My Industrial Cabin Build

[hawkeye08]

Glad you discovered it and are getting it fixed...

Back in '93 when we were building our SIP house, a neighbor was going to do a log house (daylight basement with stick frame for two sides, concrete for other two sides, logs for main floor walls). The had the concrete work done and were building the 2x6 stick frame walls... he cut all the studs the same length and found when he got to the concrete on the other side, he was 2" higher than the concrete (he had the lowest price concrete man).. he took it all down and redid it (started at the side that was 2" high) and when he got to the concrete, he was 2" too low... he was pretty mad at that point, he came over to get some help figuring it out.. I told him he needed a laser probably to get it right (could not figure out how to use a water level).. the concrete wall was level, it was the slab floor that was off... I helped him get started, numbered every stud, used blocks to represent top and bottom plates, marked each stud for cut length.. He had quite a bit of variation in the slab... but when he finished that wall, it was perfectly level and the correct height to match up with concrete wall (with sill plate installed)... the log company that brought the logs for the main floor were very impressed that it was done correctly.. they never knew the whole story.. this neighbor is also the one that had to redo his basement drain and vent plumbing at least 3 times before passing inspection..

Be glad, very glad you found the problem and corrected it... don't be hard on yourself or your wife.. it is not your paid profession and even pros can have problems I am told..

 

[s219]

Are you planning to add a ledger or other support beneath the birdsmouth on your lower set of rafters, where they meet that knee wall? Or is the remaining supported grain height enough for that particular span? When you notch a birdsmouth, any grain below the notch is not supported any longer, and this reduces the effective height of the rafter. It's a non-issue for a birdsmouth near a rafter tail, since the unsupported grain is just poking out for soffit/fascia/etc. But when you notch a birdsmouth near the head of a rafter, you need to visualize the unsupported "hanging" grain and make sure it's not a structural issue.

I attached a sketch that will explain it better; the red area is the unsupported hanging grain.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

Are you planning to add a ledger or other support beneath the birdsmouth on your lower set of rafters, where they meet that knee wall? Or is the remaining supported grain height enough for that particular span? When you notch a birdsmouth, any grain below the notch is not supported any longer, and this reduces the effective height of the rafter. It's a non-issue for a birdsmouth near a rafter tail, since the unsupported grain is just poking out for soffit/fascia/etc. But when you notch a birdsmouth near the head of a rafter, you need to visualize the unsupported "hanging" grain and make sure it's not a structural issue.

I attached a sketch that will explain it better; the red area is the unsupported hanging grain.

View attachment 649959

Thank you for that explanation. Yes I am going to put it but I was only putting it, because it is code. I did not know why it was code and that explains it perfectly.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I finally edited together the rebuilding of the the rafters and support walls.

It was a three day weekend. I try not to have a lot of fluff in my videos but its still a little long.


Rebuilding the Rafters. DIY SIPs house build #42 - YouTube

 

[buckeyefarmer]

This bar is the best tool for getting under a nail head to pull a nail. Put it next to nail head and drive it under with a hammer, then pull.



Suggestions FWIW
Also I mentioned before, use a plumb bob, not a level, to determine where the top of that center wall needs to be.

Also, build walls on top of the sub flooring, then you wouldn’t have had to remove that flooring.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I will pick up one of those nail pullers and add it to my tool collection, as well as a plumb bob.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

I went to the land today to take a load of stones from the old fallen chimney near the house we rent. The are huge and I used my landlords John Deere 5500 to carry them.
When I got to the farm and fired up my Kioti RX 7320 I swapped out the bucket for a grapple and I put the box blade on (I sprayed last weekend) so i had dropped the sprayer but had nothing on the back. I then drove to the home site to get the rocks and I overheated on the way. I popped the hood and found a big mouse nest on top of the radiator. There was some crap on the screen and the radiator reservoir was empty. I filled the reservoir, got rid of the nest and cleaned the screen. I started the tractor and it ran fine for 5 minutes then overheated. I checked the reservoir and it was still full. Since it was hot I didn’t pop the cap on radiator. I will run thru some standard troubleshooting tomorrow.
I don’t even know if the thermostat is in a place I can get to it.

 

[s219]

This bar is the best tool for getting under a nail head to pull a nail. Put it next to nail head and drive it under with a hammer, then pull.

View attachment 651483

The old cat's paw! Great tool to have in your toolbox, and old fashioned too. Very few people know about them nowadays.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Little late for this one, but Did you pull a tape measure corner to corner on the sill plates before starting walls to check whole house square? I would also have checked each rectangle ends of the house plus the middle.
Also, since you had some wall creep putting up the end walls, is the original house center, where the wall drops down actually in the center? Or did this get shifted some? I would mark center line down on the slab, then use plumb bob, (or laser level since you have one if it can be used at a 90°) to find the center at the ridge.
Was surprised your slab was off so much.
A plumb bob takes patience. It has to stop swinging. I will let it down a fraction for the tip to drag slightly to help stop big swing, then pull up just slightly. Wind can throw it off.
Take center measurements from both sides.

 

[s219]

This reminds me of when I was putting a roof on my pier, with a whole bunch of pilings that were out of alignment. I must have spent a couple days with strings working out the best way to build a square roof frame over the top of that mess that lined up with the pier deck (it was so bad, I ended up with a lower frame and an upper frame). I've run into similar situations when putting on additions or remodeling an old house, where you pick up measurements off an existing structure that is very likely out of whack. Things can get insane really fast.

This gets into an important concept of absolute versus relative measurements. I had a good introduction to this when I worked in a machine shop and learned real quick that relative measurements could lead to lots of problems. So a good machining procedure will base everything off absolute measurements from an established reference datum. The same thing works in carpentry, and there are many scenarios where establishing a reference will make everything go smoother.

In framing carpentry, I like to think of that reference as the "least evil" line or plane from which you can make all your other key measurements and know that in the end, in the average, you probably found the best "practical" solution to keeping things "sane". That's really what it's all about, keeping things practical and sane and shooting for an average "best". It will never be perfect, so don't chase after that. The reference could be a centerline that averages out a foundation or walls that aren't perfectly square.

I think it's great that you are stopping and checking things and questioning when something isn't right. The good old "sanity check". Much better to do that incrementally than to get far along and box yourself into an impossible situation. I can't tell you how many times I discovered a problem or mistake when it was too late. Sometimes you can get creative and work with it, but other times you're screwed. Finding and fixing the incremental problems before they become monumental problems is good! Better to have a little heartbreak than a catastrophic one.