First Framing: the floor

Last week, April and I, along with Lee and Andrea, directed a session of church camp at Camp Caudle. The week is called 'Servant Week'. Basically, a few kids come up to clean the cabins, paint, weed-eat, and just get camp ready for a full summer. This year, we decided to take it a step further and actually plan some projects that the kids could build. We rebuilt a waterfall/baptistry, built an observation deck next to the waterfall, repaired the dock at the swimming hole, built some steps down to the river, organized the shed, installed the water trampoline, hung up curtains in all the cabins, and got everything cleaned and ready for the summer. The kids had a blast, as did I. It was a lot of hard work, but when you look back and see all the progress that was made, it makes it all worth while.

After we got back, work on the studio resumed. The lumber was delivered a couple of Fridays ago as expected, and the first wood to be used was for the sill plate. First, I laid down a layer of plastic over the outside of the foundation wall to keep moisture from migrating in through the blocks during the wet season. This may be unnecessary as the inside elevation of the crawlspace is basically the same as the outside grade, but I figured it was a small price to pay for a little extra insurance.

Next, a band of aluminum flashing was run along the top of the foundation wall which should help keep termites from being able to ever reach the wood in the building. This was a step that I noticed was included in a lot of foundation details on the internet. A lot of construction details can be found at finehomebuilding.com. I got a month's subscription to their archived articles, and downloaded every one that I thought might be relevant at some point in this construction process. They have really turned out to be helpful.

After the termite shield was down, treated 2x8's were drilled to fit over the sill bolts that were mortared into the foundation wall, and then they were torqued down with nuts and washers. I really enjoyed getting to this step, because the foundation now took on a nice completed look. Perfectly level, clean, and ready to be built upon.


Here is the foundation after the placement of the sill plate.


Detail shot of how the sill plate was connected to the foundation wall (notice the plastic lining over the blocks)

Last night, I stayed up until about midnight putting together the double-2x8 beams, and nailing the joist hangers in place along their length. Today, Dad came over and we placed the beams across the foundation wall and the piers in the middle of the crawlspace. Next, all the floor joists were cut to length (for some reason, they are all about 1/2" too long) and placed in the joist hangers. Everything fit together like a puzzle. Now, there is a nice level floor frame, with plastic sheeting covering the ground in the crawlspace. Today was the first day when real fast progress was made. And that is how it goes...the foundation work is slooooow, the framing is fast, and the detail work at the end is sloooow. Luckily, right now I'm in the fast part.