Our mountain cabin dream starts to come to life. A pier and beam foundation was selected to provide a solid foundation while minimizing cost. In the remote area where our cabin was built concrete was not feasible or cost-effective. I used CAMO Block Heavy Duty Foundation supports (amzn.to/3izOOw7) under my piers to provide a solid base. The blocks are easy to transport and are actually slightly stronger than concrete blocks of similar size in load-bearing capacity.
Unfortunately, it wasn't until after I had the piers and beams set and the floor joists down that one of our friends suggested filming the process. I'll try to do a better job showing the steps from here on out.
I started by digging holes deep enough to be below the frost line. In our area, this was about 4 feet. I then set 6x6 pressure-treated posts on CAMO Block heavy-duty deck blocks.
I started with the height I wanted at one post, and then I used a string line level to mark the rest of the posts. Unfortunately, the initial height I picked for the first post left the floor joists a bit too close to the ground, so I added some blocking to gain back enough height that I could still crawl under the floor.
I determined how many posts I needed by calculating the total weight of the building and dividing that by the weight capacity of the blocks (+ some margin) and the weight capacity of our soil. I then used a span chart to see how big of beams I needed to span the 6 - 7 feet between the posts. I ended up with 3 - 2x8s ganged together into 20' beams. I attached the beams to the posts using 14" lag screws. I will also be adding some strap metal to give it additional lateral strength.
I then used a span chart again to determine I needed 2x8 floor joists on 16" centers to support my 12' width. I attached the rim joists to each floor joist with 3 1/2" screws and framing nails. I attached each floor joist to the beams with hurricane ties.
Let me know in the comments if you have any further questions about what I did in the build, and I'll do my best to fill in the gaps.
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Here are the blocks I used under the 6x6 piers:
amzn.to/3izOOw7
Here are the hurricane ties I used to attach the floor joists to the beams:
amzn.to/3UryP07
Here are some resources to help determine how many piers your foundation will need:
dicausa.com/soil-bearing-capa...
www.finehomebuilding.com/foru...
Here is an explanation of how to use span tables:
awc.org/publications/tutorial...
Here are a few tools that are handy for this type of build:
Speed Square - amzn.to/3H78XUk
Level - amzn.to/3P5sRB9
Line Level - amzn.to/3gX9WMg
Framing Hammer - amzn.to/3VARyYQ
Bar Clamp - amzn.to/3VDXXC2
Skil Saw - amzn.to/3gWMBdD
Sawzall - amzn.to/3VpF8CO
Impact Driver - amzn.to/3UtZQQA
Framing Nailer - amzn.to/3VPDkmk
Air Compressor - amzn.to/3itedHD
I've been pleased with the small inverter generator I've used on this project. Unfortunately, the model I used is no longer available. However, @johnnysweekends does a great job reviewing generators that are comparable to the one I'm using:
• Generators
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#tinycabin #cabinbuild
1 сен 2022
