20x27 single-story - Minnesota

[walkabout]

Thanks Don.
I will am drawing up the interior wall plan myself and have not purchased my interior doors yet (regular and bi-fold) and have been stressing over the rough openings for them.

It seems that for regular doors and bi-folds (assuming a 3/4" frame installed by me), it is safe to add 2" to the door width and 2" to the door height.
This sound correct?

Any advice too on framing a wall from floor to cathedral ceiling?
I have read a lot on this and currently plan on:
1. nailing down the bottom plate.
2. use a string & weight to figure out location of top plate.
3. Install top plate.
4. measure, cut (top cut is an angle) and install each stud 16" oc

If the top plate does not fall on a truss can I add 2x4s between the adjoining trusses and attach to those?

Here is my floor plan:

[Alan Gage]

I'd use this over a plumb bob:

http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-77-189-FatMax-Self-Leveling-Laser/dp/B0007M6B9K

I bought one and it's been incredibly handy for all kinds of things (like marking ceiling electrical boxes). I was thinking I paid quite a bit less at HD than Amazon shows but I could be wrong.

Alan

[MountainDon]

A factory prehung 32 x 80 door has the RO at 34 x 82 1/2.    +2 on width and + 2 1/2 height


Sounds like a plan on the int cath wall.

The laser plimb sounds nice. Iy can be a devil of a job using a plumb bob and string on a tall height. Worls best with a helper.

[walkabout]

I ended not buying a self-leveling laser bob as I could not warrant the expense and used the old trusted plumb bob. It is true that a plumb bob is hard to use by yourself as you need the helper to slow the pendulum down. Luckily my wife was there to help me so it was not bad.

We managed to get all the interior walls up and are pretty pleased with the results. We still need to install the cripple studs and headers for our door openings though.

Balloon framing to cathedral ceiling:


Me standing in the bedroom:


My wife standing in the bathroom looking out through the entrance closet:


Now I have to decide what to tackle next. Decisions, decisions!!

[duncanshannon]

Looking good! that was a great question... and thanks for the followup pictures to help explain it. Cant wait to build some day!!

[John Raabe]

Good work on one of the more tricky problems with sloped trusses.

[UK4X4]

Milgard are specifiying only 1/2" bigger for their PVC windows

"Dimensions:
36" x 60" R.O.
(35 1/2" x 59 1/2" N.F.S.)"

for example so the rough opennings are to 1" and the windows are supplied fractional sizes to fit.

Sliding doors are the same for that company

Just have to be carefull on choosing your window and door framing lumber !

[Don_P]

Y'all were doing so well I wasn't following this closely. There is one little problem with the cathedral wall framing. If you think about attaching the ceiling there is nothing to nail it to at the sloped wall to ceiling corner. You can nail some 2x6 or wider blocking in between the cross blocks that hangs over each side enough to nail to. I think I see the same issue on the top of the wall your wife is leaning on. I walk through the frame repeatedly looking for missing "backup" for the sheetrockers.

I'll typically set the cross blocks 1-1/2" up from the bottom edge, nail a full length "backer" of 2x6 or wider that is flush to the sloped ceiling level. Then locate the wall edge on that, snap a line, attach the 2x4 top plate to that and fill with studs.

One trick with a plumb bob if you just need to hang it and get the vertical but not the bottom is to dangle it in a 5 gallon bucket of water to dampen it.

[walkabout]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

I assumed that I needed to add some sort of blocking to attach paneling, but had not got that far yet or even thought about how I want to do it yet. Thanks for the ideas as it saves me some time or sleep (as it is late at night that I think about framing).

I will be doing the following in the next 2 weeks:
1. fill in some framing above a few of the walls
2. frame the door openings and headers.
3. I am having someone install HVAC
4. and DWV. I know I should (and want to) do this myself, but I was overruled by my wife.

I will be doing wood paneling on the ceiling and drywall on the walls like the photo below.

Anyone have any detailed photos of making and installing beams/faux beams like this?


From Pat's (Victoria's Cottage - Western Montana ) thread: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=9527.25

[MountainDon]

Milgard are specifiying only 1/2" bigger for their PVC windows

"Dimensions:
36" x 60" R.O.
(35 1/2" x 59 1/2" N.F.S.)"

for example so the rough opennings are to 1" and the windows are supplied fractional sizes to fit.

Sliding doors are the same for that company

Just have to be carefull on choosing your window and door framing lumber !

The original question was: "Q1. When framing the interior door rough openings does one frame the opening 3/4" higher/longer than the door's rough opening height? (or whatever your finished floor thickness) "

The RO reply was based on what is necessary for a prehung door.

Windows and sliding glass doors bring some differences to the picture. Swinging doors are sized by the actual width of the door; 24, 32, 36". When you add the door jambs to that you end up needing a R.O. that is about 2" wider than the door itself.

When getting the R.O. for a window or a sliding door assembly, the window measurements come from the actual measurements of the window unit, not the size of the glass. (outside dimensions of the framed window, NOT including any fins). The R.O. will then be, most often, only a half inch wider and a half inch taller than the actual window measurement.

[ajbremer]

Hey,

That's a great looking build walkabout! This is the first time I've seen it.

Thank you for posting your progress here.

[walkabout]

I have made a fair amount of progress since February.
We had someone else do the

• DWV rough-in
• the plumbing rough-in
• and the electrical rough-in.
• gas furnace, gas water heater and A/C are also installed.

We did however do the following ourselves:

• run low-voltage wiring for speakers,
• CAT6 and coaxial for network and TV,
• installed attic vent chutes,
• R21 un-faced insulation in the walls,
• installed 6-mil and 4-mil vapor barrier on the exterior walls and the ceilings,
• and repainted/sealed the crawlspace walls so that we can later install the 1.5" foil faced insulation on the walls.

We also now have a toilet that is working, which is great as we have never had a flush toilet at the cabin, only an outhouse before we bulldozed it down. We have been 'camping out' in the cabin too which has been fun.

Here are the vent chutes. I did end up extending them twice as long over the vaulted ceiling as I wanted to get R60 in the ceiling which is 18" of blown in cellulose insulation. I did not need to extend them over the flat ceiling as there was enough space for 18" of insulation.


Here are 2 photos of the vapor barrier and R21 wall insulation:

[UperJoe]

Lookin' fantastic !   

That Clearwater Lake in the background per chance? For some reason I think I had seen the old place you took down. (?)
I'm in Minnetrista myself, fished about every inch of water in your neck of the woods over the years, and now working on land in UP near L'anse .... I pray I can get all wrapped up and start to clear over the summer. I have to escape this rat race here before it consumes me anymore

[walkabout]

Close, but no it is not Clearwater, but a Muskie lake just west of Clearwater. Our old cabin used to be part of a resort 40 years ago, so maybe you had seen it or even stayed in it before. I have been up in your neck of the woods to Porcupine Mountains Wilderness Park during the summer, but have wanted to head up that way to go snowmobilling. 

Drywall was delivered today. I decided to have someone hang, tape/mud the drywall for me as my past experience with dry-walling did not result in a professional looking results or even OK results. I will stick to working with wood!!

[walkabout]

I sub contracted the drywall out and it is almost complete.
We are having to slow down again and make some decisions as to wall color,trim color, floor tile etc. I delegated these the choices to my wife, but still retained the veto option ;-)

Here are some photos from the weekend:

[walkabout]

An update.
We progressed a little since the last update.
We have primed and painted the living room/kitchen and the bedroom. I also installed a faux beam and wood panelling in the living room/kitchen.

Next steps are to do the following:
cement/board and tile entire main floor
build kitchen and bathroom cabinets
tile and paint the bathroom
etc.

Here are some photos of our progress:

[Redoverfarm]

Have you considered Ditra instead of Concrete board.  It is a little more costly but so much easier to install.  Thinset layer, lay the Ditra, press or roll down and you can immediately start laying the tile.


Here is a company that I got mine from.  They have various size rolls (54 SF to 323 sf) depending on the quanity you need.

http://www.shagtools.com/tools/schluter-ditra-150-sq-ft-roll-49-ditra150.cfm

[walkabout]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have consdered it. Is it as great as the brochures say? Or is cement  board still the old trusted way of doing tile?

I have a guy that will install the cement board for 400, which seems great for 500 or so square feet. I will supply the materials though. So at $9 a 3x5 sheet, 60c a square foot,plus mortar = approx $1 a sq foot for materials plus 400 = approx 900 before I can install tile.
For ditra it looks like it is approx 1.67 per sq foot without mortar, say $2 with mortar, before i take into account my labor/time. Without my labor it is already more expensive.

[metolent]

I second the Ditra recommendation - I had previously only used cement board.  On Redoverfarm's recommendation I used Ditra on both bathrooms and the mud room in my cabin - super fast and easy ... for me it was worth the slightly higher cost.  My bonus was that all of my tile is at exactly the same level as my hardwood floors... 

Btw, your place is looking great!   

[walkabout]

If I have a 3/4" OSB subfloor would I need to add another layer of underpayment before I can add the ditra and tile? The ditra instructions show many options? Since I am doing the entire main floor I want to do it  right.
I have 1/2" durock partway in the bathroom (under the toilet) already.

[Redoverfarm]

If I have a 3/4" OSB subfloor would I need to add another layer of underpayment before I can add the ditra and tile? The ditra instructions show many options? Since I am doing the entire main floor I want to do it  right.
I have 1/2" durock partway in the bathroom (under the toilet) already.

Generally you can apply it directly to structurally sound OSB subfloor  But to make sure you can check with the professionals in the link at the bottom of this post.   I added 1/2" ply because I had to make up 1/2" of elevation in the rooms I tiled.  You have two options on the partially done bathroom.  1. being to use Durarock for the entire bathroom and you will have a elevation difference at the doorways.  2. lift the toilet and replace Durarock with Ditra. Options # 2 might get complication especially if you alread have the toilet flange secured to the sewer pipe.  The flanges are relatively cheap if that is all you have to change.  The Ditra is easy to install and cuts with a heavy pair scissors or utility knife.  1/4" trowel to thinset it down and the rest of your tile installation is virtually the same.  Here is a portion of my thread about the steps I used with Ditra.  I believe I used a unmodified thinset and if I recall the person I talked to said that since it was on a membrane it took a little longer for the thinset to cure as there was no wicking like in CBB and moisture is retained longer on Ditra.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3613.msg90768#msg90768

If you need any professional advice on your tile or the Ditra product these individuals will have the answer.

http://www.johnbridge.com/

http://www.johnbridge.com/product-reviews/ditra-set-mortar/

[walkabout]

Redoverfarm,
Do you have any advice when installing the tiles over Ditra? How big an area did you tile at a time? How much of a 50lb bag of thinset did you mix at a time? etc

I have installed 70% of the Ditra on my main floor as per the manufacturers recommendation and will start installing (9x18) tile using Ditraset unmodified thinset. As you said the underlayment was really easy to install. I chose not to add another layer of ply or OSB as it served very little purpose for me as the engineered floor trusses I have were more than sufficiently rated for deflection.



I have also almost completed my bath/shower (will be grouting this weekend):

[walkabout]

Forgot to mention the other big work we got done, and that was to insulate above the ceiling. We rented a insulation blower from Menards and spent a very hot day blowing in 60 bags of insulation. We decided we only wanted to do this once and went with a thickness that provided R60.
Be warned these blowers are large as it barely fit in our minivan with all the seats removed.

While blowing the insulation was not that difficult crawling around within the scissor trusses proved difficult for me. I might also look at the weather forecast next time too and choose a cooler day, as it got really hot in the roof.

[Redoverfarm]

As a wise old man says "it depends".  Meaning how fast can you satisfactory lay tile.  You do not want to mix up too much and have it set up too soon. I would just mix maybe 1/4 of the bag to start with and then see how it goes.  Nice thing about Ditra vs durarock is that you can actually pause your work or stop as it does not have to have a continual bond.  If you have to stop just wipe the thinset off the Ditra adjacent to the last tile laid and start again later.  I would never stop halfway through for any length of time but you do have that flexibility.

The area also depends on how much you want to bite off at one time.  I laid my kitchen at the cabin in one day. I was using 1/2 marble and seemed to take a little more pain to keep it level and the like.  Biggest thing to tile is the layout.  Have that already before you lay the tile.  If you have to stop mid stream to figure out what to do in certain areas it can be a real PIA.

Don't forget to butter your tile with a scratch coat to improve the bond.  Noticed that you are using the short side of a notched trowel.  Need to find a trowel that has notches (size to your work) on one side and straight on the other.  Making larger swipes works better and keeps a uniform thickness to the ridges. Your tile will be more even and level.

BTW If you are part grey squirell I could use you putting insulation (R30) in my house addition.  5/12 pitch 12' room doesn't leave much wiggle room especially on the eve side which is all on your belly. 

G/L

John

[walkabout]

Things are moving slowly now that we have heat, running water a flush toilet, but we are still making progress.

Since my last post we have:
Installed internet service
Installed a internet enabled thermostat (so we can get notices of temp changes in the house and have the ability to turn the heat up before we get there)
Tiled the bathroom floor.
Finished bathroom shower tiling.
Built a bathroom vanity and mirror.
Started tiling the great room.

Redoverfarm,
thanks for the advice on the ditra/tiling. So far so good. The only bad thing is that my muscles are still sore after just spending one day on my hands and knees. I have got 160 sq foot down and another 300 still to go, so I am in for some more pain ;-)


Vanity:



Greatroom flooring:


Our first significant snowfall: