Enclose area under house

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Plan A is for a floor, Plan B is for closing the bottom.

Plan A Use double hdg hanges to hang double 2x10 untreated between the bottom 3 posts
treated between the middle posts.
We always build with 2x10 floor joists 16" on center with hangers between those beams. Cheating the size is up to you.
In order to do that you will have to dig alittle around the middle posts and reshape the fill a little as we don't want any fill sluffing down and pushing against this floor, best would be to have about 6" cleareance under the beam. The water shed I think will be hung from the house so I would be going for an elevation the would put your plywood floor under the door into that shed.
5/8 t&g plywood.

I would rmove the dirt under the shed too and later refill that with gravel so it won't retain water and push against the floor.
 
I think the 2x10s are a good suggestion to provide maximum strength and stability. As far as the closet, I am aniticipating making some modifications to it. I want keep that area enclosed and well insulated, but I can reconfigure the access into it as necessary to accomodate the floor.
 
I helped my nephew do something similar only not as much grade at his place and we took advantage of the area below the deck also. I think if it was mine and as long as I was closing it in I would include the deck area also in the plans.

On his we hung corrugated panels below the deck on an angle sloping away and into a gutter just inside the outer wall to carry the rain running thru the deck away. It worked pretty good for the type of storage area he wanted. Mowers, motorcycles and 4 wheelers etc.

You could actually have a double wall if you wanted the area under the house the dry space and the area under the deck the protected area. In my experience when you have a layer or two layers of unheated areas around a warm area each layer acts as a thermal zone keeping the heat in.

I like Neal’s plan A for framing also depends on how fancy you want to get with a floor in there. I could also see some 4x4 posts independent of the main framing kind of a floating deck under a house just to walk around on and store things.

One question did they ever have any trouble with the exposed drain lines in the winter?

Waiting on plan B also.
Neal’s plan B is kind of like the old saying “There are 10 types of people in the world. Those that understand binary and those that don’t.”
 
Does the area under the cabin remain dry when it rains?
If yes, good grading and
a low groundwater level and/or no aquifer near the house and
porous soil and
. . .?.

If no, one or more of the opposites.

Right?

I don't do programming anymore but I can always use the practice in writing and debugging logical statements.
 
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If you are going to modify the closet, turning the door to the inside, if possible, would add to the insulated value of the closet.

Don't forget to plan on access for wheeled tools/vehicles. Even something like a wheelbarrow benefits from not having to thump down steps.

Bud brings up a good point: are you planning a closed floor or something open like a "sub-deck"? I don't remember seeing any dimensions for floor space under the house vs. floor space under the deck: will they be separated?
 
A more basic question: I don't see an access path that leads down to the area. I think lugging stuff up & down that hill will become a drag awfully quick. so before you invest time, effort & money, consider how much you will use it.
 
Slow: the closet door is already facing what will be the floor of the new deck

Bud, we build houses on hills like this all the time, !00 tons of concrete usuall is enough to hold back the hill that is sliding towards the house. In this case they minimized the flow resistance by using posts, so I would stay away from adding to much more to change that.

You guys want to talk about the deck, test time. Find four thing wrong with with the construction, that you can see.
 
I think the 2x10s are a good suggestion to provide maximum strength and stability. As far as the closet, I am aniticipating making some modifications to it. I want keep that area enclosed and well insulated, but I can reconfigure the access into it as necessary to accomodate the floor.

If you have no questions or discussion about the floor we can go on with the rest.
First thing is to check closely the posts, pressure treated posts rated for underground or ground contact has been incissed, hundreds of little cuts in the surface to allow more treatment to enter the wood. Can you confirm the cuts are there.
 
I have not planned on placing any type of floor/deck under the deck, only the house. The spacing between the posts is approx. 12ft one direction and a little over 9ft the other. Originally, I was thinking more of a closed floor, but a wood floor/decking may be easier and cheaper. The reason for a closed floor is that I may want to add central hvac and locate the unit here making it necessary to enclosed the whole area. Currenty, heat is from a propane heating unit located in the living roomWe have not been here for winter, but I was told that there have been no problems with freezing, but this is another reason I would rather enclose it. I do plan on installing wood stairs down both sides of the house once the underneath is done. The side with the closet is less steep and as you go away from the house from that side, the ground levels off. I will be getting an ATV that I will want to store in there. I will not need a mower at this house since there is no lawn.

I am also waiting to hear about Plan B.
 
I am concerned about water entering the floor structure of the house because of the way they built the decks but we can deal with later.

Plan B After re-shaping the fill under the house to allow for the floor in Plan A . Place a 6x6 ground contact treated post on the ground cut to fit between the post. Attach them to the post with HDG strap ties.
To that attach a treated 2x4 which will be the bottom plate of the wall.
With reg. lumber, top plate nailed to the floor joists above and cut studs to fit, there are tricks to make measering these pretty easy.
Any nails or screws going into treated wood must be HDG.
I would do this to the front of the house to as it looks like you have fill or rocks filling the space now. It might be tricky, up for discussion.
Cover the walls with 1/2 plywood.
Hills move all the time, you may not see it but that is why concrete driveways on mountains are allways cracked after few years so my thinking is everything is attched to the posts will allow the earth to move a little or a lot with out damage to the house.
Someone suggested vapour barrier on the ground under the house, it might be best to stretch it out and lay the timbers on top of it. That will keep it in place.
Wood treated or not will rot over time and that happens mostly where water and air meet at the surface of the ground so keeping everything dry is helpfull. With that in mind I would dig a shallow trench across the front and down both sides and install perferated drain pipe and cover that with drain rock.

Back to the deck. Codes have changes on how to attach a deck to the house. The construction of the deck looks like something from the 1900s which is fine but the attachment want to be looked at.
There should be there should be tar paper or house wrap between the floor rim joist and the deck joist. And then because vinyl siding does not do well holding out rain water it is important that the water is stopped with the house wrap and at the bottom it needs a way to drain out. What there should be under the deck board and over that first joist is HDG flashing or a plastic flashing.
Without that, water can enter that joist and work it's way into to floor rim joists and cause rot.
Any problem with the rim joist will want to be dealt with before you build walls and make it impossible to work on.
 
no joist hangers?
maybe needs a beefier rim?

Are you going to answer this before or after Plan B? :p

Hangers, flashing under the deck boards. insicing on the posts and I don't remember the 4th but it will be right where I left it.:banana:
 

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