Structural welds on residential property

[Smallfry]

Looks like it was done by the same guy that did the beams in our place !

It is open underneath and it irks me every time I look at it. I am no professional, but could do a lot better, and I will one day, once the floor above is lifted.

If its any consolation, the wall above that rests on it is heavyweight block, and it was done in 1984, and not fallen down yet.

 

[reb78]

But why hang the cross beam from welds when a little more time preparing and fitting would.mean it would passively rest on the one at 90° and not be anywhere near as dependent on the quality of the welds?

 

[addjunkie]

So I’ve now heard back from both building control and the structural engineer.

Both BC and engineer are happy with the welded connection. Only caveat to that is the top of the flanges and the inner flanges need to be welded.

The welder has not welded the top of one of the flanges due to access issues. See attached.

Bottom covering as BC didn't query the design. Neither BC or engineer are welding inspection competent so how can they say its ok with a bit extra welding.

 

[Brad93]

There's a bloke near me, did some work on a site @Pete. was on. Got a flashy van, flashy trailer, even offers beam lifting via mini crane now.
Very professional looking outfit.

Awful welding. It was so bad Pete got the guy to come back and redo it all.

Just goes to show you can have the flashy branding and sign written wagons etc, doesn't mean you can do a good job. Probably makes a killing bashing out multiple jobs all over London a week, but I couldn't live with that on my conscious.

My codes have expired now, along with my CSCS, so I turn down a lot of that work. I tell them if they want to pay for the procedures, coding and the insurance premium I'm more than happy to, they usually go off to find someone else, who probably doesn't have the procedures or the insurance for structural work.

It's a funny part of the world London and the Home Counties, because you've got so many builders who know a "welder" who is a random bloke from down the pub, that's before you get the migrant labour who do welding, bricklaying and jet washing.
You'd be on a hiding to nothing trying to compete with these idiots. Someone always does it cheaper.

The Sikhs, Indians and Pakistanis round here do it all themselves - some of the stuff I've seen being welded on driveways and up in the air is horrendous.

 

[sg66]

Whilst they may get nappy with it being welded have that actually seen the weld......

 

[bricol]

Was on a couple of defence industry sites in California many years ago - all structural designs had to be submitted and approved for their earthquake codes. Any mods on site had to be approved and inspected by one of their guys.

Amazing how much welding was going on outside working hours . . .

 

[Pete.]

There's a bloke near me, did some work on a site @Pete. was on. Got a flashy van, flashy trailer, even offers beam lifting via mini crane now.
Very professional looking outfit.

Awful welding. It was so bad Pete got the guy to come back and redo it all.

Just goes to show you can have the flashy branding and sign written wagons etc, doesn't mean you can do a good job. Probably makes a killing bashing out multiple jobs all over London a week, but I couldn't live with that on my conscious.

This is true. He wasn't working directly for my company but as a subbie to another company working for us. Even they tried to gloss it over by saying "This guys a professional, what makes you qualified to question his work?"

Next morning I showed the guy another photo of a vertical weld and he said "you cant possibly have a problem with that?" I said "nope, I did it myself on my bench at home."

Anyway, they had to return and grind out their work. I told him from the start to bring a 3 ohase welder and he turned up with a 110v Chinese POS.

It way all made harder for him by the fact that he attempted to cover it up himself by grabbing a tin of paint and slopping it everywhere.

 

[Smallfry]

Just goes to show you can have the flashy branding and sign written wagons etc, doesn't mean you can do a good job. Probably makes a killing bashing out multiple jobs all over London a week, but I couldn't live with that on my conscious.

It's a funny part of the world London and the Home Counties, because you've got so many builders who know a "welder" who is a random bloke from down the pub, that's before you get the migrant labour who do welding, bricklaying and jet washing.
You'd be on a hiding to nothing trying to compete with these idiots. Someone always does it cheaper.

The Sikhs, Indians and Pakistanis round here do it all themselves - some of the stuff I've seen being welded on driveways and up in the air is horrendous.

From what I have seen, MOST trades are like this. Flashy van = high prices but poor workmanship, and poor workmanship is not confined to the "overseas" community by a long stretch.

For most punters who do not have either the ability/tools/time/desire to do anything themselves and rely on trades, is a depressing situation, and little wonder there are so many complaints

 

[gaz1]

Sorry should’ve said in my post - There is doorway going underneath the small beam. The design did initially have a large lintel above the doorway and then the two beams sitting on top of the lintel but we didn’t have the head room to play with so had to change the design

that does help if you had of stated that in the first place as you had a change of design

however should have been welded and bolted plates whilst they was taken down and trimmed and moved into there new places also would have given painting before fitting

but i presume it would have been a speed reference for the acrows to go back from being rented however a day over the time would have been better that could have been agreed with the builder and customer due to preplanned reference and adjusted to make the planed reference better

 

[trigger3]

jesus!! look at all the arc strikes! thats a big mess!

i was noticing that. was wipping the rod like a fishing pole

 

[harveyp6]

I've kept quiet in this because I have so little experience with stick welding, in fact I'd never tried it until a couple of weeks ago, and up to now I reckon I've had about ten hours practice. But if I put in welds like that, even now, with so little experience, I'd be thoroughly ashamed of myself.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

but i presume it would have been a speed reference for the acrows to go back from being rented

Our first project we rented the props...they were battered and as I recall on the second job it was cheaper to just buy them!

The props came in very handy for making braces for my car projects

 

[trigger3]

in the states you dont even need to know how to turn on the welder machine. just pay alittle money for a business liscense. buy a shiny van and put fancy logo on the side

 

[Keith 66]

I am not by any means a good welder but can stick things together with my old oil cooled set & they dont come apart. But that job looks just like one i did down the yacht club on a club working party about ten years ago, Security gate, nearest power point was a 13 amp socket 80m away with two long leads joined together, aircooled sip buzz box, Two guys had tried to weld the hinges onto a post & couldnt strike an arc. I managed to get it going & blobbed it on. It held for a fortnight until a gale & then the whole lot fell off. There was next to no penetration at all. In my defense i wasnt being paid!

If i owned that house i would back that & someone would be grinding it all off & redoing it properly, And it would not be the guy that welded it first time. Reason being i wouldnt want the whole lot falling down one day with me or my family walking under it.

 

[finyuk2005]

I am not by any means a good welder but can stick things together with my old oil cooled set & they dont come apart. But that job looks just like one i did down the yacht club on a club working party about ten years ago, Security gate, nearest power point was a 13 amp socket 80m away with two long leads joined together, aircooled sip buzz box, Two guys had tried to weld the hinges onto a post & couldnt strike an arc. I managed to get it going & blobbed it on. It held for a fortnight until a gale & then the whole lot fell off. There was next to no penetration at all. In my defense i wasnt being paid!

If i owned that house i would back that & someone would be grinding it all off & redoing it properly, And it would not be the guy that welded it first time. Reason being i wouldnt want the whole lot falling down one day with me or my family walking under it.

could have gone for smaller rods and done multiple passes, as the smaller rods need less amps, you can get rods as small as 1.6mm, but you would have been there until the gales hit!

 

[Brad93]

could have gone for smaller rods and done multiple passes, as the smaller rods need less amps, you can get rods as small as 1.6mm, but you would have been there until the gales hit!

Doesn't always work like that. A low end machine that isn't good with voltage drop still doesn't tend to do a good job even with smaller rods. If it hasn't got the OCV to strike an arc it hasn't got it with the smaller rod, despite a higher current density which can make it appear like it runs a smaller electrode better.

 

[Keith 66]

could have gone for smaller rods and done multiple passes, as the smaller rods need less amps, you can get rods as small as 1.6mm, but you would have been there until the gales hit!

I seem to remember they were 1.6's or 2mm's, but with the long distance from power point & voltage drop anything was going to struggle. The gate was re hung by a welder using a genny set on the back of his wagon, took him 10 minutes!

 

[tom2207]

an old engine driven set is always handy to have , but boys they have gotten to be dear ,,,, not sure about the new battery power sets ,, be nice if you had a use for one I guess

 

[finyuk2005]

Im sure inverter welders work better on a long extention..... but im also quite sure thats how i killed my first one!

 

[finyuk2005]

an old engine driven set is always handy to have , but boys they have gotten to be dear ,,,, not sure about the new battery power sets ,, be nice if you had a use for one I guess

that battery ones would be some handy for that kinda small jobs miles from power, maybe one day they will be affordable!!