I'm building a 1.5 story cabin and have a full perimeter 8" block foundation that's 20' x 40' with 16" x 16" piers inside...2 rows of 5ea piers. Piers are the same elevation as the perimeter block.
My joists will run with the 20' width, 3 joists to create the 20' span (sill plate to pier...pier to pier...pier to sill plate). Basically 3 joist 6.6' long. My questions are...
Can I run a sill plate from pier to pier the 40' way, for the girder (for lack of better definition) to sit on, and use that sill plate as a ledger for the joists? Didn't know if the ledger would have to be nailed to the sides of the girder.
Secondly, will I need to double or triple the girders.
I plan to use 2 x 8's for everything.
This is the way I had planned to frame it.
,
but the piers are actually 16" x 16" rather than 8" x 16".