New Member Saying Hello

[rmallaire]

Hello all,

I am an avid outdoorsman and builder.  I was attracted to this website after reading the forum  Topic: Wall height on story n a half. Within the forum, I particularly took interest in the engineering methods of rafter construction, because that is the point I am currently at in designing my own cabin.

I am from New Hampshire; I own a piece of property in the northern part of the state.  A 1,500' driveway has been made and about 4 acres were cleared to expose a view of the mountains. On the top of the hill is where I plan to build a cabin which will serve as a vacation getaway for myself, family and friends. There is not electricity, well or septic at this time. Getting water is not a concern, there are a handful of springs coming out of the ground that flow down the hillside in different spots throughout the property, one of which is within about 100' from the desired building site.   

I plan to build a 16X20 cabin on sonar tubes using 2x12 PT floor joists, 8' ceilings, 2x8 ceiling joists (16'X12' loft), 4' knee wall, then a 12/12 pitch roof with shed or gable dormers on each side. I will be carrying out all phases of construction myself. 

To briefly mention a few stumbles I have came across in the design phase: 
For the loft, I would like to maximize the ceiling height (7'6" ideally) while not having to purchase trusses (scissor). To place a tie in the lower 1/3 of the roof height, this will allow about a 6' ceiling height.
I have never built dormers. I've been researching online about their methods of construction as much as I can. I will need to apply those methods to the desired specs I have set in place for my cabin (4' knee wall, 16' span, 7'6" ideal ceiling height).
Sonar tube spacing.

Thank you for reading this post. I look forward to making connections with members on here. Any advise would be greatly appreciated!

[rick91351]

Welcome Randy from Rick and Ellen in Idaho.... 

[OlJarhead]

Welcome to the site

[Erin]

Welcome to the forum! 

I would start with these two books:
Do-It-Yourself Housebuilding: The Complete Handbook
Independent Builder: Designing & Building a House Your Own Way

Both are excellent, wide-scoped reads and will give you a good place to start/design from.

Also, to make it easier to hunt for info, you're talking about SONO tubes, not sonar. 

[cholland]

Welcome.

The rafters in the plans on the home page might work for you. I eventually went with built trusses. For one thing, because I must comply with code, it was very simple since the price included the engineering needed for plan approval.
Why not trusses? Cost? I found them to be reasonable considering the required engineering.
Another option would be a ridge beam. But you gotta figure out how to lift it into place.

I am using a parallel chord truss, a scissor type design. I'm in the middle of putting them up right now. Been fairly easy, but time consuming. The parallel chords mean I have to put blocking in between each truss as I go along. Provided with the rest of the package... But occasionally need trimming. Also because my plan is open on the front half (no loft), and I don't have scaffolding, I've had to use a kind of temp loft floor in order to reach the peak safely and get everything nailed together.

[Jeff922]

Welcome fellow New Englander   

Very cool that you have natural springs on you site!

[cbc58]

welcome.  my property is also in NH (monadnock region).  how far up are you??  nice up north...