Framing Our Off Grid Cabin Walls In Just 3 Days!
Today is the first of three days that it took us to frame the off grid cabin walls.
It took two of us just three days to frame all the walls, doors, windows and even start to Tyvek the cabin.
In fact, we built our entire off grid cabin in just 15 days.
Click the calendar below to see the exact build schedule.
That’s from the start of clearing/leveling the land on May 1st to making the cabin weather tight on May 15th.
Our Cabin's Framing Design
Our cabin is built using regular dimensional lumber and we made every effort to build it according to our residential building codes.
Meaning, it’s built just like a regular home on the grid but with a few special changes that allow for solar, water harvesting, and propane heating.
All our 2′ x 4′ (interior and exterior) walls were constructed 16″ on center however, we really beefed up some the end wall of our main living area.
We used 2′ x 6’s instead of 2′ x 4’s and we’ll detail exactly why further down and in some upcoming posts.
You’ll also discover that our unique truss design is one that most builders have never seen before.
It’s a rare technique that I’m extremely happy my dad decided to incorporate and one we’ve seen several folks use after we’ve shared it here.
Stay tuned for more about that roof design coming up in our Ultimate Roof & Rafter Guide.
Want To See The Complete Step-By-Step Build Process & Build Cost To Our Cabin?
SHOW ME FROM START TO FINISH!In our last post we had just completed the floor joists, putting down the sub floor and building the front deck.
Today let’s get started with the framing!
Framing 101: An Intro To Framing
Our cabin is built using regular dimensional lumber and we made every effort to build it according to our residential building codes.
All our 2′ x 4′ (interior and exterior) walls were constructed 16″ on center however, we really beefed up some the end wall of our main living area.
We used 2′ x 6’s instead of 2′ x 4’s and we’ll detail exactly why further down and in some upcoming posts.
You’ll also discover that our unique truss design is one that most builders have never seen before.
It’s a rare technique that I’m extremely happy my dad decided to incorporate and one we’ve seen several folks use after we’ve shared it here.
Stay tuned for more about that roof design coming up in our Ultimate Roof & Rafter Guide.
Here’s a quick run down of the basics of framing to get you oriented if it’s a first time for you.
None of this is difficult and it was my first time building anything.
Headers run horizontally across the top of door and window rough openings. These support the weight of floor joists, ceiling joists, and rafters. Each header has a king stud nailed to either end with a cripple nailed under each end. If the header is longer than 5 feet then the cripple must be doubled up. Standard height of door and window headers is 6′ 10 7/8″. Of course this can vary depending on your design.
Framing Corners
Remember when framing corners to allow for a nailing surface on both side of the corner for your drywall. Here are a few different methods for framing in that nailing surface.
Framing Intersecting Interior Walls
Like the corner, when you frame an intersecting wall remember to allow for a nailing surface on both side of your corner.
Here is one of our favorite YouTube builders Shannon from HouseImprovments giving a complete run down on framing.
Our Cabin Floor Plan
You can see the complete floor plan design in this post but below is a quick reminder if you haven’t seen it.
TIP: We used a free app on the iPad called Roomle to draw up a 2D and a 3D rendering of the cabin.
You can see our complete floor plan post here.