A-Frame Cabin

Started by van, April 23, 2007, 01:55:32 PM

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van

My wife and I just acquired a parcel of land in the country an hour out of the city and were going to put up a weekend dwelling that could grow into an eventual full-time residence.

The idea really gained steam after she watched me and my brother-in-law build a small out-building to hold the tractor and larger tools this past weekend.

So she says, "I'd really like an A-Frame house."  So I said, "Sure, you bet!"

I thought I'd do a pier-type foundation---sink the piers about two feet down, build a deck of sorts, beef-up the sides with four by fours for a sill and notch my rafters to them.

Thought I'd better get a plan though---I've built some structures before but not one that would kill me if it fell on me in the middle of night!

Finally found a plan on the ag extension site for North Dakota and this thing is really built!!  It's 22' wide by about 44' long and has twelve sets of a-frames---every one doubled using splicing plates.  The frames (rafters) sunk into footers and the floors hang off the roof structure.

Too late for a short question I guess, but where can a do-it-yourselfer obtain a book or set of plans that really spells out how to build a 20 X 36 fout A-frame cabin?

Thanks for any help y'all can lend.

glenn kangiser

#1
Welcome to the forum.  We don't discriminate - if you want to build an a-frame we want to know your experiences and see pictures.  We will still share what we know or think about it - no guarantees of course.

John has several good books - the Wagner one on framing is great and the Working Alone one has great tips if you are doing that.  The "Click search" line above will locate what A frame discussion we have had.

http://www.countryplans.com/books.html  Ordered through here - Amazon - helps to support this free site. :)
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.


John_C

Welcome.  I looked for the site.  Is this it?

http://www.ag.ndsu.nodak.edu/abeng/houseplans.htm    Which is the plan you are considering?


There are a lot of interesting plans there.  One of them  fs-se-9.pdf   has an interesting detail for building a spiral staircase on page 10.

van

We were looking at the 22X36 A-frame cabin.  I think it is plan #5936.

Setting each set of frames / rafters in concrete and hanging the rest of the structure from that seems rather involved.  Maybe the various wind/weight loads in the great north country require this type of structure?  I would think that, given the pitch of the roof, you'd be more concerned with wind loading rather than weight of ice or snow---but then, I really don't know what I'm talking about there.  I'm just a weekend carpenter.

John_C

Our host John Raabe addressed this a few months ago.

"An A-frame is just a big roof sitting right on the floor platform and without the side wall. So you have much the same issues and options you have with roof framing.  

One way to do this is to setup a post at either end of the sidewalls, and have this support the ridge beam. You then frame the rafters from the sill plate on the deck to the ridge beam. This beam carries 1/2 the load of each rafter and the other side balances the sidewards pressure.

The other way to do this is to build site built trusses on the deck and tilt them up into place. The peak has a collar tie or force resistive plate or gusset to balance the forces from each side. Then, all you need is blocking between the frames and all this is made rigid by the roof sheathing diaphragm. There is no beam or ridge board. This can be tricky as the roof is vulnerable before the sheathing is done - use plenty of temporary braces such as long 2x4's nailed into each frame. Take these up as the sheathing goes on.

In both cases your connection to the sills is also important as the rafters want to pop outward as the roof is loaded. Use metal hardware appropriate to the loads such as hurricane clips, straps or such. I like to notch the rafters over the inside of the sill plate so there is a natural lock on the plate."    http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1170892768  2/9/07