Log Cabin Saturday #3

It’s an all new addition of Log Cabin Saturday! This week the interior walls go up, the upstairs and roof are framed and more!

After the exterior walls were finished, the guys immediately started on the inside framing.  This is where the stairs will sit, next to the front door, with the master bedroom behind it.

The walls were all laid out and chalk lines were popped on the floor to get the walls set according to the plans.

The walls are framed flat on the floor with door frames and corners built in.  The walls are then stood up and attached to the exterior walls.

2 x 4’s are nailed in at an angle for bracing (and also handy for 10 year olds to climb). You can see the stack of 2 x 8’s that will be nailed on for ceiling joists/flooring joists for the loft.

Tongue and groove plywood is nailed over those joists for the loft sub-floor. Tucker is cutting the edge with a skill saw.

Next they construct a center joist that will be the peak of  the roof.

We appreciated a little extra help from a neighbor getting this part done.  Having four guys makes a difference in how much they can accomplish, where as on the weekdays, it is just two of them.

They stand the center joist up and brace it to the floor.

Here they are getting it level and square with the outside wall.

They are bracing it to the floor joists for stability before they add the rafters.

A pattern is made and all of the rafters are notched to fit over the log wall.

The rafters over the loft part of the house, you can see how the pitch of the roof is going to look.

A gable end view.

To set the rafters over the open living area, Tony is on the outside attaching the rafters to the log wall.

Cody is on the scaffolding they built attaching the rafters to the center joist.  The center joist is measured and marked to make getting the joists in the right place a little easier while standing on the scaffolding.

View from the inside as the rafters go up.

Exterior side view with rafters.

Next up was framing the stairs.  It can be tricky to design the stairs to come out just right and be easy to climb.

We ordered 3 round logs for exposed beams over the open living area.  They provide strength to the roof and will look awesome.

The beams are 8 inches around and 20 feet long.  Pretty heavy for 2 guys.

The beams are braced and leveled.

They used one of the square logs that we had left after framing and cut it down to be an exposed beam next to the stairs to hold the end of the beam, since there is not a wall there to support it.

The beam is notched at the top to fit the round log and hammered in at the bottom until it can be secured to the exterior of the stairs.

Next came the center log beam.  I was glad Cody was home from work when they set this one.  It is about 19 feet in the air and since we don’t have a crane, they used scaffolding and set it by hand.

Another Square beam holds the end of the round log that comes over to the loft.  There is also a beam beneath this wall for support.

The beam is securely attached to the floor and braced.

View of the center beam from the loft.

Thanks so much for following along on this epic adventure of building a log cabin!

If you are enjoying this series, I would love for you to help spread the word with your friends and family!