Sills or Mud Sills

The next step is the installation of Mud Sills or Sills

The first consideration is how to keep the sills and rim joists from rotting.  There is a foam insulation that can be purchased to place between the concrete and the sills that excludes moisture from traveling up the concrete into the wood.   Also, sills provide a way of attaching the house to the foundation.

Make sure that you plan well for the overlap of the outermost trim board that will finish off the bottom of the wall.  The concrete should not show at all from outside.  In other words, it should not protrude beyond the trim.  You do not want a horizontal surface exposed to the weather that may catch water or snow, and allow it to wick under the sill.  Likewise, the insulation or membrane should not protrude beyond the wood sill, it should not collect water on top of it either as it will wick water toward the wood and that just defeats your efforts. 

So, now I am going to assume that you are not the perfect carpenter.  I know that I am not, and that most everyone makes little mistakes even if they have done this a million times.  Your bolts will not be perfectly aligned.  You just cannot be sure that you are going to be able to drill holes in the sills and have the sills just drop into place. 

It is easier if you have a poured foundation.  You have a reference point in the edge of the concrete to measure from.  Here, we do not.  I am going to have you do something that I hope will make you a success the first time, despite having to carry and jockey a heavy and awkward load into place.

Cut each sill to 11 feet 6.5 inches long.
Lay the four sills on a flat spot on the ground, on a slab of concrete or what have you.  Your new neighbor may have a deck or garage floor to do this on. 
Cut four triangles of scrap plywood, about three feet long on the hypotenuse.  Be absolutely sure that the corner opposite the hypotenuse is square(90 degrees).  Now, measure from corner to opposite corner of your four boards lying on the ground.  Adjust them until the two diagonal measurements are identical, and the ends of the boards, laid out as in the illustration, butt snugly against their neighbors. 
Fit the triangles onto the top of each corner, making sure that the edges are flush.  Using a drill fitted with a Phillips scewdriver bit, screw 2 1/2 inch sheet rock screws through the plywood into the boards below.  Use at least three screws for the short board end and five on the longer. 
Check to make sure the diagonal measurements remain the same after each corner is done.
When all four corners are done, nail two scrap 2x4s or boards on a diagonal across the square.  One or two nails in each end will do.  See the illustration.
With the help of a couple of really strong and stupid friends, carry the square to your foundation. 
Rest the square on top of your bolts,(Plywood triangles up) shimming with scraps of lumber(from the concrete to the sill, not under the bolts) till it is reasonably level, and the square is directly over the correct location of your future walls.  A plumb bob, or a washer tied to a piece of thread held suspended against the edge of the square will show you if you are over the correct spot.  
Now, with your friends holding it steady, just walk around the square, and give the top of the boards a quick rap with a hammer above each bolt, if the sill is resting on top of it.  If it is not touching, just look underneath and draw a circle directly above the ends of the bolts.
Flip the square upside down, and look for the little indentations on the boards and the pencil marks.  Drill through the boards with a spade bit about 1/4 inch larger than the diameter of your bolts.  Place the moisture barrier onto each bolt.
Flip the whole thing back over, and slide the sills down onto the bolts and onto your foundation. If a bolt is not quite in the correct place, just lift the sill up,  reinsert the drill and wiggle the moving drill around as you push it through to enlarge the hole a bit.  Remember that you will be using washers on each bolt, so a perfect fit will not be necessary as long as everything is still square and the ends are butted tightly together.  If the hole is slightly off center for the bolt, insert a round wood rasp into the hole and file open the hole in the direction needed.
Once the sills are in place, check for level, and for gaps between the board and the foundation.  Shim as necessary.  Use a shim that will not collapse with weight or time. Old asbestos shingles (Beware of asbestos dust if cutting and drilling...Wear a mask over mouth and eyes, and wear protective disposable Tyvek suits, keep people and pets away, and clean up carefully afterward.  Do not vacuum up, as this might spread the fibers around. ) or slate pieces will not collapse.  Remember not to allow the shims to extend beyond the outer rim of the proposed building walls.
Remove the temporary plywood triangles and the diagonal boards.  The diagonal boards and triangles will keep the construction square while you move it around, and will not be necessary once the sills are bolted down.

Top left:  The arrangement of the sills and approximate diagonal measurement.
Lower right:  The temporary plywood triangles and diagonal braces



When all is level, put washers and nuts on each of the the bolts and screw them down.  Do not over tighten.  They should not cut into the sills.

An alternative is to construct the Sills, Rim Joists and Floor Joists on a flat surface and lift the whole thing onto the foundation.  This is an extremely effective way to get it right, but you need a football team to lift the thing.  Pressure treated wood is very heavy.  It is not a good idea to breathe in sawdust from pressure treated wood.  Most of the dangerous chemicals have been removed from pressure treated wood lately, but still...lets just be safe and wear a mask anyway.  This might be a good idea whenever you are creating dust.

Rim Joists, Floor Joists and Subfloor

Once the Mud Sills are in, you have something to attach the house to.  Now the Rim Joists must be put in and the Floor Joist pattern decided upon.  Twelve feet is not an enormous span for a Floor Joist.  As a result, I will show you a very simple pattern of Floor Joists.  The issue becomes the Sub floor.  If  Floor Joists in a parallel pattern are installed, there is a place to nail down all the edges of the 4x8 foot Sub floor plywood, but going across the joists, there will be no place to screw down the edges of the plywood, so the joints between the sheets can move when walked on.  There will be flexing, squeaking etc. as the seams are just floating.  This might be fine for a shed, but to live with that, would be unacceptable.
You can purchase tongue and grooved plywood.
You can add short lengths of 2x stock just under the seams.
I will address each of these.

All of the joists and rim joists will be made from 2x 8 inch by 12 feet. 
Dimensional lumber is always the length quoted, but the width and thickness of the wood is not.  Wood is cut to the dimensions that you order.  A 2x8 will begin its life measuring 2 inches by 8 inches.  The lumber is then planed so as the give you a uniform and splinter free surface.  The final dimensions will be 1 1/2 inches thick, by 7 1/2 inches wide.  In general no matter what you are ordering, the final dimensions will be 1/2 inch less in both directions. 

Plywood is exactly what you order.  If it says 1/2 inch, it really means it.  So it is with all "sheet goods".
When I was a child, most of what I saw for construction had joists and wall studs 24 inches apart from the center of one to the center of the next.  But now, all work on anything important will be 16 inches "on center".  This divides evenly into the 48 inches of the width of sheet goods. One on each edge, and two spaced in the middle.
We are going to run into a little problem here because while the 12 foot wide building we are making will perfectly fit our flooring, trying to keep the nailed edge on center will mean that joists closest to the rim joists will have to be a bit closer together than 16 inches.  But that is just planning, and we can certainly do that.  This may not seem clear right now, but I will take you through it.

Cut two of the 12 foot boards to 11 feet 9 inches long.
Next, choose two 12 foot boards whose ends seem to be in best condition.  Avoid boards that have little cracks and splits.  If this is not possible at the lumber yard, buy the next longer boards and cut off each end to make a nice clean end. You could use pressure treated wood, but examine them carefully to make sure the quality is there.  This might be a good option where snows get deep and water is an issue.

Nail metal joist hangers onto the long boards at 16 inches on center. Use galvanized nails that are recommended by the hanger manufaturer as they will vary. The hangers at each end will be in a different location, so refer to the illustration for the correct placement.   Measure to the center measurement given.  That will be where the middle of the joist will eventually be.  Nail one side of the joist hanger through the holes into the rim joist.  It would help to use a combination square to draw a line 3/4 of an inch on each side of the center line.  Once the first side is nailed down, put a scrap of joist (cut from the short boards) into the hanger, and push the second side into place tightly against the scrap.  At the top of the hanger, there is a little raised prong.  Keep the hanger snug against the scrap by pounding this into the rim joint.  Now you can nail the second side to the rim joist, hopefully very close to your line.  At all times, make sure that the bottom of the hanger is flush with the bottom of the rim joist, and that the top of the floor joist is going to be flush with the top.  These hangers are wiggly little suckers, and it is easy to nail these in place with the bottom of the hanger not quite square.  Your joists will probably end up in the same spot, but you may not have quite the vertical support you want.  Install all of the hangers before proceeding.

Place one of the longer boards with the metal hangers already nailed in place, along the outside edge of the sill, standing on edge.  Make sure that the rim joist is flush with the outside of the sill.  An extra pair of hands will be a good idea here to hold it steady and flush.  Nail through the bottom of the rim joist at a 30 degree angle, into the sill using 8d(8 penny box or common nails, galvanized is best) nails every 6 inches.  Resist the temptation to nail many extra places.  Each time you nail into wood, you cut fibers and split it a little.  Eventually you will weaken the wood with too many nails.  If for some reason you have a gap in the boards you are nailing into; you might put an extra nail there so it is nailed on both sides of the seam.  
Next, stand one of the shorter boards up on the sill in a similar fashion, butted up against the inside of the first board.  Nail this board into the sill as well(I do this first because you will be pounding into the corner next and it is best if the two boards are both secure before you do this.
Using 16d nails(you can purchase specially coated nails for this that will literally glue themselves into the end grain of the short board) nail four or five evenly spaced nails through the long board into the end grain of the short board.  Nailing into the end grain of any board is a weak joint.  I also like to move my nails just a bit farther from the edge, say 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches from the end rather than 3/4 of an inch.  Nailing at a slight angle, gets you a bit farther from the end of the board, thus reducing the likelihood of splitting the end.  Don't over do this though, as the distance increases and the angle increases, you have less length to enter the end grain of the second board. 

Continue with the second long board with hangers, and finally with the second short board, Nailing into the sills and butted ends as you go.

Cut all of your floor joists to the same length, 11 feet 9 inches, dropping them into the hangers and nailing through the hangers into the joists as you go.  But first, nail in one 10d nail through the top of the joist at an angle into the rim joist at an angle to make sure it stays seated and steady in its hanger. There are two types of hangers available.  In one type 1 1/2 inch joist hanger nails drive straight into the floor joists.  The second type, double shear joist hangers force you by the shape of the holes to nail at a 45 degree angle through the hanger, through the joist and into the rim joist.  A much stronger joint to my mind.  Use 10d galvanized nails for this.  Pound in any of the little prongs that are on the hangers before you nail.

I find the very idea of putting diagonal braces in between the floor joists extremely tedious.  You can make braces out of scraps of lumber(called herringbone struts) or buy metal ones that are a bit easier to work with.  You can also buy an extra piece of 2x8 and cut a number of them 14 1/2 inches long and nail them between the joists as you install them. (Again, the end blocks will be shorter because of the different On Center placement.)  I would install two rows of the blocks at the four foot(from the outer edge of the rim joist) and at the 8 foot point from the same spot.  This will mean that besides reducing the twist of the timbers as pressure is put on them, but also giving support to the seams of the plywood sub floor.   The metal ones do not perform this second function.   Staggering the blocks so that you can nail through the joist to the block without the previous block being in the way is convenient, but putting them right on the 4 and 8 foot line will provide that support.  It just means that you have to nail through the joist at an angle to bypass the previous block and into the end grain of the one you are working on.  (see the illustration.)  Three nails on each end will suffice.


Now you may begin to lay the sub floor.

Use 3/4 inch CDX tongue and groove sub floor.  Some people say that 5/8 inch will do, but you have a good long span here, and every millimeter of material will help with support. 
Install small scraps of wood to the side of you rim joists.  They will be flush with the edges of the rim and rise about an inch above them.  This will allow you to assemble your entire floor before nailing, without the sheets slipping off the sides of the floor.
Go around the rim joists and mark on the outside of the rim where the center line is for each floor joist and each row of blocking.
You should plan to lay the sheets in a brick pattern.  That means you will need three full sheets of CDX and three half sheets(Don't worry, you will use the extra somewhere, unless they let you buy a half sheet at your lumber supplier.).  You can use regular 3/4 inch plywood, which is a blessing if you have a pile of it to use up, but the floor will not be as secure.
Lay a full sheet in one corner, then the half sheet to end up at the other end.  Starting at the same side, the second row will begin with a half sheet and then a full sheet.  The third will be full sheet and half.
When all of the flooring is laid in place, the tongue and groove firmly locked in place, or the plain joints firmly butted together, snap a chalk line from the marks you made on the outside of the rim joists to the opposite side, and along the location of the blocking in the other direction.
An extra, but a very good step is to run a bead of adhesive caulk made for sub floors on the top of every joist and block, but you will have to place the sheets more carefully so as not to smear the caulk.  In this case you definitely need a second pair of hands.
A chalk line is a string that is coated in(usually blue) chalk.  One person holds the end of the line against the mark at one end.  The other person takes the spool end to the other end of the floor, trying not to drag the line across the plywood floor as you go.  You will end up with big smears of chalk if you drag it.
Pull the line fairly tight.
Either a third person, lifts the tightly drawn line and lets it snap back into place, or the person holding the end tacks it into place with a small nail and snaps it.
A person working alone might tack the free end, and wrap the line several times tightly around a second nail, friction holding it in place.  He then snaps it himself.  Move across the floor and snap on every joist center and on the blocking lines.
Using a screw bit on your drill, screw 2 1/2 inch decking screws straight into the joists every eight (or less) inches along the chalk lines, and on both edges of the seams at a slight angle into the joists below.  The screw heads should just disappear into the surface of the flooring or at the very least, be flush with the surface.  Put considerable weight on the spot you are screwing into, so that you have excellent contact with the joist.  Also screw into the Rim Joists in the same manner making sure to put a screw into each side of any seams, and try to hit the mid point of the joist.
If any of the seams are raised for some reason, check to see if the screws are screwed in all the way.  If it is still raised, use a belt sander to sand it flush.
You may seal the entire floor with a roller or a pad(like a mop) using a sealer recommended by your dealer.

The Main Event.

Next comes the part of building a house that everyone thinks about.  Framing the walls of a building is very easy.  Planning is more difficult.  You have to have a plan in mind, an idea of where everything will be inside, headroom you need, heating source, etc..
First, you might ask: "Can I live in this building?"   Well, yes you can.  It is small, 144 square feet on the first level, and if you like, up to about 100 square feet on the second, depending on how you define living space, the chosen roof system etc.
I would like to give you two systems for this building.  The first will be a very high pointed roof, that would be well suited for a Gothic style building, and one which will be at a  shallower angle.  Both will have space on the second floor for a bed, or perhaps two twin beds in separate spaces. 
First, we must discuss corners.  In any wall system, you have to have nailing space for whatever wall covering you plan to use.  If at a corner, you use a single 1x4 or 1x6, the overlap will only allow you to have a nailing surface for one of the two walls at the corner.  For this reason, it is necessary to double up the wall studs with spacers in between them for the outermost studs at the intersection.  In other words, there will be two walls made of single studs all along the length of the wall frame.  There will also be two wall frames made of single studs except for the end studs, which will be doubled with extra pieces in between to total 4 1/2 inches thick for 2x4 construction or up to 7 1/2 inches for 2x6 construction.  If you put four studs together that will give you 1/2 inch of nailing space,  This would be fine if you cover this wall first on the inside, but it would be even better if you have a total of five studs and/or spacers.  That would give you 2 inches of nailing area.  This, like the floor, will alter the 16 inch on center arrangement of the studs on each end.
We still want to waste as little as possible of the exterior sheathing because it is so expensive.  It is better if we try to keep everything in 4 foot increments, so we do not have to cut off part of a sheet or add another partial sheet.  This means that I always try to design in increments of four.  12x12, 16x24, 24x32 or 36.
To start, we must decide how we are to use the space, and where we are building, to determine what materials to use for framing.
If you are going to use the space in the summer, or just a few days of the year in cold weather, you can build the house out of 2x4s.  In fact some sheds are made with 2x3s.
If you are going to live in the building, and it is a cold area, or for that matter, a very hot area, you may want to upgrade to 2x6 construction.  This will allow you to super insulate against the heat and the cold.  Of course you will lose a little room inside, but if you look at the space saving interior walls I recommend, you can make up for that in a house that has dividing walls.  You cannot use these walls where they will have to contain electric or plumbing.
You just cannot mill your own studs.  You will never find wood dry enough to put up a wall made out of studs cut from wood on your land.  Lumber from the lumber yard is kiln dried, and will not twist and warp nearly as much as an air dried piece of wood.  That does not mean that they won't warp or twist, but it does mean that kiln dried lumber will be much more stable. 
Choose your lumber carefully.  With big projects, it may not be practical to choose each piece, but in the scale we are looking at, even a full day choosing the best wood will really pay off in the long run.
Pick up a wood that has not been exposed to the weather too much.  Hold the 2x whatever up to your eye with the other end on the ground.  Make sure it looks straight if you sight along the edges and corners.  Just move on to the next if it does not.  If there are a lot of warped and twisted boards, it may be wise to move on to another store.  If you put striped wallpaper on a wall built with twisted and warped 2x material, you may get a queasy feeling just looking at the wall.  It would be a short visible trip back to the 1960s.
You will assemble each wall on the ground, or on the newly constructed sub floor.

Measure each and every stud for length and trim off or set aside variations.

Walls will be made of three 2x6x12s for the top and bottom plates, You could make these out of  six 8 foot studs if you like, but if you can find at least 2 straight 12 footers for each wall, so much the better.

You will need fourteen 2x6x8 studs for each wall with no openings.

For a wall with a single door, buy sixteen.

For a wall with an average window, buy eighteen.

For a wall with an average door or window, buy one 2x10x8 and a half sheet of 1/2 inch thick plywood.

For a wall with an over sized opening, figure out the rough opening size in the window manufacturer's instructions, and buy 2x10s about three inches longer than the rough opening width and enough 1/2 inch plywood to cut two pieces the same size as the 2x10s(9 1/2 inches by the length) out of it.

You may not use all of the regular 2x6s in walls with large openings, but you will use the extra pieces for spacers etc.  Also, it is wise to keep a few extra pieces of each to replace damaged members, bad cuts, and for spacers. 

Using 16d nails(common nails are stronger than box nails) assemble the wall with the multiple end studs on the new sub floor, with the bottom(plate) parallel to the wall where it will be erected.  See the nailing pattern in the illustration.  You could assemble all four walls on the floor one at a time, and move them aside when you work on the next.  Move them back to the floor one by one as you raise the walls. See illustration B

 

Nail a few foot long pieces of wood to the outside of the rim joists so that they extend up from the floor like you did with the sub floor.  See the illustration A

When the wall is assembled, nail on a very long scrap board to the outside stud on each end with a single nail about six inches from the end of the scrap piece and about a foot down from the top plate.  The scrap board should pivot freely on the nail. See illustration C

Push the bottom plate against the pieces nailed to the rim joist, and raise the wall into place with help.   Illustration A

When the wall is close to vertical and the bottom of the wall is flush with the edge of the floor, nail the other end of the scrap wood to the perpendicular rim joist of the floor, but only drive the nail half way in. see illustration D

Use a level to determine if the wall is vertical.  If not, remove the bottom nail from the scrap piece and move the wall to vertical and nail the scrap back in place so the wall won't move.  Do the same on the other end of the wall.

Measure the diagonals(bottom left corner to top right corner and then bottom right corner to top left corner) of the wall and make sure they are equal.  Push the top of the wall right or left till they are equal.  Hold in place and have someone nail a scrap board at a diagonal from the bottom corner to the top plate at a 45 degree angle.  Put a nail half way into each stud the diagonal passes to secure it.  This will keep the wall square till all is assembled.  See illustration E

You will still be able to adjust the walls for vertical as you work, but try to be close.

Nail the bottom plate with 16d nails to the sub floor in sort of a zig-zag pattern, about 6 inches apart.  Be careful to catch many of the nails into the top of the rim joist.

Move on to the next(shorter)wall.  Make sure the second wall is butted closely to the first. 

Tack the second wall to the first with just one nail, partly driven in.

Nail the bottom plate to the floor.

Measure the diagonals of the second wall, and make sure they are the same in both directions.

Pull the tacking nail out and adjust if necessary.  Nail a diagonal scrap on this wall as well.

When the two walls are vertical and square, nail the second wall to the first at the corner.  Make sure they are flush from top to bottom.

When the four walls are assembled, get on a step ladder, and measure the diagonals of the entire wall system.  When they are coaxed into square, nail diagonals to the under side of the top plates to keep it square.

Below is wall one, or the longer wall.  Notice that the end studs are tripled, with short scraps nailed between them as spacers.  Studs are nailed through the top and bottom plates with two nails for 2x4 construction and three nails for 2x6 construction.  The bunched up end studs are nailed to each other with four nails through each and into each of the short spacers.  The corners have plenty of nailing space for the interior wall finishes.  With 2x4 construction, you would only group two studs together with one spacer..  The stud positions would remain the same.

 

Illustration number two below is the narrower wall for either 2x4 or 2x6 construction.

 

Above are the basic designs for a door and a window.  These may appear anywhere on the wall.  Keep the same 16 inch on center construction, cutting off the studs that are in the way of the window or door.  Add on studs to one side or the other to fill in and move the opening one side or the other.  I have shown the window opening fitting into the regular space of the studs just for convenience of the drawing.  Notice that an extra stud was added to the right side of the door, but the rest of the wall retains its 16 inch on center spacing.  Cut out the bottom of the door with a crosscut saw, when it is time to continue construction.

Now go back around the building and nail a second to plate on top of the first with your 12 foot boards, overlapping the existing top plate joints so that adjoining walls are securely locked together. A full 12 foot length on top of the short walls, and the shorter plates(11 feet 1 inch), on top of the long walls.

An alternative to raising the walls and squaring things up with a diagonal temporary brace is to sheath the outside of the walls with OSB (Oriented Strand Board), plywood or Texture 111 or some similar exterior sheathing.  This is a very good idea as it keeps the wall absolutely square as you are handling it.  There are a couple of issues I have in our context. 
1.  Once you have put it on, it is devilish to undo.  As you know, we are working with people who might never have built before, who may have made a mistake along the way, who might not have brought in all the materials or even have decided what they want to do for siding or sheathing at this point.
2.  It is damned heavy.  Sheet goods in general are very heavy, but when you have three sheets on a wall, and perhaps you and one other person to raise the wall, hold it in place etc, it can be a lot to try to handle.  Leverage is on your side.  You do not have to literally pick the wall up, but still it can be a bit of a strain, especially when putting a diagonal board onto the wall with do a pretty good job and allow for readjustment as you work. 
What if you are walking around inside your new skeletal space, and measure out where your desk and counters will go. and decide you need the windows to be two feet over from where you framed them? It is an awful job to rip the sheathing off the wall, reconfigure the studs and put it back together again with nail holes where you didn't want them or god forbid, you have to buy new materials because you already cut the openings.  If you did not pre-cut the openings, you cannot tell what views you will have or how much light will come in.  I think it is best to sheath later, even though you will spend a bit more time on the ladder or staging. 

If you do a few buildings, You will know better what to expect, the light requirements, and your design and spacial sense.      

Gothic Trim Sketches

There are literally thousands and thousands of variations.  Find examples by walking around your town or looking on line.  They encrusted houses, churches and even river boats for several decades or more.  They became fashionable prior to the Civil War and were part of a whole design movement called Gothic Revival. 
At the time people were into all kinds of REVIVAL styles, like they did not trust themselves to come up with something new.  There was Italianate, which also had heavy brackets on many buildings, Greek Revival, Egyptian Revival, Renaissance Revival... later came Georgian and Classical Revival into the Twentieth Century.

These were not always just cut out of a board, they were often layered up with several differently pierced boards sandwiched together, with moulded edges, pinnacles rising from the peak, rosettes and piercings through some but not all layers, and often painted in wild or elegant color schemes.. Three four or five colors, mostly "Stone" colors were popular with white trim.  Yellow, rusty and sandstone red....
Gothic style windows often had leaded glass.   Board and Batten siding emphasized height and verticality, though occasionally houses could be decorated in this way and be very squat with very low angle roofs.
If the neighbor had done this Fashion Forward style, you might take your family's severe, hundred year old Georgian or Federal house and Tart it Up with Gothic trim.  Search for pictures of the Wedding Cake house in Kennebunkport(I think), Maine for an example.  My favorite Gothic house is a little red one on a side street in Wiscasset, Maine, It has Oriole and bay windows and red siding with white trim.

These pictures are called Barge Boards by some, but I assume they were VERGE boards in the day.
Three of these have different designs on each half to save room on the drawing space.  (Truly some people would not notice!)

People would even execute these designs in canvas, and hang them on fancy tents for summer homes, and gazebos, sort of like the tents used by knights in the middle ages, with stencilled walls, tassels, etc..  You could even carve wooden tassels, acorns or pendants etc. and hang them on the Verge boards of your house with interlocking metal screw eyes screwed into them for hanging.

These are not too hard to make with modern tools, but upkeep is important, with regular painting, and pre-treating the wood before beginning work on them.
The biggest obstacle is getting a good design.  Look at lots before doing the work, and do not get too ambitious unless you love woodworking.  Refine your design in full scale on paper to make sure it looks right.  There are a lot of these that are not quite as good as they could be, even on old houses.
Imagine a tiny yellow and white cottage like this deep in the woods.

These motifs are applied to the roof verge before the roof sheathing is applied.  The roof extends out over this, and over any mouldings you want to apply, then shingles, drip edges. etc., are applied to shelter them from the weather.  See the illustration.

Not to scale

Gothic Trefoil

"OK", you say, what can I do with this?.

 

 

The name trefoil means three leaves. It was a common motif throughout Gothic art and architecture.  There a a number of variations,  It was squeezed into a triangular shape, and sometimes it was just inscribed into an Isosceles Triangle, or an Isosceles Triangle that had the two long sides bent out into a sort of pointed Gothic Arch.
They might have cut this in stained glass and put it into a round frame.  Clear glass with just the lead lines would be wonderful.  You could mount it to the inside of a round window  If it was hard to cut that center three lobed piece from a single pane of glass, they might continue the lines of the inner three circles to form overlapping petals, sort of like a curvy version of the Mercedes Benz star in the center.  The one piece then becomes only six pieces,plus the framing area, and much easier to cut out of glass.

I would also take a piece of mahogany plank(Mahogany is a very forgiving wood when you work on it and it lasts a long time in the weather.) or some other wood that could be soaked in preservative for a couple of days before using it on the house.
Thicken the lines a bit so that carving will be less delicate.
Transfer the pattern to your thicker than average board.
Drill a good sized hole in each void in the pattern.
Using a Jigsaw or a Scroll saw, and starting in the drilled holes, cut out the pattern.
Use a router to "mould" all the edges.  This means starting with just a bit of the blade digging into the wood and gradually extending the blade out more and more till your moulding is complete.
Soak the entire piece in preservative for a couple of days if using a normal wood.
Sand and paint to match your house trim.
Drill three holes into the outer frame of the carving at places that look appropriate to your pattern, and screw it to the face of your round window frame.
It could also be mounted inside the window to provide pattern for the inside.

If you are a good woodworker, make all of the wooden dividing bars much wider, say at least an inch and a half.  Then when the front mouldings have been completed, but not more than half the thickness of the wood, turn the piece over and rabbet out the back of each opening with a router, completing the areas that will not be reached by the router blade with a chisel(this is a very gentle operation with the wood on a flat stable base, and an extremely sharp chisel, so that the work does not put a ton of pressure on the wood.)  Rabbet the back in several passes of the router, taking out tiny amounts of wood in each pass till the required depth is reached.  Cut the rabbets to nearly reach the moulding on the front, then cut glass to fit each opening. Use Linseed oil, or some other recommended oil to moisturize the wood where the putty will adhere.  Allow to dry.   Run a tiny bit of glass putty in the rabbet in the groove of the rabbet, press the glass into it firmly, push in Glass Points to hold it, then fill the rabbet at a 45 degree angle with more putty.  Paint it all.

You could also draw a large triangle or curved Isosceles triangle on a piece of wood, the base of the triangle the same width as the top trim of your rectangular window frame. (See illustration, forgiving the sketchy look of it!)  Glue and tack a nice moulding like an Ogee onto the edge of the triangle, mitering at the corners.  You should be able to bend the moulding to the curve (if you have one) as it is not usually a drastic curve.  You may have to glue up several boards to get the width you want, but the glues these days are tremendous.  I was once told that if I do work with the modern glues, the wood would eventually rot away, and the glue would still be there on the house standing on its own!

Make a triangular piece of wood, no thicker than 3/4 inch or the projected thickness of your siding, to fit about half an inch inside the frame you have built.  Route the outside of the triangle with a nice moulded edge.

Increase the size of your trefoil pattern to fit within an inch or two inside the triangular board you have cut. 
Transfer and cut out the pattern voids like in the previous project.   Again, make all the slim pattern bars thicker, or just transfer the central three circle motif itself onto the triangle.  Cut it out, and mould it with the router in a simple pattern, even just a half round.
Glue and screw the cut out on to the surface of the triangular frame.  Use one of the great exterior wood glues now available.
Paint with several applications of preservative and paint when dry, or just paint if using cedar, Teak or Mahogany.

Mount this directly over the windows of the house, with flashing for the window under it, and flashing on top of the motif, (at least on the front of the house.) and apply siding around it.  Keep it well painted for permanence.  Lead is very flexible and easy to install on complex shapes.  Handle with gloves to avoid the lead on your skin.  You especially want to avoid it if it has a powdery coating or is very dull and whitish.

Use this or other related patterns to cut frames to attach to the front of rectangular casement window frames.  Screw them in place with Bronze or Stainless Steel screws, so that they can be easily removed for maintenance of the frame and the window.

It may seem like an awful expense to buy Mahogany or other exotic woods, but this will really MAKE the exterior design of your house, and will keep you from having to redo the work over and over.

Furnishing a Tiny House and Cupboard Beds

This column came from a salvage shop.  There are two of them.  I built the pedestal portion.  They are great for dividing up a large space to hint at a different room without taking up the visual space of something heavier 

 

 

You may be into certain styles of furnishings, and your limited space can be accommodated with almost any style of furniture.  Most styles of furniture have smaller scale pieces that would be perfect for a small house.  The main objective is not to look for only tiny furniture.  Trimmer scale is perhaps the watch-phrase.  Cheap furniture found in discount, heavy advertising stores tend to be huge.  They make up for the mosaic of tiny pieces of marble or granite glued together to make the top of a coffee table by making the table huge.  They use inferior wood, colored and finished by spray-on, wood-colored finishes, and massive pieces of wood making the legs and aprons.  The upholstered furniture is heavily padded with cheap, loosely fitted upholstery fabric, so they use yards and yards of fabric and mounds of cheap foam padding to make aircraft carrier sized couches.  Eventually the foam collapses and the whole thing looks like the sagging skin of an old person,...before the face lift.  Our basic problem these days is that we use the furniture differently.  When I was a kid, and certainly for centuries before...as long as couches were available, one would seat several people on a couch, one might gracefully recline on a couch in a fainting spell, it might serve as an alternative to bed when your wife was angry with you, or you might sit on the couch balancing a cup of tea on your knees.  Now, all people do is Schlump on the couch.  Pad it more, because we will be hours a day draped on the couch to watch TV while eating chips and dip off a bowl on the floor.  By the way, the dog will very likely be there on the couch with you along with all the drippings from your snack food.  As I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, I do not remember lying down on the couch except when I was sick and my mother did not want to go upstairs to tend me.  You may want to rethink this position...sorry...that was a cheap one.  
The trick is to find a three seat couch, long enough to lie down on, that has trim dimensions.  Avoid over padded upholstery, big cushions in massive piles, and enormously deep seats.  When you sit down in it, the backs of your knees don't make it to the edge of the seat, so you can't comfortably sit in it with your feet flat on the floor.  This is how people get blood clots!

 

This camel-back couch is long enough to stretch out on and sleep comfortably.  I am 5 feet 10 1/2 inches tall.  Notice that these Colonial styles have little excess padding, and space underneath for storage.  I may slip cover this someday as I am not in love with the green velvet.  When I do, this could have a skirt to hide storage.  As it is now, it is very light looking.  It takes up little visible space.  Similar Sheraton styles sometimes have straight up and down wooden arms as well, if you absolutely hate the rolled arms. You would also save 8 or ten inches of length.

Tight upholstery, good quality, no fluff...It will look like a tuxedo on a trim young man, instead of a bulky sweater on a fat person.
Look at computer images of Hepplewhite and some Sheraton tables.  They are light, spider web-like designs that you can see through.

This is a French style...Too light for Louis XIV; not straight enough for Louis XVI; so I guess I will settle on Louis XV...I am a little weak on French styles.  I HATE the upholstery...very 80s.

It is very small, but exceedingly comfortable.  The most comfortable chair in the house with it's big poufy down filled seat.  Made in the 1910s or 1920s, I think.   $300.00 at auction if I remember correctly.  They came from an estate on Long Island  

Skinny chrome tubing is used in some modern tables, sometimes with travertine marble tops etc.
Use an old trunk for a coffee table.  Not the big steamer varieties, but trim, six board trunks that were used as dowry chests, sea chests and tool chests in the 18th and 19th century.


I took the front of an antique Altar from Kashmir and added a box to the back, two marble tiles for the top and square screw on legs from Home Depot to make this side table that doubles for storage.  It is 24 inches wide, 26 inches high and 12 inches deep.  The front doors open to reveal a god or your tax files.

This is a round topped table that my uncle and mother made from narrow white pine or perhaps spruce boards in the 1940s. The top is a 17 inch round and it is 21 inches high.  Easy to make, it takes up little room, but the spidery legs and holes cut out of it make it look even smaller than it is.  I will post the plans sometime.  Yeah, the dusty openings in the base are hearts.  I am a bachelor...what can I say about the dust?

 

I made this table by bolting together the two separated halves of a 19th century iron garden urn.  The top is a 24 inch glass round from Michael's craft store.  I could have gone smaller.  I fill it with decorative objects that I have collected and cover the top with the glass so it is dust free.  The actual urn is 20 inches in diameter by 24 inches tall.

 

 

This is a reproduction of a 19th century picnic box from China.  The top comes off, and there are compartments inside.  I had a glass top cut for it to fit at my local glass store.  I have room enough in it to store enough family Christmas ornaments for a small tree...or a good sized one for that matter.    12 inches deep by 17 inches wide by 28 inches high.

 

 

Remember The Bombay Company?  There was not super quality available, but everything was a little undersized.  Notice the Hepplewhite-like legs.  It makes the table appear even smaller than it really is.  I think I paid $25.00, on sale, for it a few years back, before they closed, and it took twenty minutes to assemble.  Is The Bombay Company still open somewhere?  20 inches wide,13 inches deep by26 inches tall.

 

 

 

This is a really interesting piece.  It is a Chinese Jewel Chest.  It is presently hanging on the wall and is being used as a hall table.  It is less than 11 inches high and perhaps 9 inches deep.  But it is nearly 5 feet long.  It is made of thin wood,  simply but nicely joined and painted.  It began life as a chest used for storage of valuables.  It would stand on a shelf or hang on the wall over the headboard of your bed so thieves had a hard time getting to it while you slept!  Too funny!  Unlike the picnic hamper-table this one is an antique, but a good idea to reproduce.  Also, it would be easy to build.

 

You do not have to be rustic or super modern and streamlined to live in a small space.  As I said in an earlier post, this is your chance to live in a jewel box with the best interior possible, made more affordable by it's small size.  Just keep colors light, or even extremely dark and rich...the in-betweens give you trouble.  Avoid ambers, caramels and golds, as they suck the light out of a room.  If you go to Marble House in Newport Rhode Island, the most Human room in the place is Mrs.Vanderbilt's oyster and blue study.  It is much smaller than the first building project I have posted and extremely elegant.

 

A Box Bed

Plan on the long side of the bed against the wall.

In colonial and earlier times, people often slept in a Box Bed.  In fact this goes back centuries and centuries. Generally this bed would be filled with down feather beds.   This might be a problem in these days of  mold phobias, etc.  I can see this working out well using a simple mattress, crib mattress or even a nice Memory Foam layer or two. 

Basically, how this works is by building a box.  Use hardwoods if you can, as they are very rigid.  They do not splinter with handling, and look nice. I would love to make one of these with a figured birch or maple.  The bottom is unlikely to work for long term use with anything but a good 3/4 inch plywood. A birch veneer will be good for looks.

In building this, you will have to raise the plywood off the ground by about an inch in order to dado the bed's plywood foundation into the frame.  Solve the resulting support issues where the center of the bed is unsupported, by gluing and nailing on a pattern of 1 inch thick wood as a decoration on the bottom of the bed.  This will act as a decorative pattern when the bed is closed. 

I am assuming that you will do this as a twin bed or smaller, but if you have the strength to lift this up (it is actually hollow after all) then a full or larger bed might be fine.



 See the post on Blithewold for more on this Breton box bed.

 

 

First, cut four sides that are the same width as the thickness of the mattress plus about an inch and three quarters.  You may make this with much wider boards if you wish, as raising the sides of the bed would alleviate some drafts that hug the floor. The longer sides(the long axis) should be longer than the narrow sides, by twice the thickness of the wood.  The thicker the wood used on the frame the stronger it will be, but also the heavier it will be.  Cut corner blocks to fit in the inside corners of the bed as a gluing brace.  The end view of the blocks would be triangular as the corners of the mattress will not fill that area. 

Using a Dado head for your table saw, or a jointer or router, cut a Dado the length of the four boards 1 inch from the edge.  The two longer sides should not have the Dado continue all the way to the ends.  Stop about a quarter inch from the end.  Again, the thicker the boards for your frame, the deeper the Dado can be, and the stronger it will be.

Cut the plywood to fit the frame and into the Dado.   Assemble the four sides with the plywood in the Dado.  Glue and screw the joints together with exceptionally long screws as you are screwing into End Grain. Countersink and plug the holes.(Plugs can be purchased from suppliers in the same or highly contrasting woods like ebony or walnut, to be glued into the holes and sanded flush.  Glue and screw the corner braces into the corners, flush with the top edge.  This brace will the sanded and molded along with the frame.

Hardwoods are very unforgiving when it comes to fasteners.  You cannot easily drive nails...Well, you can, but avoid anything near the end or edge of a board,, and you need a strong arm.  almost always count on pre-drilling holes for nails and for screws.  With screws, you should drill for the main shaft of the screw, just a bit smaller than the threaded part of the screw..., then you will have to drill in the same hole for the width of the un-threaded shaft, and a countersink hole for the head of the screw to disappear below the surface.  They do make bits that will do the whole think with one go.  Do not try to over screw into a hardwood board.  In softwood, it is not uncommon to screw till the fibers are slightly crushed by the head of the screw...do not try this with hardwood, because YOU WILL SPLIT IT, or you may break off the screw.  If you are having a hard time screwing the screw into the wood, and this goes for all projects using screws, rub a bit of bar soap onto the threads to lubricate them as they enter the wood. 

Sand the entire frame and round all the corners and edges with a router.  ALL EDGES!  As some will be showing from the front when the bed is closed.

Place the box against the wall with the opening toward the wall.  Screw a full length(Full length just for looks really.) Piano Hinge to the floor and into the outside(Bottom) edge of the frame.  The bed should hinge down to the floor to lay flat, and rise to the wall when not in use.  The frame should be about a quarter to a half inch from the wall as the hinge will allow it to lean slightly inward.  It will be more stable and less likely to fall away from the wall by accident.

Screw and/or glue an all over pattern of 1x2 boards to the outside plywood bottom.  A trellis pattern, a Chinese fretwork pattern, or just a series of concentric rectangles would work.  Sand them as well.

 

Now measure from the floor to the top of the box against the wall.  Add about half an inch, plus the thickness of the boards you are using to that length.  The boards should be about an inch wider than the box measures from the wall at floor level.  Now measure the length of the box, plus one inch and twice the thickness of the wood you are using. 

Cut a 45 degree miter on both ends of the long board, and one end of each of the smaller boards.

Glue and screw the mitered ends together into a "C" shape. Then sand the whole thing, and round the edges of the frame that will not be touching the wall.

With the bed box closed, place the three sided frame around the box against the wall.  This will form a shelf  or console table.  (You could make this any width, and even make a real table of it, perhaps a curved top.)  You should make sure before you cut the legs to length, that they will be long enough for the box to close smoothly without the frame hitting the underside of the top.

Again, countersink and fill the holes from the screws. 

Put an oil finish or water base varnish on the entire bed and table, or paint the whole thing.  You can use cheaper woods if you will paint.

Put two nice decorative handles,(that will not interfere with the box resting on the floor) on the right and left top corners of the box bottom.  If you cannot find an appropriate handle, just drill a couple of one inch finger holes in the bottom, near the top corners.

This would be great under a high window for a double bed, or a regular window for a twin.  You end up with a console table and a bed.

Do not put a set of shelves or heavy objects above the bed as you could get an avalanche if the bed or occupants are too restless or banged against the wall.   

Nail with bright finish nails diagonally through the legs of the construction into the floor and the sill plate of the wall, and nail and countersink into the wall studs along the top. 

This whole thing would work better if you do it before you put baseboards or molding on the base of the walls.  You will have to adjust all your measurements to go around the moldings or cut them out if you are retrofitting.

If you can find antique hinge pins, they often have decorative knobs on one end.  With the bed closed, drill a hole through the center of the leg of the console, about 6 inches from the top, and right through the bed frame.  Do the same on the other end.  Now, if you put the pin through the hole, it will be difficult for the bed to open unintentionally, like when a kid plays with the handles.  If you put the holes through the top of the table, they will be out of the reach of a child. 

 

 An Austrian cupboard bed courtesy of Wikipedia

 

 

An Alcove Bed.   

 



 We have an issue in this country with big beds.  There must be some connection with central heating or something.  There was a time when it was chilly in your bedroom at night, at least when extra curricular activities were not going on.  I know from living in an 18th century house in Maine, that cuddling in bed is a wonderful thing. 

Usually, we see these people in the home buying TV shows saying..."Oh, no...Our bed is a King or a California King".  Strangely, it is usually the little 5'2" men and women who are saying that.  Heavens, I could put the two of us, a Great Dane and a pony in a bed that size!

In a tiny house, you have to compromise.  In addition to that, if you are in the great north woods with a fireplace or wood stove that cools toward morning, you will be very grateful for a smallish bed.

In this case I am going to advocate a 3/4 bed.

A twin bed is usually 38 or 39 inches by 75 inches.  I actually like two people...if they like each other...in a twin.

A full size bed is 54 by 75 inches.  Plenty of room.

For the tiny house you might try to lay your hands on a 3/4 bed.  They are not necessarily an easy thing to find, though many companies will willingly custom make one for you.  If you cannot find one, you might try a foam pad.  As mentioned above, the old timers might have stacked up half a dozen feather beds to provide a sleeping surface.  Today, of course, that would run into the hundreds and hundreds of dollars.  Memory foam might also make the grade.

 

An alcove bed was built to enclose the sleeper, sealing him or her off from drafts.  Also, in small houses, an alcove bed was the only way for a couple to get any privacy. 

They were sometimes made with doors on the opening, either swinging out or sliding in a groove.  That is a project that you can easily figure out if you are a good carpenter, but for the occasional carpenter, I am going to advocate a pair of curtains to cover the opening.  Heavy homespun, overshot coverlets cut into curtains(damaged antiques are not unusual.  PLEASE DO NOT TELL ANYONE THAT I ADVOCATED CUTTING UP A GOOD ANTIQUE COVERLET FOR CURTAINS.)   I have actually done that, but in all cases, they were heavily damaged coverlets, that would not see a useful life unless they were cut this way.  Also, do not cut up a coverlet that has a date on it, or was made by a family member in the 19th century or by a famous person.  What a crime.  I usually find Linsey-Woolsy coverlets with holes or rips in them, made by some anonymous weaver, and cut those for curtains, pillows or upholstery.  I gave one to my sister a few years ago that was black in one direction, and Taupe in the other.  This was pleasing in my Italian color sense, but a little unusual for the home decorator.

 

In our little cottage project, I would omit the back wall window if I was going to do this project.   On the other hand, some European beds do have windows in them...very charming, but practical...I think not except in a warm climate. You do not want to make a bed to banish drafts, then put a window in the wall.  Even the best window is going to be colder than an insulated wall.

So, we will assume that this wall has been insulated already, and is ready to be sheathed in drywall, real wood paneling as posted earlier, etc..

Cut six 2x4s 49 1/2 inches long.  Have 8/ 2x4x 8s ready for this first stage.  On the floor, you will construct two walls just as you did with the side walls of the building.  The studs will be 16 inches on center.  Refer to the drawing. 

 

 

Front framing for the bed...not to scale.

.

 Side wall of bed framing, not to scale.

 

 

A few sketched suggestions, see also photo above.



 



The walls will be erected at a 90 degree angle to the wall studs,(use a framing square to confirm before nailing permanently.) overlapping the third studs on both sides of the center point of the wall by about a quarter of an inch,  In other words, they should start about 41 1/4 inches from the center point in both directions.  Nail the bottom plate to the floor the top plate to the rafters, and diagonally through the first stud into the wall stud just catching the corner.

Frame the front wall of the bed as shown in the diagram.   Vary the measurements as wanted to fit your design.   

Nail the front frame to the sides you just installed.  Inside the little room you have built, you will measure and sheath the back wall with 1/2 inch birch veneer plywood.   You will be able to cover gaps at top and bottom with scraps as you will want to do nice moldings inside for the crown, as well as astragal or a similar molding vertically to simulate boards.  Alternatively, you may use the paneling I posted elsewhere for all surfaces.

Next, do the side walls and inside front walls.  Next do the ceiling in wood, installing electricity and leaving the wire hanging.  Drill and cut out the wall openings for outlets or sconces inside as well.  Do not use candles etc. inside as you could become trapped inside in a fire, especially if you install sliding doors. 

Install 2x4 cleats horizontally all the way around the inside of the bed, nailing or screwing to the studs as well as the plywood wall covering,  3/4 of an inch below the level of the horizontal threshold of the opening. 

Drop in a piece of 3/4 inch plywood to sit on the cleat.  Put a couple of finger holes in the plywood in case you ever need to lift the piece out of the floor of the bed.  A twin bed may not need it, but a larger bed may benefit from cross joists on joist hangers at the same level as the cleats.

Install your chosen wall covering on the outside of the bed superstructure.  I would use a nice wood again like the paneling posted here under space saving partition walls.  Line the inside edge of the opening to the bed with 4 1/2 inch wide hardwood board top and sides.  The bottom or threshold should have a thin molding instead to facilitate sliding in.  Install moldings on the inside of the opening, top and sides.  Make a picture frame on the outside of the opening, leaving the top with a wide decorative cornice hanging down from the top as in the sketched suggestions to hide the drapery hardware. 

Carve or rout decorative edges on the frame, apply second or even third layers to build up the decorations as you like it...This is the only decoration in the room, so you might as well do something nice. 

Cover all the inside seams and corners with quarter round or other molding.  There should be room enough for narrow bookshelves etc. inside. 

Finish as you like, and drop the mattress into the floor. 

Do not build with aromatic woods as it might be overpowering in an enclosed space. 

If you like, you may access the void under the bed through the bed floor, or put doors on the face of the bottom to access the space.  Keep the surface plain so as not to compete with the moldings around the entrance.  

There will be a little excess room at the foot of the mattress or if you have a slight variation in the size of the mattress.  In that case, just build a skinny box with a lid to fill the space so the mattress does not slide around, and to give a bit of extra storage.

 

You could do four of these against a wall with kids beds two over two.  Do regular sized multiple beds in a slightly larger house, do four full sized or twin sized beds against a wall, if you have as little as 13 feet of wall space 

 .

 

Design sketch of a Settle Bed

 

 

 

  

See cupboard beds in  "Les Miserables"  the 1952 version with Michael Rennie.  Also take a look at the bed Huw Morgan recovers in, in "How Green Was My Valley".  Huw was played by Roddy McDowall

 

Outdoor Living