, specially if you are going into a dark area. You always have that feeling that you are not sure where the bottom is. And if there is only one step you keep feeling for the next one that is not there.
I used to think that anything less than an inch was nothing to worry about too. But as I grow older, it becomes more important. I used to think, "OH, come on!"
I don't know the 'official' stats but I once had a customer who demanded that, no matter what, there could be no more than 1/8" to 1/4" at any transition and left it to me to determine how do accomplish it. I turned out that his wife had had an automobile accident and these higher transitions were hard for her to negotiate after her hips had healed from all the breakage. For myself, I have a very unstable spine. An unexpected step down of an inch or two can seize up my back for a few days, having thrown it out of whack. (currently, I'm in whack, thank god) Wheelchairs can negotiate transitions over an inch but it is much more comfortable for it to be smooth. Porches in snow country need that 4" step down so that storm doors will open with snow and ice piling up.
In the example of your house, I think that the threshold rising up before the descent makes it obvious to the eye that some sort of transition is in progress so we subconsciously prepare for it. Maybe that is the case in this example but I stand by my experience that steps should be at least 4"Excellence is its own reward!
I was too brief in my description. There will be a wall with a wood slider or hinged door with threshold seperating the two rooms. Sorry about being late with this, I have been busy with footings. Thanks