Raised floor systems for your kit home.

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Prep

Structure

Lockup

Interior

Connect

Raised floor systems for your kit home.

Raised floor systems for home building kits are supplied ready to assemble out of the box. Bearer beams, wooden joists, bridging nogs and sheet flooring all precut to exact specifications, including all fixings. Determining joist size usually requires floor joist span tables , but house kits come with pre engineered beams and wooden floor joists. As you can see from the graphic below, they are uncomplicated setups that a solo worker can easily achieve. Basic carpentry skills and tools will help you get your kit house off the ground and give it the curb appeal you are looking for.

raised wooden floor system

Raised floor system

Raised floor systems, supplied by your kit home provider, have the following items:

1. bearer beams, sometimes two sets to laminate together

2. wooden floor joists, floor joist size will be preselected

3. bridging noggs

4. bolts, washers and nuts for bearers/posts

5. joist hangers-depending on design

6. triplegrips

How to lay your bearer beams

Set your bearer beams out beside your pier posts and determine how best they can be arranged, making sure bearers are joined over piers. Site the bearer edge to check for bows and set bearer with any bows uppermost. As there is only two bolt holes in the pier, basic carpentry joints need to be cut in the bearer ends to allow each to connect to the pier. Here are a couple of examples of joints which can be easily cut with a speed saw and sharp chisel.

Joints for bearers

Seal the joints and end grains, as well as where the bearer sits on the pier, with wood sealant or paint. Clamp the bearer to the pier housing, drill bolt holes, thread through galvanized bolts and use large square washers and gal nuts. Tighten with a ring spanner. Remember 'tight is tight, too tight is cracked'. Trim off bearer ends if required and seal. Use an electric plane to eliminate any bows that might impact on your floor joists.

Amazon.com Widgets

A fantastic carpentry site to visit is Learning Carpentry.com .

The next step is laying the wooden joists. Our floor joist setup page sets out easy to follow guidelines for completing wooden floor joist layouts. Our floor sheeting page guides you through laying a perfect floor for your new kit home. A great resource to check out is Framing Floors, Walls & Ceilings (For Pros By Pros). You can also go from Raised Floor Systems to our Kit Home Basics Homepage.