Green Dream: Fun With Tons of Steel!

The build gets interesting when thousands of pounds of structural steel arrive

By John B. Carnett Posted 08.21.2009 at 9:40 am 5 Comments

The Green Dream Grows ... John B. Carnett

With the first-floor walls poured, it's time to erect the structure for the rest of the house before my panels show up. Does this look a little overbuilt? Well, there's a very good reason why folks don't build flat-roofed houses in the Great White North: It's called snow, and it's heavy. It makes little sense to design a house that would allow snow to sit on the roof, stressing the structure, instead of just sliding off.

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Quick Cuts: This is why you build the shop before the house. John B. Carnett

But I'm a man of little sense and I really wanted a green roof, which needs a flat surface with no run-off. So I consulted the engineer, who coldly delivered the facts: You can have both, but there's going to be a lot of weight up there and you'll need structural steel to hold your roof up. Lucky for me, steel prices have been down a bit lately. I still spent more than I wanted to on the steel, but I hope to make it up with my future rooftop corn crops.

Here's a look at what happens when the steel shows up, and isn't exactly what I was expecting ...

Hole In One: Drilling with a plasma cutter is ugly, but it's quick. John B. Carnett

John B. Carnett, PopSci's staff photographer, is using the latest green technology to build his dream home. Follow along as the project progresses on his Green Dream blog: popsci.com/green-dream

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5 Comments

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brauns5

08/23/09 at 10:41 pm

Keep the pictures coming. I can't wait to see the prefab panels.

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hardtruth

08/26/09 at 7:08 am

This article is not useful and doesn't give enough info to properly inform or evaluate - sheer gimickry. Popular Science, you can do better than this!

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nandrews73

08/26/09 at 5:49 pm

Excellent progress! I'm really impressed. I wonder if there are any other options that are as strong as steel, but not as heavy.

Love, Peace & Soul

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Dane619

08/30/09 at 10:59 am

This is going to look really cool.

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TahoeCindi

10/16/09 at 8:49 pm

Who was your engineer? Love to know. Due to the fact that I'm in Lake Tahoe and have a far greater snow load, and sysmic issues and we use gluelambs, not steel. A little overbuilding don't ya think? Especially when our average homes are 3,000 sqft, and 2 stories. Flat roofs, not an issue. We like tar shingle to keep the snow on the roof for insulation. It's a green thing. Did you find one of those new age engineers, who suddenly found out that being green can make them alot of money? So many of them out there.