Lumber use question

[muddstopper]

I am in the process of scrounging parts to build my bandsaw mill. I will mostly be sawing whitepine as I have lots of large qood quality trees to select from. My question is about using whitepine lumber for roof trusses and floor joist. I worry about the strength of 2x whitepine lumber for this purpose. I will be using the white pine for studs, sheeting/decking and siding which should eliminate having to buy any store-bought lumber for those purposes.

 

[SawmillMan]

https://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fpl_gtr190.pdf
This is an excellent resource for learning about wood properties. White pine cane be used successfully in trusses as well as floor joists. Be sure to size the pine lumber appropriately. The Wood Handbook can help with lumber sizing. It’s full of useful charts for varying wood species.

 

[Sawdust Man]

Like the other guy said, do your research and go for it.
I would use white pine for trusses no problem, if you feel like it's not strong enough, just size up your lumber a bit, eg. 2x4 becomes 2x6 etc.
At today's prices for lumber, it's worth doing whatever you gotta do to make your own lumber work.

 

[muddstopper]

What I am seeing is for a 28ft wide house with the joist spanning 14ft to center, I would need a 2x12 on 24in centers. Does that sound about right

 

[Sawdust Man]

Yep, that should be just fine.... you could also go with 16" centers, to make it even more solid, then you don't gotta worry about it at all.

 

[muddstopper]

Yep, that should be just fine.... you could also go with 16" centers, to make it even more solid, then you don't gotta worry about it at all.

Not that much more lumber to go 16" on center instead of 24". Finding the trees to make the 2x12s might be harder. I can see a lot of 1x lumber, which I will need. The framing will be 2x6 exterior, actually considering 2x8 exterior, just for the insulation capacity, 2x4 interior walls. My last house I built was with 2x6 exterior, 2x4 interior and I insulated all interior and exterior walls. Provided great sound proofing as well as making it easier to heat and cool.

 

[dallasm1]

Not that much more lumber to go 16" on center instead of 24". Finding the trees to make the 2x12s might be harder. I can see a lot of 1x lumber, which I will need. The framing will be 2x6 exterior, actually considering 2x8 exterior, just for the insulation capacity, 2x4 interior walls. My last house I built was with 2x6 exterior, 2x4 interior and I insulated all interior and exterior walls. Provided great sound proofing as well as making it easier to heat and cool.

I did 2x8 exterior walls and I ended up having to mill and make all of the exterior door frames and jambs, as you cannot buy framed doors for 2x8 walls, just one of those gotchas...

 

[Sawdust Man]

Not that much more lumber to go 16" on center instead of 24". Finding the trees to make the 2x12s might be harder. I can see a lot of 1x lumber, which I will need. The framing will be 2x6 exterior, actually considering 2x8 exterior, just for the insulation capacity, 2x4 interior walls. My last house I built was with 2x6 exterior, 2x4 interior and I insulated all interior and exterior walls. Provided great sound proofing as well as making it easier to heat and cool.

Finding trees big enough for 2x12's is always frustrating!
I recently did a portable sawing job for a guy, he needed (120) 14' 2x12's, we ended up cutting every pine he had to get them all.
You will definitely get lots of smaller lumber in the process of cutting your 2x12's, I always start a sawing project by going after the larger dimension lumber first, because you generate so much of the smaller stuff as you go along.

 

[muddstopper]

I did 2x8 exterior walls and I ended up having to mill and make all of the exterior door frames and jambs, as you cannot buy framed doors for 2x8 walls, just one of those gotchas...

Isn't that why we own our own sawmills. To make that which we cant, or cant afford to, buy. I have built my own jambs before. You buy the jambs for 6 in doors and then mill the extra wide piece to replace the narrow one. One of the latest trends I have seen for 2x8 walls is to use double 2x4 studs and placing a foam board between the 2 studs. You insulate both sets of studs. Its all about conserving electricity, but your right, it does cause a certain inconvenience that has to be worked around.

 

[muddstopper]

Finding trees big enough for 2x12's is always frustrating!
I recently did a portable sawing job for a guy, he needed (120) 14' 2x12's, we ended up cutting every pine he had to get them all.
You will definitely get lots of smaller lumber in the process of cutting your 2x12's, I always start a sawing project by going after the larger dimension lumber first, because you generate so much of the smaller stuff as you go along.

I think I can get the 2x12 I need out of a few logs as I have a pretty good amount of 32in dia white pine. I also am going to need a bunch of 1x8 for sheeting and I want lap siding so nothing will go to waste. 2x4's and 2x6's are just gravy for the biscuits.