Preparation

I leave in 3 days for the big build trip. I've been reading up on framing, trying to prepare for a full week of building. There's a lot for me to learn, and I'm pretty sure it's not all in a book. The book I have been using is titled "Graphic Guide to Frame Construction", which has been very helpful.

I've sketched out a few concepts, starting with a rough floor plan.



I decided to have a loft for sleeping and storage. The floor plan with a bed on the main level was getting too crowded. In order to have a loft be usable, I went with a high pitched roof (12 in 12, in the parlance of our times). This should allow for a bit of movement once you get into the loft, at least enough to crawl into bed.



After those decisions were made, I started with a more detailed layout of the walls, floor, and roof. I tried keeping everything as simple as possible, since I know we'll be short on time.

I don't yet know what sized windows or doors I'll be using, so most of the detailed work isn't laid out yet in the CAD. I'd like to have 4 or more windows, and a few skylights would really be nice. Our friend Tommy has kindly offered up what spare windows and doors he has in storage. Andy has also offered to help get the walls and roof up to the platform via crane.

I tried lowering the loft so that the joists would be at around the same height as the windows. I also made sure that the eaves don't hang below where I expect the windows to be.




Who knows what we'll end up with at the end of next week. It'll be interesting to compare these drawings with the final product. Here's hoping no one falls out of the tree or gets hurt!