Build this Cozy Cabin

The first step is to take another look at the illustration in the Image Gallery. Fig. 1 shows a side view of the rafters you need to build. You’ll need 34 in all. This includes 30 that span the cabin itself, and two more pairs that extend to create the overhangs at the porch and the rear wall. You could use 2-by-6 rafters, but if you plan to insulate, you’re better off using 2-by-8s spaced on 16-inch centers. Although it costs a bit more, the extra wood actually makes it easier to create the required notches and angles because there’s more wood with which to work. As with the floor joists, check with local building authorities on exactly what size of wood is required where you live.

Start by marking rafter locations where they will sit on the top of the side walls, ideally atop wall studs. Use the same “line-and-X” marking scheme you used to lay out the top and bottom wall plates.

Next, measure the width of your building across the top of the side walls. It should be 14 feet. Chances are good that your cabin width across the front and back walls will match this measurement, but maybe not across the middle. No problem. Take one or two spare planks, rest them across the top of the building and spike one end of each in place. Get some help wrestling the walls inward or outward (whichever is needed to get a 14-foot building width), then spike the second end of your brace planks down. These will come off later, when the rafters and cross ties are added, so don’t pound the nails all the way home. Also, make sure these temporary braces are well away from the rafter locations you marked earlier. You don’t want them to get in the way of the rafters.

Follow the pattern on the illustration in the Image Gallery (Fig. 1) and cut out a pair of rafters. Although they should fit just right on your cabin, it always pays to double-check your cuts with a tape measure. Tack a piece of 11/2-inch-thick scrap wood to the top end of one rafter (to simulate the ridge board that will be part of the completed roof), then get some help temporarily hoisting the rafters up and leaning them against each other. What you’re looking for is a gap-free fit where the rafter meets the top of the walls, and where they come together at the peak. While you’re working, test the location of the rafter pairs at various places across the building. If they fit in one place and not another, that’s a sign the width of your cabin isn’t consistent after all.

When you’re satisfied with your pair of test rafters (and have adjusted their size if necessary), make the entire batch of 34 rafters. Of these, you must add a special feature to 12 of them.

The illustration shows how you should cut 1 1/2-by-3 1/2-inch notches along the top edge of these 12 special rafters to accept 2-by-4 braces. These support the outer pair of rafters on each end of the cabin, the ones that create the overhang. The best way to cut these notches accurately and quickly is by temporarily clamping two sets of six rafters together, marking each set as a group, then cutting the notches with multiple passes from a hand-held circular saw. It’s easy to knock out the slivers of remaining wood with a hammer and chisel.