20x36 1 1/2 story cabin in western pennsylvania

[lynn_cjhouse]

I'm new to this so excuse any mistakes Me and my husband are planning on build the 20x30 1 1/2 story home on our property.  We want to extend the plan to 36 feet and put a back laundry/mud room area. Then have the loft over the kitchen, bed/bath with cathedral ceilings in the living room.  We are building it on pier foundation. We aren't sure about the building codes though and if that will be allowed. Any information would be greatly appreciated. I'm not sure if my picure will post but I'm trying.....

[MountainDon]

 

The best thing to do right now is to contact the local authority having jurisdiction over the issuance of building permits and ask what building code version is used and whether or not a pier and beam foundation would be permitted. That AHJ may be at the local town or city level, perhaps the county; where we live full time it is the city and where our cabin is located it is the county for the permit but the state for the building code and rules enforcement.  You may be able to search online and find the required information.

[lynn_cjhouse]

We got our plans yesterday and plan on starting building next summer..... Gotta get some money saved up. We are gonna go talk to the township soon and see what they say about the piers. Another question? I saw on some of the owner builder projects that people braced their piers..... Is that necessary? As far as I can tell it doesn't say anything in the plan

[MountainDon]

If you build on piers, YES, they absolutely should be braced very well in both the length and width directions. Many builders do not do a very good job on that aspect. Also piers should have as little length above ground and as much below ground as possible, but also provide enough space between the ground and the underside of the beams and joists. Piers are also not at all suitable in some soils.

[lynn_cjhouse]

Concrete piers or wooden piers? Or should both be braced?

[MountainDon]

Brace any pier; don't count on the ground to hold the pier upright and in place in perpetuity. Earth can be very fickle. A foundation that uses a poured concrete footing all around the perimeter, with a short concrete or block wall on top provides it's own bracing lengthwise and across the building. The same can be achieved with a permanent wood foundation; again it goes full perimeter and the framing and sheathing (all foundation grade PT) provides the sturdy self supporting base for the cabin.

[lynn_cjhouse]

so after a lot of different ideas we finally decided to build the 20x30 1 1/2 story almost identical to the way john has it layed out in his plans. It seems like the best fit for the bathroom and bedroom. We are going to be building on a crawl space foundation instead of piers. I have attached a copy of our floor plan. The red  arrow pointing to the little room is actually going to be where the stairs are. The floor plan maker I am using won't allow me to place a small set of stairs. We are just planning on using the cottage stairs in the plan and having just a sleeping loft upstairs.


We want to do a 2 by 6ft bump out for a  window seat. We have a question about the framing. I noticed on other peoples builds that it looks like they may have just extended the floor joists and then framed around the bump out... Is that correct? or is there another way to frame it?  Thanks