16X24 in Jones County Mississippi

Barry Broome · March 11, 2014, 08:07:27 PM

I plan to start building a 16X24 in the next few months. My plan is to use 14 foot 2X6 for my walls. I'm wondering if anyone sees any issues with this?

I plan to install 7 foot 2X6 sister studs to support the joists for the second floor. My other option for the second story joists would be to notch the original 2X6 studs to support a 2X10 that I could rest the joists on.

MountainDon · March 11, 2014, 08:28:58 PM

Is this to be a full 2 story structure with an 8 foot ceiling on the main floor and 6 foot (or so) sidewalls upstairs? The upper floor the same size as the main floor footprint?
Gable roof, with rafter ties or with a ridge beam?
Foundation plan?

March 11, 2014, 08:57:24 PM

Yes. Yes. Ridge beam. For foundation I plan to use 4 rows of 6x6 posts (4 poles per row)

CjAl · March 12, 2014, 08:00:32 AM

I would notch them. I have both on mine and its a lot easier to insulate well withou the extra stud. If you do use the extra stud a 2x4 is fine.

CjAl · March 12, 2014, 08:05:19 AM

When you start to raise walls make sure you have lots of help plus some way to stop them from going over the other side when you put it up. Ten foot 2x6 were heavy and I almost lost one wall I dont want to imagine 14 footers. Also dont put in your door and window headers untill the wall is up, that helps a whole lot

March 12, 2014, 09:24:56 PM

One thing I do not understand is the intent to build with a 14 foot high sidewall. That's a lot of wall to lift. With a full upstairs floor it seems to me the alternative of platform building the main floor with 8 foot walls is a simpler way to start. Then the upper floor is built with floor joists supported on the wall top plates. Install sub-floor. Then build the upper floor walls on that. Install the column supports in the gable ends as you go along, install the ridge beam and then the roof framing. No notching of wall studs. No need to fire block the tall 14 foot framing.

Now, none of that gets into the advisability of a pier foundation for something so tall. The side walls are very big sails that can catch a lot of wind and develop high forces. There are better solutions to the foundation question especially with the loads from the ridge beam supports included.

Barry Broome · March 12, 2014, 09:32:33 PM

Thanks Cjal and Don.

I'll give the 8' studs some thought - it would be much easier to construct.

Don - in regards to the foundation, can you give me some ideas? The pier seemed the simplest foundation I could think of.

MountainDon · March 12, 2014, 09:53:32 PM

It is simple, but with too many variables to be truly viable without some engineering to be sure the ground can properly support the structure. A good choice would be a reinforced concrete perimeter footing with a short stem wall resulting in a crawl space. When the frost depth is not deep it is a very good choice and not all that much money. One Big difference between that and piers is that the perimeter foundation is tied together as a single piece spreading the load over a large footprint, whereas the piers in a pier/beam foundation all act as individual members. There usually is an uneven distribution of the load over all the piers which can result in one or two settling.

Permanent wood foundations can be built with no concrete using special foundation grade wood.

At least in MS there is not a 40" frost depth to have to work with. I'm not sure what it is in MS, but a 12" depth should be all that is needed to keep the footing at a freeze safe depth. You would have to go much deeper than that for any piers an engineer would approve.

There are ways to make a pier foundation better but I'd bet the costs are going to equal that of a perimeter stem wall