Framing is the structural skeleton of your house. The drawing at the top indicates the important framing members of any of the cottages. The most important elements are the sill, header, joists, girders, sole, flooring, studs, plate, and rafters. Let's take a look at these parts.

 

 

 

Sill

Except in the case of concrete slab construction, the sill is the first wood member to rest on the foundations and will be the first wood member you will put down. The sill is usually a 2-by-4-inch piece. In pier construction you will note that I have occasionally used a 2-by-6-inch member. This is because the header is made up of two pieces 2 inches thick, instead of one, as shown in the illustration.

Sills form a bearing surface for the undersides of joists. They should be bolted to the slab or wall foundations.

If you are using pier foundations, it is important that you first put down the sill around the building, then spike the inner header to the sill from the underside. After this is done, lay out the joists and securely spike the inner header to them. At the corners, stagger these two parts. Then spike the outer header to the inner one, overlapping at the staggered corner edge. What you have done is to build a girder with a resting place for the joists.

Header

Headers, except as noted above, are usually 2 inches thick and the same width as the joists. They run around the outside perimeter of the building and help keep the joists in a vertical position. They also help to transmit the roof and wall loads to the foundation. The notched joist arrangement is used when no sill is provided. The blocking provides a bearing spot for the joists. If you use pier foundations, be sure to follow the sectional drawings for each cottage, because this header may actually be a girder around the outside of the building. Also be sure that the joists are securely spiked to the header. Try, as far as possible, to make the headers of one continuous piece of material. If this isn't possible, be sure to join the pieces over the center line of one of the piers.

Joists

These members are what your flooring will rest on. The sizes applicable to each building are shown in the sectional and plan drawings. In most cases they are 2-by-6-Inch members laid 16 inches on center. I have tried to design all the camps so that it will not be necessary to cut most of the joists. They are standard lengths which you can purchase from your local lumberyard.

Because the joint spans are short, it isn't necessary to bridge the members. However, if you want a really good job, put l-by-3-inch pieces of lumber between joists as shown in the sketch at the side. You can also buy metal bridging if you would rather use it. Bridging is usually done every 8 feet along the length of the joist.

The floor joists in this book have been designed to take a uniform load of 40 pounds. The fiber stress (f) is 900 or over. Don't worry your head about these figures. What it means to you is that you should use Douglas fir (Coast Region or Inland Empire), West Coast hemlock, Western larch, Southern yellow pine, redwood, oak, or any other wood having the necessary characteristics. Most yards carry either Douglas fir or hemlock for framing purposes.

Girders

Girders are used to support concentrated weight. Sometimes they appear at the outer edge of the building in pier foundation work. More often they are at some mid-point of a joist span. The use of girders permits joist members to be smaller.

In most cases the girders in this book are made up of several 2-or-3-inch-thick members supported on piers. Solid members would be better but are harder to handle and aren't always readily available.

Flooring

In the sectional drawing of each cabin I have shown only one %-inch thickness of flooring. This is sufficient for most cottages. At a later date you may want to add either a composition or finished hardwood floor. The planks where a composition floor is to be laid should not be wider than 3 inches or may be %-inch plywood sheets. All flooring should be tongue-and-groove except plywood.

Sole

The sole is run around the perimeter of the building like the sill, except that it is laid on top of the flooring and joists. A sole should also be placed under each partition. If the studs are placed so that their wide edges are parallel to the partition length, it will be necessary to cut the 2-by-4-inch sole to the 2-inch width of the stud.
The sole helps to transmit loads to the joists, girders, and foundations. It also serves as a nailing surface for the interior finish. The studs will be nailed to this surface.

Studs

These members are usually 2 by 4 inches thick. They are available in lengths from 4 feet to 20 feet in multiples of 2 feet. They rest on the sole and are tied in at the top by a plate. The siding of your cottage will be attached to the studs.

In the corners of your building use three studs as shown in the illustration. All door or window openings should have two studs on each side unless shown otherwise. The corners should be diagonally braced.

If you are going to use vertical tongue-and-groove siding as the exterior finish, be sure to use a herringbone bridging system as shown in the sketch. The purpose of this bridging is to stiffen the structure and to give an intermediate nailing surface for the vertical siding. Where sheathing is used, it is not necessary to use bridging. If the exterior finish runs horizontally, sheathing is optional and bridging is not necessary.

Plate

A double plate made of 2-by-4-inch material is essential for all the cottages in this book. This part of your construction is at the top of the studs, and it forms a support for the roof members. At the corners plates are notched or butted and spiked together. You will find that over door and window openings something has been added to the plate beam or additional support to take the extra load of the span.

Rafters

Supporting members for your finished roof are called rafters. In the case of single-slope roofs, they look and act like floor joists. A pitched roof has the rafters running from the plate at the outer edge to the ridge piece. Like the floor joists, the roof rafters in this book have been designed to carry a load of 35 pounds per square foot and are based on a fiber stress of 900 or over. Most members are 2 by 6 inches. If you live in an area of very heavy snowfalls, you will want to increase the size of the roof members (probably 2 inches in depth), but in most of the United States the sizes shown are adequate.

When there is a pitched roof on the house and the ceiling follows this pitch, be sure to use collars or crosspieces as shown in the illustration. These should be less than 5 feet on center. Collars keep the pitched roof from pushing out the sides and are usually l-by-6-inch boards.

When erecting a pitched roof, nail the end rafters to the ridge and plate first—this will give you a nailing surface for the other rafters. You can also use one of the end rafters as a pattern for notching the rest of the rafters.

Roofing

After the rafters are in place, you will be ready to put on the roof boards. These boards can be 5/8-inch by 6- or 8-inch tongue-and-groove boards. There are some exceptions to this which are covered in the next section.

Are You Ready To Move Onto The Next Lesson? Click Here