The Pisgah Project - Part Seven (2025)

TLDR: Raising the rafters, installing roof sheathing, overcoming my fear of heights.

Laying out the position of the sill plate, cutting a template for the rafters.

Laying on the grass, the dimensions seem a lot smaller than they actually are. Or, maybe standing up, the dimensions seem a lot more roomy than they actually are. I'm not sure. Later when I'm atop the latter, it feels a lot higher than it actually is. Or maybe it feels as high as it actually is. 

Forty 20' 2x10" rafters, cut and notched.

 I constructed a jig on the floor of the cabin to assemble the "A"s.

Twenty sets of rafters ready to go.

I constructed outriggers on the side of the foundation to support a platform to work off of. Terrifying.

I ran a recovery strap around the oak tree at the far end of the cabin to support a pulley, which will be used to hoist the "A"s upright.

The first couple of A's heading up. 

A synthetic winch rope is attached to the "A", looped around the pulley at the oak tree, then attached back to a 'come-along' anchored to the deck. I use a small chunk of 2x4" to block the base of the rafters, then hoist them up.

Once I had the first 8' of rafters up, I attached a sheet of OSB to provide some shear stability. Suffice to say, the 'squareness' of the roof/walls is solely dependent on how level (and square) that first sheet of OSB is. Thank goodness the hill is so steep, you can't eyeball any true reference for vertical. 

On this trip, I made it this far before I ran out of time (and the rain came in). Packed it up to complete another day.

Another day came, and with a bit of help from Anthony, we erected the remaining rafters.

Three courses of OSB installed and taped.

On a subsequent trip, I tackled the 4th and 5th courses of sheathing. The 4th course involved walking each sheet up my 12' ladder. This wasn't too difficult because several rungs of the ladder sit outboard of the frame, provided a place to rest the sheet of OSB at several locations up the ladder.

The 5th course involved walking each sheet of OSB up the extension ladder...no purchase along the climb to rest the sheathing. Full commit. 

The main cabin peeking through the trees, viewed from up the hill, next to the bunk cabin.

The Pisgah Project - Part Six (2025)

TLDR: Pier/post and beam foundation went up, subfloor constructed.

About two tons of lumber ready to make the trip to NC.

It's all downhill from here.

It starts out as a balancing act of posts and 2x10's.

Three girders support the cabin, each consisting of three 2x10" boards spanning the length of the cabin. I opted to frame the floor joists directly onto the girders, so the joists are initially framed to the 'inner' 2x10s of each girder, then the remaining 2x10's are sandwiched together to complete the girders.

A 2x10" will eventually fill the gap down the middle of the central girder. 

The outer girders are cantilevered 12" beyond the front, and 36" beyond the rear of the foundation to support the rafters of the A-frame beyond the main footprint of the cabin (eaves).

Probably not going to tip over.

6x6" posts and 4x6" knee braces. These joints will (eventually) be reinforced with steel plates.

Steel plate, cut...

bent...

drilled...

...and powdercoated.

I installed j-bolts into the concrete caps when I constructed the piers. I drilled the steel plates for the j-bolts on-site, and fastened everything with 5/8" hardware.

Although there are Simpson ties on each floor joist to bear lateral loads from the outer girders through the inner girder, the subfloor sheathing also covers the center girder to add additional shear strength.

The outer girders are each capped with a 2x8" and a 2x4" which will serve as a sill plate for the rafters of the A-frame, as well provide a 'cleat' for the notch in the rafters, which will oppose the lateral forces exerted by the rafters.