A timber frame cabin memoir

[caver]

I talked to a small lumber yard near my project about I joists. They are not provided with my cabin although they could have been but I chose to get a little more local and hopefully avoid less damage plus the hassle of unloading them when the kit arrives. I would prefer to help the local yard out but if the price difference is a little too much I may have to resort to the box stores. So anyway mom and pop lumber yard asked if I needed 310 or 360 series after giving him the length and width I need. He seemed to think it is an industry standard?

 

[ponytug]

Those are manufactured joists, by Weyerhaeuser.

https://parr.com/PDFs/TJ-4000_ijoist_guide.pdf

They have a number of advantages over traditional 2 by joists, but looks aren't one of them in my book.

All the best,

Peter

 

[caver]

My project manager said 230 series would be my minimum. He's my contact at the company and works with me and their CAD team. UPS Store printed my plans 11"x17" on decent paper. It was around $0.67 a sheet after tax. An 11x17 set gets sent with the shipment and I can always print parts on my computer. My BW laser printer can't do 11x17
I notice places like Menards seem to be the only one that has the joists online to look at prices. I'm not sure who makes their joists but prices are half what that lumber yard quoted. I've heard people say Menard's lumber is not the best in the chain stores.

 

[caver]

My concrete foundation guy said poured in basement door frames are really pricey like$1000+ pricey. I checked the area Nu Way supply house and they actually have 10" frames in stock for about $500+ door makes the total I think around $1100-1200....yikes. While out of town for a funeral the local Menards there carries a window like this brand but only 8" Pour-in-place Perma-Buk III Hinged Basement Windows | Northview Window & Door. The nearby Menards doesn't
carry the awning style and the kid didn't seem to know if 10" was available through them. I've contacted North View and hopefully get a responds Monday. I neglected to ask the guy at Nu-Way.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

For my poured basement they just used pressure treated wood frame slightly larger than the door frame. Same for windows. One window came with a frame that was used in the pour.

 

[Hilbilly]

Someone asked earlier, what the drainage was like at your location and I didn't see a reply. Maybe I missed it but that is a very important consideration. My daughter built a house near us but in a flat area that was all gravel. They put in a 10' basement and when they were excavating they discovered a little ground water. They didn't think it was a big deal and carried on. For the first 2 years they didn't have any issues with the ground water and then things got worse in a hurry and they were not set up for it. The ground water flow has increased for the last few years and they are now pumping 110 gpm from a deep sump in their back yard, when the spring thaw takes place. This is a very big deal and their basement has flooded several times until they installed the new, larger pump system. It's been OK since then but they also had to install a standby generator to automatically turn on when there is a power outage. It's been a very expensive and unpleasant learning experience for them.

Hope your area is not like that.

 

[caver]

It's a walkout basement on a 15* slope or more so I'm only concerned about the back but will take precautions. I'll put tar on the buried bits and there will be drain tile to open air.

The cheaper route is frame in with ripped lumber for a 10" thickness. I was leaning PT if I go that route but that stuff is so corrosive to fasteners and could see that being a problem. I'm leaning towards standard lumber if I go that route. I may even have some pine I ran through the saw mill a couple years ago that might even work better.

 

[ponytug]

Just FYI, most consumer labeled pressure treated, even some material labeled as "ground contact" is not actually suitable for use in contact with soils. (BTDT) Around here, you have to special order the good stuff at commercial yards (I.e. not box stores or typical lumber yards) to get suitable material, or soak them yourself in copper naphthenate (Copper-tox, Tenino, etc.).

All the best,

Peter

 

[caver]

The brown is not to hide anything but just show dirt level on the walkout. There's a deck above.

 

[dstig1]

Given you say you are very rural and contractors seem somewhat limited, For the foundation, waterproofing is critical. I would try to find a place that can spray the polymer coatings made for this as they are very tough and flexible. Much better than any hot tar. Then find a source for Dimple Mat which is plastic sheet with dimples thermoformed into it and wrap your foundation on the uphill side with that. It creates a drainage space next to your foundation to eliminate the risk of water pressure building up against your foundation leading to water inside. BUT you must make sure the bottom is drained properly. Do not ever use the corrugated black plastic drain tile as it ALWAYS collapses. Use solid PVC with the holes in it (holes face down. And cover the area with filter fabric to keep dirt from plugging up your foundation drain. The addition of dimple mat is a redundancy to a point, but it is pretty cheap and easy to do and well worth it to avoid problems later on.

Alternatively, the Form-A-Drain system can be used around the footing to create a footing drain in one shot. Is is the form for the footing, and is left in place as it is also a drain.

 

[ponytug]

@dstig1 Great advice! For belt and suspenders, there are bentonite / plastic rolls like Paraseal that go against the waterproofing material and form a thicker, tougher layer, then the dimple drain layer, then the gravel backfill. The bentonite clay has self healing/self sealing properties.

All the best,

Peter

 

[caver]

I may have not mentioned I worked for my dad in my early to late teens pouring basements. We called it tar and rock but it was a non fibrous tar like coating that dad eventually found an industiral sprayer that would put it on. I did learn about Form-A-Drain a few years ago watching a video. What turned me off of it was a 12" footing would need two sections stacked. Or a form board and then FAD. I believe my contractor is forming the footings. In our day the area had a nice clay we would often dig the footings in.

 

[caver]

They sent me a picture of two of my bents out of four total. Outside leg to outside leg is 21'-9" for a sense of scale.

 

[caver]

After that cold blast around Christmas he managed to get my footings poured just over a week ago with some mild weather. Two days later they got the walls formed up enough so I can still fill floor with rock. I did a good chunk of that yesterday with the tractor and hope to go back to finish tomorrow. I forgot to take a photo yesterday.

 

[caver]

Wednesday the ground got dry enough to get the pump truck and mixer trucks up to pour the basement. I had a time lapse set up with my Virb camera but the battery ran out of steam prematurely resulting in 5 seconds of time lapse. They had started to unload the first truck. Wha wu wahh. 4 trucks and about 28 yards of concrete $4K and some change. There was about a yard or slightly more left over. We had to use Dynamic Concrete Pumping out of St James MO. That bill was $1,4XX. There just aren't any options where my place is and they had to drive maybe 85 miles? My contractor got concrete out of Salem from Kienstra. I asked why so far away and he's not been happy with the quality from Stewart Morrison which was bought up by BMC. Don't blink or you will miss the action Concrete Timelapse (very short)

 

[caver]

This is about 12 days after the floor was poured and the first time I've seen it since the day they poured. Lots of long hairline cracks. I arrived after the last truck had left. He later informed me they utilized more crew VS a pump truck. Interesting as the back was setting up faster than the front (2 loads) when I arrived. I hope it doesn't get worse but not impressed and will likely hire someone else to finish the slabs in my old shed.

 

[ponytug]

You have my sympathies. Was it covered with plastic or a tarp to keep it wet?

All the best, Peter

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Any control joints, zip strips? Was it covered?

 

[caver]

No is my answer to all questions. Truck was coming from the Salem MO batch plant since he doesn't like the local outfits. He did say he had them put hot water in which I thought was odd....or he didn't want to be out there 10pm at night finally getting a power trowel on it. Low to mid 50's after it was poured and it probably got down to upper 30's at night. I never did flat work with my dad as he always subbed it out to another crew.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

All concrete will crack, that’s why you need control joints. Even my front porch has some hair line cracks in the middle because control joints were a little too far apart at 13 ft.