420 sq ft Cabin in Northern Minnesota

[jaransont3]

Thanks.  We are really happy with the way it is progressing.  Can't wait to get back there over the 4th of July week.

No plans to drink the water.  We will treat it with some chlorine before use and only use it for washing dishes, showering, flushing the toilet and washing up.  Will still use water from my mom's well or bottled for drinking and cooking.

[OlJarhead]

You could get a Big Berkey or Crown Berkey to purify the water

[jaransont3]

It has been awhile since I updated this.  Jill and I have made two trips back to the cabin this summer, once for a week over the 4th of July and once for a week over Labor Day.  We had relaxing and productive trips each time.

Here are a bunch of pictures from both trips.

First July...

The wild flowers we planted in the spring bloomed beautifully.





We converted an old carpenter's tool box to a bench by adding some legs...


We installed a small air conditioner in the wall.  We did end up using one evening to cut the humidity and heat in the cabin.  It worked great running on our Honda 3000iS generator...


We also dragged my childhood canoe out of the woods, banged out the dents, sealed a couple of leaks and got it registered.  It was very nostalgic taking it back down the same river my brothers hunted and trapped as kids...




We did a bunch of clean-up around the property and had a chance to burn it.  It was a heck of a bonfire...


We got our antique medicine cabinet installed...


We also got some more of the false beams installed and got them stained.  WE are very happy with the look...


Jill's lamp is holding up nicely even if the leaves turned brown.  It still looks great!


One of the more important things we got done was to mostly fill the wood shed.  There is some maple and oak in there, but it is mostly balsam, spruce and jack pine.


This is kind of where we left things for this trip...


and September.

Still some wild flowers blooming...



even as the leave begin to change colors...


Our old chocolate Lab, Coco, still loves it up there, even if he is moving pretty slow these days...


We got the rest of the beadboard, chair rail and base molding installed in the main room of the cabin...


and just about all of the window trim...


I installed the trays from the carpenter's tool box above the kitchen windows to store some glasses and mason jars with dry goods...


Added some copper reinforcements to strengthen them and to tie them in with the rest of the kitchen details...


Jill made some banana bread in our little stove and even baked my mom a birthday cake in it, but we had to bake each layer separately since we couldn't fit two 9" round pans it it at the same time.


Jill got out her Mod-Podge and made us some coasters..


We had some evenings and nights that were cool enough to start a fire in the stove.  Sasha, our pitbull, found her favorite spot to be right in front of the stove when it was burning...


We got our canoe out a couple of times on the river.  Saw some Canadian geese, lots of ducks and several bald eagles.  We even managed to catch enough bluegills and sunfish to make a meal...





My brother and his family came and spent one afternoon with us around the campfire.  Todd and Janet on the left.  Jill and I on the right...


One of big projects for this trip was to insulate the water lines leading from the cistern into the cabin.  I boxed in the area under the cabin with OSB and then added 6 inches of foam insulation and sealed it with spray foam.  I also added a light socket and bulb that will hopefully keep everything from freezing if we get there in the winter.  I also dug up the top of the cistern and added a check port.  It was nice to see the cistern completely full of 300 gallons of nice cold clear water. Sorry forgot to get a picture of that.




Jill also got the windows in the main cabin painted white to match the trim.  It really unifies the look in the cabin versus the natural color the windows were originally...


We got some of the false beams up...


trimmed out the riser for the stove...


and got almost all of the green board installed in the bathroom.  We came up one sheet short, but will take care of that next time before we start the tile.



Like I said, both trips were very relaxing and productive.

[kenhill]

Absolutely beautiful work.  I am not knowledgable on this but wondering if it is ok to have the batteries that close to the stove considering hydrogen gas?  Ken

[jaransont3]

Absolutely beautiful work.  I am not knowledgable on this but wondering if it is ok to have the batteries that close to the stove considering hydrogen gas?  Ken

The hydrogen gas question came up before so I did some digging...being an engineer and all.  I posted this on another forum, not sure if I did over here....

Not at all concerned about the hydrogen outgassing from charging my two GC2 batteries. I was curious enough however to do a little digging in the internet. Found this site with some good basic information...

http://giantbatteryco.com/GLOSSARY/Calculate.Industrial.Battery.Hydrogen.Gas.Emission.html

Based on the formulas there and the specs for my pair of GC2s, I would make about 0.7 cubic feet of hydrogen gas during an 8 hour charge cycle. Might seem like a lot, but our small 420 ft2 cabin has an internal volume of more than 4200 cubic feet with the open ceilings.

That results in a hydrogen concentration of only 0.017 percent. The recommendation on the site is to keep the concentration below 1-2%. That gives me a factor of safety of at least 60!

Add to this the fact that our cabin is certainly not airtight...far from it. And that fact that hydrogen is the lightest gas and dissipates very easily, I have zero concern about blowing the place up due to charging my two batteries.

I do appreciate the caution. It certainly should be something to consider with a much larger battery bank that might be contained in a smaller space. I will also be sure to include plenty of ventilation for the battery power box I plan to build for transporting the batteries and inverter.

[new land owner]

This is one of my favorite projects.  Really like what you have done.

[jaransont3]

Jill and I made it up to our cabin for Christmas last week.  We got there Christmas Eve and stayed through the 30th.  We had a great time with family and friends.  My youngest son Ethan made the trip with us which is always fun. We always brought our two dogs.  Unfortunately, we had to put Coco down a couple of months ago, but Karmann (our new German Shepard puppy) made her inaugural trip to the cabin and loved it.  Sasha showed her the ropes and introduced her to the cabin life.

Not much snow up there this trip and the weather the first few days was quite mild for Northern Minnesota this time of the year with highs around 30 and lows in the teens.  It did get cold before we left and was -16F the morning we headed back to Michigan.  Our Drolet woodstove did a nice job of keeping us warm.  Our water system worked good and the only freeze-up we had was the last morning.  The lines leading to the kitchen sink froze where they run under the cabinets along the uninsulated floor near an outside wall of the unskirted cabin.  The feedline from the cistern never froze in the insulated and lightbulb heated box I built.  The rest was fine also.

I am confident that once the floors are insulated the cabin skirted that we won't have this problem again. Probably would have been ok this time if I had thought to leave the cabinet doors open.

We burned about 7 gallons of gas in our Honda generator for the entire trip.  Not bad at around $2.00 a gallon.  Our two golf cart batteries and inverter are still working great for when the generator isn't running and easily make it overnight even with the bulb burning for the waterline and a fan running to help circulate the heat.

We got almost all of the rest of the false beams installed and added some decorative corbels under them at the walls.  We are really happy with the look.

Ok...enough babbling.  Here are some pictures....

Our little Christmas tree...


Sasha and Karmann enjoying a little quiet time in front of the fire...



Puzzle time...


Future project.  I mocked up a backsplash I want to build for our little cookstove...


It will be fabricated from steel and powdercoated to match the stove...


Yummy baked apples with oatmeal and cranberry filling...


The lack of snow made hiking easier...


Perfect...


The corbels I added to the underside of the beams...


Beams almost done...




My new phone has a feature that lets you take a composite 360 degree picture.  Pretty neat...


One last shot of Sasha and Karmann enjoying the cabin life...


Jill and I hope everyone had a great Christmas and we look forward to sharing our cabin adventures in the new year and reading about all of your's too.

Happy New Year!

[John Raabe]

Lovely project and wonderful photos. 

[jaransont3]

It has been a long time since I updated this.  Jill and I skipped our usual trip to the cabin in the Spring, but did get back for the week of July 4th like we usually do. It was a relaxing and productive trip.

It started out a little creepy when we were greeted by this rather large "friend" in the bathroom.  Yes that is a 4 inch hinge on the window!


After dispatching of our guest, we got settled in.  The dogs didn't take long to get reacquainted with their favorite spot.



It rained the first night and part of the day so we managed to finish the puzzle we started last trip.  The simple pleasures of cabin life...


Second morning was cold enough to require a fire to take the chill off, one of the things I love about northern Minnesota.


The wild flowers were in full bloom...



attracting the butterflies...

and other critters...


Adirondack chairs out and ready for the campfire nights...


The dogs enjoyed the river...


Jill and I even managed to get out in the canoe and do some fishing. We caught enough crappies and bluegills for at least one good meal...


As I said, it was a productive trip also. One of the things that has been on my list of things to do for a long time is finish the entry end of the porch.  It has been like this for years...


after a few hours measuring, cutting, and assembly, it turned out like this...



The big project for this trip was getting the floor insulated finally.  Polar Insulating did the job in a few hours...


We are really looking forward to warmer floors this winter.  Still need to skirt it all.  That is on the list for our trip over Labor Day along with adding 1" of foam insulation and new siding to all the exterior walls.

One last project was a TP holder that Jill made.  We love it...


Really looking forward to the trip in September.  It is our favorite time of the year at the cabin.

[Starvin]

That spider

Place looks great!

[jaransont3]

Jill and I got up to the cabin for the last week.  We had a great time and made some significant improvements to the cabin.  Fall is our favorite time of the year to be up at the cabin with the warm days and cool nights.  Almost no bugs. The start of the Fall colors.  It is just great.

This trip was pretty busy since we had some big projects planned and we managed to get most of the things checked off the list. We started with a trailer full of materials...


This is what the cabin looked like when we got there...





One disappointment was that the river was so low that we didn't even bother trying to put the canoe in this trip.


First night there it rained some so we got a chance to work on a puzzle.  Even our pitbull Sasha helped.  We nearly finished it this trip.  Love the simple pleasures of cabin life.


First order of business was to get the cabin skirted.  I added framing built with pressure treated lumber to the bottom edge of the foundation posts and then used pre-finished roofing tin for the skirting.  I didn't worry about insulating the skirting since that last trip I had the underside of the floor insulated with spray-foam.  The skirting is really just to keep the airspace under the cabin sealed off.



While I worked on the skirting, Jill moved our fire pit from the back of the cabin to the front side...closer to the porch and door of the cabin.  It worked out great.  My brother also came out and got the floor drain for the shower installed and tied into the drain filed plumbing.  Bathroom tile work and finishing can now proceed during the next trip.


Here are a couple of more shots of the skirting, including the access door to the plumbing drain valves.



After the skirting was completed, it was time to add 1" of rigid foam insulation (R6) to the outside of the cabin.  I had to remove all of the window and door trip and other exterior bits then fit and nail up the foam.  Between the added foam insulation, the skirting and the floor insulation from last trip, we should have a much easier to heat place come Christmas time when we are back up there next.




A beautiful mist over the Sturgeon River during one of my morning runs...


After the foam, we added new pre-finished LP Smartside siding.  Really nice material to work with, although I didn't like having to nail it up by hand with a hammer.  My left thumb and index finger took a beating....literally.



One of the casualties of the siding work...apparently plate glass windows don't like to have pieces of siding dropped on them.  Silver lining is that the temporary foam filler panel has a much better R-value than the glass.  Doesn't do much for the view though.


While I worked on the siding, Jill spent her time paint the new trim and the old door and window frames with the new trim colors.


Couple of views with the siding all up...



We liked the new fire pit location so much that we decided to add a small patio around it.  We definitely have to get more of the patio stones.  Hard to believe that is 40+ of them.  Probably need that many again, but we are really happy with it.  Jill even took the time to stain the Adirondack chairs and table.




I think Sasha approves...as she surveys her kingdom.


We did manage to get a little trim up.  It is going to take a lot of fiddling around to extend the jams and sills properly...that will be a project for the next trip.


We did get all the corner trim on and the trim between the wall panels and the gable end panels.  Here are some shots of how we left it for this trip...





Like I side, it was a great and busy trip.  It was great to see the cabin finally all sided with the same siding.  We really like the new look. We worked our butts off. This was a common scene at the end of the day...curled up in front of the crackling fire in the stove...


Until next time....

[Ozarkhomesteaders]

Wow what a transformation,  looks great   I Imagine you will keep a lot of that heat exactly where you want it this winter, in the cabin.  All that insulation should help dramatically.  We still need to insulate our floors.  I hate cold floors in winter.  Keep up the awesome work  love the pics.

[jaransont3]

Jill and I had a great week up at the cabin over the 4th of July.  The visits are always too short, but we are planning on going back for the week of Labor Day.  Fall in Northern Minnesota is always are favorite time of the year to be at the cabin.

Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip...

The wild flowers were in bloom...










...and attracting butterflies.


The loons were also active and plentiful.  Love their calls...


One project was to expand the patio around the fire pit and make a stepping stone walkway to it.  Mission accomplished....I did set the stepping stones into the ground  after this picture was taken.


Built another section of fence to define the end of the parking area...and Jill planted more perennials.




We filled the wood shed also.  Thanks to my brother, the left side is all Maple and Oak as he brought a truck load of logs from his place...should burn much longer than the balsam and spruce on the right side.


ANother big project was to get the deck back in place.  I had dragged it away from the cabin last fall so that I could get the cabin skirted.  Not only got it back in place, but also skirted it with some lattice to keep the dogs out and larger woodland creatures...


I also figured out how I wanted to trim all of the outside windows and got most of them done.


Also skirted the front porch with the same lattice...


Overview of the cabin...


Will see if we get any residence when we are back in the Fall.


Sunrise on the tree tops as I go for my morning run...


Sunset over the river...


Spent a couple of early mornings carving on the mate to the loon I carved last year.


Loving the cabin life...


We tok my mom fishing on Shannon Lake.  Beautiful day and lake...not much for fish. <G>


Did get to watch a couple of bald eagles floating around overhead...


Lots of lotus flowers in the river...


and a beaver lodge...


Sasha and Karmann loved the deck being back in place.  Built the bench in the background out of some extra boards.




Karmann waiting to ambush her sister...


Getting ready for another canoe ride on the Sturgeon River...


Love the slow lazy river for canoeing...


Lots of wild rice this year.  Might have to try harvesting some when we are back in the Fall...if it is ready.


Some Mallard ducklings and their mom...


River flower...not sure what it is, but it is only about an inch tall.


More windows trimmed and painted.  Still have to paint the window frames.


View down to the river from behind the cabin...


All packed up and ready for the next trip.


One last parting shot....we saw three of these guys flinging dirt along side the road to Shannon Lake.  Crazy how fast they can move dirt.  First time I have seen badgers in the wild.


Hope you enjoy the pictures.

[jaransont3]

Jill and I got up to the cabin for the week of Labor Day.  It is always are favorite time of the year.  Fall colors were a bit late this year....just barely starting to turn on a few trees....still beautiful up there. Anywho...here are the pictures.

Couple of shots of the sunset over the Sturgeon River on our first canoe ride of the trip...




Large frog waiting for us when we came ashore...


Squirrel!


Moon shot...


Abandoned beaver lodge on the Sturgeon River...


We had some great canoeing weather...


Finally got up on the roof and got the dormers and trim painted to match the rest of the cabin...




More canoeing pictures...




Karmann enjoying the great outdoors...


One small project was to build a simple cover for the propane tank from the left over siding...Before and After shots.


Typical...


...in front of the fire (a couple of the mornings were quite cool with lows in the upper 40s F) while Jill cooked an apple crumb cake on the stove.


One of the big projects this trip was to run a new feed line from the cistern to the pump.  The existing line had a leak in it somewhere and it sucked air.  This lead to the pump not holding prime and the water pressure and flow being low and sporadic.  The fittings are the new pass-thru for the 3/4" pex line and the cage end that I filled with rocks to make sure it sank to the bottom of the cistern.  I drilled out the end caps to be a nice tight fit to the pex and then just tightened them on either side of the hole I drilled in the side of the cistern.  Made a great bulkhead fitting without any actual connections in the pex tubing itself...


Bonfire.  We love the patio and fire pit...


Sasha and Karmann's favorite spot...


Here is the cistern dug up and the new feed line (blue) run to it.  Only connections are to the cage in the bottom of the cistern and the pump in the cabin.  No leaks, great water pressure and flow, and it holds a prime!  Now we can hook up the on-demand heater heater next time...


Got on of the main cabins gable and boxed in with new soffit and fascia...






Our "new" rocking chair that a friend gave us for the cabin.  Still need to re-do the seat insert.  I think I am going to install a piece of tin punched copper.  It will go nicely with the other copper accents in the cabin...


The other big project was to get hte bathroom and shower more finished.  I had hoped to get the tile up, but only got as far as getting the membrane install and the floor sloped to the drain.  Tile next time for sure...


Couple of shots as we are getting everything cleaned up and put away until next time...




We laid some more pavers between the porch steps and the deck steps...no more walking directly in the mud and sand...


We got the windows and door under the porch all trimmed out and painted.  Installed some new hinges and a latch on the screen door...


We even installed a couple more bird houses and a couple of feeders.  So far only squirrels and a few blue jays.  Hope to see more come winter...


Jill planted a bunch more perennials and lots of wild flowers...


Even got the new soffit and fascia painted...


One last parting shot of color...


Until next time.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.