Framing the Second Floor

Last week the crew framed the second floor floor joists which involved installing a lot of hardware again.

The first beams to go up span across the ceiling of the Master Bedroom. They are very large 6x12 beams because they have to not only span the Bedroom but also past it by 2' picking up a portion of cantilevered space in the Family Room above.  A cantilever is any span that is unsupported at it's end point.  2' May not seem like a big cantilever but there is also a window below so the last column lending support to that beam is about 7' in from the corner of the room above.

The remaining floor/ceiling joists are framed in but we are still waiting on some special hardware for the four cantilever beams.

The offset hangers for the cantilever beams arrive and now the crew can install one of the beams and also the floor joists that get framed into it.

Now that most of the joists are in the crew begins to plywood  the second floor.

A second set of cantilever beams support a 5' deep deck that will be outside of the kitchen to the North.  But before they can finish framing this portion of floor a lot has to happen...The back wall of the lower bedroom needs to come off so that a beam which is flush to the face of the existing wall can be installed.  Before that can happen the shoring needs to go back up!

With the shoring up the crew can take out a large portion of the wall and frame in the new beam.  Now they can finish the second floor joists and start working on laying out the walls and roof!

The sill plates go on first showing where the walls will go.  The hardest part about framing these walls is calculating out all their heights.  The new roof matches the existing in some places but is installed at an angle - testing our geometry capabilities.  With a little number crunching and surveying the heights are determined. 

Standing in our future Family Room...