Sills, Joists, and Sub-Floors of A Log Home

With the main work performed in the basement of our soon to be log home, Eric and I got busy building the sub-floor.

The first step was to cap off the ICF (styrofoam and concrete foundation blocks) with 2×12 pine boards creating a fully wooden ’sill’ of sorts for the first course of logs to rest upon. Next a vertical support system around the top of the block was installed (see photo below).

With this initial joist support system in place, and coupled with the steel support beam across the width of the log home, we were ready to begin laying 2×10 boards for floor joists. Rather than hoist each board from where they lay in a pile at ground level, Laura carried every board to approximate proximity of where it would be used, leaning against the foundation of the house. This way, as Eric prepared himself to use each board, they were at hand and ready.

Eric, of German descent and trained to build structures by a Dutch step-father, measured twice around the perimeter of the foundation and began laying the floor joists out (flat at first before nailing in place). Since our lumber provider (Freymond Lumber, Bancroft, Ontario) and our architect (Larry Haight, Bancroft, Ontario) are so good at what they do, no cutting of the boards was required.

The result, from the basement view (where I spent a few hours escaping the blazing hot sun) was reminiscent of a jail cell as the afternoon light filtered through.

On the south side of the house, the process continues and those joists meet the north-side joists at the steel beam. You can see the overlap below.

The final step in the process of laying our sub-floor (of the main floor, of the log home) is to place the plywood sheeting down. The plywood supplied from Freymond Lumber is tongue and groove, perfectly cut and level. To ensure the floor won’t shift, squeek or cause us any grief in the future, we glue the joist tops, lay the plywood square to the exterior frame and screw it down with special glue and flooring screws (check with Eric on the type/name here).

To ensure a tight fit, each plywood’s ‘tongue’ is pounded into the next sheet’s ‘groove’. Using our own body weight when required and waste 2×4 as a pounding buffer, then making sure that every sheet’s edge meets the middle of a joist.

Want to see who showed up to help?

Brian Wannamaker from Kitchener came to help and brought a round of freezies and chocolate milk.

Peter (from Belgian Nurseries in Kitchener) came and lent a hand (you’ll see him in one of the first pictures in this post), plus he brought his younger brother Nick.

Nick arrived just in time to help Laura move those darn floor joists around the foundation and he hoisted up many of the plywood sheets. Nick also was quite gracious in the fact that I called him “Hank” all day and he didn’t even give me a hard time about it! Ugh.

The End of The Log Home, First Floor, Sub-Floor, Project

Although it seems a minor and mindless task, laying the sub-floor is actually time consuming and
precise work. We see this as one of the important foundations of everything else that will be built upon this floor and sill. Uneven or non-square sub-floors will cause all kinds of trouble to log home builders and owners over time. Square it up, and keep everything you build around it square and you will have a strong and true log home that lasts longer and is more of a joy to live in.

The work was 3 days long from sill, to joists, to sub-floor, but they weren’t exactly full days and we did have help in our friends Brian, Peter and (ahem) “Hank”. But overall, at the end of the day (or end of the build), the brunt of the work and the responsibility for perfection rests on our shoulders and tires our backs.

Now, enough whining and onto the log raising!