Main roof
So now it's time to tackle the roof. The correct and understandable sequence for building a cabin is that you first seal off the roof before sealing the walls and only then install the windows. This sequence is understandable because you don't build a wooden box without a lid, let water run into it and then wonder why the water stays inside and can't go anywhere. So the roof has priority number one. And that means building rafters.
Rafters are the wooden beams that run from the ridge beam at the very top to the header beam top of the exterior walls. Just like floor joists or studs, rafters are installed parallel to each other, spaced no more than 24 inches apart. This is the only way to ensure that the load from the roof is properly transferred to the exterior walls and from them into the foundation.
Preparing the Rafters
Our rafters are just under 12 feet long including the nose. Nose? I'll get to that in a minute. First, let's say that we are using 12 foot long 2×10 wood beams, all of which we need to cut into shape. After all, a piece of lumber like this is primarily characterized by its rectangularity. A rafter, on the other hand, is nailed to the roof beam - that is, the upper side of the rafter meets the roof beam at a certain angle. So we have to calculate that, mark it, and then saw the rafter. Second, the bottom end of the rafter sits half on top of the header beam and the other half goes over it. Just as the ridge beam sticks out a foot to the right and left of the cabin, the rafters also form a one-foot overhang. This overhang is the nose mentioned above. We also have to calculate it exactly, mark it and finally saw it. You can see how such a nose looks in action on the pictures.
Installing the Rafters
As is so often the case in construction, the most time-consuming part is the preparation of the work. On the one hand, we need to prepare the rafters: Mark and saw the angle on one side and the nose on the other. On the other hand, we have to mark on both the ridge beam and the header beam where these heavy parts will eventually go: Like the floor joists and studs, rafters are parallel to each other at a distance of 24 feet. We also have to keep in mind that we'll be installing two large skylights, for which, again, completely different rules apply. This all eats up an enormous amount of time, but is necessary so that we can eventually install one joist after the other. This then also goes comparatively quickly and we ourselves are amazed at what this already makes up in purely visual terms.
Roof of Bedroom and Bathroom
30 rafters form the structure of the main roof. But our cabin consists of main house, bathroom and bedroom. So we have to roof the bedroom and bathroom as well. Since the slope of the roof in both cases is different from that of the main house, we have to re-calculate, measure, mark and finally saw. Here we follow the motto "It may be a little more complicated."
Connecting the two roofs gave us a bit of a headache, as we are deviating from the plan at this point. In the original plan, the room we will use as a bedroom is just a screened porch. Not only are we extending this space two feet in width, but we are also putting very large windows in the walls. This makes the wall a little more unstable than the plan calls for. To ensure and neatly control the load distribution from the roof, we also install a header beam in the bedroom. Thus, the wall is just under a foot higher than planned. This results in the non-nose end from the rafter extending higher into the roof from the main house, where it must be tied down somehow. The solution: we nail the rafters from the bedroom roof to the rafters from the main house. Done.
Dormers
The one picture further up shows the head builder at one point in the roof where things will really get going. Where the rafters seem to be missing or forgotten, something completely different is going up: a wall. The wall of the dormer that will house our future office - that is, the dormer, not the wall!
The process of building the Dormer wall is almost identical to the process of building the other walls on the lower floor. First, the frame of 2×6 wooden beams is laid out and nailed together. This also leaves the space for the window. As with the walls below, a header beam is placed on the wall from the Dormer. And poof, there is a wall in the previous hole between the rafters. Of course, the Dormer also gets a roof. Again, we have to measure, mark and saw rafters. The rafters also get a nose up here so that the whole thing looks coherent in the end.
One is fun, but why not two?
If there's one thing we've learned and courageously put into practice, it's deviating from the original plan. According to the designers, this is also very welcome. So far, we've done a lot of things differently from the plan.
Since the spontaneous changes have worked out so well so far, we're not skimping on the roof either. Better said with the dormers. Rico says one afternoon while drinking coffee: "In one of his plans, he also built a dormer on the other side." I then ask why we don't do the same, especially since we would gain a lot of space in the future office. What can I say. We spend the rest of the day building a second Dormer. And this is what it looks like at the end of the day.
Cabin @ Night
By the time all the rafters, skylights and dormers are nailed down in the evening, it's dark. We get the crazy idea to strategically place one or two lamps in the cabin and just photograph the whole thing at night or at dusk. At the same time this gives us the opportunity to try out Rico's new camera, but that's just by the way. What came out of it, you can see in the following shots. And with that I dismiss us and you from this post and wish a good night.
Cabin Playlist
Music is Emotion. Music holds Memory. This is the soundtrack for the build of our Cabin at the Upper Sunshine Coast.
So finden wir jederzeit zurück zu den Momenten voller Herausforderung, Freude und Zufriedenheit.
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Cabin-Blog-Zeitleiste
All our posts about RITICOLO Cabin have been organized in this fancy looking timeline. Pretty cool, eh! Have fun looking around and leave a comment if you enjoy what you are reading.
Trees, a Wood Stove, Lumber and Paws
Vapor barrier - cabin interior
Thermal Insulation and What it Takes to Get There
Roof – The big Finale
Roofing for Dummies
Roofing - shingles or metal roof?
Cabin - New Year Progress
Cabin Timeline
Roofing – Part Two
Gable Walls and LVL
Lofts
Header Beam – Ein dicker Balken, der alles zusammenhält Zum Bau der Außenwände hatten wir…
Things we learned so far
Framing the Cabin
Basecamp
From concrete piers to the finished subfloor
It's amazing what you can accomplish in a few weekends. During the construction of our
Demolition, Homework and some Problems
Progress - Getting Rid of Stuff
First Steps in Lund
On the February long weekend (Family Day), we pack up our MINI and head to our
Lund - The Property
