Victoria Cottage NE TN

mountainlady1956 · September 16, 2012, 04:02:23 PM

Another wall down (or should I say up-lol)! Nice work. What a great idea, planning ahead the door for an addition. I want to build a cabin using the Volks Cottage, eventually adding another bedroom as an addition. Of course, I haven't even bought any property yet but you have to start somewhere

We actually built our house in Florida with a log kit from Heritage Log Homes which is right outside Sevierville, TN. I really like TN and we have vacationed there for years (off topic again I know). Is that 1st wall the front door and window or does it face your pond? It's so much fun watching your house take shape. Less work watching too

Can't wait to see more NavyDave!! Cathy

NavyDave · September 16, 2012, 10:12:26 PM

ML,
I'm trying to stay a couple steps ahead of myself as the project progresses. There are a lot of decisions that need to be made every day at this point in the build though. With a small home window and door placement is VERY important. I've just got done planning the kitchen and dining nook walls and should be framing them next. we are supposed to get quite a bit of rain in the next couple of days though so I may have an opportunity to step back and make sure the design fits our needs.

To answer your question about the wall with the door and window. That is the wall that faces south toward the pond. The way the floorplan was changed I don't really have a "front" to the house but I consider the south side my front.....although the parking area will be on the east side so the main door we'd be entering would be the door off of the laundry room bumpout. We'll incorporate a small coat rack and place to store shoes in that bumpout.

Glad you are enjoying the progress, we are very happy so far with what's been accomplished.

September 19, 2012, 07:19:47 PM

Well the rain finally subsided and after I swept all of the water off my floor I was able to get one of the small 5 foot walls for the kitchen/dining bumpout and the big 16 footer done today.

NavyDave · September 22, 2012, 12:31:07 PM

Put up a few more walls. Only one more to go until the main 16x28 foot square is closed off. After that the 12x16 bedroom addition and the 4x10 1/2 laundry/entryway bumpout will be framed. We are really able to get a feel of the interior space of the house now. I was a little worried at first that it may be a bit small for some of our furniture but we've decided that we'll fit very comfortably in there.

East wall.

Another shot of the East wall from the inside.

North wall.

mountainlady1956 · September 22, 2012, 05:45:58 PM

Looks like building your walls is going well.

You have such a nice view from your porch over the pond. I'd be tempted to sit a little too often if I had that to look at! Looking more like a house with each wall. Do you think you'll make your Sept 25th deadline? We rarely made our deadlines, just kept adding more time to each one-LOL

September 22, 2012, 07:22:01 PM

hmmmmm, the deadline!? I was hoping everyone forgot about that. I guess I forgot to count weekends when I calculated that number.

The view from the pond definitely calls me, we'll enjoy that for a long time to come.

NavyDave · September 24, 2012, 07:25:42 PM

I got the last wall for the main 16x28 structure framed today. It's an interior wall so there will be no sheathing except on the two upper corners where the lower walls of the bedroom addition roof is framed. I raised this one with the help of a wall jack since my help wasn't available today. I've never used one of these so once I got it figured out it worked pretty smooth.

this is outside of the main structure taken while standing on the 16x16 bedroom deck.

This is the same wall from the inside. It is the bathroom wall. The far right opening on this wall is an opening that will allow light into the walk in shower area and will probably have some type of glass in it (the shower will take a small space from the bedroom addition). The opening just to the left of that is the shower access door and the opening just left of that one is the doorway to the bedroom. The door to the bedroom is 12 inches higher than all other doors/doorways in the house to allow a vent with a thermastatically controlled fan to move warm air into the bedroom from the main living area which will be heated with a woodstove.

NavyDave · September 25, 2012, 06:13:09 PM

We have a bedroom wall!

NavyDave · September 26, 2012, 05:13:46 PM

I built the entryway on the east side of the house today. We now have an entry/laundry room/utility room for the electrical and plumbing. There's enough space left over to be able to put a coat rack and a bench seat with storage underneath also.

September 27, 2012, 05:12:39 PM

OK today was my personal deadline for finishing up on the walls and, well, uuum I didn't quite make it. 2 more walls to go. The wife and daughter and I are heading to Atlanta tomorrow for a long weekend with family so the progress will have to come to a halt for a few days. Today I did make some headway though even if I didn't build any walls. I spent the first couple hours building a couple of 24" sawhorses. I've been breaking my back sawing sheathing on the ground and these things really make a difference....should've built 'em back in April!! I'll make a couple sets of different length extension legs for them soon too.

I also got the band joists installed inside the house. I'll be hanging the heavy beams off of the bands on the long edges of the house and tying my toungue and groove loft flooring to these at the ends of the house.

Redoverfarm · September 27, 2012, 07:52:09 PM

It will be there when you get back. Spending time with the family is more important.

I had made a good set of horses which were extremely strong and portable. They folded up to store them on the wall. Very easy made using 3/4" boards, couple door hinges and 3/8" ply gussetts. I like to make mine table top heigth to lessen the back strain. With a sheet of ply they will double as scaffolding or a make shift picnic table.

NavyDave · September 28, 2012, 07:09:14 AM

Red,

Those horses are a good design and look really light. I'll be building a wood shop down the road, they might look good hanging on the wall. I built mine wide and kinda low so they could serve as oversized step stools. The ply wood on the bottom brace is perfect height to serve as a step and the 2x6 on top gives a good sturdy place to stand. My head is right at 8 feet when I'm standing on them. They came in very handy while hanging my band joists. Although some might say I should have installed my band joists before raising the wall

Hind sight is 20/20 though.

I'll be hanging my beams soon and will be building a couple of A-frame ladders to use as scaffolding. They'll come in handy for the roofing process as well.

NavyDave · October 05, 2012, 06:59:16 PM

I spent a couple days doing a few small projects that need to be taken care of around here and invested a little time building 2 A-frames that will be used while hanging my exposed beams. They are 10 1/2 feet tall and 3 feet wide.

I also spent 2 days building The bedroom end wall. It's like a bay window but square. Our bed will be a platform bed with drawers underneath and will recess into it. Being 24 inches deep it will give the bedroom the feel of being 18 feet deep instead of 16 feet. It's 8 feet wide so it will easily fit our queen size bed with built in nightstands and can be converted for a king size bed later if we want. I didn't have a crew available today to help me raise it and didn't want to attempt it with the wall jack because of the cantilevered recess making it off balance so I'll be lifting it on Sunday. One more wall to go!!

ColchesterCabin · October 06, 2012, 06:42:38 AM

Dave I am enjoying your get up and go on your project. It's looking so good to this point, very excited to watch this build grow

October 07, 2012, 06:49:51 PM

Colchester,

I do have some get up and go but what I need is some get up and go faster! The leaves are changing out here and it's getting a chill in the air....high was 55 today. That's pretty cool for this time of year but it's definitely a reminder to prioritize things to get dried in.

My help came through like they said they would today and we got the bedroom end wall stood up. I'm real happy with the way it looks from the outside. I was concerned that the windows wouldn't look symmetrical but they look just how I planned.

Here's the framing for the "bed recess"

astidham · October 07, 2012, 06:53:54 PM

excellent!

Mike 870 · October 08, 2012, 08:26:26 AM

looking real nice. Really wanted to incorporate a bump out into my shed but couldn't afford the extra sq ft and still do the project under a shed permit.

Redoverfarm · October 08, 2012, 08:49:20 AM

Dave are you going to incorporate some bracing configuration under the bumpout?

NavyDave · October 08, 2012, 05:51:17 PM

Red, I thought of building something like this out of some scrap pressure treated 6x6s that was leftover from my deck posts. I'll attach the bottom directly to the rim joist and screw the top to a "ledger" attached to the underside of the bump out with 6 inch timberlok screws. I think putting a small inside arc for decorative purposes would make them look pretty sharp.

NavyDave · October 08, 2012, 07:48:47 PM

Walls are all done! This last one is the east bedroom wall and will have a sliding glass door accessing the east deck.

October 18, 2012, 09:18:26 AM

I've spent the last week wrapping up little things on the house that need to get done before I move forward. I have a tendency to get 98% done with a project and leave the last 2% hanging in the breeze for awhile. I don't wanna do that with this house though so I'm forcing myself to finish the little things before moving on.

Some of the things i've done:

Installed the wall top plates and fire blocking. The fire blocking will also act as a nailer for floor trim in the loft.

Made 4 of these L brackets. These came in real handy for supporting large pieces of sheathing while installing. I'll use them later to help build and install my roof rafters and i'm sure they'll come in handy down the road when it comes time to hang cabinets etc.

Finished sheathing. Also installed the second row of 2x8 boards on my deck overhang as well as top plates (there is a 16' section without a top plate where a pergola will be above the bedroom deck and extended patio.)

South deck facing pond. Second 2x8 and top plate acts as a "rafter beam" for the deck roof. The recess at the end will accomodate a 2x10 to tie the end support post to the house.

These are Simpson HUC68 and HUC612 beam connectors and a few miscellaneous beam ties for the exposed interior beams that are being delivered at the end of the week. My beams are white pine and will be left their natural blond color with a polyurethane coating. The connectors should contrast nicely with the black satin paint I used. Primed before painting.

This is a jig that I used/am using to build my rafters. When i built my sawhorses I used 2x6 lumber to mimic the top plate of the house. The sawhorses were spaced the same width of the house and I used my L brackets to clamp the rafters in place so I could easily glue and nail my gussets. I also used a "Thrust block" as a stopper on the bottom inside of the rafter to keep it from sliding on the "top plate" of the sawhorse. I will use this Jig as an installation tool also since it hold the rafter VERY steady and straight.

An inside view. You can see the "thrust block" in this pic.

ColchesterCabin · October 18, 2012, 09:36:09 AM

now those will be spectacular, might be awkward to raise with a lift of somekind, but man they look good!

NavyDave · October 18, 2012, 09:48:18 AM

They are actually fairly light being just a couple of 2x8's about 12 feet long. I've been thinking through the lifting process in my head and have it pretty well figured out.

I'm going to clamp my L brackets in place on the top plate and use my A-frames as a base for a 16 foot 2x4 with a pulley on the end (top of the pulley will be about 22' and my peak will be just under 21') The A-frames have a pretty wide base so they should be sturdy but I'll fix them to the floor to be sure there is no movement. Once the trusses are between the L brackets on the top plate i'll screw a 6" timberlok fastener through the double top plate, remove the L brackets and install my rafter ties. I'll document as I go of course.

ColchesterCabin · October 18, 2012, 10:12:17 AM

sounds very interesting have to see it in motion so to speak!

NavyDave · October 19, 2012, 05:45:35 PM

My white pine interior beams showed up today. They are 6x8's, 6x12's and 6x6 posts. They are surprisingly light for as beefy as they look and I actually got the one that spans the kitchen finished with 2 coats of semi-gloss polyurethane and got it set in place and hung. This is the only beam that is actually required to be hung prior to the trusses going up since it will bear the load of the roof above the kitchen. I'll also install the 6x6 load bearing post in the middle of this beam prior to putting up the trusses.

I love the way the poly brings out the knots and the rustic look of the checking.