📐 Annotated Plans — Jamaica Cottage Shop 10x12 Gable

Shop Appendix — Deck-Frame Assembly Sequence (Gibson St method)

Referenced from p.20. Combines the plans' p.20–21 sequence with the site decisions of July 2026. The key site fact the plans never mention: the skids sit 10¼" inboard of the deck edges, so the rims float in air off the joist ends. The fix is to set the end joists first and let them carry the rim corners — the rims then need cribbing only at mid-span, and the whole frame assembles on a table instead of in mid-air.

1. Skids on the blocks — cut 144" (±¼"), laid FLAT (5½" wide × 3½" tall), bevels down-and-out, centered on the block stations. Set to 99½" outside-edge-to-outside-edge and 88½" inside-edge-to-inside-edge — check both, never the centerline. Rough position only; no leveling yet.
2. Mark the joist layout on both rims — together, on sawhorses, before anything is set. Crown both rims and mark the crown direction. Pick one end as the reference and write “S” on both — the same physical end of the building. Clamp the two rims face-up with ends flush, hook the tape on the S end, and mark at 15¼", then every 16" (15¼, 31¼, 47¼ …), squaring each line across both rims at once. Put an X on the north side of every line — the line is the joist’s near edge, the X says which side the body goes; this is the convention that prevents a floor built 1½" off. Why 15¼ and not 16: it puts joist centers on 16 / 32 / 48 / 96, so plywood seams land on a centerline with ¾" of bearing each side. Marking the rims separately guarantees they disagree by a sixteenth here and there, and every joist ends up slightly out of square.
3. Perimeter rectangle — end joists FIRST. Set the two end joists (117", crowns up) on the skids at the layout ends; they span both skids and are fully supported. Bring a rim to an end joist, clamp the corner (removable clamps — the corner must still pivot), check the top edges flush, and tack with exactly two nails through the rim face into the joist end grain. Two, not one (one spins) and not more (the corner is a hinge until the diagonals match). Repeat at all four corners. Each rim is now held at the right height by the joists themselves.
4. Rim cribbing — mid-span only (two stacks, one under each rim; the corners are already carried by the end joists). Target height is the skid top: 7½" above the gravel (4" block + 3½" skid). Flush or ⅛" shy, never proud — a proud crib lifts the rim and cocks every joist it touches. Build-ups that hit it: a solid block (4") + a 4x6 offcut laid flat (3½") = 7½" exact; or a solid block + two 2x6 flat (3") + a ⅜" shim; or five 2x6 laid flat. Material note: cribbing is not blocking — the never-pre-cut rule applies to pieces that must fit an opening, and a crib fits nothing, so cut it ahead from scrap. Ten of the fourteen 2x6x10 become joists and three cover the blocking, so the fourteenth stick is genuinely spare — that is the cribbing stick. Nest the bottom piece into the gravel to fine-tune.
5. Interior joists: stand the remaining eight on the layout marks, crowns UP — sight every stick, sixty seconds per board is the entire discipline — and tack each end with one or two nails. Work from outside the frame; a tacked grid doesn't take kindly to a knee dropped mid-span. Keep each joist flush to the rim top as you tack — ¼" proud telegraphs through the plywood like a crown-down board.
6. Square by racking: measure both diagonals; push (or tap with a sledge through a wood block) on the corners of the long diagonal until both read 187½" (true value 187.44" — what matters is that the two are equal to each other). The rims slide across the crib tops; if a crib topples, kick it back and re-seat it. Re-check after the last adjustment — racking usually overshoots.
7. Nail off: every joist end up to four 3"×.120 ring HDG through the rim (the plans' three 16d, translated with the +1 rule), including topping up the corner pairs. The square is now frozen.
8. Toenail joists to skids — two per crossing (10 joists × 2 skids = 40 toenails), 3"×.120 HDG ring from the framing gun, sequential trigger (bump-fire skates the nose off a toenail). One nail from each side, opposing — that is the mechanism, not a detail: a pair of opposing toenails pinches the joist down onto the skid and locks it against sliding either way, while two from the same side simply walk the joist off its layout mark as you drive them. Start each about 1¼" up from the joist-to-skid intersection at roughly 45°. Drive one, re-check the joist is still on its mark, then drive the opposite; tap it back first if it crept. Have the second person hold or foot-block the joist — a held joist takes the nail, a loose one moves. ⚠ Before the first toenail, re-verify the skid positions (99½" outer, 88½" inner): the skids sit on slick aluminum shields and can scoot during racking, and toenailing is the step that freezes the geometry permanently. Only now — toenail early and you have bolted in a parallelogram.
9. Blocking rows at the 4' chalk lines, each block cut to fit its own bay, flush to joist tops.
10. Pull the cribbing out. It must be gone before leveling — a forgotten crib is a hard point that fights the jack — and permanently, the rims are designed to hang from the joist ends; nothing bears there long-term.
11. LEVEL THE DECK — jack + shims at the block stations. The checkpoint everything above depends on. Shim spec: ⚠ not tapered carpenter’s shims — the cedar/pine wedges sold for door jambs crush, split and squeeze out under a building, and a taper bears on a line instead of an area. Use flat, full-bearing, rot-proof, non-tapered stock: asphalt shingle scraps (~⅛" each, the classic), composite-decking offcuts or plastic structural shims, or PT squares you cut to about 5½" × 8" so the whole bearing footprint is supported; aluminum flashing for anything under 1/16". They go on top of the block, UNDER the termite shield — the shield has to stay in direct contact with the skid or termites walk around it. Never wedge-shaped: if a block top isn’t parallel to the skid, re-seat the block. More than ~½" of stack at any block means that block is wrong — pull it, adjust the gravel, re-seat. Jack on a plywood pad on the gravel, lifting under the skid, never under the rim (the rim will just bend): lift ¼", slide the shim, lower onto it, re-read.
12. Rig the four ground anchors (turnbuckle topside per the standing config), snug in opposite pairs — before wall framing makes the structure a sail.
13. ¾" ply perpendicular to joists, staggered, 6"/12" nailing with the 2"×.113 ring sticks — conduit riser hole cut as its sheet goes down, drilled directly over the stub (all the slack is on the rim side).

The tacking rule in one line: two nails per corner and one per interior joist end are pivot points, not fasteners — their career as hinges ends the moment the diagonals match, and any extra nail driven before that is a nail you'll be pulling out of end grain.

Shop Appendix — Foundation Component Locations (as-built record)

Two reference systems, on purpose. The x,y columns measure from the timber-wall INSIDE faces at gravel height (interior 142½″ E–W × 166½″ N–S) — that is how the layout was built. But the perimeter is not guaranteed plumb or straight forever, so the member-to-member dimensions are the durable record: once the skids are set, every component locates off skid faces and skid ends; once the deck exists, off the deck edges. When wall-measure and member-measure disagree, the members win.

Skids (4x6 laid FLAT — 5½″ wide × 3½″ tall — 144″ long, bevels down-and-out)

Blocks (6 — 3 per skid, PAIRED) — 16″ dimension ACROSS the skid, 8″ along it

Both skids get identical stations, so every station gives you a cross-pad pair to measure. All edge-to-edge numbers below assume the 16″-across orientation. If a block is ever re-set 8″-across, the cross-pad numbers change to: outside-to-outside 102″, inside-to-inside 86″ (centers unchanged).

Why 16″ ACROSS the skid and not along it: placement tolerance, not bearing. Across, the skid can wander ±5″ and stay fully carried; along, only ±1¼″ — and these skids sit on slick shields, get nudged during racking, and are positioned by string rather than a jig. The bearing argument you would expect does not apply: at ~1,500 lb per block the 5½×8″ contact patch runs 34 psi against ~565 psi allowable for PT SYP in compression perpendicular to grain — 6% of capacity, so doubling the area buys nothing. The one honest point the other way: 16″ along would support 16″ of skid instead of 8″, slightly shortening the clear span. Second-order — center-to-center span governs the bending — and it does not change the call.

Ground anchors (4 — installed; cables terminated at the eyes, tails coiled above gravel)

Conduit stub — AS-BUILT July 21, 2026 (realized location, not the plan)