Work joyfully and peacefully, knowing that right thoughts and right efforts will inevitably bring about right results.
– Henry Wheeler Shaw, humorist and lecturer, 1818 – 1885
There are many ways to frame a cabin floor, and we chose the timber-rim approach for our design. There are a couple of reasons why. First, it provides continuous support for a building that’s only held up at half a dozen points around its perimeter. This means much less foundation work. Another plus is the fact that timber-rim construction is simple, durable, and forgiving for first-time cabin builders.
Start by gathering rot-resistant 8x12s for the outer rim. You can go with solid timbers, like we used, or spike together five 2x12s to create the same result. Solid timbers for the 16-foot ends of the cabin and porch need to be long enough to do the job in one piece. If you need to make splices for the timbers that form the 25-foot cabin sides, that’s fine. Just locate them directly on top of the middle masonry piers. The plans show how both splices and corner joints are made with lap joints cut in timbers.
In This Section...
Floor Frame Timbers
BUILDING THE FLOOR RIM FRAME
This frame forms the main outline of the floor and can be built using solid timbers or pieces of conventional lumber that come together as a composite beam.
Installing Floor Joists & Subfloor
JOISTS & SUBFLOOR
The timber rim you just installed will soon support floor joists that hold up the main subfloor and the porch floor. By running joists across the 16-foot width of the building, you’ll have the stiffest possible floor for a given width of joist.
