Fig. 390.
If the building is to be used in cold weather, by all means lay double flooring. The under floor can be of cheaper stock and laid less carefully. Between the two lay sheathing-or roofing-paper, and you will have accomplished much towards keeping the room warm.
The frame is now ready for the roof-timbers. These can be of 2" × 4" studding, except the ridge-board, which can be any common board about 6" wide.
To obtain the length of the rafters and the angle at which the ends are to be cut, you can easily make a full-sized pattern on the floor by simply laying off a right-angled triangle of the required height and base, which will give the length of the rafters and the angle at each end, after cutting off a little piece at the upper end to represent one half the thickness of the ridge-board; or two pieces of the rafter stock can simply be laid on the floor in the right relative positions for the roof, when their points of crossing can be marked on each edge and the bevel marked on the sides of the pieces. The bevel at the lower end can be found in a similar manner. Take off enough at the upper end to allow for one half the thickness of the ridge-board, and saw off one rafter as marked. This will serve for a pattern by which to mark the others. The end rafters and the ridge-board (which should first be sawed the length of the house) can easily be nailed in position by two persons, one at each end, being temporarily stayed in place by a board nailed outside (Fig. 389).
The roof-boards can be nailed either lengthways, or up and down. If the former way, the rafters must be put quite near together to give sufficient support to the boards. If the latter, purlins, or lengthways stringers, should be added between the ridge-board and the side-plates, as shown. If the roof is to be shingled, the boards can as well be laid lengthways—otherwise they should be laid up and down. If not to be covered in any way, matched-boards (or battened joints) should be used. If well painted, such a roof will last for some time, but shingling is much better.
Saddle-boards should be put along the ridge, as they add much to the tightness and durability of the roof.
The sides require to be sheathed before covering the roof, leaving open spaces for the door and windows. Shorter pieces can be used above and below these spaces. The boarding can be put on vertically and battens (narrow boards 2" or 3" wide, or strips of "half-round" moulding) nailed over the cracks, as shown in Fig. 391, or, of course, the sides can be clapboarded or shingled if preferred, in which case the boarding can be put on horizontally.
The door can be made of boards, cleated, as already shown, or one can be bought ready-made. A casing should be nailed around the door-space, previously putting at the bottom a threshold upon which the lower ends of the casing can fit. This you will at once understand by examining the arrangement of these details in almost any dwelling-house. The arrangement of the windows (which you can buy ready-made of almost any desired shape and size) does not differ from the cases already shown.
The smoke-pipe can be arranged as shown on page 258.
A few floor-beams put across on top of the plates and wholly or partly floored over will provide a loft useful for storage. If the building is for a shop, this will be a good place to keep lumber.