One man's struggle to take it easy
Cold and Snow
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2013
It’s been unusually cold here this past week with overnight lows below 0 degrees and highs in the single digits. We’ve also had a good bit of snow.
My plan to use excess solar power to keep the utility room above freezing was still not working very well and I don’t think it would have been enough to deal with temperatures below zero in any case. So I made an emergency trip to the cabin last Wednesday and moved a small propane heater I had in the mini-cabin over to the utility room. It keeps the room plenty warm. In fact, on the lowest thermostat setting it stays about 70 deg. in the room. I wish I could set it colder.
Here's a link to some detail on the stairs: http://blog.flgator.com/2012-10-29-stairs.html
The loft entry area is only 28" wide and the floor joist framing the open area is a double 2x8 so I'm not worried about spread in that area. With the steel roof at 12/12 pitch not that much snow accumulates anyway.
At 11'x13' you may want to consider using a ladder to access the loft. I went with the steep stairs because I won't want to be climbing a ladder when I get old and so my dog could get up to the loft.
Good luck with your cabin and let me know if you have any more questions.
Where I am confused is that two rafters (end rafter and one following at 16 o.c) will bear on a corner that is structurally unsupported by the loft floor. It seems that corner would be subject to lateral spread. Is the idea that the double 2x8 (nailed to the gable wall and adjoing floor joist) will complete the rectangle that prevents the lateral spread?
It looks like the end rafters are flush with the ends of the gable walls. Does the gable walls share load with the bearing wall at these locations? Did you use the Simpson VPA2 at these locations or something else.
Thanks for your patience Rick. I appreciate your input. I live at 8000ft in Colorado and I have seen some substantial snow stack up when I am not handy for shoveling.
Best,
Chris
At the gable end, the top plate of the non-load-bearing wall would perform the same function as the floor joists as far as preventing spread. So the only rafter without a support directly underneath is the one 16" from the end, as you mention.
If I recall correctly, I did use the VPA2's on the end rafters and just bent one of the tabs down over the edge.
I'm at 6500 ft in Utah. Snow does pile up on the porch roof but slides off the cabin roof fairly well. In fact, after an overnight snowfall, I can usually hear it crashing to the ground all morning. Once I get a rain/snow water collection system set up I'm going to actually install some snow brakes on the roof to keep the snow up there longer.
Best,
Chris