Our $150 Home In The Woods
(Page 4 of 7)
March/April 1972
By Mary Lee Coe
We framed in the floor of the loft with a 12' oak timber run north-to-south eight feet above ground level through the tall half of the house . . . and five 8' oak beams, spaced two feet on center, spanning the distance between the west side of the cabin and the oak twelve-footer. By laying temporary floorboards on top of this structure, we gained easy access to the upper end of the lower roof.
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Van and I framed the top supports for that roof by toenailing foot-long vertical 2 x 4's every two feet along the house's middle east-to-west horizontal beam to support a horizontal 2 x 4 upon which we then placed the upper end of the 2 x 6 rafters (one for each vertical foot-long 2 x 4) for the lower roof. The rafters ran down to the southern-most horizontal joist, giving a "one pitch" (a slope of one inch every foot) to that roof. Rex Roberts claims that's all the slope one needs although local hunters tell us it's not enough for the terrific snow loads we'll have in winter. We decided to build both roofs extra strong and take the chance . . . mainly because I have big plans for putting a plastic greenhouse on the south-facing roof in the spring and I wanted it pitched at the minimum possible slope.
After the rafters for the lower roof were in place, we added a set of sub-rafters perpendicular across their top so that—for optimum strength—the boards for that roof could be run the same way as the rafters (YOUR ENGINEERED HOUSE, page 134).
Putting on the first layer of roof boards was easy and fun after the relatively hard work of framing the house. We extended the sheathing out over the south wall (the one scheduled to have the most windows) just far enough to shade out the high sun of summer but admit the warming rays of the low winter sun directly into the kitchen.
For the high roof, we first ran our two end rafters east to west and spanned them with horizontal oak beams across the proposed roof from each of the two oak 4 x 4's on the south side of the loft to the corresponding 2 x 6's on the loft's north side. Thus, the center rafters are supported twice in the middle as well as on each end.
We then notched the center rafters to rest on their four supports and spiked them in place two feet apart across the roof. Sub-rafters (again, atop and perpendicular to the rafters) came next . . . with sheathing boards over all, crossing the subrafters and running lengthwise down the roof.
At this point there was absolutely nothing further we could do without aluminum paper (it's inexpensive, radiates warmth back into a house and Roberts recommends it in preference to fiberglass batts for insulation) and a trip to town was necessary.
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