Cover or don't? - Small Cabin Forum

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Small Cabin Forum / Cabin Construction / Cover or don't?


Author	Message
HopefulHomemaker Member	# Posted: 17 Nov 2012 20:31 Reply Different covering question. We're at it again this weekend, and will have all of our floor and porch joists in by tomorrow. But then we head home, leaving our floor to stay at our farm, cold and lonely. We're not sure if the boards for the joists are PT or not. We're debating on laying some kind of tarp over them, just over the top and allowing for air circulation underneath, or just leaving the whole thing uncovered. We get lake effect snow here, so it might pile up under the tarp (or, for that matter, weight the tarp down enough to make it collapse. So we either leave it uncovered, knowing it'll get wet but that it'll also dry off in the sun, or cover it and keep a lot of the moisture off, but risk moisture getting trapped under the tarps and causing worse damage. What to do?

larry Member	# Posted: 17 Nov 2012 20:36 Reply leave them open they will be fine over the winter.

HopefulHomemaker Member	# Posted: 17 Nov 2012 21:00 Reply Even if they aren't PT? That was my thought - we'd do more damage keeping them covered. I just want to be sure. We're all new at this.

TomChum Member	# Posted: 18 Nov 2012 12:28 - Edited by: TomChum Reply If you have engineered wood (GluLams, OSB, fingerjointed) I would cover it but not worry about "real" wood. Nobody worries about wood exposed for just one winter. It's up in the air, PT is not necessary. To cover it you'd have to lay plywood across the joists anyway to support the tarp. And the tarp is not waterproof, so the plywood might not survive. Covering sounds like trouble and unnecessary.