17x24 East Tx Cabin

[phalynx]

I see the septic permit law.  It seems clear.  There is a law in Texas that states counties cannot impose any building codes, permits, or inspections on any building outside of an incorporated area.  But, I had read (several years ago) that the septic law allows for county permits on all septics.  Looking for verification.

[nathan.principe]

I dont meet half those standards anyway, my lot is 100'x 100' in a "development", certainly not 10 acres or more, and obviously the system will be closer 100' to the property line,  all this info is good tho to educate me when the time comes to talk to the county

[TeeCee19]

  Congratulations Nathan...I too, am going to be building a cabin in the East Texas area. I just finished clearing my lot a few weeks ago. My forum title is Oldest Town in Texas. If you are familiar with East Texas and your Texas history, you know where that is. Just curious, as to where in East Texas is your project?

Looks beautiful with all the trees. I love that area. (was born in it) I too, live in Dallas area. (Murphy-Plano)

So far , so good on your project. Hope I can do half as well as it seems you have started. I have never built ANYTHING before...

This site has been my inspiration.

[nathan.principe]

Hey TeeCee! you are just a hop skip and a jump away from me, I live in Rowlett.  Jefferson?  Im not as familiar as you might think with East Texas, Ive lived in Dallas most my life, and to be honest with you I really only took a interest in the outdoors lifestyle a few years ago.  Anyway, My cabin is in Avinger Tx, On Lake O' the Pines, the community is called Indian Hills Harbor.  Thx for the kind compliments, and I cant wait to see further progress on your own project

[dablack]

I'm thinking the oldest town in tx is San Augustine or Nacogdoches (depending on who you ask).

I'm from Gilmer (another NE TX boy), but live down south of Houston.  I went to LOthePines all the time growing up. 

Austin

[nathan.principe]

I believe your right dablack, I did some research since my last post.  its good to see alot of Texas boys on the forum, do you have a project thread going that I could check out?

[Sassy]

How 'bout Texas gals?  I was born in Houston (only was there for 2 wks tho  )  Just flew into Dallas 2x's recently because American Airlines corporate office is there but only saw the inside of the airport... 

Welcome ya'll...  good to see a lot of new people on the forum!

[nathan.principe]

2 weeks is better then no weeks! thx for the warm welcome 

[dablack]

Nathan,

No I don't have a project going right now.  I'm still in the research phase. 

Plus we need to finish up fixing our 1968 house before I even think about buying land and building a house.  In fact today I put all the solid tile down in the 2nd bath.  Tomorrow after it dries, I will start cutting tile and putting it down.  So I have lots to do.

I do have a question for you.  How much time do you have into your right now and how much help have you gotten.

thanks
Austin

[nathan.principe]

I broke ground almost exactly 1 yr ago, cutting trees and clearing the lot, etc.  I visit the cabin about 2 time a month and just stay for the day, although I do alot of work here at my permanent residence precutting all the lumber.  As far as help, my wife comes out with me most of the time, and Ive had some buddies out on several occasions ( to lift the gable walls and help with the roof framing).  I hope to finish the roof framing on my next visit, and hope to have it dried in by the end of the year.  As soon as we have electricity we will start staying the night

[nathan.principe]

I took my brother out the cabin last Wednesday to recruit his help for working on the rafters, ( which was cool bc it was his first time seeing it!).  We just fell short of installing all the rafters, and still lack some of the sofits.  I do have a concern tho, since my last outing to the cabin the main ridge board ( the longest run over the main living area) has started to twist a little, for lack of materials I had to install it anyway.  You may be able to see in the pictures that not all the rafters sit completely flush to it     I plan to install "collars" ( for lack of a better word)  across all the rafters to stop them from bowing the walls and having the roof sink down, is there anything else obvious that I am missing to make this a solid roof structure?  Also I used the Simpson brand connectors for the ridge to the rafters, so I know at least theres a good connection.  heres some pics






Heres a shot of some "pre-assembled soffits", I installed the subfacia, cedar fascia, soffit boards with vents, and the cross supports on the ground.  This made it a real task to get the 2 up that we did, but to me its still easier then assembling all of it that high in the air


You can see in the next shot that the soffit didnt make a perfect connection to the siding ( im still lacking a peice of siding by the way) as I would have liked.  Theres a 1/2 inch gap that Im hoping trim will cover



This is my scaffolding platform that I slapped together, it has those cheap little utility wheels on the bottom that can lock in place, this made it easy to maneuver it to where I needed it



And heres what its starting to shape up to look like from the outside



It will be another 2 weeks before I can return to finish the roof framing and prepare for the roof sheathing

[PA-Builder]

Nice building Nathan.

What size is your ridge board ? 

It appears that it should be a little bigger (2x10, 2x12) so that the full end of the rafter rests on the side of the ridge board.   

Just tryin' to be helpful . . .

[MountainDon]

Re: the rafters and ridge board.  The ridge board, which is actually a 2" plank but at one time was actually a 1" board, should be sized with sufficient depth to extend from the point of the rafter to the heel. In other words the rafter top end cut end should be fully supported tip to heel. If the heel is not supported that places more load/stress on the pointy end.  Another 2x (2x4, 2x6) could be added and nailed into place to spread the loads.   Frequently using one size bigger than the rfaters will work, depending on pitch. (2x6 rafters = 2x8 ridge board).   If cut error or a warp causes there to be a gap the gap should be shimmed to provide full surface contact.

Re: collar ties.. Collar ties are installed in the upper 1/3 of the roof. They are used to brace the roof framing against uplifting caused bt winds. They are installed on every other rafter set when the rafters are on 24" centers at a minimum.  When metal connectors are used collar ties may not be required. Sometimes metal straps are used over the top of the rafters and ridge board in lieu of collar ties.

Re: rafter ties.. Rafter ties are the things that tie the walls together to prevent the outward rafter forces from spreading the wall tops. A flat celing joist serves as a rafter tie. Rafter ties are installed in the lower 1/3.  

[nathan.principe]

I never thought about shimming the gaps between the rafters and ridge board, thats food for thought.  I will probably end up installing collar ties on all of the rafters.  I really like the open concept of a cathedral ceiling though, so I would be a bit hesitant to install rafter ties,  If this is a big no no, please but in someone.  I hope that installing collar ties on all rafters will help support the roof enough from bowing out the side walls

[Mad-Dax]

Looks great...Inspires me to get back to building on mine..I am in Dallas too and my place is in Wills Point about 40 miles east of Dallas.  The septic is also really been bothering me...all I hear is I need an aerobic system too.

[MountainDon]

Collar ties and rafter ties perform different functions but are both essential roof-framing members. Collar ties (top 1/3) help to hold the roof on. An example of bad things happening in their absence would be a big wind storm that blows in one or more windows in a gable end, or the entire gable framing. That wind pressurizes the interior space and the roof sheathing and roofing material lifts at a weak point and everything peels off.  However, a collar tie will do little to nothing to prevent wall spread and ridge sag.

A cathedral ceiling with no cross ties between the upper wall plates can be achieved with a structural ridge beam. That requires different construction techniques.  Many folks will use a beam across the wall plates, spaced every 4 feet. A beam in the open space looks better than the 2x4 that the IRC permits as a minimum. A few 4x6 beams could be used to supply the structural strength as well as being visually pleasing.

From the IRC, section R802.3.1 (yes there are a lot of "thou shall...." in there, and yes this smacks of Big Brother telling us what to do... but this is one of the places where there are good reasons to read, understand and act on the provisions of the IRC. My opinion.

[nathan.principe]

Don, you make a valid point, so I believe I will start to think about how to incorporate a couple large beams as rafter ties ( poss a built up beam, like a triple 2x6s that will straddle the adjacent rafters), however Im not clear on why the maximum spacing for collar ties is 4' oc
My rafters are 24" oc, so this means it would be a bad idea to install a tie on everyone, and I should only install them on every other one, why is that?  In my thinking installing them 24" oc is all that much more support

[astidham]

The spacing of 4' is maximum spacing, so every 2' would be fine also

[nathan.principe]

Ok, well that makes more sense, I guess I just read it wrong.  Dax, I know where Wills Point is, do you have any photos or a thread going on your project?

[astidham]

Here is mine

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=8931.0

[Homesick Gypsy]

Hello from another Texan.  Living in Dallas, land in Murchison.

Looks great so far Nathan.

[nathan.principe]

never heard of Murchison, had to google map it! haha.... thanks for the kind words

[teacher2]

Be sure you pronouce Murchison without the CH sound.  They can get down right testy about it. LOL. I use to teach school in Malakoff, sure do miss  the wonderful people in that area.    Ah, the life of a Texas High School football coach's family and the occasional moves.

[nathan.principe]

A few more shots from my recent visit to the cabin this weekend, I worked mainly on the roof rafters that extend from the 2nd floor loft wall over the covered porch ( I had to adjust the sizes of each individaul rafter in this area, I must have built something out of square ) and installed collar ties on each set of interior rafters.  Next visit I will work on installing the remaining soffits and a rafter tie system I have formulated in my head.  Also I need advice on roofing as I am approaching that stage, I have thought about many different options, anyway I will open a thread about it in the General forum section, please feel free to comments with your experiences their, thx

[Dallas2build]

Hello from another Texan.    Your project looks great!  I have family in Marshall that used to have place out there.  We spent a many a day on that lake when I was a kid.  Keep up the good work and just so you know, there is no such thing as too many pictures.  We love us some pictures around here.