That's a lot of load on a couple joists, is it possible to change the orientation of the door so that it runs parallel with the joists?

Thank you, John. I will double up on both ends of the opening.

pmichelsen, the cabin will be small as it is and orienting the opening parallel to the joists would mean people would be walking over/into it all the time.

Dave

In my sketch below, position A is where I originally planned to place my trap door to the basement. It is behind the front door and out of the way. But it runs perpendicular to my floor joists. Position B could work as well. It would be in front of a large closet and would run parallel to the floor joists. When the trap door is open, the floor decking would lean against the closet, preventing access. This should not be much of an inconvenience since I don't expect to be accessing the cellar that way too often.

Any thoughts on this?



Thanks,
Dave

Don't think the ice box will work where it is unless it is a compact one sitting on top of the counter

Position A seems to make the most sense. You can latch the hatch to the wall and it is close to the kitchen for pantry and vegetable storage access.

I spoke with my excavator last night. He dug the run-off trench on the uphill side of the driveway, scraped the organic material off the driveway and dug a test hole to see what level the ground water is. He is waiting to hear from the forms contractor to find out when he can schedule the foundation work. My excavator doesn't like to dig until the foundation guy is ready, in case we get a spell of rain.

We have had a lot of rain the past few weeks, which has slowed down getting the foundation started. We had some dry weather last week, so my excavator was able to dig the hole. The first corner where he started digging, he ran into ledge about 3 feet down. He moved over about 3 feet and was able to dig another 2 feet before he hit more ledge. There is plenty of fill on the site which can be used to get the finish grade. The footings should go in this week and maybe the poured foundation walls as well.

This is the before picture. The excavator is sitting just about where the future cabin will be. The septic tank and leaching field will be at the far right.



Here is the cellar hole.



Here is the big ledge we ran into.



My septic tank arrived last week too.



My excavator said he will dig some test holes behind the foundation to see where the water table is. He can go down about 15 feet with his machine. If he finds water, he will put some well tiles inside, so I might have a dug well.

I'm excited we are finally making some progress.

What do people use to seal between the PT sill plate and top of the foundation? My HD sells a Owens Corning sill seal which looks like some form of flexible pink styrofoam, very thin with some ridges which run lengthwise.

Is this ok or would people recommend something else?

BTW, my foundation was poured 2 weeks ago. I have to do an update and post pictures!

Thanks,
Dave

I have used sill seal.  Works great.  In fact we used it on the house I built recently.  I have used just construction cement in the past.  It works. 

That is what the majority of the homes use in this area.  In addition flashing bent to 30 deg to act as a termite guard.  But if you use a Pressure Treated sill plate then use 15-30# felt to separate the metal from the wood.  There is a chemical reaction between the two and the metal will corrode without it. 

The foundation was poured 2 weeks ago. They guy did a nice job. I went up last weekend to knock off the tabs and to waterproof the exterior walls.



It took me awhile to learn that if I hit them up and down, it takes a dozen swings to break them off, whereas if I strike side to side, they break off with 2 swings!



I decided to spot prime the exposed metal first.



Then I rolled the waterproofing on the walls.



Here is a view of the inside of the new cellar from the exterior bulkhead opening.



My plan is to go up this weekend to lay out and bolt down the sill plates. My excavator will backfill this week, so I can stand on the ground, instead of on a ladder.

Are you doing dimple board and a french drain too? Looks like good progress.

Quote from: DavidRaftery on July 21, 2015, 03:12:08 PM
My plan is to go up this weekend to lay out and bolt down the sill plates. My excavator will backfill this week, so I can stand on the ground, instead of on a ladder.

It's usually a good idea to install the floor before backfilling to help support the wall tops, and keeping their tracks off the backfill.

pmichelson,
Yes, I have exterior french drains connected to a pipe which runs downhill to daylight. I hadn't heard about dimple board before. I looked it up and it sounds like good stuff.

Don,
Yes, I know it's a better idea to cap the foundation first, but it has already been backfilled. My excavator dumped sand next to the foundation for better drainage. He has been doing this for 25+ years, so I've been going with his recommendations.

Thanks,
Dave

I drove up to the building site this past weekend to install the sill plates. My excavator was working back filling the foundation. He needed extra soil to build up the ground around the foundation, so he moved dirt from the gently sloping hillside behind the house. This gives me a relatively flat backyard and will improve water runoff in the spring.

This is a view behind the foundation, looking southeast. My garden will be close to the house, where it will get the most sunlight.



While my excavator was there, I asked if he could dig a couple of test holes to look for water. The first 2 holes hit ledge about 2 feet down. The third hole, he was able to get about 10 feet down. The ground was moist and water was slowly seeping out of the ledge.



My excavator put a bed of gravel in the hole, followed by a well tile and then surrounded it with gravel. 16 hours later there was 6 inches of water in the well tile. We will have to see how this turns out, but I was happy to get some water. There is a lot of runoff here in the spring, so I will have plenty of water then. I planned to put in a 300 gallon water storage tank all along, so finding water is just an extra blessing.



I finished up the sills on Saturday afternoon.



I nailed together a Jefferson stair at home and brought it up on the roof. It works well.



I hope to get back in 2 weeks and start framing the floor

My folks bought a cabin with a trap door when I was a kid.  A very nice feature.  The trap door was about the same size as you have sketched, probably a few inches wider.  They positioned it where a couch would be located, so it would be hidden under the couch.  It was a simple thing to slide the couch away when needing to go into the basement.  With the couch in place it was not apparent that there was a basement at all.

When we would leave the cabin to go home, anything of value (TV, alchohol, tools, food, etc) to a burglar was put in the basement.  Dad's feeling was that there was no way to prevent a break-in but, if they did not find much of value, they would probably not break in the second time.

There was a 1/4" hole through the door leading to a nutsert on the bottom side of the door.  To open it we would put a threaded t-handle through the hole into the nut and lift.  When done with it, the handle came out and went into a drawer.

Question on floor joist size for first floor. I have a 14 foot wide foundation and plan to place my floor joists 16 OC. I wanted to use 2x8 joists but it looks from the joist span table I have that it will only span 12' 9" for DF #2. A 2x10 will span 15' 7". Looks like I'm right on the borderline? What do people suggest?

14' is a 2x10 joist, you'd regret a 2x8 more than likely. The job I'm on is a T shaped farmhouse with 14' wide floors in both wings done in 2x8's. I've replaced the main floor in 2x10, they have commented on the improved feel seeral times. Not wanting to gut the second floor we are doubling up the 2x8's upstairs. It is interesting that there is now more wood in that floor but it is less stiff... deeper is dramatically stiffer. In the engineering calcs that the span tables come from depth is squared in both the bending and deflection formulas, it is the quickest and cheapest way to improve things if you have the room.

You can go to closer spacing, higher grade, or engineered joists as well.

Thanks Don. I'll go with the 2x10's. I was at HD yesterday and saw some 14 footers. I was able to lift and carry one by myself, so I should be good!
Dave

I've been delinquent in my posting! I headed up to my site the week of 10 August and put down the floor joists and floor decking. The floor is rock solid with those 2x10s! My excavator called last week and told me the septic system has been installed. I am headed up again this week to start framing the walls. I'll post more, including pictures when I get back next weekend.

I went up to my site the first week of September and started framing walls. Cutting notches for the loft ledger boards went a lot smoother than I thought it would. I was able to lift a 12 foot section of wall with 4 studs and one piece of plywood nailed on it, by myself. Then I added the other studs and sheathing. I was able to get three 12 foot wall sections built and put in place. Pictures to come. I'm planning to head up this weekend and spend a full week framing the rest of the walls.

Question: When I am sheathing the walls, do I bring the sheathing up flush with the top of the double top plates? I read in one book to leave a space there, although I don't know why.

Dave

They probably intended to mean to make sure the sheathing isn't above the top plates... you want the rafters bearing on the framing rather than on the sheathing. The biggie is to make sure the sheathing is well attached to the mudsill, then the floor, then the framing, then the top plate. The hurricane ties then tie the rafters to that assembly. Up top the straps over the ridge from rafter to rafter or the high collar ties connect the top of the roof together. This is part of the "continuous load path". If an alien tractor beam, or a high wind, tries to take the house it'll have to take the foundation too. I usually run the sheathing down below the mudsill by a half inch or so. Nail off well to the sill, this is hooking up the anchor bolts to the framing in shear. All edges of all sheets should land on framing or blocking. Everybody loves blocking  . I don't throw away anything over 12" till very late in the job.

Oh, and make sure not to overdrive sheathing nails, they should be flush not punched in. I've got it right if I have to pound some home. I was installing hurricane ties yesterday into the old oak frame I'm working on. It took predrilling every hole and still holding my mouth just right while driving the 16's. Everybody likes installing ties 

I'm back again! I've been heading up every other weekend to work on the cabin. The walls are up, window and door headers are in, loft joists are in, and I have another 8 sheets of plywood sheathing to nail in place. I've been putting pictures and brief descriptions on my blog, just because it is easier for me to post pictures there. Eventually I'll post some more pictures here.

http://sonomashanty.blogspot.com/

The roof is my next project and I hope to get it on before the snow flies. I'm reading chapter 5 Building Roofs in John Carroll's "Working Alone" book, to learn how to build the roof myself. Any suggestions as I go would be appreciated.

My first question has to do with the ridge board. I'll be using a ridge board and not a ridge beam. Due to the length and working alone, I was planning to put the ridge board up in 12 foot increments, and splice them together as I go. As I understand it, the ridge board doesn't carry any load; it just provides a straight surface for the top of the rafters to rest against. Am I missing anything here?

Thanks,
Dave

QuoteAs I understand it, the ridge board doesn't carry any load; it just provides a straight surface for the top of the rafters to rest against. Am I missing anything here?

No, that's it. I make the joints in the ridge in the bay, between rafters, and install a 14.5" or 22.5" block on each side of the joint, nailed to ridge and rafters. Although this is carrying no load after it's built, until it is sheathed those joints are tying everything together. After it is sheathed the roof is uniformly knitted together.

Things before you start the roof. I see no braces along the long walls in the Oct 7 blog pics. Run some string lines along the wall tops and run long braces from the tops of the studs to the floor every 10' or so, or as needed to brace the rafter bearing top plates straight, again until it is sheathed.

This should have a ridgebeam. If I were working for a homeowner that was smarter than me I think I'd sneak in a double 2x12 ridgeboard and act dumb. The first ply would break on the loft edges. The second ply would break 1/4 of the spans off of the loft edges. At that point no blocking would be needed between ridge joints, they are knitted being 2 ply with offset joints. If posts were needed later the ridge would be doing more.

Nice job !