20 x 30 Single Story in Central NY

[Checi]

Nice progress Squirl. You've got a nice spot there with a view of those rolling hills I see. I pass Otsego each time I'm headed up to my own camp just north of Herkimer. Takes me 4 hrs from Long Island on average, and by the time I'm passing the Cooperstown turnoff, I'm thinking, the lucky devils living here would be home already! The only solution I see is moving closer to the cabin    Keep the progress photos coming..
Doc

That's what I did Doc. I bought my land in Fulton County in 2006 when I still lived in Florida. At the beginning of last year I moved myself, my daughter and my job to Syracuse to be closer to my property. It's been the happiest decision of my LIFE!

My place is just about 25 miles north of Cooperstown. You must be very close by!

[Squirl]

Some updates. This is the first wall.



I started by stringing a chalk line down the building to keep a strait line with the bottom plate.  I put two toe nails for each into a joist.



I then lined up all the studs crown side out. 



I nailed one nail per stud at just the studs at the joints.  I went with a 12' – 12'- 6'board on the top plate and a 6'-12'-12' board on the bottom plate so that the joints didn't fall in the same locations.



I then measured corner to corner to square the walls.  I braced them from the top plate to the studs with scrap 2x4's.  Then nailed the rest of the studs in place.  6 end nails per stud.



I did the let in header for energy efficiency.



Blocking



Sheathing



Tilt up.



The wall was heavy (2x10s).  Be sure to do this over a joist.



I had to hit the bottom into place with a sledge hammer.  After the wall was braced of course.

[archimedes]

Looking good.   

Did you do anything to prevent the possibility of the wall going all the way over (chains,  ropes etc.).   I'm assuming that you are working alone.

[Squirl]

 No .

I will next time.

I should have.  I did have an observer/helper there (father).  There was a lot of cursing from him with the final tilt up (parents).  I had some 2x3 ready and nailed them as braces immediately.  The 2x10s make a good foot for the wall to sit on, but it didn't help that a small storm was pushing through.  In hindsight I did not like using a single jack on a 30 ft long wall with that much weight.  There was a lot of flex in the wall.  I probably would buy two wall jacks if I had to do it over again.  The short sides are only 18.5 ft, so they shouldn't be so much trouble.

I accidentally left two toenails in the bottom plate during the tilt up.  I believe it helped to keed the bottom from sliding out.

[CjAl]

wow. 2x12 joists on under ten foot span and 2x10 walls. that thing isnt going anywhere is it?

your walls are bigger then my floor joists. did you use two foot centers on the floor and walls?

[Squirl]

Yes, I used 2 ft centers.  I did it for less stud heat loss.  Even still the floor is rated at over 100 lbs per square foot.



North wall (one from previous post) braced.



South wall first section. Because I had an extra set of hands I nailed the bottom plate to the floor and did the walls from there.  I still had to bend the wall slightly and nail crosses braces to keep it square.



South wall with blocking and bracing before sheathing.



First Row of Sheathing.



North and South walls done.

[astidham]

Very nice progress!
cant wait to see more

[dablack]

Looks great.  Very interesting see such wide walls and that Jeep jack.  I just picked up a wall jack but figuring out how to use it on a slab is going to be tough. 

Austin

[speedfunk]

any new pics squirl?  I know you have been up this way   

[Squirl]

Sorry, I've been so busy checking out other projects, I haven't posted pictures of my own.



The west wall.



Blocked.  I didn't get a picture of it sheathed.



The east walls were about an inch off of being square.  I used a ratcheting tie down to bring them square.



The east wall missing two studs.



The east wall almost sheathed.



The east wall finished.

[Squirl]

Inside of east wall.



Inside of west wall.

[Squirl]

2x8x20s; Harbor Freight Folding Trailer; Jeep Wrangler

It can be done.


Ceiling Joists/ Rafter Ties in place.



Temporary decking to hang ridge board and nail rafters.

[new land owner]

Looking good!

[MountainDon]

2x8x20s; Harbor Freight Folding Trailer; Jeep Wrangler

It can be done.

Holy crap!   Did you have tungsten weights in the cooler up front?  (tungsten is 1.7 times heavier than lead).

[ColchesterCabin]

That works as long as they were stacked on their edge not flat. One would thing the overhang and the flex would break them on their horizontal.... Project is looking good.

[MountainDon]

I would not be as worried about the lumber flexing and breaking as much as I was thinking about the effect tail heavy trailer might have on the TV (tow vehicle).  I used to have a friend who fell victim to a load like that.

[Squirl]

Yes, I stacked them on edge.  The back end heavy trailer could get a little sway if I jerked the wheel.  My approach was to take it slow on back roads.  I mostly stayed under 35.  The boards were 16 2x8s and pretty light spruce. They were a lot lighter than I expected and lighter than most loads I have taken.  Weight distribution and speed were more important factors.  With douglas-fir, I might have felt it more in the jeep.

[MountainDon]

If you haul long things a lot try extending the tongue. IIRC you can flip the plate the coupler mounts to to place the square tube in between the a frame tongue. Then buy some 2x2 square tubing with 3/16 wall. Slide it through the mount and extend far enough back so it passes under the first two crossmembers. Three if you want more robustness. That does drop the coupler a couple inches but that can be easily taken care of.

[Squirl]

Here is the ridge board.  This actually took a while for me to do.  I had to figure out how to cut the 45 degree angle to all the boards so they over lapped at the center of a rafter.  I ordered the 3-2x12s all to get that extra inch of overlap.  If you look to the bottom of the board you can see the 45 degree cut.



I built the stands in hung it as three separate pieces and connected it.



Cut and notched.





Test fit first one.  I did this before I did the whole stack.



Tying in the rafters.



Collar ties



How I left it.



I still have to add the last two rafters on each side.

[operose]

Hi Squirl & Gang

I've been lurking here for a while and have read through many of the great owner/builder threads including this one. Haven't really felt the need to register and post until today... Your pics of the jeep towing a trailer load of lumber had me laughing!

My wife and I have 40acres in (all the way)upstate NY and are working on getting a place to stay set up. Recently I got a 10'x28' deck for free, and hauled it all away from the site and to our property -- with a 1995 jeep wrangler (4cyl) that has currently clocked 232k miles on all original gear     This of course included a whole bunch of 16' deck boards on my 8' long trailer and we had a similar site to what you have depicted here 

Thanks for sharing the cabin build, there are a lot of great folks and a wealth of knowledge here for sure.

[Squirl]

  operose!

Wow. 4 cyl with a 10x28.  Impressive.

Most of my lumber has been 8-10 ft.  The max before this weekend was 12 ft for the top and bottom plates.  I had more trouble with the rafters.  They were 2x10x14s.  Even though they were 6ft shorter and only overhung the back by 3 ft, they had a lot more weight and more sway because there were 36 of them.

This goes to a topic from a few years back.  Some assumed since they were starting to build a house they had to go out and buy a truck.  A trailer is a lot cheaper and has worked out well for me.  Ajbremmer has been able to do it with a Fiesta.

[Rob_O]

This goes to a topic from a few years back.  Some assumed since they were starting to build a house they had to go out and buy a truck.  A trailer is a lot cheaper and has worked out well for me.

I hope you didn't haul this with the heep on that trailer in the background!

[Squirl]

  I thought about it.

I asked what the weight was.  About 4500 lbs.  It far exceeded the 1500 lb capacity of the trailer.  They rented a trailer to haul it too, but with that adding an extra 1000 lbs, it far exceeded the tow rating of the jeep.  IIRC, delivery was $100 for the weekend. 
From memory, my jeep is only rated to tow around 2500 lbs.  It is not the go.  The straight six can easily move 3500 lbs or more.  I had a Cherokee with the same engine rated to tow that.  It is the stop.  It doesn't have the breaks, wheel base, or weight.
I was able to haul a walk behind front end loader with the jeep.



I am probably going to rent a trencher to do the septic.  That is about the maximum I would want to push it.

[AdironDoc]

Wheelbase, mostly, from what I've been told by the Jeep mechs. My 09 wrangler is rated at 2000lbs, but the same year 4 door (same engine, brakes, etc.), is 3500. I've towed some moderately heavy trailers just across town and the tongue weight lifts the front wheels enough to make it real squirrely. Steering and control get downright scary. Guess the engine being further forward on the 4 door makes a better counterbalance, and allows an almost double tow rating.

[hpinson]

Squirl, your thread is inspirational. Can you explain your choice of 2x10 for studs? Also, what is the spacing between the wall studs?