Loft Joists and Danish Oil

As you may have noticed in the June 18 post, when I installed the loft ledger boards there were joist hangers already attached. Those ledger boards, glued and bolted to the wall, are there for the sole purpose of holding the loft joists--the structural skeleton of the loft--and the galvanized steel joist hangers are how that connection is made. 

Cutting three pieces of 2x6 the correct length and nailing them into a joist hanger is not that much to write home about. But things got a little interesting due to the fact that these joists--like the ledger board--will be exposed. 

Dry-In: Windows - Day 1-3

With a project this size, you get the hang of a new building skill at just about the same time as you finish the job that required it. These past three days, that skill has been window installation.

The thing is, though, even the first window wasn't difficult to install, per se. We did it wrong, is all: we used too-short nails and forgot to create a gap for sealant along the bottom.

Two lessons learned. But the main one is Lesson 50: Communicate constantly with your work partner--don't assume they know exactly what you think should be happening at a given moment, and double-check that you are both following all the steps correctly. Just keep up a constant patter of checking and double checking and one of you, at least, should catch when you're going wrong!

Dry-In: Weatherproof Barriers - Day 2

The walls are (almost) completely wrapped and taped! And I'll tell you, I am glad to see the back end of this stage of construction. See: my previous comments about the infuriating nature of Tyvek...

As you can see in the photo, I've chosen to extend the house wrap all the way up between the rafters, nearly to the sheathing. The roof overhang will be so short that I wanted the extra protection there. Aside from that, the coverage is pretty much typical--that is, total coverage, even over the window and door openings. (More about those in a moment...)

Dry-In: Weatherproof Barriers - Day 1

After attaching the wheel well sheathing today, Dad and I started installing the Tyvek house wrap. It was windy and by dinnertime it had begun to rain. Not fun work, but necessary. I only wish we'd gotten more done before that rain!

(I gloated a little when I saw the other house under construction in my neighborhood. It had an even smaller proportion of its Tyvek installed by the time the rain started. Ha!)

Roof Sheathing, Loft Framing, and More

We finished the roof sheathing! As I feared, we had to use an extra piece of plywood. It wasn't the most efficient job ever. But it's done!

But what's more exciting is that we have now started the interior framing--and closed up the wheel wells, too.

Roof Sheathing

First two rows of sheathing: complete

Today Dad and I started attaching the plywood sheathing to the rafters. Great! Except...

We had an exchange that pretty much summarizes my feelings about this portion of the tiny house project:

Me: "I guess I shouldn't consider a career in roofing."

Dad: "You'd be the slowest roofer in the world."

Me: "Slow, but very careful... not to fall off."

Yeah. I'm not a huge fan of heights.  Not scared, exactly, just--shall we say--respectful. Wisely respectful.

Lookouts!

Also known as outriggers or ladder rafters, these rafters stick out over the end of the building to support roof overhang at the the gable end, i.e. the rake.

There is a variety of ways that the rake overhang can be framed. I eventually chose to use 2x4s laid flat (relative to the roof slope) and cantilevered, so that they hang out beyond the edge about half as far as they project in. Each 2x4 lookout is attached to two regular rafters: it passes through a notch cut in the first (end) rafter and is nailed there, then continues to the second rafter and is end-nailed to it.

First Look: Shou Sugi Ban

Shou sugi ban, or yakisugi, is an old Japanese technique for treating wood to make it weather-, insect-, rot-, and fire-resistant. It was apparently independently developed in Scandinavia, as well, for the same purposes.

The technique consists of charring the outside layer of wood that is to be exposed to the aforementioned dangers. The charred material can be left on, or it can be scrubbed off. I am scrubbing it off for my project, to make the wood cleaner to handle and to bring out the beautiful grain.

I did my first few pieces--the roof trim pieces--today, and am super pleased with the results!

Rafters and Blocking

I'm starting to get a sense of space inside my tiny house, thanks to the latest big addition: rafters!

Remember when I said I was going to use Western red cedar for my rafters, since it's so much lighter than Douglas fir? Since I'm using 2x8s for added insulation space, weight is more of an issue than strength, and my online sources indicated that cedar is "moderately priced" and only 2/3 the density of Douglas fir. Good plan, huh?

Walls - Day 8-11 - Top and Cap Plates

First piece of cap plate: installed

We already finished installing the walls. Yay! But there are two more elements needed to create the transition between the walls and the rafters: the top plate and the cap plate.

How about a vocabulary lesson?

The top plate is the 2x4 lumber that fits inside the groove in the foam along the top of the walls. It is required.  It spans the seams between panels and adds another layer of holding-it-all-togetherness, like an extra spline.

The cap plate is the optional (in my particular SIP system) piece of 2x6 lumber, ripped down to 4.5" wide, that goes on top of the top plate. The point of the cap plate is to add extra wall height and/or point-load strength (i.e. so the weight that is transferred down the rafters doesn't deform the wall).