12, Floor framing.

Starting in 1998 I worked on the installation of the stumps and piers and the construction of the cellar, pouring a reinforced concrete floor and erecting reinforced double brick side walls. With these ready I then had to concentrate on the timberwork for the ground floor.
As I knew the floor frame would be exposed to the weather for some time, I had to source some durable hardwood. This I managed to locate about 150km to my north west. It comprised a mixture of Yellow and Grey Box. Initially I had the offer of some yellow box on a farm near Raglan, felled the previous year, I milled these logs on site with my portable sawmill. Being dry this was very hard to cut, but yielded some beautiful timber. Happy with that lot, I had a chap from Lamplough, near Avoca, deliver to my place some green Yellow box logs. I milled these with mixed success owing to the fact that when sawn while still wet they tend to split apart along the growth rings, a bit like an onion.
To make up the balance of what I required I hitched up my mill again and returned to this area and selected on site, suitable Grey box trees for felling and milling.
I used 125mm x 75mm Bearers, supporting 100mm x 50mm Floor joists over the entire house except over the cellar where 150mm x 50mm joists were used.