20 X 36 in Central Utah

[Squirl]

So far my building inspector has been very helpful.  He tore apart my design for a building plan.  Yes it hurts a little, but I didn't disagree with many of the critiques.  I was wrong on most.  The ones that I wasn't, I knew I wasn't and discussed them with him.  He was more impressed that I actually read the code than upset for disagreeing.  There were a few items which he required that were above code requirements, but I didn't care.  The suggestions and tips far outweighed the changes or extra work on my part.  I look at it as what would it have cost me to have a professional licensed engineer that has seen hundreds of building built over 30 years give me suggestions in design and building?  The trade off for me in that was putting in wider doors and losing some closet space. 

I don't understand the square washer issue?

[MountainDon]

I don't understand the square washer issue?

A 3" square washer has much greater surface area; 9 sq inches vs. 3.142 sq inches for the 2" round washer. That will provide much more hold down (almost 3x) in case high winds try to lift or push the structure off the foundation.

[suburbancowboy]

Just a little update.  A couple of weeks ago we got dried in.  Here is the latest pic of the outside.



Last week I got all the framing inspections issues fixed..

This weekend I started the plumbing.  I got the sub floor in, the flooring and the wholes for toilet the and shower.  I will install the toilet and shower tomorrow after work.

The colors on the mountain are incredible right now.  I thought I would show you all some images.



This one is behind the cabin.

[suburbancowboy]

Just an update on my progress.  Yesterday I passed the framing inspection.   But the plumbing failed.  It had a very slow leak in the water lines.  5 pounds over a 15 minute period.  I also had a leak in the waste lines.  I think it might be bad values.  When I tested it I didn't wait that long to see if I lost pressure.  At least the Framing passed so now I can start putting on the house wrap.  I was up there last Saturday working on the plumbing and it had snowed 8 inches.   By Tuesday most of it had melted.

This weekend I might also start putting on the hardie planks on the north side just for some extra protections. 

Do any of you know of some good online resources that I can check out for putting on hardie planks?  I have heard rumors that there are extra steps to putting it on.

[MountainDon]

Hardie has full instructions on their website. Download the directions for the right product and see if there are any special clearances, etc. for your location / altitude. It's their product, they should know. That's the way I did it.

Solosiders are invaluable for hanging

[duncanshannon]

hi-

i just recently started hanging my hardie plank. as don said, the instructions are pretty good.

I had some solosiders but after comparing reviews to the Geckos... i swapped.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VERBCU/

happy to answer any questions I can about the hardie.

[duncanshannon]

also... i picked up one of these on craigs list. works pretty well.

http://www.amazon.com/PacTool-International-SS404-SteelHead-Cutting/dp/B0000DCBJH/

nice to have the lesser ammounts of bad-for-you-to-inhale dust.

[suburbancowboy]

Well the weather is a changing.  This weekend we went to the cabin for what might be the last time this year.  We got every thin put away.   There is suppose to lots of snow up there this week.  Here are some pictures to catch every body up.

Here is the upstairs on the west side.  The barrel on the left is what will supply the water when the in ground line is frozen.  We will also use the water tank for the short term until the outside tank gets install some time next year.  I will also put in a 12 volt pump if needed.



Here is a shot of the bathroom plumbing.  The pex pipe was much easier than I thought it would be.



Here is a shot of the kitchen.  I went way over board on it this early.  I thought that all the plumbing in the kitchen and bathroom needed to be in place for the plumbing inspection.  I was wrong but I will be further along next year



I also got most of the house wrap done.



Here are some great shots of the view and trip up the mountain in late fall.

[TheWire]

I'm curious as to what the sprinklers are for?

Also, is looks like a lot of your PEX maybe on outside walls.  Take care to get insulation between the pipes and the OSB to help prevent freezing.  You might want to consider tucking some pieces of foam or foil faced foam between the OSB and the PEX.

[suburbancowboy]

The sprinklers are at some farmers field at the bottom of the mountain.  I'm half wondering if some farmer forgot they are on.  It is in a back field at the bottom of the mountain.  I just thought the ice formations looked cool.

I will finish the insulation behind the plumbing next spring.  Just plumb ran out of time before the snow hit.

[CjAl]

If he still has something growing they will sometimes turn on the sprinklers if it drops below freezing to keep the crops from freezing.

Strong place for a toilet. Lol 

[duncanshannon]

looking good! must be a bummer to close up for the winter

The pex pipe was much easier than I thought it would be.

I was kinda looking forward to doing the PEX.... however its the one part of a build in Wisconsin that you must hire a licensed professional...

[TheWire]

I think homeowners can do their own PEX in Wisconsin as long its on a building they own.

[BRUTAL]

Man youre looking really good and have gotten alot done. I noticed that you sealed all 4 edges of the windows nailing flange with foil window wrap. When I did mine I was told to wrap the bottom piece on the sill. install the windows and then go over the sides and top overlapping. The reason was if water/condesation got behind the flanges it would drain out the bottom and this was left unseal with silicone too. Just curiouse cause I had to redo 2 windows I had installed already.

[suburbancowboy]

The wrap around the window is like a super sticky extra thick duck tape.  Here in Utah that is what all the builder put around the windows.  The down side is that it looses its stickiness as it heats and cools over time, then it pulls away from the wood.  On most of the corners I had to staple the tape back up.  I could see it sealing really good if you put the house wrap and siding on soon after.  But alas I am doing this mostly by my self.

[ajbremer]

Wednesday Morning - February 8th, 2012 Oklahoma

Thanks suburbancowboy,

I am following your build very closely and I appreciate all of your pictures. I am doing two lofts with a catwalk just like you are. Could you give us a shot of your main floor plans? Also, I would love to see better pictures of the way you did your stairs.

I also like the way your running your loft joists parallel with the long walls and meeting the LVL's, that's very interesting. Most people here have done them perpendicular to the long walls. What did you use for joists for the main lofts? What did you use for the catwalk portion, 2x12's, 2x10's?

Again, your place looks great and I look forward to seeing more. More power to you sir!

[suburbancowboy]

Glad you like it.  The plans are on the very first post on this thread.  I wrapped up work on the cabin at the end of October because of snow.

My engineer had me run the floor joist the other way to reduce cost and conform to utah specs.  There are two sets of 6X12X20 lvl beams at 12' intervals.  The short walls on the end in the cabin was only 8 feet.  The 2X8X12' floor joist on the top are attached to the lvl beams using a joist hangers and then on the other end they sit on top of the 8 foot wall on the other end.  I then built a 4 foot knee wall to bring them up to the 12 feet.  The floor joist was on 16 inch centers.  I then put 2X6's on for the upper floor.

As far as the stairs go this is the only other pic I have.  At first I was going to fill in under the stair for storage, with the door under the upper part of the stairs.  Now I am thinking that I will leave the bottom part under the stairs open to put wood in for winter use for the fire place.  I will put a small door under the landing for storage.  Under the upper part of the stairs I will leave open and put a small half circle dining room table with two chairs for when the wife and I go up by our selves.



On a sad note I got a call from one of my neighbors up there during the super bowl last Sunday that my place was broken into.  They wasn't sure what had been stolen.  10 cabins on my side of the mountain had been hit that they know of so far.  So monday I took the day off and drove the 4 wheeler up to the place.  The scum bags really busted up the front door on the cabin.  On the shed/bunk house is was a steel door and had less damage but the locks was destroyed.  The great news is that they didn't take anything.  I guess they didn't want to haul out my 200 pound generator 200 yards through 2 feet of snow.  So now I'm not sure how to feel.  Happy or sad.  Anyway while I was up there I fixed the doors and locks enough to keep the honest people out.

[UK4X4]

Sorry to hear that - Its a worry i have too - but there's not a lot I can do about it from down here.

I have the place set up with two game cams monitoring the entry to the property and the door to my present trailer.

They won't be able to steal the trailer till spring ! but we clothes and food etc in the trailer ..

If you can get up there by ATv you have no excuse to stop for winter !

[suburbancowboy]

Problem with getting up there in the winter is my 4 wheeler only works on well packed trails with temps below freezing.  I tried getting up there last year in the spring on the 4 wheeler and got stuck because the snow was to soft.  Next year I will have a Kawasaki Teryx4 with tracks.  No way will the snow stop me!!!

[oifmarine]

Looking good!  Keep it up!

[suburbancowboy]

Finally made it back up to the cabin this last weekend.  Main purpose to access how the cabin weathered and haul up the 4 wheelers.  Here is the last part of the road to the cabin.  It is in a shady draw.

If I had more aggressive tires on the truck I could have drove the rest of the way.
Once I got up there I notice some bad wind damage.  One of the piece of metal on the roof had blown off(my fault I didn't trim off the over hang, all the upper house wrap gone and part of the house wrap on the front.  It must have been one heck of a wind storm.





Saturday I just kind of cleaned up and did some planning.  I also removed the temp floor on the up stairs that I had finished yet.

I also took monday off.  It was really warm weather.  I picked up some 2X6 to work on the upper floor, but there was still a little to much snow on the road so I hauled the wood up on the 4 wheelers.  Any way it was a really great day on the mountain.  Dry at my place but snowy just 50 feet higher on the mountain.  We are 6 weeks ahead of last year.


Plan for next week start the brick for the wood burning stove, then the chimney guys can come up.

[oifmarine]

I really like your floor plan and I am following your thread!  Keep up the good work and keep the pictures coming!

[suburbancowboy]

Went up to the cabin today after work to haul up some lumber and get a little work done.  I also wanted to see if the roads was clear yet.  It snow a little this weekend up there, 10 inches,  but it was also in the 50's up there yesterday so I went for it.  To my suprise the left side of the road was melted off so I was able to get all the way to the cabin in the truck.

Here is what I got done before the sun went down. I leave the gaps in the floor boards so that the clamps have some place to grab.  I then go back and fill in the boards later.  It take about 15 minutes per row to pre-drill the holes and then put the screw in.  Even with the clamps with the cool weather there is small gaps between boards.  I am hoping the poly I put down will fill them in.


On the way back down the hill I chased a flock of turkeys down the road.  At first the thought what the heck is that in the road.  The toms had there tail feather spread out and looked huge.  I grabbed the phone and snapped this shot while trying to stay on the road.

[oifmarine]

Nice flock of Turkeys!

[suburbancowboy]

Just an update of what has been going on the last couple of weeks.  I have finished the second floor flooring and started the pad for the fire place.  I worked on it last weekend and went up after work yesterday hoping to finish.  I have never done any brick work before so I have kind of made a mess.  First I put down the cement fiberboard to the shape and size I wanted.  I then laid out the bricks the way I wanted.  Then I put in the mortar.  Man this takes a long time mixing the mortar in the bucket then applying in the gaps with a hand trowel.



The brick under the stairs will be for wood storage.  The rest is for the fireplace to set on. Chimney guy is coming Friday.
One thing that I need some help on is when I use my grinder with a wire brush to get the mortar off the brick it is turning the bricks from there redish brown color to grey.  You can see this in the picture where in the middle I had brushed the mortar off.  How can I get the red back out on the brick?   Will soap and water clean it up?  Anyway three more hours and 20 more bricks and I will be done.