Rafters and Loft

Over the last couple weeks, we have been slowly getting the framing finished up.
Here are the rafters being installed. We put "cat boards" between the rafters to help hold them to the wall, and help keep them from falling over.

Tobias measured each board, and Beth would cut it to length, so that small inaccuracies wouldn't accumulate and mess up the spacing of the rafters.










Some of them we did in the dark:

We didn't quite do all the rafters before starting on the Loft joists.

We cut each joist so that it tapered from a 2x4 to a 2x6. That way, we had more headroom in the kitchen where it mattered, but still had a 2x6 at the support wall and cantilever, where that mattered.


Nailed the joists in place. We used joist hangers to connect them to the band board, which was double 2x4s:
 Be sure to use the "toe-nail" holes provided in the joist hangers--without them, even with nails straight through the band-board, into the end of the joist, the joists come away from the band board. When we first got up on the loft, it started coming loose, and we got down clarefully, and added the toe-nails (using long nails, as specified by the joist hanger).

 I think the loft might be too spongy, so I might add a piece of 7 1/2" LVL to the band boards--I'll make the bottom flush, and extend the LVL up, making a lip on the edge of the loft. In this picture, you can barely see the taper in the joists:


All the joists in place: (looking across the loft, through the missing end wall)


Here we are adding the outside band board to the joists:



And here is the overview, showing the "bump out" where the loft cantilevers over the end of the trailer: (the headplates will be trimmed off later)


We will add angle braces under the bump-out, to hold it up. That angled wall will be the insulated/weatherproof wall, so we will have some additional storage space behind the kitchen counter/cabinets. OR, we could put in doors from the outside. or maybe a combination.