My timber frame build

[Magicman]

How different it is.  Now until June is when I do the majority of my sawing.  :   Thirteen customers now all wanting theirs sawed and another called yesterday while I was sawing.  I called him back this afternoon and we set his sawing up for next year making two for 2020. 

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 9/24/2019:

i nearly completed today what I was hoping to complete yesterday :


 

 

I just need to nail in the short joists to the right of the stair well opening and add a little more blocking.  Per my plans, I will be adding some temporary joists in the stair opening and sheet it with some plywood.  Don't want to do what another Forumite did last year!  So I will be going up one more time this week to pound the last few nails and drain all the water systems to prepare for the coming cold weather.  Yesterday morning I did spend a little over an hour visiting a FF member that lives 12 miles from my cabin site.  Turns out his family has been in the area since the 1880's!  They have a great 1,400 acre spread.  No pictures this time but he is amenable to selling some of his Ponderosa pines to me.  Just need to figure out a price.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 9/26/2019:

Completed in 2½ days what I thought would take one :


 The "dirty" joists midway in the frame are 2x8 16"oc filling the stairwell frame.  They are sticking up 1¼" and will be topped with a piece of ¾" ply so it will be flush with the 2x floor planking.  Brought down my popup camping trailer - rain for the weekend and cooling off.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 10/3/2019:

Had a little snow over the weekend (9/28-29), maybe 3"?  Been warm (60's) up there but freezing at night.  Went up today to winterize - empty all the water tanks, pull the pumps, etc.  It was 37° at 8:00 this morning and had this white stuff still hanging around:


 

I ripped some T1-11 siding into 16" strips and covered my sills with all the pockets cut for posts and braces to keep the water/snow out.

I have a big stack of roofing boards that had a cover tarp that was about dead.  Also accumulated a good stack of 1x cedar wall boards that needed a cover.  Last year I picked up an old horse arena cover.  I have one piece big enough (60'x80'?) to cover the entire cabin once I get the roof boards up (if I need to).  Had some other scraps that I made into these tarps (18'x24' each).  Super heavy duty stuff.  White on one side, this faded green on the other.  Doubles as a kiln! :D




As weather permits, I will be taking down a lot of dead fir trees and general woodland cleanup waiting for the burn days to resume (usually late December to January).  I did scope out some cedar and a couple ponderosas on the lower portion of my land.  Will be testing my log winch/trailer at some point.

[firefighter ontheside]

You've been working hard, John.  Will you have a floor on for the winter and cover it?  That would sure be nice to have done.  

[Magicman]

It's sad to see your building season end.  Hopefully you will not have the snow load damage like last Winter.

[Ljohnsaw]

You've been working hard, John.  Will you have a floor on for the winter and cover it?  That would sure be nice to have done.  

NO!  There is no way the floor would be able to support the snow load of 341 lb/sq-ft.  I'll be hitting it hard next year.

[DWyatt]

snow load of 341 lb/sq-ft.

This is unfathomable. Hearing numbers like that just blow my mind compared to our 20psf:o

[firefighter ontheside]

Well, there is that.  Hadn't thought about that, but then magicman reminds me of the damage you had from the snow.

[getoan]

What a beautiful acreage! Do you have any more info or pictures of your trailer winch? Looks like a bigger version of my firewood yarder

[Ljohnsaw]

Here is the long backstory on the arch: Sewer Winch  At least its not an eyesore anymore ;)

I'll add to that post when I start using it.  Perhaps before the snow falls. 

Currently there are 4 fires burning in northern California with only one being large-ish (~500 acre).  Nothing like last year - fingers crossed.  None near my place but the winds from the west are bringing the acrid smoke into the area (up there as well as down here).

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 10/17/2019:

After finishing up the winterizing, I took a look around and decided to drop all the dead white fir trees (about 20 so far) and any other mangled or malformed trees up near the cabin (about 10 so far).  Some of the firs had been dead a few year so just a 20-30' tall x 14-24" dbh stick was left that was pretty rotten.  When those hit the ground they pretty much explode into mulch.

Up by the cabin, I took down a number of mangled green firs and made piles of the branches.  Then I broke down my slab pile and put the slabs around the branches.  That should help keep the rain and snow off so they can dry out.  I'll be able to burn somewhere around late December or January when they lift the ban.


 
There are 4 piles on the right and 4 visible piles on the left (one small one hidden).  There is still a lot of slab wood to disperse.  I can't burn it where it sits currently (off to the right under the trees).

Behind the piles on the left is the bath house and the cabin foundation is on the right.  This is a fairly steep section of my forest road but far from the steepest section.  It's probably 80' to the cabin and it is 6 or 7' higher ground there.

[Ljohnsaw]

11/5/2019 update:

Finished a timber frame but not the cabin:


 
Just have to add the metal roof.  The full story is Here.

[Raider Bill]

What holds the frame to the blocks?

[Darrel]

John, I don't think the snow load will crush that. Looks good. 

@Raider Bill. I haven't yet noticed the second sixty years of childhood getting any easier. 

[Ljohnsaw]

What holds the frame to the blocks?

Gravity.  It is still semi-green but I'm guessing it is about 600-800 pounds.  Its 356 bd-ft of white fir and the Toolbox show white pine at 1,068 lb green.   Also, the 4½" drill rod that penetrates the roof is a good anchor.  Between the two, I don't see it blowing over or sliding off the "footing".

John, I don't think the snow load will crush that. Looks good.

I could have went with 4x4's but that doesn't leave room for joints.  This was the next, natural size to use.  Plus it look good, IMO.

[Raider Bill]

John, I don't think the snow load will crush that. Looks good.

@Raider Bill. I haven't yet noticed the second sixty years of childhood getting any easier.

Me neither! Now my body is paying me back for the first 60 years of abuse.

[Sedgehammer]

Update 10/3/2019:

I think I'd re-stack the wood and re-tarp that stack. With the amount of snow you can get, it could possible tear your tarp out where you have the highest level down to the next. I know you have it sloped, but the snow can easily get backed up high enough that there is no more room for the snow to fall, thus putting too much weight on your tarp.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 11/13/2019:

The metal roof is on and all ready for the snow to begin! Details


 

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 12/1/2019:

I will try to get up the hill sometime this week between storms when the roads are in better shape.  I think I'm done until June next year:


 
This is about 20 minutes up the road (on a clear day) from my cabin build and another 1,300' of elevation.  The storm today started out with snow low (2,000') and is supposed to end with it above 7,000' - but this area is still getting snow at 7,165'.  From the other cameras, it looks like I'm right on the rain/snow level, which means real heavy, wet stuff.

[firefighter ontheside]

When the build is done, will you be able to stay there all year?

[Ljohnsaw]

I could but I won't.  I like to visit snow, not live in it.  Probably do most weekends and holidays.  Quite a bit cooler in the summer than down here.

[Ljohnsaw]

Update 12/5/2019:

The snow that had fallen on Sunday was still up there despite the warmish rain that came down Tuesday and Wednesday.  Was about a foot left in most places and some drifts to 2½'.  The road in had been plowed at one time but was only clear where tires had passed.  My well cover frame did its job (way down there).  Hard to believe that soon, the snow will be up to the top of the roll-up door on the VegiWorks box.


 
I have a propane weed burner thing that hooks to a 5 gallon propane tank.  Made starting the 9 fires a whole lot easier and faster then normal.



In the picture below, the pile between the two fires (the left one is just getting going) is a giant cedar stump with a huge pile of slabs on top.  I had to climb up on top to knock the boards/slabs off so I could throw them on the fires as they burned down.

 
and 7 hours later...


Below, between the stump (middle of picture) and the skinny tree to the right is about 4'.  Eight foot slabs were piled about 8 feet high in that gap.  So 2ish cords of wood which was less than ¼ of the total placed in the 9 piles.  Seems like such a waste to just burn it but nobody wants it for firewood  :-\

 
All ready for the big storm this weekend and slabs next year.

[Sedgehammer]

You burn all the slabs on top of stumps correct?

[Ljohnsaw]

You burn all the slabs on top of stumps correct?

There are two stumps there (pulled from the ground elsewhere).  The one pile of slabs was up against/too close to trees so I couldn't burn there.  The smaller stump/root-ball to the left had an inferno raging on one side raging all day (the slabs are all staged around it).  I maybe burnt 2" off of it.  The rest are all white/red fir stumps and will be rotted out in a year or two so I don't try to burn them out.  I did make a number of seats out of them.  They are positioned for the best views of the giant cedars and provide a resting spot when you come climbing back up the wood's road.  It is quite steep and at 5,800' elevation, it does take your breath away!