Second-Story Floor Joists and Floor
We are doing the floor joists and floor for the second-story hay mow now. We are using 8 to 10-inch logs for the joists. These are hewed flat on one side so the floor will lay level, and the ends of the larger logs are squared up to fit in notches on the wall logs and the support beams we made. We are leaving the bottom side round as there is less time and work involved, plus it's that much more mass you have to hold up the hay, and it looks cool!
The first log (joist) on the east side bay is up and fit to its notch.
I threw this picture in so you can see the way the floor joists are notched into the log they are sitting on. Each notch has a different depth, so the top of the floor joists are level.
Looking up at them from the floor. You can see the square ends cut into some of the bigger logs.
They are spaced 29 inches apart on center. There are 10 in each bay for a total of 30.
Nothing like getting caught sitting down on the job! The joists are pre-drilled into the beam below, and rebar is driven into the hole tying the logs together. Once these were in it was time to put some flooring on the joists so we had something to stand on to do the second story log walls. The scaffolding was getting a little high! Kit, Mark and Uncle Peter decided the best way to go about flooring was to have our own trees milled on our place. So the guys spent a day looking for the right trees, cutting them down, skidding them down the hillside and finally decking them on flat ground where the portable sawmill team could get to them easily.
We then called up our good friends and neighbors, Kirk and Taiya Johnson, and asked when they would be available to come and mill two trees into flooring material. The Johnson's own a portable Wood-Mizer Sawmill, and do an absolutely fabulous job. If you ever need any mill work done, give them a call.
Pretty sure Uncle Peter enjoyed himself this day. Not only was it a break from making dove-tail notches, that never seem to end, but he also enjoyed talking with a fellow sawmill operator. Uncle Peter owns a circular blade sawmill in Florida. He was keen to see the Wood-Mizer in action.
We had a great combination of knowledge between these two men. And we came away with some exceptionally fine looking lumber.
First the decked logs were rolled onto the hydraulic arms of the sawmill. Uncle Peter doing the honors this time.
The hydraulic arms lift the log onto the cutting deck of the sawmill.
The bark is slabbed off, making the log square for cutting the 2-by material for our flooring.
The Wood-Mizer has a cool feature in that it can turn the logs for the next cut, where some sawmills the log is turned by hand.
A 2 x 12 was the first piece off, after the log was squared.
Our three older sons, along with Kirk and Taiya's oldest boy, helped the dads that day.
Looking at the back of the truck, you can see they are actually standing on the lumber being loaded in the old Dodge. They sat on the front of the load adding weight so it wouldn’t slide out of the truck on the way up the hill. Or that's at least what they claimed. I think they just liked riding in the truck up and down the hill!
The oldest two boys also helped Kit and Uncle Peter drag a few extra logs to the deck for cutting. They loved trying their hand with the tie tongs.
Nothing better for little men, than to work along-side their fathers and good male role models.
And the floor is going on. CW was excited when he was handed the cordless drill and given the job of screwing all those boards down.
CW screws a board down as JW1 looks on from his perch atop the ladder.
It was a hurry up and wait kinda job, though. As a side note, it was over 100 degrees the week we put the floor down, 110 degrees one day.
It's closing in and looking awesome. We just put the floor down on the east and west side bays for now, as we still need the middle open for the shear legs. We will continue using them in the middle of the barn to swing the logs up for the second level wall.
It is in and it looks awesome. Such a great job!
Caught red-handed texting on the job! Actually, we had all stopped to take pictures of the finished floor and Uncle Peter was sending them to his family in Florida.
Next blog we are raising the wall logs for the second-story hay mow!