framing and planning

The picture associated with this post shows the joining we used to connect our 6 x 6 timbers as well as the angle bracing we employed. The beams are all oak and the angle braces are Cherry from a tree that my wife and I timbered this Winter. For the environmentally concerned, the tree was standing dead. It was killed by invasive English Ivy planted on an old city lot. The house long ago burned though the landscape plants survived and spread unchecked to kill over forty trees. Much of this house is constructed of those unfortunate trees. The poplar subfloor, the cherry bracing, the pear roof purlins are all a direct result of some 1920s city dweller planting a tiny little English Ivy plant. I am not sure whether to be grateful for the lumber or remorseful for the lose of mountainside forest. 

Back on topic, The upstairs floor is supported by oak 4x4 beams resting atop the 6 x 6 beams. The space created between would be excellent for storing dust bunnies but we plan to use the space atop the beams for recessed lighting. Depending on conditions once we move into the house we may run one inch ridged foam in the space to to dampen sound transfer between floors. Lets be honest its 400 square feet foam or not there is going to be sound transfer. The other thing the gap above the 6 x 6 beams affords us is the ability to run a couple of low profile air ducts. Currently we do not plan to run A/C but if the day comes that we do desire a flush of icy air in mid August then we will be prepared to run the duct work. Once all of these things are completed; wiring, duct work, foam, we will install a vice wood plank ceiling. We will not be using any drywall in the construction of this house or at least that is the plan. We will have painted wood walls, stained walls, concrete walls but no drywall. It is a small enough space to cover that we thought we would forgo the easy and normal and opt for something different. 

foundation

      I thought I would take a moment and write a little about our foundation. Many tiny houses are built on trailers thus reducing the foundation issue and in most cases eliminating the need to have the structure inspected by a local code enforcer. In our location there are no building codes. We have a health inspector that would come out to inspect a septic or field lines. We also have an electrical inspector that would come out if we were connecting to the grid.
     Our little house is built on one course of cinder block sitting upon two slabs of four inch cement that is laid over gravel filled mountain stone. Half of the foundation is laid over undisturbed sandy loam and sandstone. The other half was about a foot lower and so we compacted soil and small rocks to bring it up level. All of the rock and mountain stone was pulled out of a low exposed area about fifty feet from the house. Inside the foundation we poured a thin coat of concrete in most of the area to act as a barrier. We will still lay a vapor barrier but felt the extra thermal mass of cement would be nice under the house. All of the block is cement filled and we placed threaded rods into some so as to connect to the wood of the house. Inside the block we placed ridged foam in a hope of insulating the foundation and holding temperature inside better.
     As you can see in the photos we had to shim the bottom boards of our house to make it all level. This is mostly due to my lack of experience with pouring a foundation and making it level. We will  have piers about eight feet out from the house on the East to allow for the deck beams to rest level.

Second floor

       This past week has proved to be productive. Partly due to the threat of impending rain and partly because we made a conscious effort to build on multiple days. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera for a daily snap shot. The photo to the left is our progress as of the end of the week.  The sub floor is done, save a small strip that will allow access to the crawl space. The second floor has half of the studs done. Yes, we are building the second floor with traditional framing as opposed to timber framing. Building the timber ribs was fun and interesting but there is no way we can safely raise ribs on a second floor. Not to mention we ran out of cured oak for the process. So, standard stud walls it is. We are using saw mill cut pine from the mill five miles away. 2x4x8s are 2.40 a board and that beats Lowes by a mile, not to mention it is locally sourced, cut and milled. Additionally, the wood from the mill is true cut as opposed to the "standard" lumber from the store that is labeled 2x4 but is really smaller.
      We were able to build a jig and finish half of our roof trusses this week. We lifted them into place with a reasonable amount of grunting and ladder climbing. The metal roofing and reflective bubble insulation was picked up this week and we will hopefully install it in the next couple days.
     Yesterday, amidst the rain, we burned four large piles of brush. Most of the brush was from clearing the site for the house. We also burned a large amount of brush from our recent clearing in the forest surrounding the house. The burning really helped to clean up the surrounding area and removing the downed brush from the forest will make room for our hazelnut planting this Fall.
    Below are several more pictures of the house in its current state, taken from different angles. The second to bottom photo is taken from the lower field and gives good perspective on how the house sits up on the hill.

Final rib

The final rib is upright and secured to the others with 4x4 beams. The 4x4 beams will serve as floor supports. They are lag screwed into the main 6x6 beams and extend out of the house. The extension of these beams will allow for connection the ceiling rafters to the front porch. The interconnection of all beams in the house help with stability and structure of the design. 

Stepping back to look at the structure. It is so rewarding to see the house with the actual end walls in place. It gives a real sense of the size and shape of the house. Standing up on the second floor joices gives an idea of the view and how the house is built into the edge of the forest. 

Third Rib

The third rib is up, square and level. We have begun "mocking up" the future porch by laying a beam out to a pier. It is shaping up as planned and we will be ready for the second story soon. 

It is nice to see the lumber pile migrating into use as portions of the house. We are most of the way through the pile and will be in need of another run to the lumber mill soon. Considering the lumber mill is 4.8 miles away this should not be too much of a time suck. 

The sub floor is in in the bathroom as well as in part of the main house. We have left a access door into the crawl space so as to allow under house adventures and plumbing/ electric work as needed or when. It was nice to stand up on the future second floor and look down. It was also nice to catch a glimpse of what the view will be from the bedroom. 

The above photo shows our shameless use of lag bolts to hold the timber frame together. We did use angle bracing ( cherry in this case) to help keep the frame in square. While mortis and tenon would have been beautiful and is an honorable craft. It is not a craft I possess and so in the interest of stability the lag screws are countersunk into the frames, hidden but there.