The 16’ wide Victoria Cottage in Maine

An owner built Victoria Cottage in western Maine, on a radiant heated slab, with site built trusses and a handbuilt spiral stair.

I recently got this email from Jeff and Meghan along with some photos:

“Wanted to say thanks for the great plans and share some pics of my project. I’m not a contractor or anything, but I did do all of the foundation formwork, framing and plumbing myself. It’s a big project for one guy, but I’m having lots of fun and learning A LOT. I recently graduated with a CADD degree and have drawn my Victoria’s in CAD, 3d CAD, Revit, Architectual Desktop, and 3d max. See the composite drawing below.”

“I will be putting the trusses up soon and will send new photos and updates as we progress.”

CAD composite drawing of the Victoria Cottage elevations and floor plan — Jeff’s drawings

slab formwork with radiant floor heat tubing and foam edge insulation — The form work is prepared for concrete. This will be a radiant heated slab with warm water running through the tubes. Notice the wide skirt of foam insulation surrounding the slab edges.

wall framing going up on the poured slab — Slab is poured, forms were stripped and the wall framing is well underway.

solid wood beam ready to set into its pocket — One of the big beams ready to go into the pocket.

main walls sheathed in OSB — The major walls are sheathed.

Updated photos 10/17/09

dado cuts in the wall studs for the loft rim joists — Cuts in the wall studs for the loft rim joists.

porch beam framing in cedar with natural support posts — Porch beam framing in cedar with natural support posts.

gable roofs meeting at the rear pop-out — Roofs at back at pop-out.

2x6 loft decking laid in place — Loft 2x6 decking in place.

exposed loft beams seen from below the decking — Exposed beams below decking.

working on the steep pitch of the cottage roof — Jeff working carefully on a steep roof.

roof rafters nearly complete over the main cottage — Roof framing nearing completion.

roof framing from the other side with the bedroom addition at left — View from the other side. Bedroom addition is on the left.

collar ties tying the rafter pairs together — Collar ties at the rafters.

Here’s an earlier view of the loft beam framing around the kitchen pop-out.

saltbox roof extension over the kitchen seen from the rear — Saltbox roof extension over the kitchen. Seen from the rear.

bedroom roof framed with waterproof membrane over the sheathing — Bedroom roof framed up and waterproof membrane on the roof sheathing. (This is heavy snow country.)

skylights framed into the kitchen roof — Skylights framed into the kitchen area.

How they built it

Here’s an update from Jeff & Meghan:

We are using a FPSF (frost protected shallow footing) slab foundation. I followed the NHBA guidelines for an unheated space as we want the option to leave it unheated. This slab went through the first winter without a problem.

The bedroom addition has a small sleeping loft to make use of the vertical space.

We used 2x10 rafters 16" OC through out. (We are in deep snow country) Site built trusses.

We also spent last winter building all the kitchen/bath cabinets. (I was in woodworking before I got laid off)

Concrete floor will be stained and sealed as the finished floor. Front and back porches are also concrete with natural cedar posts harvested off our lot.

Update 9/15/10

Here is a link to a running forum topic with more recent updates: A Victoria’s Cottage in Western Maine

Here are a couple of images to show what they have been working on:

exposed beam and decking ceiling, captioned in the photo: three coats of polyurethane on all the beams and one final coat on the ceiling

handbuilt wood spiral stair up to the loft — Handbuilt spiral stair. More on this in the forum link above.

Where to go from here

Visit the CountryPlans home page.
Browse the Owner Builder Gallery for stories of other projects.
Ask general questions about building cabins and small houses in our forum.