Cost Of Doing It Right

       When you decide to build something, you have to decide what kind of builder you're going to be.   You can be the kind that does it as cheap as possible.  You can just do what it takes to get something up, or you could design based on your current skill level.  I'm of the opinion you draw up exactly what you want to end up with and figure it out as you go.

Now that the foundation is done, I'm installing the sill plates---the pressure treated lumber that sits on the foundation, and the whole house rests on these plates.  Well, this lumber was at the very bottom of the wood pile, so I had to spend time moving things up to the lumber rack.  It gave me a chance to figure out what was what.  There are some parts missing.  

I wanted a deck that wraps around two sides of the cabin.  The normal way to do this is to have some heavy timbers stick out (cantilever) one direction, then have the floor joists on top of those timbers, cantilevering out in a perpendicular direction.  Problem is with the new fire resistive construction you can't stack exposed framing members.  Eliminating the deck on one side would be the easy thing.

Instead, I have very heavy timbers (they are the 6x12's wrapped in white paper) that sort of herring-bone pattern off each other, with the joists hung between them.  Added bonus--the overall elevation of the house is 14" less.  However, I have to support two heavy timbers on the outside floating edge of these beams, and there's a 6x6 post at each junction that will support the porch roof.  All this requires some very beefy steel hangers.  They are custom order items.  If you look at the picture, you have to imagine it inverted, and the post straps are used instead to hold the 6x6 columns.

I need 6 of these.  Not all the same.  Some of them are $228 EACH!  Whoa.  Not in the budget, but there aren't options.  I ordered them; they come in Thursday.

So, instead of framing, I'm picking up overtime shifts (always available in the Summer) and a modelling job that will pay 'several hundred dollars' a day for four days, which should just cover the expense.

Delays, Delays!