Cabin Build Questions

Just some questions on the milling for the cabin. The roof calls for 3/8 inch plywood but we want to save some money so we plan on milling our own boards, will white pine or hemlock at that thickness be strong enough?

The flooring on the inside of the cabin calls for 3/4 inch, we will be using either white pine or hemlock, will it be strong enough?



zap

http://www.townandcountryplans.com/klondike.html

I don't think you'll have a problem zap.

Whats the spacing on the floor joists and rafters?

The plans call for both the joists & rafters to be 16 inch on center. The rafters also call for 2 x 4 blocking 48 inch on center

zap

Personally, I'd do the roofing at 1/2. What are you doing for flooring? Is your milled stuff gonna be the underlayment, or will it be "it"?? If it's the actual flooring, then will you be tongue and grooving it?

My dad always cut 1" & the wood would shrink to 3/4" roughly when dry. He used poplar mostly, roofs & floor.
Siding was cut at 3/4".
Some where there is a shrinkage chart for various woods.
He nailed them on green before they dried I bowed. They shrunk & had small gaps between the boards.

Steep roof with metal? Snow load shouldn't be a problem. I'd mill a little thick, since the wood will shrink some.
But I typically over build to the safe side.

Flooring, our milled wood will be the actual flooring at this point & time, tongue & groove we have to decide yet. I was thinking a wide plank flooring without T&G.

Zap

I think the roof is a 3/12 pitch, we are not sure on the roofing material yet but it calls for shingles in the plan.


zap

If your going at 3/8 you better be "screwing" those boards down green.

We can use screws, plus the wood will have some time to dry. Since this weekend will be nice in our area I might get back milling some pine, it would be nice to get another 400 bf done if not more before the snow.


zap

The roof on my house is decked with 3/4" x 10" pine boards with 16" OC trusses. It has been fine for the past 50 years.

If you put the deck down green, the boards will shrink and leave gaps, which isn't a huge deal.

To Jay's point, if nailed it will work some of those nails out as it dries...leaving a head that could poke thru shingles later on. If it were me, I'd put down metal roofing.

Guess what I am getting at milling 3/8 that wood is going to cup and split bad when drying. You would be better off milling and installing it the same week.

Smokin, just do not have the time to mill the wood then install it in the same week, guess I will deal with it.

zap

BTW, is it really cheaper to mill your own boards when plywood is so danged cheap?. What's a 3/8 sheet cost anyway, like 7 bucks? someone do the boardfeet math on that for me. I'd rather read about it than figure it! lol.

I vote for this. random width planks milled by yourself would look super cool. if they are wide enough then not t&G shouldn't be a problem. start getting into the 4" range and then it gets to feeling wobbly.

Strap it down tight. Maybe a little thicker than 3/8 to. I seen 3/4 twist like a pretzel.

$12.00 a sheet in this neck of the woods. We have the pine down so I'm cleaning up the property plus getting some nice boards out of it.

Thats what we bought the 660 for with all the milling equipment, we will end up buying some of the lumber but not for the roof. The long weekend of thanksgiving (24th - 27th) will be a weekend planned for milling unless mother nature changes things.

zap

3/8" will sag due to any snow loads. Do it right the first time and save yourself the headache.

Thanks for all the replies, after reading them all I'm milling the boards at 3/4 inch. That is what some of the siding will be to, not sure what I'll do with the 1.25 thick planks we have.

zap

It will come into play at some point no qusetion.

The splitting and stacking will need to wait, looks like I will be milling this weekend, I deleted the pictures from the card but had posted it here. I should get some nice planks from this. :zip:

http://www.arboristsite.com/milling-saw-mills/179893.htm


zap

1.25" would make a great floor. If you are going to use wide planks on the floor I would suggest ship lapping. This will make it so when the boards shrink( as much as a 1/4" per foot in width) there will still be wood behind the crack not space. If using boards on the roof , go with 3/4" or 1". The thicker boards are not only stronger but will hold a nail or screws (if doing metal roofing) better. Hemlock is stronger but prone to splitting and splintering,a little harder on ones bare or socked feet.Use pine for the floor. Cannot wait to see pictures.