12 x 16 House

[Beavers]

[Beavers]

[OlJarhead]

Cool little place

[Beavers]

Thanks Jarhead!

[Beavers]

I got my building permit the other day for an 8x16 addition.  Going to be a shed roof addition added to the front of the cabin.  I'm planning on a concrete block crawlspace.  Going to extend the footing to under the existing beam of the cabin and tie it in to the new foundation.  The cabin has been up for 8 years now and I haven't been able to detect any movement of the piers, but I figured it would be better to beef it up some.

I'm also finishing some of the finish work that never got done in the cabin along with extending the loft.
I'll get some pics posted once I get something done.

[Beavers]

Started working on the 2x6 tongue and groove flooring for the loft extension.  Last time I bought T&G flooring from Menards it was pretty expensive and the quality wasn't very good.  I decided to get construction grade 2x6's and mill them myself.  It will be a fraction of the cost and can't look any worse than the over priced crap I got from Menards before. 



Spent a couple of hours running everything through the jointer.
 


I think it cleaned up pretty good and after sanding should be even better.



Created a mountain of shavings



I started working on figuring out how to cut the T&G.  Using the table saw to cut the tongue was pretty time consuming.  I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet.  I have a router but no table.  I was also thinking of just cutting the shoulders on the table saw and then using a hand plane or chisel to remove the waste.  Anyone have any tips for me

[Don_P]

If the router came with a fence that would work, but I'm guessing not. You can drill a couple of holes through the router base and make a wood fence that rides on the edge of the board, the outer edge of the tongue. A board with a cutout in the bit area and then screw the fence in place for whatever the cut width is. Align the holes and fence in a comfortable working position cause you will have hours of work to do. You may need to do it in several steps of either depth or width to spare the motor depending on the router power. Buy new bits, cheaper than a smoked router. For the groove a wing cutter and fence will work, again it may take multiple passes which means a lot of board handling. You may need to rip the tongue edge with the groove edge against the tablesaw fence to make sure your widths are identical after the jointing operation.

[Beavers]

The router is pretty good sized and does have a fence. Also have a 1/2 straight bit. I never used it for much other cutting openings for the windows in the sheeting. Looks like it's time for some YouTube router education .

[Don_P]

Good deal, and its a plunge. You can set the first depth stop at 1/4" and the second at 1/2" depth and probably do it in 2 passes per side. I would run down the board climb cutting, letting it pull you along, then come back in the "correct" direction against the rotation, drop to 1/2" depth and repeat. By climb cutting it will reduce tearout, just don't let it get away from you. There is a tradeoff, a larger diameter cutter has less tearout but requires more power and more control. Dull tooling is more apt to tearout, burn and get away from you and takes much more power. A diamond stone on the flat faces can sharpen minor dullness, never hone the narrow edge only the flat face. With any edge tool look down the cutting edge in strong light. A cutting edge has no dimension and splits the light. If you see a white line reflecting back at you from the cutting edge, that is a flat land, dullness.

There are also matched T&G router bit sets available. I would do that in two fence depth settings.

With either take the time to set up a full length workstation like a 2x10 across 4 horses with a fence screwed to it away from you to stop the "off side" of the floorboards to keep them from sliding as you push the router and fence against the board.

Hearing protection...huh whatcha say? Routers are screamers.

A router is probably the most versatile tool in the shop, I have 4 or 5 worn out ones and 3 live ones down there. One careless homeowner burned up 2 of those in a week, I can get years out of one, take multiple passes if the machine is bogging.

[Beavers]

Thank you for the tips Don...very helpful.

This sounds like a good excuse to finally clean all the crap off my workbench and set up a proper workstation.  I will see how well this goes milling these boards.  If it goes well I was thinking of milling more for the addition.  I was thinking of eliminating the plywood sub floor and just using 2x6 T&G for sub floor/finish floor.  They used to run 2x6 diagonal for sub floor back in the day right?  Do you see any issues doing that?

[Don_P]

They used to run diagonal square edged 1x subfloor before plywood. Actually just 1xT&G was code perp to 16" oc joists if the boards were endmatched (T&G on the ends, that is where that machining comes from but nobody knows that anymore and they think it is for cupping) There were enough nails to provide adequate diaphragm for a floor... but it is a lousy floor. I've done a number of 2xT&G loft floors in log cabins perp to joists but am not a real fan, noisy and dust filters through. On one timberframe job the archie specced  2xT&G then a 1/2" layer of xps foamboard then 5/8 ply screwed down on 8" ctrs then pad and carpet, that is a quiet floor but time consuming... that was more than you wanted to know 

Actually for long boards like that without big cast iron molders it works better to ride the router on the board than to try to feed the board through a tabletop mounted router, sometimes it works better to take the tool to the work rather than taking the work to the tool. As timbers get larger that kind of thinking comes into play. I do 1x wainscot sized T&G on a stationary undertable router setup but begin to rethink as the boards get into the 8' length and longer. After spending days making cherry wainscot on that farmhouse remodel using 2 big routers mounted undertable, the homie just got a sweet shaper 

[GaryT]

One other way to make the T&G is with a dado blade.  Two passes for the tongue edge, one for the groove.  Goes pretty quickly.  Careful set-up and featherboards to keep everything tight to the fence, as well as some sort of outfeed table or roller and things can move right along.  One thing's for sure, there are many ways to skin the milling cat.
Gary

[Beavers]

Thanks guys.  I'm going router bit shopping and working on figuring out a jig for holding the boards for routing this week.

[Beavers]

Don,

What was lousy about the 1xT&G run perpendicular?

[Don_P]

I was talking about a single ply 1x floor. Mainly they are drafty. In the winter when you heat, especially a drafty house, bringing in outdoor air and then warming it up causes the humidity indoors to crash which causes wood to shrink, which opens the gaps wider and causes more drafts, one of those vicious cycles. It is also springier and squeakier. It is a code minimum floor, strong enough but doesn't perform well.

[Beavers]

Ok that makes sense.  I installed my 2x6 T&G loft floor in the summer time.  I had everything pretty tight and in the winter time the gaps do grow quite a bit. 

That's why I love this forum...2xT&G groove for a subfloor/finish floor sounded like a great idea to me.  Never would of thought of the gaps and draft issue.

[ChugiakTinkerer]

I like the looks of the 2x6 T&G for a loft floor.  Might a bead of silicone in the groove at installation be enough to keep the dust in place?

[OlJarhead]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_HMTtfIIBA

[Beavers]

Thanks. Looks like that setup works pretty good. What bits were you using?

[OlJarhead]

Thanks. Looks like that setup works pretty good. What bits were you using?

I'd have to go check LOL it's been a little while but I do remember buying what I thought were good ones (and they were)...I think Rockler.

The trick is to do all the grooves and then switch to all the tongues.  Also, I put 2" cardboard over the back/under side of the router like a fence to drive the sawdust to the floor instead of all over me.  The quick clamps came off Amazon and made it fast work to switch out the boards.

I started with a router table and found it was a lot slower and a pain in the rear.  Doing it this was was fast and efficient.  There are some other vids there of doing this also.

[Beavers]

I got started on hooking my power system today. I'm setting it up in a shed right now until I get the addition done on the cabin. Everything went together pretty good. I didn't electrocute myself or set anything on fire

The #4 wire is too big to fit into the terminals on my inverter.    I guess I need smaller wire?
Also planning on building an insulated enclosure around the generator to quiet it down some.

[Mike 870]

Cool, let us know how you like that IOTA, was thinking of getting one as well, my system is too small for a big inverter/charger.

[Beavers]

Also got more work done on the outdoor kitchen/dining area.  Still have to finish getting the dining area screened in.

[Beavers]

I'll let you know Mike.   I got the 40amp one and the 1800 watt generator is only running about 75% load with it charging.

[MountainDon]

 I bought my first Iota charger about 12 years ago when they were still made in USA. It's  I still have and use it. It is the 12 volt 55 amp. I also have a 24 volt 40 amp model. I use the separate IQ4 with the 12 volt version but don't use it on the 24 volt model as a rule.