Took Saturday off to watch football. On Sunday, I got 2 of the 12 steel roofing panels installed before the wind picked up too much to handle the panels. Spent the rest of the afternoon framing one of the gable ends. Each gable end will have a 24”x48” window.

My mom and dad were visiting the past ten days so I enlisted their help in working on the cabin roof. We finished the framing and sheathing but weren’t able to install the actual steel roofing. Work was slowed considerably by prevalent high winds as well as the labor intensive nature of the work itself.

The roof has a pitch of 12/12 which provides 7’ x 16’ of full standing room in the loft area. The roof rafters were constructed using 12’ 2x8’s attached to a non-structural 2x10 ridge beam. Simpson connectors were used to attach the rafters to the ridge beam as well as the top plate of the walls instead of cutting a birds mouth (LS70 and VPA2 respectively). Could have used 2x6 rafters but wanted the added room for insulation that 2x8’s will provide.

After the roof was framed, we installed and taped Zip Systems roof sheathing and 2x4 purlins. The purlins will give the steel roofing something to attach to as well as providing the ability to walk on the roof. We raised the sheathing (5/8”) on to the roof using a winch and a pulley attached to the ridge beam.

On Saturday I replaced one of the loft floor joists because it had too much crown and installed the subfloor. I used 3/4” OSB for the subfloor. Getting it upstairs by myself was a challenge but ultimately not too bad using a rope and ramp. I couldn’t detect any bounce in the floor, even using 2x8 joists. Next up, the roof.

Last week I finished taping the seams on the Zip Systems wall sheathing and installed the front entry door. This past weekend I cut out and installed the first floor windows. There are three windows on the first floor, plus the window in the door. I limited the number of windows somewhat to provide more wall space for cabinets and storage.

Yesterday I finished framing the loft floor. The first floor ceiling height is 8 ft. and the loft floor is framed with 2x8’s leaving a 2-1/2 ft. knee wall in the loft. I used 2x8’s for the loft floor rather than 2x10’s because there will be an interior wall running most of the length of the floor for support. The span tables indicate 2x8’s would be acceptable even without the support wall but would be at the limit of their span rating. The 8’ ceiling on the first floor provides enough height to avoid feeling cramped in such a small cabin.

Rather than weaken the wall studs by notching them for a let-in ledger to support the loft floor joists, I attached the ledgers directly to the studs using 5” “Ledger-Lok” screws which are supposed to have the same shear strength as 1/2” lag bolts. Calculations showed 1/2” lags would provide acceptable shear strength. The joists were attached to the ledger with standard joist hangers. The stairwell opening uses double joists.

Not much to report from this past weekend. I drafted some help in the form of my friend Troy and we installed the rest of the wall sheathing (14 panels) and managed to get a tarp over the entire structure. I tented the tarp up at the center using a board clamped to a ladder to hopefully shed any water.