Loft Floor Beams and Framing
by Todd Walker
Extra space is always a plus. The loft will give us an extra bed and room for storage.
Big 3″ x 10″ x 16′ rough-cut beams add the rustic look of a log cabin. Now to figure out how to hang these by myself.
My pickaroon lifted one end of a beam enough to shove a block under for attching a choker. I laid the bucket of the tractor on the end of the board, hooked a chain to the choker, and raised the bucket. The beam bounced in front of the tractor like the lance of a charging knight.
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I gently sat the end of the beam through the door on an awaiting dolly, drove the beam the rest of the way into the cabin and lowered it onto another dolly. Now the beam was off the floor and ready to be cut to fit.
The ol’ chain fall from the practice cabin lifted each beam close to the hangers. If rigged in a balanced position, the beams went to their final resting place without a hitch. Then there was the time I measured twice and cut once, but the measurement was too long from the start. Lowering to recut is no fun at all.
There’s nothing at the big box stores that would serve as hangers for anything this large. I had my cousin at A&W Mechanical and Fabrication craft 32, 3/8’s steel plate hangers for these beefy beams. They’ll not only do the job, they’ll look great doing it.
Framing Walls
I’ve piddled with building things over the years, but I’m not a real carpenter. Constructive critiques are welcome. Just keep in mind my disclaimer at the beginning of this paragraph. None of the walls are load-bearing so I didn’t use solid headers over doors.
Laundry/utility room on left, bathroom on right.
The closet in the bedroom is taking up a lot of limited space. We are considering scrapping the closet and use a few wardrobes instead.
Most of the plumbing will be run through the 2×6 wall picture below. A wider wall just makes running pipe easier. The toilet will sit about were the ladder is standing. Everything else will run into that 3 inch drain.
The next big project is to rough in the drain, waste, and vent. I plan to run Pex A instead of Pex B pipe for water. If you have any personal experience, pros and cons, with either of these, please drop me a comment.
Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,
~ Todd
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