I plan on building a large addition on my house(24x40, 1 1/2 floors) and wouild like to have it up by December...so I can finish the interior in the winter. I'm hoping someone could answer a couple of questions...

First off I'm doing this on my own and would like to do it by hand, but if I must, I'll get a chain mortiser. Will the chain mortiser cut my time by a lot or will I be able to do all the cuts by hand in the 2-3 months I have given myself?

The structure I have designed is quite basic and I plan on using white pine. What type of costs can I expect for the wood?...I live in the northeast (Quebec/vermont area). If someone could give me approx. prices on 8x8's,6x6's per linear foot I'd be really happy. I have yet to locate a sawmill for the job. I'm hoping to build the frame and insulate it for under 50000 dollars canadian...possible????

Any help would be very much appreaciated, This forum seems to be the only support I can find ...next to the two books I bought. Maybe I should take a course????? ;-)

Thanks in advance

You don't say how many hours a week in your time frame you mean to throw at your project or what you believe your skill level to be, so any response is something of a shot in the dark, but it would seem do-able. A mortiser will cut your time per mortise and should be easily sold off when your through.

White Pine in my part of NNE is around .48 to .65 a bdft for standard cairrage lengths