WE BUILT OUR CABIN IN JUST FIVE DAYS FOR $1,000!

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DAY THREE

Our next task was to nail two-by-fours along the insides of the four longest stringers (see Fig. 2) ... after which we notched our 2" X 8" X 7'8" joists at both ends so they could ride on the two-by-fours ( see Fig. 3), and spiked them down at a spacing (center-to-center) of 16". (Note: To ensure a roof overhang of at least 4" at the building's rear, we spaced the last four pairs of joists 14 " apart ... as shown in Fig. 2.)

A top the completed beamwork grid we nailed a subfloor consisting of boards we'd salvaged from an old shed ... and directly over the subfloor we built a finish floor of 3/4" A-C waterproof plywood (the same kind of plywood we'd later use for siding and roofing). Since we were using such heavy flooring material, we saw no need to place tar paper between the layers of wood to act as a moisture barrier.

Next, we constructed the entire rear wall of the cabin-plywood siding and all-flat on our newly constructed floor, using 3/4" X 4-1/2 " carriage bolts (with flat AND lock washers beneath the nuts) to connect the rafters and studs. Then we raised the wall as high as we could by hand, pulled it into final upright position with the aid of a rope tied to a pickup truck, and checked the structure very carefully for "plumb" (to ensure that successive rafter/ stud frames would be properly aligned) before nailing it to the floor.

With the rear wall up and standing, we proceeded to [1] bolt together the first of five rafter/ stud frames, [2] raise it upright, [3] spike the structure to the floor, and [4] connect it to the wall with sheets of plywood siding (which eliminated the need for further bracing of any kind).

We repeated the above procedure for each of the next four rafter/stud frames, using additional plywood siding to brace the structure as we went along. (Note: We applied the sheets of plywood rough side out and spiked them in place first with 16-penny common nails, then with 8-penny commons.) By overlapping the lowermost siding panels with—and nailing them to—the 2" X 8" stringers surrounding the building, we ended up with one heck of a solidly constructed, well-anchored basic framework.

DAY FOUR

On the fourth day, we [1] built the cabin's front wall on the ground (and raised it into place with lots of sweat and push), [2] nailed ridge boards and purlins to the rafters, and [3] hammered down the plywood roofing, using a combination of 16-penny and 8-penny common nails, as we had done with the siding. (You're right if you think those 3/4"-thick sheets of plywood were awfully heavy to work with ... but they go into place astonishingly fast and easy if every thing's lined up properly.)

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