Today was a good day.  Our first shipment of materials arrived at the job site.  We are no longer doing demolition, removing wires or stripping lacquer.  It is no longer a subtractive process but an additive process.

Our engineer, a wise and trusty friend with whom I have worked for many years specified Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) with a minimum force of bending (Fb) of 2,900 psi and a Modulus of Elasticity (E) of 2,000,000 psi.  This lumber has been designed and is going to be used to repair all the damaged joists in the floors beneath the roof, the existing bathrooms and kitchens.  Most of these joists have either rotted from moisture over the years or have been turned into swiss cheese by overly eager plumbers.

Unfortunately after we accepted the load, the forklift dropped off the lumber and the delivery truck had left, did we realize they had sent the wrong the lumber…

The lumber that was delivered has a Modulus of Elasticity of 1,800,000 and not the designed 2,000,000 psi that we had ordered.  This means that the lumber we received is 10% weaker than what we need over the long spans.  This is not sufficient and our engineer is working overtime to find alternative solutions.  Let’s just say we are currently not big fans of Tri State Lumber.  Once we signed and accepted the load it has been a bit of a pain dealing with them as we currently have chain of custody.  Tri State Lumber keeps putting both me and the contractor on hold as they do not want to come to the job site to pick up the lumber.  Fortunately we only ordered a small amount of the lumber we need and the contractor seems determined to rectify the situation. Let’s see how this one plays out…