Hi,
I’m new here. Recently found that fantastic project. I love the idea.
I want to design my own house.
I looked in the chassis file and didn’t figure out how to create internal walls. Or, probably, wikihouse is just for the external box, and inner walls are easier/cheaper to create from another material. Could someone explain about the internal walls?
Another question is about the roof. So if I live in an area with almost no snow, I believe the roof could be sloped. I only found a 42deg sloped roof.
How to do that with the means of standard wikihouse blocks? Or, probably, it could be done only with the custom blocks.
I also have a question about the nails/screws.
I see that the assembly guide has nails, glue, and an electric screwdriver included. And I saw in the videos that the blocks connected with the screws.
I understand that the plywood couldn’t be connected only with the ties.
What are the points of nails/screw connections? Probably they somehow showed on the drawings, and I missed them.
Hi Vladimir,
great to see you want to use WikiHouse! About your questions:
I looked in the chassis file and didn’t figure out how to create internal walls. Or, probably, wikihouse is just for the external box, and inner walls are easier/cheaper to create from another material. Could someone explain about the internal walls?
Correct. If you are looking at internal partition walls (basically just something that divides the internal space without having structural capacity) then it’s cheaper to use traditional partitions (ad example light timber frames with studs). However, sometimes internal walls need to be structural. For example, if your span is 12 m, then you better break it in 2 x 6 m, and the internal wall acts as a support. Sometimes internal walls need to structural to increase the lateral stiffness of the building against wind/earthquakes.
The difference between partition and structural from a construction point of view is that structural walls need to be connected to the foundations, otherwise they cannot transfer the load. We are currently working on a structural version of WikiHouse internal walls, they should be available soon.
Another question is about the roof. So if I live in an area with almost no snow, I believe the roof could be sloped. I only found a 42deg sloped roof.
How to do that with the means of standard wikihouse blocks? Or, probably, it could be done only with the custom blocks
Yes please feel free to use the 42deg roof block and customise it to the angle that suits you.
I also have a question about the nails/screws.
I see that the assembly guide has nails, glue, and an electric screwdriver included. And I saw in the videos that the blocks connected with the screws.
I understand that the plywood couldn’t be connected only with the ties.
What are the points of nails/screw connections? Probably they somehow showed on the drawings, and I missed them.
The purpose of nails/screws is to hold the panels together during handling/transportation. Once the blocks are in place, the main load transfer mechanism is timber to timber contact. I think the spacing depends on the length/diameter of the screws. From memory when dealing with the specimens in the lab, they were assembled by using No 18 gauge brad nails (length 35mm, diameter 1.25mm). If I remember correctly the spacing was around 50 mm. But there could be other alternatives. @Piyush would you perhaps be able to share your experience with nail patterns?
Hope it helps!
Hi Vladimir,
For the internal wall, we have done a post on our Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/p/CYJZUQcMLZ2/
With respect to nails and screws, the Wikihouse skylark is designed to be a nailless or screwless assembly caveat being you will need a hold-down mechanism for your chosen foundation system.
As far as 18GA pin nails are concerned, I would take an approach to ease of building and transport as your target meaning you can start with no nails and start building one wall block and you would find things are falling off - perfect… add a few nails at this stage. Then try to lift the box and move it from one location to another and you may find things still come off so add more there. In fact, I would recommend using screws or first-fix nails for larger blocks if you don’t want things falling off.
If you want some arbitrary number, I would say stick to the nailing pattern every 200 c/c
Hope this helps.
Piyush
I need to read it through and think.
Thanks a lot for your help.