14 x 14 Post & Beam w/ Scribed Log Infill

[Pine Cone]

I understand from reading other posts that folks like pictures of dirt and trees, so here are a few of mine.

Cleared and leveled the foundation area by hand, then had a couple of 3' + diameter cedar stumps to grind, then we dug some holes for piers...  Here's a picture from May 2008


Picked up a used electric Kushan mixer for the concrete.  Worked very well.  They call it a wheelbarrow type, nice big tires on the wheels, mix and then dump directly in hole.


After we were done, if put drain rock to cover the dirt under the foundation.  A few months later we dug a french around it to dry it out even more.


Then we did the foundation for the deck pretty much the same way only no stumps to dig out!

[poppy]

Yep, we like pics. of dirt and stuff.  Very interesting build story.

I was scratching my head about the 14'x14' cabin until you mentioned the magic number of 200 sf.  Seems to be the magic number in a lot of locals.

Nice outhouse/tool shed.  I've been trying to figure out a place to keep my tools secure.

[Pine Cone]

I had to special order 4"x8"x14' pressure treated beams for the cabin foundation.  Turns out two were nice but the other two must have been naughty because they were a bit twisted and bent.  PT wood here in Washington is horrible.  Always wet, warps as it dries even if nailed and glued down, problems anywhere you turn.  On the other hand, I spent the first part of my forestry career working in forest entomology and pathology and I am well aware of all the bugs & fungi that would love to eat up anything you build out in the woods.  Lots of termites, carpenter ants and decay fungi out there, so PT wood, despite its problems, does have a place...

I used half-lap joints at the corners and did the best I could, but one beam bent upward away from it's post.  Here is a picture.


So I weighted that beam down with firewood to help convice it to straighten up!


Helped some, but eventually I just nailed the strongtie bracket in place...

The deck got its joists a few weeks later, fewer problems putting it together


I had a lot of knee braces to make before I could build the deck.  Used a chopsaw to make the basic miter cuts in the 4x4s and then made this jig for my router.  It worked pretty well, but I was using the edge of the router plate to index it.  Later on I bought a template bushing which indexes more preciesly.


One of the reasons I decided to build the deck first is that I needed a large flat dry work area before I could build the cabin. I bought some plywood sheathing and used it to make a temporary deck surface, thinking that I could use it later on the cabin roof.  One of the first things it got used for was to assemble the deck roof bents.  Here is a picture of the first bent laid out on the deck.


This was a "close but no cigar" moment.  I was trying to save time but it didn't work.  I ended up pounding in some boards into the deck to make an assembly jig for the bents, just like you would do when making roof trusses.  Don't have any pictures of it, but it allowed for the 3 bents to be very very similar in all of their geometries which made life much easier.  I would lay out a bent, add a plywood brace to help hold the truss portion together later on, then drilled holes for the bolts, and then assembled it and moved it on to the cabin foundation.

Don't have any pictures of us raising the bents because all availabe hands were occupied by heavy pieces of wood or the safty rope to keep us from raising them too far forward.  Here's what it looked like when the 3 bents were being held in place with temporary bracing


I wanted this phase over with fairly quickly so the next step was to screw on one piece of the pair of top beams so there would be a real connection between all of the bents.  


As you can see in this picture, I still needed to at the second board to complete the picture.


The next job was to get purlins up.  Got some help from my brother-in-law and son for this one.  


Looked pretty nice when done!


We wanted the structure to be pretty with just a stain on it, so we had to clean up all the pieces of wood used to build it.  We got the 6x6 posts cleaned up before the bents were built, but ran out of time before assembling the bents.  We needed extra help for that step and when the help was ready we made sure we were ready.  Finish work like that is always easier to do before assembly, but sometimes circumstances get in the way.  Here is my wife sanding away...


At this point it was mid-August 2008 and it was clear we lacked the energy, money, and good weather to get the cabin finished as well before winter 2008.  We spent the rest of the summer and fall installing rain gutters, doing more finish work, adding the built-in benches, and digging a french drain around the cabin and deck foundations.  Here's what it looked like...

[Beavers]

Very nice!!! 

The timber framing is awsome!
I also really like those benches, I might have to steal your design and put some of the those on the porch of my house. 

Thanks for bringing us up to speed, and posting the older pics showing your build.

[Pine Cone]

You're more than welcome to use the bench design.  With on or two more pieces across the bottom under the bench it should also be a code-legal railing.

The project is alive and well.  I am doing the final electrical design right now.  Hope to do some of the rough wiring this weekend so I can get some insulation in the ceiling so I can heat the place up.  Gotta figure out where all the wires go so I can minimize the undo-redo projects.  

Cold snap right now so night-time temps are mid-teens with highs in the low 30's.  Heat wave this weekend - should get up to 40 or so!

I'll keep trying to post past activities - it's a good excuse to organize the bazillion pictures I took along the way.

[Pine Cone]

So once the Fall 2008 rainy season hit it was time to add some blue tarps.  Once the french drain was in it seemed best to keep the whole foundation area as dry as possible.  Didn't figure the foundation needed another 40" of rain either, and then there's that snow thing...

Put up a 2x8 A-frame on the east end of the cabin foundation and then put a 20' long 2x8 from the deck roof to the A-frame.  Had to rework the the tarp ropes 3 times before I got it right.  Once again the Gulliver vs. the Lillipution's technique worked well, lots and lots of ropes spaced close together with as little slack as possible.  With more slack and fewer ropes I ripped out 3 or 4 grommets out of the tarp before I got smarter. 

Here is what it looked like in Spring 2009 at the start of this year's building season.

[poppy]

A really fine looking porch design.  I've never seen anything quite like it.  Would you mind giving us a little more background on how you decided on the hybrid combination?

What kind of wind loads did you need to account for?

Very nice stain job, BTW.

[Pine Cone]

A really fine looking porch design.  I've never seen anything quite like it.  Would you mind giving us a little more background on how you decided on the hybrid combination?

What kind of wind loads did you need to account for?

Very nice stain job, BTW.

I'm not sure exactly where the idea came from.  I have been interested in timber frame building for a while and got and read lots of books including Rob Roys "Timber Framing for the rest of us" 

I live in the northwest and there are dozens of timber or log framed shelters within an hours drive of my house and I looked at a photographed many of them.  The building I work in has a timber frame look but much of the actual construction is dimension-lumber bolted together in interesting ways with internal iron fittings that I haven't found anywhere and wasn't willing to have fabricated for me.

I knew I could probably do a full bore traditional timber frame, but I wanted/needed something faster.

Early in this process, probably November or December 2005 I made this 1 inch = 1 foot scale model of a cooking shelter I sketched up.  The model is balsa and tin foil, and has many of the elements that show up in the final deck design.  The roof offset at the peak would allow heat to escape from a wood-fired oven or BBQ or smoker setup under the shelter.  Still might build something like this in a year or two.



It's kind of funny... I use computer's a lot, and part of my work for the last 19 years has been digital cartography, making maps for forestry companies, bicycling maps, and other forms of computer graphics, but deep down I like some of the old-school hands-on design best.  Some of the final design was done on big sheets of paper using a pencil, straightedge, and triangles. 

I should give a word of thanks to my 7th grade drafting teacher from way back in 1964.  Can't remember his name, but I sure-as-heck learned some things from him that I still use 45 years later.  My youngest kids never even got the chance to take a shop class.  Out of fashion these days, since we all know nobody makes or fixes anything anymore...

Enough of the rant...

Hard to beat a tin foil and balsa model to see what something really looks like from different angles.  You could do it all in CAD and then build a wire-frame or texture mapped model and rotate on your computer screen, but in the end it's not the same as putting a wooden model on a table and walking around it.

I'm not sure where the final design came from, but I can assure you it is an educated, seat-of-the-pants design.  4x4s for the deck structure would have looked small next to the full dimension 8x8s I planned to use in the deck.  I settled on 6x6 posts and that gave me the though of using cheaper, easier to obtain 4x4s and 4x6s sandwiched between 2x8s or 2x10s for the king posts and knee braces. 

Wind loads?  Never even really thought about them.  The cabin site is surrounded by 40 to 60 year old Douglas-fir and western red cedars which are about 100 feet tall.  They take the wind, but at cabin and deck and ground levels the wind isn't too bad. 

The stain is a Defy epoxy stain from the Log Cabin Store.  Seems to work well and we like the color.  Cabin outsides use the same stain, while cabin insides use a clear Defy interior epoxy.

[poppy]

Thanks for the answers Pine Cone.

You hit on one of the nice features of a timber frame and that is nice proportions.  I hate 4x4 posts even though they are strong enough for many applications.

I'm using as large a post as my timber will allow.  One frame will use 8x8's and the cruck at the bottom will be about 6x12.  Main beams will be 6x8's.

I took my high school drafting course around 1962 and I still have the tool set that I bought used for $2.00.

I also built a balsa wood model of one of the early timber frame designs.  I have intended to build another one based on the current design, but haven't got around to it.

I have fond memories of my wood shop class.  I think I was the only college bound student who took shop.

Hopefully younger folks will get some good lessons and inspiration from builds like yours. 

[Pine Cone]

Moving back to the present, this weekend I managed to get the soffit and ridge vents screened and got about 1/3 of the ceiling and gable-end insulation up.  We've had a record cold spell here for the last 10 days or so and I haven't managed to heat the cabin above 50 degrees F yet.  Still have more work to do before it will be a comfortable place to hang out, but it is getting closer.  I have great hopes that by Christmas I'll have it sealed and insulated to the point were it's easy to get warm!

[Pine Cone]

Put up the other half of the ceiling insulation last weekend.  Started on the wiring needed before I can finish insulating the gable ends, but I still need to do more before I can finish the gable ends and the remaining bits of ceiling insulation.

Moving ahead to the floor, I was originally thinking of using sheets of 3/4" hard foam sheet insulation between a pressure-treated subfloor and the final subfloor.  My concern is trying to insulate the floor without having fiberglass insulation which might serve as a home for insects and small mammals.  I could screen the floor joists to keep them out, but thought that foam sheets might work well. 

Now I'm beginning to have my doubts, and am thinking of just putting down sheets of tongue-and-groove plywood subfloor over the PT plywood and then putting un-faced fiberglass between the floor joists and then putting 1/8" hardware cloth screen on the bottom of the joists to keep it pest and critter free.

The cabin is in the woods of western Washington, lots of termites, ants, mice, Douglas squirrels, and other critters.

Anyone have any thoughts on the best way to insulate my floor?  Inquiring minds would like to know since I'm likely to do it between now and the end of the Christmas/New Years holiday period.

Any advice would be appreciated.  Never had to insulate a floor before...

[OlJarhead]

I SO would love to have one of those Woodmisers!  Oh man!

I've spent some time looking at them (drooling) and thinking of all the lumber I could make...but then reality sets in and I realize that without enough $$$ to get one, plus the joiner/plainer and LOTS of solar power (for the plainer) I'd probably just make big round logs into smaller square logs that would be good for beams maybe but not much else

But I might yet convince myself that it would be worth it   After all if I convince myself long enough I might even think I could make money using it to cut other peoples lumber and while I'd probably never do that it would be convincing

[OlJarhead]

Very nice cabin project!  WOW!

I always think some day it would be nice to use some of the timber on our property to build a cabin...someday

[Pine Cone]

I SO would love to have one of those Woodmisers!  Oh man!

I've spent some time looking at them (drooling) and thinking of all the lumber I could make...but then reality sets in and I realize that without enough $$$ to get one, plus the joiner/plainer and LOTS of solar power (for the plainer) I'd probably just make big round logs into smaller square logs that would be good for beams maybe but not much else

But I might yet convince myself that it would be worth it   After all if I convince myself long enough I might even think I could make money using it to cut other peoples lumber and while I'd probably never do that it would be convincing

I've had my own wood milled up twice now for building projects, and both times had someone else with more experience and their own WoodMizer do the milling.  You get to provide the grunt work to debark the logs and buck them into their proper lengths, but it takes experience to mill them up right, and I'm willing to pay someone for their experience and portable sawmill. 

I used a guy I already knew http://www.specialtywoods.net/portable.html who currently charges $65/hour for his mill, but it was more than worth it.  He did a great job and my step-son and myself kept him in logs for 3 days to get the job done.  The end result was a pretty big pile of timbers and 1x? lumber.  The final dimensions of the pile was about 9'x30'x7'.  Not too bad for 3 days work!

It was a lot of work for all of us, but by keeping the sawyer free to just saw boards and timbers the price is pretty reasonable.  The satisfaction of building something from trees and/or logs you have worked with is worth it.  The lumber you get is likely to be much better than what you can buy at your local lumber yard or box store.

In any case, unless you own a lot of timberland, it makes more sense to let someone else own the WoodMizer and let them do the milling...  Look at Yonderosa's posts for another look at what someone else's milling can be turned into.  He has some great looking cabinets and window trim and (I think) is planning on using similar wood for interior paneling.

Of course you still need to buy a planer and have electricity to run it...

[OlJarhead]

I think we're only a few miles from Yonderosa

Perhaps I'll get the contact he used.

As for tree we have a few but not as many as you west coasters!

[poppy]

Pine Cone, I like your original idea on insulating the floor.  And if you want more R value than the 3/4" "hard board", then I would suggest foam board between the joists.

Just pick a board that critters don't like.  If you haven't seen it, here is an insulation survey thread in General.

[Pine Cone]

Pretty productive weekend.  Got the ceiling and gable end insulation done which also required getting more electrical done, which also required putting up a few of the gable end boards for the board and batten covering of the gable ends...

That led to today's project of getting the planer out and smoothing up some of my rough-cut 1x8 pine lumber so I can finish putting boards on the gable ends, board and batten outside, and ship-lap on the inside.  Still need to get the table saw out there so I can take to boards I planed today and turn them into shiplap siding.

Here is the before picture, with a view of some of the wood I had milled off the sides of the logs that became the walls of the cabin.




Here's the after picture - lots of sawdust and chips and now some boards ready to use to finish the outside of the cabin.  Lucky for me the rain held off until I was done with the boards I wanted to plane today.  Still have another 30 1x6s to plane and then turn into tongue-and-groove ceiling boards, but that will have to wait until another dry-ish day.


Turns out to be much easier to heat the cabin once the ceiling is insulated...  of course it helps that it has warmed up into the high 40's today versus the 20's of a couple of weeks ago.

[Beavers]

That's some pile of sawdust! 

How are you going to do the T&G on the 1x6's...router, table saw?
I'm also planning on T&G pine for the ceiling in my house.  I've got a router and a table saw, just not sure what the best way would be to cut the T&G.

It's great how you've been able to make a lot of your own lumber for the house!
Wish I lived in the woods...

[Pine Cone]

How are you going to do the T&G on the 1x6's...router, table saw?
I'm also planning on T&G pine for the ceiling in my house.  I've got a router and a table saw, just not sure what the best way would be to cut the T&G.

I haven't decided yet.  I am going to use my table saw to make shiplap boards for the inside gable ends, but I may go with a fancier look on the ceiling with the T&G, probably using a router. 

Hadn't thought about trying to make T&G on the table saw.  I have a dato blade kit and I suppose I could use that.

Anyone else making T&G boards out there?

[Redoverfarm]

PC personally for ceiling T&G IMO it looks a little better to have a beveled edge or bead to seperate the boards so that it doesn't look like a floor. Sheetrock looks fine as one flat surface but with wood it always looks better to have that individual board distinction.  

[Pine Cone]

Red - I agree about the need for a bevel at the edge of the boards to help visually separate them.  I was planning on using a hand plane, probably an old Stanley 18" jointer, to make the bevels if I don't use a router bit that does if for me.  It probably won't turn out perfect, but it will be more in the style of the rest of the building.

[Redoverfarm]

If it is a bevel that you are looking for then you could set up your planer with a bevel and knock the edge off.  I have a Makita electric hand planer that has a "V" grove in the plate that I used to bevel the edges of my battens.  Maybe a champher bit in a router?

[Don_P]

I prefer a router with a V groove set of bits, seem to get better results. The shorter the easier. I set up a looong fence on the tablesaw and use it to joint the board edges just as straight as I can get them. I then set up the router with hold down and hold in and a fence that is set to joint a small amount. Keeping a straight parallel board machined to uniform depth coming out is the key.

[Pine Cone]

I'm just a retro-grouch at heart

Old school, wood and steel, no electricity and a bit of skill beats a power tool any day.

I like my electric hand planers for smoothing wall timbers, love my chainsaw for cutting the big stuff, but for a simple bevel on a board or 70 I like the sound of a quite hand plane that is older than my grandkids, older than my kids, older than me,  maybe older than my father, and just like the ones my grandfather Oscar used to use. 

It's not a building.  It's MY building.  Pride/vanity of creation maybe, but my cabin is mine above all else.  I'm old enough to appreciate what that means, at least to me.  I really don't give a hoot how much of my time it costs, because I get it all back when I sit in a room I made. 

If it's only a little harder to do it by hand that will be my choice most days.  It's about creation and the journey.  Results are nice and certainly desired, but slow and easy work pretty well, and the power planer just doesn't make those nice curled chips when your done making the bevel cut.  For planing a bevel on 70 boards I doubt if there is an hours difference in total bevel time, might even be faster with the hand tool since I don't have to get an extension cord out at the beginning of the job and then put it away at the end. 

Thanks for the advice, I really do appreciate it, if the job was bigger I'd probably use the power tools, but for smaller scale jobs I'll stay old-school if it is not too much more effort.  Nothing wrong with elbow grease and sweat holding your project together.

[poppy]

I like your style Pine Cone.  You are a man after my own heart. 

Why use a power tool when the old hand tool will do the job?

Like you, when I sit in my finished (or probably never-finished) cabin, I can be proud of the hand crafted effort.

If it weren't so darn cold here, I would be out at the farm hand hewing some more beams.