Tie Downs for Bearers?

[John99]

Hi everyone I`m new to this forum and to owner building, and have a question about tieing down the bearers to the brick piers in a extension to my current home.

Should I use threaded rod ( 10 or 12mm ? ) into the footings up through the centre of the brick pier ( 6 courses) and use this to bolt the bearer down ?

Or is there some other way to to tie down the bearers, there are 25 piers to do.

Thank you for any assistance you can give
cheers
John

[ozwinner]

Hi and welcome. :D

That is one way to do it, or you could lay hoop iron under the first course which is long enought to loop over the bearer.
It all depends on the wind loads in the area that you are building.

Al :)

[John99]

There is another question I have, are the tie downs only used to tie down against the wind forces?

Or are they also to hold everything together better over time. Like help stopping piers from moving or sinking ?

And not tieing them down does this have a effect over time ? or should I just tie them down.

cheers
John

[GeoffS]

John - another thing to think about if you live in a termite area. Don't provide a means for them to hide their tunnels (which they will build up the side of your piers or even thru gaps in the brick work) and gain access to the timber.
The wind loading is the main consideration, the wind can lift the house off or blow it sideways.
Cheers

[GCP310]

Im sure Mick will be round shortly, but my thoughts would be to run M12 threaded rod from your foundation,thru the peir up to your bearer. using large washers and nuts to hold the whole lot down.

the threaded rod should be set a minimum 200mm into your foundation.

G

[journeyman Mick]

Sorry,
I've never worked with brick piers! :p With concrete block piers we usually embed an M12 rod in it, however if termites are a worry I would only use brick or concrete piers if they were sitting on a slab. The termites can work up inside the pier and into the timber without being spotted - could be very expensive or even terminal for your building :eek: My persoanl preference is galvanised steel. If you really want to use brcks then Al's suggestion of hoop iron coupled with an ant cap on top of the pier would be termite safe (but ugly :p )

Mick

[johnmc]

I had to do this on my previous house - a 1920's Queenslander which had inadequate tie-down. To tie the bearers down to the stumps, we used offset eye bolts. This keeps the ant capping between the bearer and stump intact.

[John99]

Thank you everyone you come up with some great ideas, I was able to finally get on to the engineer at the council and am able to tie down using thread rod M10 into the footing and up through the brick pier and solder it where it comes through the ant cap, although I already have some M12 rod so that will have to do. He did say but that the main reason here they use it for was earthquakes not the wind. Still scratching my head to remember the last earthquake that was here, anyway thanks for the help as this is my first go at building anything more then a house made out of a deck of cards :D I guess I`ll learn along the way

Cheers to everyone
John99