The stairs are great. But we still needed a handrail and then some railing around the second floor. Initially, I was going to use this oak post to support the stair stringers and the rail – nice and solid, but … Continue reading Stair and balcony railing
The setup With the rim joists installed, it was time to install the two double beams. They are 20 foot 2×12’s sandwiched together with 1/2″ bolts and nuts, there are 4 boards in each of them, and they span 40 feet across the house, supported by 5 piers each. There are two of these beams. I decided to install one, then attach all the floor joists to it, then install the second one later. Space is at a premium inside my cabin with all the lumber and osb stacked inside. When I set the forms for the inner piers … Continue reading Floor joists – Part II: beams and joists
I estimate the roof of my log home will weigh around 50,000 lbs. In class, they taught us that you need a girder log that is crosswise to the ridge pole to increase the strength of the structure. The girder log is also known as a collar tie. Its job is to keep the walls from spreading apart due to the weight of the roof, as well as to support the second floor. Since we used pulleys, we knew we could install the girder log at any time after we reached second floor height. We decided to wait until … Continue reading Girder Log & Girder Support Log
Seems like there’s always more to do… A few weeks ago, we took a major step forward- we are done with the walls, and we got the Ridge Pole and rafters installed. I’ve spent that past 2 weeks- in between weather events and life- getting the rafters level. Again, if we were building with 2×4’s, it’d be easy. Building with crooked logs involves a lot of finesse and finagling to get things to look right. There is nowhere to ‘zero’ my measurements, so I have to do relative measurements. For example, the cap logs are actual logs, so they vary … Continue reading Leveling Rafters
We decided to go with a crane. I’ve written about how dangerous I thought installing the Ridge Pole myself would be, how long it would take, and how expensive it would be. I took a Thursday & Friday off work to prepare. Thursday- it took me nearly all day to pull the rafters off the rack, bolt them together, and then lay them out in preparation for the crane to lift them. By evening, I had just enough daylight to chain blocks to the RPSL’s as a cradle to hold the RP. But I almost fell when the scaffolding slipped … Continue reading Part I: Ridge Pole up, but what a struggle
This is a great feeling- The lifting poles worked, the pulleys and chain hoists worked, we figured out the kinks and got all four logs on the piers. It looks less like a grave yard with tombstones sticking up, and more like a….well, at least a perimeter with big posts sticking out of it: There was a little preparation required before setting the logs down on the piers: That’s pressure treated #2 pine – 2×12 from the local hardware store, laying on top of a shingle (90lb builder’s felt) that I sourced from the county dump (they were new in … Continue reading 1st layer done
We could have backed out after cutting all the logs- could’ve called a logger and said, “come get ’em”. Or the water and power. But it’s getting harder each time we add something. Today, we poured concrete. Looks like we’re committed now. But I should back up a little… Where we left off In my last post, I thought it would go smoothly (why did I think that?) when I called the building inspector (BI)- after all, the city had already approved my plans, which were designed by a licensed engineer; I was following city code (minimum 12″ below frost … Continue reading Even More Committed
I need about a week of dry weather. Here’s the story: Contacted my excavator- he still says he can dig 31 holes for about $400. He came out to look at my site on March 3, and said he … Continue reading Rain, Rain, go away
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