Set the frames in the openings left for them, and nail to studs. To make sure that the fit between frames and openings shall be right, it is best to take the plans to the mill, and explain to the mill man just what is desired.
FLOORING
The floor beams may be set at any time after the frame has been erected up to the plate. As it will be necessary to work around inside more or less, the sooner they are in position the better. As these beams, supposed to be 10 × 2 inches, often vary in width, the floor is liable to be uneven, unless they are cut to fit the sill.
The amount cut out need not be very much, but a certain distance, say nine inches, should be marked from the top edge, and the lower corner cut out as shown at d ([Fig. 230]). This will bring all the top edges level, when they are in position.
The span of the floor beams—the distance from the sill to the next support—is important, as a floor is called upon sometimes to support great weight, as when a number of people are present, or a heavy piece of furniture such as a piano rests on it.
For floor beams 2 × 8, a span of not over twelve feet should be allowed; for 2 × 10 a slightly greater span may be used; but in either case the supporting beam in the centre of the floor should be halved into the sill with upper edge flush, and should be supported at intervals of ten feet by posts set in the floor of cellar, or to a depth of three feet in the ground in case there is no cellar. This supporting beam should be placed when the sill is set on foundation. Nail floor beams to sill, and where the two beams from opposite sides of the building lap or pass each other over the beam in centre, nail them to each other and to the beam.
The flooring of tongue and groove stuff may now be laid, cutting ends square and fitting them up close to studding, or, what is still better, clear out to the sheathing.
The outside weather boards may now be put on, after deciding on one of the corner finishes described under poultry house. A flashing of tin—painted—must be placed over door and window frames, before the clapboarding or siding reaches these points. This siding is sawed off square, and makes a butt joint with the outer casing of door and window frames.
Some form of building paper is nailed to the first siding in good buildings, and pays for itself in the long run, by reducing the amount of fuel necessary to heat the building in winter.
If the house is a sea-shore cottage or camp only to be used in summer, both the paper and inner sheathing may be omitted, and the expense account materially reduced.