Covered Residential Walkway

[ictponder]

I have seen and worked on the design of these. There is nothing magical about them. Relax, it's a simple straight structure. The only real problem is how elaborate you want to be with the finishing. If you are interested, send me a pm. I can put together a CAD drawing and a material list. I do need to know things like snow loads, measurements, basic idea of soil type, intended foundation, siding type, window type, number of doors, roof type (metal/shingle), will it be insulated, and how deep are your pockets?

LMK

KP

Gonna send you a pm!

I just want something simple that matches the house, carpeted with a roof. I'm not even sure it's allowed in city limits so I should probably go check.

[green-lantern]

Sorry but since it's summer the trees are all grown in so I couldn't get a good pic at all. It's more of an A frame on stilts with a cool porch/walkway about 20ft off the ground that leads to a gazebo. It's almost like a tree house. Very cool place!

[Roybatty]

How far will the walkway need to span?

[KPZVR4]

Lenght wont matter so much as post and beam may be the easiest way to make it how he wants.

[bluefox1081]

Lenght wont matter so much as post and beam may be the easiest way to make it how he wants.

Sure it will. If the span is too great, you'll either have to use structural trusses or put in an intermediate column...and I doubt he'd want a column in the middle of his driveway.

[2fnloud]

Sure it will. If the span is too great, you'll either have to use structural trusses or put in an intermediate column...and I doubt he'd want a column in the middle of his driveway.

Without seeing a plot layout, you assume too much. Either way if I was doing something like that I wouldn't want columns at all, might as well build a two story breezeway then.

[EZnTn]

A 20' span will likely require some trusses.
Being as you are in MI, snow would be a consideration.
If enclosed, carpet would be fine, open to the elements, I'd recommend an all weather floor covering.
How high off the ground would your floor be, as trusses would need to be about 24" deep on first guess.
Or, you could do a boxed in angle iron arrangement and eliminate anything underneath.

[ictponder]

Are steel i-beams allowed in residential builds? I'd imagine 2 of them would support the whole thing.

[2fnloud]

If you went with a bracing system like so:

(house) |/ span \| (garage)

It should reduce how thick the joists need to be.

Issac, are you wanting to tie the second story of the garage to the house to be living space?

[bluefox1081]

Are steel i-beams allowed in residential builds? I'd imagine 2 of them would support the whole thing.

Yes. But it'd probably be better to just use a PSL or LVL.

Without seeing a plot layout, you assume too much. Either way if I was doing something like that I wouldn't want columns at all, might as well build a two story breezeway then.

I'm not really assuming anything. My statement was pretty broad. I merely said that if the span is great enough, you'd need to either use structural steel or engineered lumber trusses, or plan on placing columns somewhere in the middle.