Tennessee Beginnings

[ShawnaJ]

I have been lurking and reading for awhile, I have learned so much of what I want to do with our little house!!

We bought 7 acres originally two years ago, this winter the 7 acres next to ours came up for sale so we snagged that as well, so it's 14.4 acres now, all hardwoods and THREE spring fed streams  running through it, at least three building sites, two of which are pretty good sized. The rest is tied up with the springs, can't do a septic system within 100 feet and we want to use even more distance than that, a sharp drop-off above one creek and a grotto that one of the other streams runs through.

The plan is to build a little cabin with a big porch fronting one of the streams for summer use, and eventually build a bigger house when we retire.

Whoever had the land next to ours started a shed, but he used 1x6's not 2x6 studs for the walls, but the rest is 2x6 including the roof beams and floor. The floor seems pretty solid, not sure how far he dug down on the supports for the beams. I haven't been up there since January so it all may have blown down by now. I was thinking I could shore it up by adding  either 1x6's or 2x6's next to the existing 1x6's....my husbands cousiin says to just put wood horizontally between the 1x6's? That doesn't sound sturdy enough.....

Since the shed is already there I would like it to remain a while and we are subject to some high winds and wicked thunder storms.

.....we put in a driveway, and got two more with the second 7 acres!! I will try to post some pics as soon as I figure it out....


ShawnaJ

[glenn-k]

You're right about the studs, ShawnaJ.

Horizontal blocking will just fold with the rest of it.  

Sounds like some great property.

Picture posting info is in forum news.

Posting Pictures

[ShawnaJ]

Ok am going to try the photo thing, may be playing with this for awhile...

The driveway


View of the Sequatchie (sp?) Valley


Buffalo about 4 miles away from property--also has water buffalo and deer on this farm/ranch
   

One of the creeks


The dogs in another creek


****if you can't see these, try this www.shawnaj-tennessee.blogspot.com

[jraabe]

Your Kodak gallery photos are not posting for some folks and it appears you have selected the thumbnail image size.

Try going to the normal sized images, then right click on the photo and copy the URL address -- finally, paste that between the image brackets.

Some photo development sites don't allow linking to their images so you will have to save the image on your computer and then have Photo Bucket or Image Shack host them and provide the URL for pasting.

[Amanda_931]

buffalo or Buffalo--as in river?


(right click on the photo, click properties for the URL)

[ShawnaJ]

Ok gotta play with the photos some more, new to me.

As for the buffalo, they have the big brown shaggy North American kind and the dark grey water/river buffalo, the ones with the shiny skin and horns that curl up.  I have a picture that shows the herd, with babies as well. I will have to find it.

I did not believe what I was seeing one day as I drove by at 55 mph, I had to turn around and go back to make sure.

[bil2054]

Sounds like some nice property, ShawnaJ.  And of course, buffalo as neighbors is always a big plus. [smiley=wink.gif]
1" x 6" framing does seem a little "scanty".  Kinda hard to say for sure, not knowing what the plates are like, (the horizontal framing at top and bottom of the studs), what the stud spacing is, and what kind of sheathing may (or may NOT) be there, but it may be easiest to sister (place alongside and fasten) 2" x 4" studs to the existing 1" x 6" members.  I could imagine installing horizontal blocking and putting  structural sheathing on both sides, making essentially a box beam, but that would be a solution REALLY needing an engineer's advice.  I think 2" x 4" sister studs would  likely be the most cost effective, simplest solution.  
Does the shed have some sort of rafter ties or ceiling joists?  That's pretty important, too.
Good luck, and enjoy your little piece of 'heaven".

[glenn-k]

I recently got some antiques and old books from a house built around 1940.  There were no studs at all.  It had a top and bottom plate and a center horizontal 2x4 girt.  The walls were all single thickness 2x12 board and batten.  They took the place of the studs.  It is still standing although it could have used a much better foundation.

[peg_688]

  There were no studs at all.  It had a top and bottom plate and a center horizontal 2x4 girt.  The walls were all single thickness 2x12 board and batten.  They took the place of the studs.  It is still standing although it could have used a much better foundation.

 Yep seen lots of those , generally full 1" boards , inner boards run horz. , outer brds run vert. nailed to log rim and joist , set on stones or old stumps .

 New wood / todays wood will not last under those condtions , good old growth , could  be pine , D. fir, cypress, white oak , etc. , depends on area of country your in , could and did last 80 , 90 , 100+ years under extreme adverse conditions .  

 Today's wood , 3 to 6 years wet , SPF/ OSB / LVL, etc.  will rot , quickly, :'(

 under what would seem to be better conditions :-? , At least not as wet :-/

 

 

[ShawnaJ]

UGH, I certainly don't want that problem. I grew up in Port Orchard and spent alot of time on Whidbey when we were stationed there in the 90's.

The shed in Tennessee had 2x6's for everything BUT the wall studs, the entire frame of the building, including the roof is there. The floor is the only thing finished......I just hope the old owner didn't get as chintzy with the pier and post foundation underneath it.

Figure we will go up, brace the 1x6's with the 2x4 and put the exterior wall, roof, and tar paper the roof sometime this summer, hopefully save the floor from rotting.

Until hubby gets better hours at work, we aren't going to get much else done. At least I can go up and supervise the well work and clearing that needs to be done this fall.

There's also an old in bed truck camper he left behind, it looked like it had been vandalized, and I wasn't about to go in it. Next time I will let hubby clear it out and see if it is salvagable.


www.shawnaj-tennessee.blogspot.com

[Sassy]

The area looks beautiful, Shawna!  How close are the rock slides & the river?  Right now I'd love to be swimming in some of that water... hows the weather & the bug situation?  I wouldn't have gone in that old camper, either, no tellin' what might be lurking inside...  

(I shouldn't complain about the weather, we had one of the longest, nicest springs here that I can remember   )

[ShawnaJ]

The park is about 30 minutes from the property. We spent our afternoons there and mornings working on the property last summer. I soooo much want to be up there now, it's been 100 down here in SC with the heat index and muggy, and the beach is so warm the sharks are already becoming a problem, so now the dogs can't even go for a swim. Needless to say, they aren't happy!

Bugs are nothing up there compared to the bug problem down here on the coast with all the swamps. We used bug spray because we were in the woods, but the dogs never even picked up a tick.