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I’m building a small cabin in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan. The piers are in, the first deck is on, and I’m thinking of walls. Now, what I’m going to do is panelize the walls for two reasons. One is that the area is fairly remote, no electricty, 4×4 only for ingress, NO lumber trucks, difficult terrain, etc. The second is that we have a large pole barn with cool things like electricity, nail guns, Labor, lumber yard less than three hours away and so on. By panelizing, I can build the walls, trailer them up there, set them within a couple hours, and then get to those muskie holes I’ve heard about. My question is about panelization. I’ve traditionally built walls on the ground, using the sheathing to cover the seams, and then raising them. But with panelization, I’m hoping to get away with six or eight foot walls (8′, 16″ OC 2×6), raising them by myself, and then either bolting or nailing the sections together once they are up. Am I going to have shear problems or weakenesses at these joints? I have a heavy snow load, but I’m thinking (since I know there are other buildings built this way), that the bolts or nails will suffice. I could, of course, build the walls so that I have a 2′ overlap on the sheathing and then nail it off once the walls are up, but I’m really trying to avoid this (remember, no electricity, no nailguns, muskie are waiting). Any suggestions, comments, insults would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Replies
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jsut build your panels so there is no stud duplication...
leave out the adjacent stud.. and hold your single plate back 3/4 so they will lap on the missing stud..
also.. let your top single plate stay down 1.5 inches so you can tie your walls with the douple top plate applied in the field..
there will be no difference in shear value if you do these things and you will still have the benefit of panelizing..
you can split a panel in the middle of a window too.. just leave out the header..
think partially assembled rather than factory panelized..
another trick is to nail some of your wall together with 8d duplex nails and then dissasemble the wall into sections for transport....
b but hey, whadda i no ?
*Well Jason since you asked, and only since you asked, heeere is my suggestion.Get a generator on site that is at least large enough to run the basic framing tools. Pound nails by hand if you don't have a small one-gun compressor. Then stick build on site.If you don't you will spend far more time making things fit than you save by panelizing. Unless of course you are going to assemble it in town, make sure everything is just right, disassemble it and take it to the site. Then you spend a lot of time in town that could be used for something productive, like dreaming about being at the lake.By the way, I've seen it done both ways and have done it myself both ways. So you can learn the free way or the expensive way, your choice.
*One thing: It's way easier to get piles of individual pieces into remote areas than large, cumbersome panels. Fred's right, get a generator and/or some impulse guns or god forbid a hammer. Call me. I'll come and pound some nails up there, all I need's another excuse to get me into the Northwoods! What part of the UP you in Jason?
*I stick built my cabin with a precut frame. Used a 2000 watt generator and a 6", 9amp, pc, sawboss for on-sight cutting. Rafters, joists, plates, headers, jacks, cripples all precut, and labeled if necessary. It worked very well.My old college roomate was from Naubingway.When i got as far as the upper peculiar i usually just kept going until i got to Ontario.joe d
*Okay, okay, okay. I hear all of you, and I do appreciate your advice, and no BS, I am seriously considering it. But you guys also know that a lot of lessons are hard learned. I already have a 6500 watt generator (that's how I sawed the posts and put on the first floor deck). I have exact (okay, down to 1/16" meaurements), of my floor deck, but little time. In my previous two visits, I get up at 2, drive for five hours, and get my six hours in before driving home. I have a pole barn big enough for the entire cabin, and experienced enough guys helping that the layout and assembly can get pretty exact. I was planning on building the first floor walls here, trucking them up there on my trailer (which I can get in), and then setting them, and then onsite cutting and setting rafters, sheathing, trusses, and purlins. I'm gonna pop a couple and think about this some more. By the way, this is outside Paradise, Michigan, on the Tahquanemon River (not sure on spelling), where I have SEEN muskies pulled out as long as my leg...and now you know why it has to go up fast!
*Wow. That is a long way from nowhere. My land (near Mich border) is about 300 miles from you. Shoot, I would've been happy to help, but from where I live, it's probably an 8 hour drive. Any good fishing in Whitefish Bay?You're pretty darn close to "Two Hearted River" of Hemingway fame. Cool area.MD
*Yeah, Mad Dog, it is kind of strange. You drive until you get to the end of the earth, drive a little further, and hey, you're in Paradise. I've been to the Little Two-Hearted river (which was a trickle), and I beleive they do some commercial fishing on Whitefish Bay, although I don't know about the size of Kings they take out of there. Don't forget this is where the Edmund Fitzgerald went down many years ago either, but I can tell you that I was swimming in Lake Superior last weekend, and the temperature, at 48 degrees, was downright balmy!
*jason... i think your plan is the best one... do all the construction you can in your pole barn...at least you can reduce the mosquito exposure time..... i remember those 3 hour drives... two days work .. and the three hour drive home so i could go to work monday am...but ... you'll probably be under roof and kicking back before the fire this winter ... huh?
*Jason,How big is the cabin? I'm curious, because I'm putting up a real small one soon myself, but having a hard time designing it (wife picky)MD
*Mad Dog, funny you should mention that picky thing. Hmmm, fishing cabin to me is four small walls with a tent roof (I think they used to be called Anirondack Cabins). Anyhow, once the wife saw Taunton's "The New Cottage Home", well, things got a lot tougher. Anyhow, it's overall dimensions are 24x24, with a small 1st-floor bed and bath, kitchen, and small living room. The front part houses (or will house), a small kitchen seating area (builtin), and an enclosed, glassed in porch. 2nd-floor loft covers 1/2 the structure, with scissor trusses throughout (sorry, front "porch" area, which is 8' wide, is raftered). 8/12 pitch on both. Email me your address and I'll be more than happy to drop a set of plans in the mail to you (even though I had to draw them myself) for your perusal.
*Jason,I agree with Fred. Put it together on site. The only way you can really save time with panelized walls is to build monsters that have to be set by crane. When I built my cabin in the Ozarks I tried to pre-cut and pre-assemble as much as I could. With power on the site I did not save much, if any, time.Good luck,Steve
*Mad Dog,Here are a couple of cabin plan sites that may have a usefull idea or two. http://www.grove.net/~noff/ http://www.goodnet.com/~geow/cabin.htmGood luck!Steve
*Thanks Steve,I checked out the first site and they had two plans almost identical to what I want to do! Probably will be ordering a set. Very much appreciate the link.MD
*Jason,Did you get up there this weekend? Any muskie action?
*Actually, no. I went to a small lake in Southern Michigan, and with a front moving in, we were really slaying Pike and Bass on Berkley Powerbaits with Jigheads. Anyhow, on Sunday, I built all the walls in four-foot increments, with the last section of each wall not built. That way, as I get to each "end", I'll frame it on site to take care of any discrepancies. I'm hoping to get up there this next weekend to load the walls and get them up; we'll see how much fishing time I get!