A Cabin in the Woods (Part III)

(A reminder to readers: If you like, you can double click on any of the photographs in any of my blog postings to see larger versions of the pictures and to scan through them all. Press ESC to return to the blog posting.)

Continuing the story of the construction of the timber-framed cabin... On day two of the scheduled work, a crane arrived to help raise the largest and heaviest walls of the cabin.

Recall that at the end of the first day, after raising two walls, we had assembled the remaining two walls on the floor of the cabin. One lay atop the other with plans to lift each one into place as we progressed.

As with the first two walls, we raised the connecting girts into place first. This makes it possible, once a wall is raised, to connect it to the prior walls by joining it to these same girts.

Note the cutouts in the girt below. These will eventually hold joists for a loft.

With all three girts connecting walls C and B, wall B is now raised by the crane. The tallest and heaviest of the four walls, this one would eventually support rafters and the peak of the roof.

Finally upright, the three girt joints were pulled together, and then the crane straps could be removed.

Continuing on, girts between walls B and A were installed.

Many of the girts involved knee braces, which add both strength and interesting beauty, I think.

Finally, wall A is raised.

Oops! If you look closely, you may be able to see that the wall stands too tall! The girts do not line up with their corresponding mortises. Turns out that everyone had forgotten one final step in preparing he posts for wall A–cutting them to the correct length. The question was whether to put the entire wall back down or to cut them while the crane lifted the wall just off the floor.

The posts were all either 8x8 or 8x10.

Peter and Will decided that lifting the wall slightly and cutting each post in place was the answer. Here, Will is making one of four cuts around each of the sides of a post with a circular saw. After that, a small center portion still remained and was cut off with a hand saw.

Now wall A aligned properly with the girts, and the joinery could be completed.

Next, the crane lifted each of the main rafters into place. These are the ones over the main portion of the cabin. Others over the lower areas were lifted up and managed by hand.

What remained was to do a last check to insure that everything was still secure, tight, and square. Then, as is classically done with timber framing, wooden pegs were driven into holes through the mortise and tenon joints to hold everything.

And voila! A cabin frame has risen.

On a following day, the loft floor joists were put into place, and the remaining rafters on the lower walls were added.

I helped Will with one of the very last tasks. Above either side of the peak and over the loft there will be two dormers. We installed the valley and jack rafters which support the inner ends of these dormers.

Being someone who loves wood and working with wood, I find these structures just amazing, beautiful, and even heart-warming. I have been privileged to be a part of this whole process, from helping Will in learning about timber framing and the making of the individual timbers to the process of raising the structure. Most of all, the chances I have had to spend time with my son doing something together that we both enjoy has been very special indeed. Add to that the chance to work with a crew of Will's friends and relatives, all of whom gave willingly of their time, and one cannot help but harken back to past times when the raising of barns and other buildings and community gatherings made many of these kinds of events so important–socially, culturally, and in so many other ways. We have likely lost something as a people simply because we have moved on to other ways of getting things done.

Finally, you may wonder what comes next. The plan is to cover the timber frame with structural insulated panels, an example of which you can see in a different structure that I photographed later. This one in Grand Marais has panels already installed. Called SIPs for short, the panels are about 7" thick and are essentially sheeting (like plywood) with over 5" of foam between them. They are made to order for the structure in question and come with doors and windows precut out of them. Specially trained crews must install them. SIPs go on the roof as well, and then traditional roofing materials can be added. I believe Will wants to use a metal roof, which should help shed the heavy snows that are typical of the region. Seeing Will and Sandy's cabin when these steps are complete will be fun.

A Cabin in the Woods (Part II)

(Pardon some of the technical detail in this post. I simply find timber framing and the processes involved too fascinating to leave this out!)

In my most recent post, I described and provided photographs of the work that Will and I did to add a floor to the foundation for the cabin he and Sandy are building on their property in the Minnesota arrowhead. When Kathie and I returned on August 17th, Will had completed the sheeting over the floor and had begun to pull out the various timbers for the cabin raising.

On the 18th, a number of family members and friends arrived to help with the project. Before we got started with the actual timber framing, Will's Uncle Ron and I decided to get a couple of side projects taken care of first. One was to complete the decking on the lake dock that Will had started. This would eventually prove to be important in keeping various children occupied while the rest of us worked on the cabin. (A couple of posts from now, I intend to share pictures of the children and our various helpers. So you will see this dock again later.)

The other side project was to put plywood bottoms on the two areas on either side of the cabin footprint that Will and I had called "bump-outs" and that will give the cabin something similar to bay windows. We had not been able to complete this project the prior week. One side was relatively easy, as the bump-out sat high enough above the ground to allow us space to work. The uphill side of the cabin, however, was much closer to the ground. We had to first pull lots of the backfilled gravel out so that someone could get underneath to help measure the required pieces and to fasten the plywood bottoms in place. Ron volunteered, and even though he was among the shortest and smallest of us, the space was cramped nevertheless. The job got done, though, and after we put the gravel back, Will was very happy to have this task crossed off the list. Major kudos to Ron for this work!

To begin raising the timbers, we started by placing the various pieces roughly where they would be needed. These individual timbers were all created from a set of drawings provided by the professional (his name is Peter) who had worked with Will to design the cabin. Will and I made the first set of timbers in 2010, Sandy and Will created more in 2011, and then Will has steadily worked to create the remaining ones since that time. All of them have been stored under cover at the property during these preceding years. Making an individual timber is very precise work. One cannot allow measurements to be off by even 1/16th of an inch lest such problems propagate as the timbers are assembled.

The structure comprises four walls, which the plan refers to as walls D, C, B, and A. These walls are interconnected by timbers called girts. We began by assembling wall D on the cabin floor. It consists of a plate and three posts. The plate is made of two timbers connected end-to-end with a scarf joint. Straps with ratchets are used to help pull pieces together. Peter was on hand during the entire cabin raising to guide the process. That's him below connecting one of the straps.

Peter brought a smallish, relatively portable lift to the site. Once the plate was together and its three posts were connected (mortise and tenon joints), we lifted this first wall into position and temporarily braced it with some 2x4s.

In spite of the effort anyone puts into making perfect timbers, it seems like there are always small adjustments to be made in the joints at the time of assembly. Timbers that have been stored can shrink, twist or maybe expand with weather conditions, and mortises can be a bit tight for their tenons (mortises too small or tenons a bit too large). So, there is always quite a bit of use of chisels and other tools to make changes or tweaks.

Next, we assembled wall C on the floor. Peter suggested we raise this floor in halves, as each successive wall was more complex and/or heavier than the prior one. For wall C, this would eventually require pulling the scarf joint of its rail together in place rather than on the floor.

Wall C has bracing timbers between the plate and some posts. There are lots of these in the overall structure.

Again, straps with ratchets help pull things together.

Sometimes, a bit of "persuasion" from a small or large wooden mallet helps. Even after it all pulls together, one has to measure everything again to insure that the timbers are square with respect to each other and that joints are properly seated.

Before we raised wall C, the girts that cross between walls D and C were put into place and braced with temporary 2x4s.

Next, we used the small lift again to raise wall C. As its plate rose into the air, several of us scooted its posts forward to get the entire wall positioned roughly where it needed to be.

Next, the joints between the girts and the wall C posts were joined. At this point, the structure begins to have some self-sufficiency in terms of overall strength and ability to stand on its own.

Since we had only raised two of the posts on wall C, we now had to raise the third post with the remaining portion of the plate and assemble the plate's scarf joint. That joint is what you see coming together below. You will also see various holes–this is where wooden pegs eventually go to hold the entire structure together. There are virtually no nails or screws in the entire timber frame.

Near the end of the first day, here is how the cabin looked with walls D and C in place as well as related braces and girts.

I find the joinery and the wood quite beautiful, and the spaces that the structure encloses are all at once warm, interesting, and encompassing.

Here is a longer view at the end of the first day. In fact, after getting walls D and C in place, we had begun to assemble walls B and A on the floor, one lying atop the other. You might see a glimpse of them below. In my next post (Part III), you will see how most of the rest of the structure comes together.

A Cabin in the Woods (Part I)

Some of my faithful readers may recall that back in 2009, son Will asked me to join him as an assistant in learning how to make timber-framed structures. If you want, you can go back to this posting to learn more. In 2011, we raised that first structure (a sauna) at Will and Sandy's property in far northeast Minnesota. You can see those details here, if you wish.

In 2010, I took an additional class on timber framing with Will when he started a set of timbers for an eventual cabin on the property. Since that time, Will has continued to work on the remaining timbers and to arrange for the necessary preparatory work.

About two weeks ago, a crew came in to excavate, and another crew followed to pour a foundation, which includes a five foot deep crawl space. I went up to the property a week ago to assist Will in building the floor over this foundation. This coming weekend, a collection of friends and relatives of Will's, including Kathie and me, will be there for the next step, which is to raise the timber frame atop  the floor and foundation. This will be the subject of Part II of this posting.

When I arrived at the property one week ago, this is what I saw. For me and for anyone else who has previously visited the property, this is quite a change to a space that once held a shabby shack and a poorly constructed deck. I know that the end product, once done, is going to be a beautiful addition and a terrific retreat for Will, Sandy and Anders.

The piles of lumber you see above had been delivered prior to my arrival, and the task for the two of us was to build the floor. Will had begun installing sills on the foundation. We proceeded to install headers and floor joists, starting with the area of the floor plan that will serve as one entrance and a kind of mud room.

On the second day I was there, the excavation crew returned to do the backfill around the foundation and to start some initial landscaping. Again, for those of you who have been there, seeing these big machines get back to the property on the fairly primitive road into the area was quite a sight in and of itself. The operators of the equipment did an impressive job, I thought, including dealing with the many enormous rocks which are common to this once glacial area.

One of the next big challenges was to make two beams from a set of 2x12 boards and to install those beams across the length of the main cabin footprint. Building the beams wasn't actually so hard, but maneuvering them into place once built was tricky. In fact, when moving the second one, we accidentally got it on its side, which allowed it to bow down into the crawl space. Fortunately, it didn't break before we succeeded in getting it to stand back on its edges and "walked" over to its proper place beside the two posts that help support it.

After the beam was in place, many floor joists were installed on either side, and two "bump outs" were constructed (imagine something like bay windows on each side of the rectangular floor plan).

More-or-less finally, there were lots of sheets of subfloor to attach. There are plenty more details involved and some other things to get done, but the essential floor atop which the timber frame is to be erected is done.

Off the west end of the eventual cabin is an existing small cabin that Will and Sandy have used for trips to their property. (I guess it will eventually have to be moved or raised.) In the meantime, here is the stalwart crew who built the floor for the new structure. Anders helped too, pounding lots of nails and serving as an outstanding gopher (go for). Will and I don't think he has yet caught on to the sometimes negative connotations associated with that term.

Stay tuned for further details in about ten days.