Timber Frame Protection

[OBBob]

Hi Guy's, I'm building a timber framed extension and anticipate that it will take some time to complete! Being Melbourne the weather could do anything from now on ... any hints on the basics that should be done to protect the timber before it gets a roof?

Construction will be Hardwood subfloor covered with yellow tongue then pine wall frames and rafters ... tile roof.

Thanks in advance.

[journeyman Mick]

OBob,
the framing should be fine for a few months (although it may twist and carry on a bit in the sun/rain cycle). The flooring is more of a worry. According to the manufacturers you're supposed to be able to lay a platform floor and leave it in the weather for up to three months whilst you throw the frames and roof up. You need to stop water ponding on it and this may involve drilling holes next to the bottom plates which will subsequently be covered by your wall linings and skirtings. The flooring will expand somewhat in the weather and I would recommend you slap on a couple of coats of Wattyl "combat" (presuming, of course, that they still make it )

Mick

[OBBob]

Thanks ... the other related question is - is it OK to put down the joists, then run the yellow tonuge all the way to the edge and put the wall frames on top of the yellow tonuge? The standard seems to allow for it to be done either that way or to stop the yellow tongue short so that the wall bottom plates sit right on the joists.

The first option is obviously easier if it has not other problems.

[journeyman Mick]

OBBob,
the first method is a platform floor, the second is cut in (can't remember if there is a term for it ).
Advantages of a platform floor:
Fast, no cutting around walls, no extra joist trimmers required to support flooring around the walls, gives you a safe working platform = faster work + no temporary platform required.
Disadavantages of a platform floor:
flooring exposed to weather, no others that I can think of.

Mick

[bitingmidge]

OBBOb,

Since it's taking Mick so long to get back: It's a lot easier to run the yellow tongue through and put the walls on top.

On the question of waterproofing though, why not organise your work so that you can get a roof on immediately? Even if it's not fully waterproof it will be better than having a frame sit round in the weather for a length of time.

If it's just a matter of labour, why not get your floor framing done, make all your walls (if they aren't pre-fab), then shoot down the floor, erect the walls and trusses, and get a roof on in one or two weekends. (depending on how big the extension is).

Once you have a roof on, you can then run some building paper round the thing, and go on holidays!

I've often wondered why so many owner builders seem to get the frame completed, then just it just sits there (sometime for years), going to ruin, while just a bit more effort would have had it pretty much protected.

If you don't have the dough for a roof, don't start till you do.

Cheers,

P

[echnidna]

Get your roof on as soon as the frame is finished.
Wrap the walls with silver insulation paper.
Pine's a pain if it gets saturated.

[OBBob]

Thanks ... the intention was to get the frame up and get the roof on ASAP. It's the first one and I know when I do things a first time I do a fair bit of double checking so I envisage it could take longer than I estimate. I'm planning everything in adavance so if it goes smoothly there shouldn't be any concerns ... thanks for the tips.

[silentC]

We covered ours with black plastic as soon as it was down. It subsequently down raining for a week. A bit of water got underneath but not a lot. Once the plasterers had finished, I went around with a stanley knife and cut away the plastic and chucked the lot out, including all the plasterer's droppings (worse than birds in a cave). I hired a floor sander to hit the joins, which had swelled a little bit but mostly it was pretty good and as clean as the day it was put down.

[silentC]

Oh yeah, and we had the roof finished within a couple of weeks of the last bit of frame. The chippy was finishing on one end of the house while the roofers were starting at the other.

[floobyduster]

Depending upon the size of the extension, weather, timeframe and progress you could always consider hiring or buying some cheap tarps (like the blue ones from Super Cheap). When you've fininshed sell them off.

[silentC]

We thought about using tarps but you have to take them off to stand your walls and then your floor is uncovered again for the duration. Considering that we started standing walls the same day the last sheet of flooring was nailed down, it didn't offer us much of an advantage.

[floobyduster]

I was thinking that if the roof wasn't up you could rig up a temp roof structure to sling the tarps over?

[OBBob]

Actually I have some big tarps from when I tried to stop the rain getting in the new stump holes. Of course that didn't work because it was more than just a little bit fo rain!! Black plastic sounds good too ... Plaster splaters can be painful.

[floobyduster]

Rain!!! Stop being so greedy - send some up here!

[silentC]

I was thinking that if the roof wasn't up you could rig up a temp roof structure to sling the tarps over?

OK, with you now. I was fixating on flooring. I suppose if there was going to be a long delay before the roof went on, it wouldn't be a bad idea. Wouldn't be practical until the frame was finished though because it would be in the way.

We just let the frame weather the storm. We got the roof on pretty quick but unfortunately, due to an over-enthuiastic supplier, we had the frame on site a long time before we needed it and it sat outside in the rain for a few weeks. It's amazing what you can do with a saw, an electric plane and some speed brace