Hey all I have been lurking like most starting to blog about their build. I have been doing some extensive research on different articles for my build project like collecting rain water for grey water use, alternative off grid living ideas, and most importantly building ideas and concepts. My father owns 25 acres about 25 minutes from here. On his property a number of years ago we built a small 12x12 cabin if nothing else to lay claim to the land.

Over the last year of so as my now family gets older I have been pondering options as whether to add to his cabin, and have recently concluded in starting an additional place for me to call home. I welcome any ideas and suggestions as we have recently embarked on this journey of which I will try and follow from start through to finish. I am very excited as this is far from anything I have done in the past. I am a paper monkey at a car dealership not a contractor by any stretch of my imagination. Should be a great adventure if nothing else.

    Where will your build be located at?  Sometimes it helps to answer some questions later.

Nova Scotia, Canada about an hour north of Halifax.  Pretty excited...

Day 1 Clearing brush and making room


Day 2 Cleaning up the clearing and making way for the excavation this weekend for the footings.


Can't really tell with the following picture (on the ridge) but once the cabin is built off the front deck will overlook a 54 Megawatt Windmill turbine project nearby... (hope the pictures post properly)


Full photobucket picture album of build project ( https://s1156.photobucket.com/albums/p566/ColchesterCabin/Cabin%20Project/ )

Nova Scotia is gorgeous, I've spent some time in Halifax and have spent quite a few overnights in St. Johns as well......I've always dreamed of buying some land up there. Welcome!

I made two trips up that way on vacation. Cape Briton Trail.  Ferry from Bar Harbor .ME to Halifax then the drive. Beautiful country. 

    I'd just like to insert a thought before you get started. If you have any questions, no matter how odd you might think them to be, ask them before using tools and so on.

Thanks MountainDon tomorrow I'll try and scan my plans for the foundation portion of the build to see what everyone thinks. They were drafted by a guy I know that does house plans locally plus is the lead coordinator for a huge mechanical company here in town, in exchange for me helping rebuild his garage after the bon fire got out of control (but that's another story..  )

Beautiful spot! I think I could sit in the grass there for hours and watch as the clouds roll by. Im also very near a wind farm and they are quite a sight to see. Makes me happy knowing all that power came without "being put over a barrel" I'm also be looking forward to seeing your progress. Welcome.


Doc

MountainDon as promised I hope you can expand and see the plans so I can get some good feedback. The cabin is going to sit on 12 8' concrete sonotubes excavated to the frost line. the outside is 2PLY 2x8 presure treated along with center posts as well. The inside floor joist are 2x6 pressure treated 16" OC with hanger brackets on both ends as well as nailed.



The terain is very rocky so much so that the ecavation guy is bringing his largest excavator cause even he finds it tough to dig in the ground up there.

Well just got back from the lumber store with my concrete forms ready to go for tomorrow morning. Can wait to get these in the ground. If all goes smooth sometime next week poor the concrete and be ready for the long weekend in may to rock and roll with lumber to start with the deck and working my way up....



MD any thoughts on the foundation plans....

Quote from: ColchesterCabin on May 04, 2012, 01:59:50 PM

MD any thoughts on the foundation plans....

I'm not sure I know enough about the balance of the project; such as how the roof is oriented and supported. Is this to have a loft or second floor. What is the possible snow load? Are the winds expected to be below 90 mph or is there the possibility of higher wind speeds as in much of the coastal and near coastal USA?

To my eye the beam layout is not conventional. The norm is to run main beams in the long direction, under each wall in the same manner that would be used with a building on a full perimeter concrete or block foundation wall. Then, if needed a beam down the center to support the floor and maybe upper floors and/or the roof ridge beam.  Floor joists would then run across the narrow dimension of the building. That's just more commonly seen, not to say this is wrong.

Like I said, I don't know what's going on top so really can not pass judgement, but I do wonder if those doubled 2x8's are truly adequate for the foundation, but that in part depends on details I do not know.

Pier foundations will not pass building codes. They are the least stable of all foundations. That's a lot of concrete that could be used towards a full perimeter footing.

Good points MountainDon I suppose it would help to have the plans. they are still being worked on which is why I hadn't posted. The intention is to be comprible to Lemay's build with the dual loft with a bridge upstairs, fairly open layout for the main floor. I will post the plans on Monday when back to work as I can convert them to an appropriate format for posting.  Your one of the site legends so I welcome your's and anyone's input.

The original plans were to run the conventional beams length ways then put the floor on top and hurricane tie it in. But then we looked at weight loads and supports and the reason we went this way is everything is centered on 8 ft spacing so when it came to upstairs loft like Lemay's for instance the point loads (beams) are carried at 8' straight through to the pier below. We also figured it would be a little stronger based on our coding(as each 8ft 2x6 would be hung with hangers on each end for support), little cheaper as to avoid the 16' long 2x6, more manageable project as it can be done in sections across the floor( as it is only me and my father for now, couple guys from work scattered throughout...)

As for the ceiling I think based on cost and efforts to go with a engineered rafter set on the roof mechanically as to do the homemade ridge beam rafters as we get a lot of snow here on the mountain and with my abilities I thought why mess with that. It would suck to spend all this effort and money to have it come crashing down. Last year where we are building for instance received approx 4ft+ of snow.  Like I mentioned I'll get the plans up on Monday.  Wish me luck tomorrow I have more to post then.

Surprisingly took four hours or so do do all the digging, leveling, setting the footings, and back filling and cleaning up. Here is the final result on the footings.



Now I am able to visualize everything a little better now, and with that it concludes day 3 tomorrow have to go back up with the laser level and set a height on the tubes and prepare for concrete.

Nice work! Just wanted to chime in, I'm in NS too but looking to build in NB. Looks like you're building up near the Cobequid pass? I know lots of people with camps around Wentworth.

Just a question, are you planning to put the 2 x 6's between the beams, or on top of them?

hhbartlett Thanks! More in between Truro and New Glasgow area stones throw from the 104 snowmobile and 4wheeler trail. The lines on the drawing are 2 ply laminated 2x8 then stringing 2x6 between them for the floor joists. Joists are both nailed and strung with joist hangers as well. We went this way as eventually we will have a dual loft with a bridge and the supports for the loft are triple 2x6 stretching 16 ft across with one end support by a wall and the other by a 3ply 2x6 beam and all points correspond to the point load then to the supports below.

Well that's the game plan anyways. You know what happened with the best laid plans...lol

With so much countryside available in NS why not build something a little closer to home? That was a determining factor for me as I wanted something far enough from home to be removed to everything but close enough to have continuous use all year. For me it is only about 30 minutes from dooryard to dooryard. I think if I was too far I feared I would be spending the money for once maybe twice a year and for that I could rent somewhere.

Quote from: ColchesterCabin on May 05, 2012, 07:48:59 PM
hhbartlett Thanks! More in between Truro and New Glasgow area stones throw from the 104 snowmobile and 4wheeler trail. The lines on the drawing are 2 ply laminated 2x8 then stringing 2x6 between them for the floor joists. Joists are both nailed and strung with joist hangers as well. We went this way as eventually we will have a dual loft with a bridge and the supports for the loft are triple 2x6 stretching 16 ft across with one end support by a wall and the other by a 3ply 2x6 beam and all points correspond to the point load then to the supports below.

Well that's the game plan anyways. You know what happened with the best laid plans...lol

With so much countryside available in NS why not build something a little closer to home? That was a determining factor for me as I wanted something far enough from home to be removed to everything but close enough to have continuous use all year. For me it is only about 30 minutes from dooryard to dooryard. I think if I was too far I feared I would be spending the money for once maybe twice a year and for that I could rent somewhere.

I know that area a little bit, my sister-in-law lives in Bible Hill. Also used to go picking chanterelle mushrooms down that way in my younger years; from the looks of your place I'd bet you will be able to find all kinds of them on your property.

I probably would have built in Wentworth somewhere, but an opportunity came up last year to buy the old family homestead for a good price so I jumped on it. It's land where my ancestors came to NB in 1807 and lived there continuously until  a few years ago when the house burnt down. My father grew up there, and I remember visiting grandparents there since I was a kid, so there's a sentimental connection, plus it just feels like "home" for me. There's quite a history there and I I hadn't bought it, it would have been gone from the family forever. Plus, and it came with the original 1807 barn, an almost brand new well & concrete septic system, driveway and flat gravelled spot where the house used to be  We plan to live there full time. It's pretty rural and basically in the woods, but 10 minute drive to town.

In my amateur opinion your layout makes sense, I can't imagine you'd have any problems with that setup. Only thing I might do differently is go with 2 x 8's for floor joists for a stiffer floor, I never liked 2 x 6's, even the deck I built last fall used 2 x 8's. That's just me though.  I looked at that plan with the dual lofts myself, I like it but we're not 100% sure what we're doing yet. Mine might now end up being a hybrid mobile home based cabin in the name of speed and cost savings, but I also plan to build a small studio cabin for working on the property.

I here you on the history and sentiment part. My build is on my dad's 25 acre parcel of land. My Grandmother passed away last month and my brother inherited her place so my dad is going to sign this land over to me. There is a lot of history as it is an original piece to Capt Irving's land grant from when the Scottish/English first settled in Nova Scotia years ago. Actually about a kilometer up the road there still lies the Irving Cemetary although it is all grown up now. Some of the stones date back late 1700 through to 1887. So pretty awesome.

The max distance on the 2x6 span is less than 8 feet with joist hangers so it should be plenty stiff. I wish I had a engineered septic system on site and a well, as it was a selling feature of this project for my wife, a flushing toliet..  So I came across a wiki how link for a DYI Septic which I think might work in our case. Also a plan online to capture rain water and use for the grey water and filter a line for the future show/hot water heater and kitchen sink. Well that is the plan anyways....lol A long ways until I get there. more about that a little later...

You might be able to drive a sand point well where you are for water. Something to investigate. They're good for occasional use places, cheap and easy to put in (just need pipes and a big sledge hammer basically). I don't know your area specifically, but I had a buddy in the valley in similar looking terrain that put one in years ago. It worked well. Just don't plan on filling a swimming pool or anything with it. Recycling grey water for the toilet is another good water saver, I actually know a guy here in town that does that. His only problem was he had teenage girls, meaning alot of hair down the shower drain so cleaning out the holding tank was more often than he liked. 

 ???Interesting build and nice area. I started with a similar girder layout but it is a deck that I want to convert to a small cabin. Long and short is to avoid the dreaded phrase from the building inspector "get it engineered" I have over specified using 4ply 2x10 with joists spanning 8'. The interesting observation in looking at Canadian Wood Council span tables is that no values are published for built up wood beams below 3ply 2x8.  A good capsulization of these codes can be found at: Beam and Joist Span tables -The City of Nanaimo...... cheers and keep the pictures coming

hhbartlett - Like most things I do I am swinging towards collecting and reusing rainwater off the back side of the metal roof. I am still researching this issue and like my septic I'll have to do a speerate thread for imput on that design and build. But more or less collect it and recycle it for toliet and filter it for sink/showering later on down the road. In the interim I carry my water mostly pop for mix... but like rule 7 (I think) only after the hammers are done.... LOL

hemfir - Thanks like I previously mentioned I am the business manager at a dealership in town, this project is the most ambitious of my projects to date so I appreciate the encouragement. I was thinking as the center section is a slightly longer than 8 feet to then use the cut off peices for lateral supports between joists. It would add a little rigidity I think!

I'm surprised about the Canadian codes.
The Girder/header span tables are published in the ICC.  No engineering required.
I did a short guide on how to read the charts.
http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=10511.0

It depends on the layout.  An 8 ft span for 4-2x10's may be a lot or a little depending on the load distribution, snow load, etc.

MountainDon as I mentioned earlier here are the first draft plans the main floor layout is being tweaked still (Ie: door loacations windows and such) but over all basic structure is going to be roughly the same. Hoperfully the floor joisting may make some more sense when you look at both peices of the puzzle.



Thinking of compromible idea as to others. Wood stove in the corner by the stairs and running not sure either double wall or single wall stove pipe straight up. I think it might be better for draft but not sure rather then out the side wall then up. Any ideas to the plans would love to hear them, before I get too far along....

So Squirl if I am reading correctly off your charts you included in your post according to the layout on a 16' span with no overhang and all joists supports by no more than a 7' 10' span I should be ok with with the double 2x8 laminated offset joints???

Quoteoffset joints

does this refer to the "staggered joints" in the foundation plan?  Or...

If so, unless a real life licensed structural engineer has designed and affixed his stamp to the plans, meaning he is staking his professional life on this, joints in structural members should always be over a support. IMO.