The house was built of redwood siding and post and beam construction with 4 x 4 inch redwood posts spaced approximately three feet on center. The walls were horizontally sheathed with 1 x 8 inch redwood boards nailed to the exterior of the posts and left exposed as the interior finish. The exterior skin was made of redwood shingles, as were the high-pitched gable roofs. The supporting members at the eaves and rafters were visable in the principle rooms. Maybeck used redwood for horizontal as well as f or vertical structural mambers because redwood is stronger in tension and compression than many pines and firs. Redwood was also abundant and inexpensive at the time the house was built.
The construction is unusual for its time in that decorative trim was minimal or non-existent. Windows and doors, for example, were not framed but secured directly to structural members. Maybeck preferred to use the grain of the wood as the ornament.
Typical loading for the structure consists of the weight of the building components, soil pressure, wind loads, snow loads, occupant and furniture loading and earthquakes.
Occupant and Furniture Loading:
Total floor area is 2306 sq. ft.; residential live loads are given at 40 psf; estimated load is 92,240#.
Seismic Loading:
Frequency of 65 years; duration 25 seconds; we don't know how to calculate the actual loads.
Vertical Loads:
This is a post and beam system, platform framed. Vertical loads travel down posts to beams and in turn to posts on the floor below until they reach the 3 foot continuous foundation walls.
Soil Pressure:
Minimum soil pressure must be estimated at 30 pcf. The east side continuous foundation wall is built into the hill and has an area of 111 sq.ft.; load is 3330#. Overturning is avoided by 2 1/2 cubic feet of soil (75#) resting on each sqare foot of foun
dation, as well as 3 cubic feet of soil inside the foundation wall pushing out.
Wind Loads:
The strongest winds are presumably from the West off the Pacific Ocean. The area of the west side of the house is 888 sq.ft. Wind load for this region from the Pac 104 chart is approximately 15 psf. Estimated wind load is 13,320#.
Seismic Loading:
Frequency of 65 years; duration 25 seconds; we don't know how to calculate the actual loads.
Lateral Loads:
The post and beam structural frame is laterally braced in the attic and is made more rigid by the redwood 1 x 8 inch sheathing/shingle skin. Flooring also braces the structural frame. the size of the structural members contribute greatly to the lateral
bracing: 4 x 4 inch posts resist bending better than 2 x 4 inch studs.
Todd Brickell and Michelle Mueller
ARCH 461/561 Spring 1995
Do you have questions about adding a case? or a building to suggest??????? send a message to me....... chrisl@aaa.uoregon.edu