Decision on which one to build

[Colleen]

Hello,
I have been a fairly new lurking member, I read these forums quite often to keep up with what everyone is doing and at the same time trying to get ideas on what I want to build. I have 20 acres in Texas outside of Centerville in which I want to build a cabin. It will start out as a weekend place but will eventually be full time I hope. My dilema is I have purchased 2 sets of plans from this site, the Victoria cottage and the 20 ft 1 1/5 story cottage, is which one to build. I was thinking with the Victoria cottage it would be easy as everything would be 16' wide (thinking in terms of lumber sizes) haven't decided on length yet. With the 20'ft wide I was wondering if I needed to use 20'ft long 2x? or could I use 2 10 ft  2x?  for the floor. Whichever I build it will  be PandP  foundation. The spot for the cabin is cleared and ready to start. This is going to be a diy project with the help of some friends. By the way I found this site when looking for cottage plans and was hooked, this is a great site and have enjoyed reading everyone's posts and pictures.

Colleen

[a_608]

From what I've read you would need a truss or engineered beam to span 20 feet. That can get expensive. One solution is put piers along the long sides and run piers at the 10 foot mark. Put three beams parallel and connect with 2x10 for the joist. I bought a book, Creative Homeowner House Framing. 2x10 joists at 10 feet is ok even at 24" o.c. For built up beams a 6x10 (3 2x boards joined together) max span is listed at 9 feet. What are you considering for spacing for the piers? What is the size of the top surface of the piers? A pier can be made so the span is 9 feet.

If anyone knows of a better span table, I would like to know.

[a_608]

For the 16' Victoria Cottage, what are you thinking of using for joists? Different species have their own max span for joist size. Here in SC Lowes and Home Depot use southern pine. Pine isn't listed on my table. I would have to find out what size would work. 2x12 may required for 16'. I also thought about building the Victoria cottage.

I may be wrong about needing a truss for a 20' span. I found span tables for pine. A 2x12 Grade 1 at 16" o.c. will go 20'4". Anything grade 2 is less than 20'. No 2x10 will go 20'. These figures are for a l/360 floor.  
I used the chart for a 40 psf live and 10 psf dead load. http://www.southernpine.com/spantables.shtml

[glenn-k]

Hi Colleen and a_608.

Since you have already purchased plans, I will swap you over to plans support where John may find it quicker.

Welcome to the forum.

[jraabe]

For the 20' wide 1-1/2 story the joists are called out on the Foundation Plan (Sht. 1A or 1C depending on which foundation you use). As you see, you can use two types of I-joists or a Select Structural 2x12. The loft framing plan is on sheet 3 where you can use a slightly lower grade 2x12 again for a standard floor or the built up beams for a beam and deck ceiling if that is the look you want.

The joist framing for the 16' wide Victoria cottage is on the same relative location in the plan sheets in that set. They are different for the shorter spans of course, and the Victoria has some additional beams for the open loft support. You can however, build the simple version on sheet 3 using the alternative cross section if you just want a simple 16' wide cottage without the pop-outs for the kitchen and dining area.

Hope that helps.