Finally pictures of our 20'x34' 2 story

[rdzone]

Well one of my buddies from work and I started cutting down trees a couple of weeks ago, to clear a cabin site and driveway.  It has been a lot of work so far I can't wait to get to the actual building part.  We have been cutting and stacking logs to get them out of the excavator's way. There are some pretty big piles! Plus this will give me a stock pile of wood to burn in the future.  This weekend the excavator started pulling out stumps and will hopefully at get a rough building site and driveway in.  I am not sure how far my finances will let me get this summer, but at least we finally picked a plan and have started working.

We are planning on a walkout basement, if I am lucky enough I will get the foundation done and the first floor deck on before winter.  LOL  I have some pictures of the progress so far and will try to get them posted in the next couple of days.  

Chuck

[John_M]

Sounds great...keep us psoted!

[Jimmy_Cason]

I have found out that you can use the down time between material affordability to your advantage.
This is the time when I sit back and use the thought process.
Try to figure out what the nest step will be and work out only that part of the building process.
But at the same time try to think of how each step will affect the next step.
Use this time to ask the great minds on this forum all the question you have.
You will get the info that you need!

Most important!!!!!
When it seem like nothing is getting done, look at the pictures of when you first started. That always helps me!

Good Luck and Happy Building..

[rdzone]

Thanks for the input.   I have a feeling I will be building in spurts, which will give me time to think about the next steps.  

[rdzone]

Well I still haven't downloaded my pictures from my digital camera, but I will.  Did a lot of cutting, stacking and burning this weekend.  Talked to the well driller and he will be starting my well tomorrow.    Can't wait to get that done, then on to the septic system.    

[rdzone]

Well I sure haven't been keeping this up to date, but I thought I would catch up before spring arrives and I make more progress.  

Last summer:

1. I finally got the well driller to put my well in.  Only 60 feet deep with 30 feet of standing water and a flow of 30 gallons a minute.  Some of my buddies are very jealous as their wells are over 300 feet with a lessor flow.

2. Clear a lot of the land and the cabin site.

3. My neighbor is an excavator he pulled the stumps and dug the foundation hole for a full walk out basement.

4.  I had a mason build my foundation.  I had thought about usig ICF and I even took a class from a manaufacture here in Alaska, but he was switching molds and was having a hard time producing enough ICF to meet the demand.  Because of that and the timing of things I had a block basement build an added an extra course of block for improved head room in the basement.  It is a walk out so I have 3 block walls and I framed the rest.

5. Before the slab was poured, my 8 yr old daughter and I level the floor and she ran the plate compactor (with some help).  She then helped my lay the vapor barrier and 2" blue board.  We had a good Father and Daughter weekend.

6.  The next weekend my wife, daughter and I ran pex for radiant heat attaching it to the blueboard before the slab was poured.  Once the slab was poured the rains began.  I think the slab definately cured well.  My uncle and I waterproofed the basement walls with graces bit. I also used the dimple board drainage for added protection.  We installed perimeter drain and 2" blue board before the backfill was added ( not until I had the I joist and decking installed first).

7.  A friend of mine helped me frame the walkout end of the basement in between the rain drops.  Because of all of the rain we had in august and september things really slowed down.  

8.  My friend and I finally found a break in the weather and we installed 3 glue lam beams (to hopefully support a masonary heater (yes I had the support engineneered) and all of the i joist for the floor including the rim in a couple of days.  Then on to the decking 1 1/8" t&g plywood.  

9.  Winter weather hit and my wallet was pretty empty, so we wrapped up for the season.  I covered the stairwell hole, added a layer of 6 mil plastic and then a huge gray tarp, to keep things as dry as possible. I have checked on thing numerous times this winter along with shoveling off the snow.  If spring ever arrives I will start back up.

I have picture of the whole process, I just need to get off my butt and get them load so I can share.

[glenn-k]

Thanks for the progress update, Chuck.   Sounds like you did everything right.  Looking forward to seeing pictures when you get to it.

[rdzone]

Finally some pictures I hope, sorry they are out of order, but at least you can see the progress we are making.  We have the second floor deck (or third floor if you count the walkout basement) on and get our lumber delivery for the second floor walls this friday.  I have the roof trusses scheduled for delivery the week of the 4th of July.



Memorial day weekend



Daughter testing a door opening







second/third floor joists



first floor walls yep they are 10 footers!



Daughter just loves the ladders



interior walls



wife helping out finally!!



view from the back



view to the pond/wetland where the moose hang out.

[jraabe]

Nice family project Chuck!

Thanks for posting. Hope you have a good 4th of July. Getting the place out of the weather will be a major milestone.

John

[glenn-k]

Movin right along, Chuck.  Looks great.

[rdzone]

Now that I have figured out this photo posting I will try to post some more.  I can't wait to get the roof on.  

[glenn-k]

Looking forward to seeing it.  Good job on the cabin and the posting.

[Jimmy_Cason]

Great job Chuck!  Happy 4th of July! I can't think of a better celebration of America than building your own house!

[rdzone]

Thanks Jimmy,

I get my lumber delivery for the second floor walls this friday.  This weekend I am planning on filling in the sheathing, except maybe in the back. That way we have access to the interior as we are not completely back filled under the door openings the first step would be a big one  .   I also hope to start the second floor walls.  Hopefully they will go faster as I purchased precut studs and I have had some practice laying things out.  I denfinately want to get the trusses and the roof sheathing on the week of the 4th if possible.  

The first floor was a little slow as we had to precut all of the 2"x6" - 10's to size.  I didn't get precut as they were more expensive (by $. 50 a board).  Our biggest milestone was the first wall.  We framed one of the 34' walls and sheathed it prior to lifting it.  It would still be laying on the deck if I didn't purchase some used wall jacks.  All I have to say is it was a hair raising experience putting that wall up with only two of us.    After that I split the rest of the walls in half to facilitate lifting them into place, it made thing more managable.

My daughter has been a big help.  School is out for the summer here already and she has been my go for.  I even bought her a small tool belt, hammer, tape and square.  It is neat to see her picking up on things.  I do the layout with small marks and let her go back over everything and strike the lines and put the big xs on.  She really likes helping where she can.  She really likes the cordless framing guns the mose.  She has nailed every header in the cabin so far.  

 

[glenn-k]

Great job on teaching your daughter and great that she is interested in learning.  By the time you are done she will have most of the knowledge necessary to build her own house and will remember it the rest of her life.... at least until she gets as old as me. :-?

[rdzone]

Well we got some more work done this weekend.  I tell you the worse part about building on a hill is hauling all the lumber up.  Well at least I am in better shape than when I started.  After we hauled up all the lumber for the second floor we built one of the long walls and one of the short walls.  Hopefully next weekend we can finish the other two exterior walls.  Then on to the interior walls.  I will try to post some more pictures of our tower tonight.

[glenn-k]

The hills will toughen you up.  I'm in better shape now than when I came up here as a flatlander 5 years ago.

[rdzone]

Well we got the second floor exterior walls all framed.  Now on to the interior walls.  I would have gotten them done this weekend too, except it rained all day Sunday.    The rain is driving me crazy, I just want to get the roof on!  That being said, we did need the rain to slow down the forest fires up here, but I can't stand watching all my hard work getting soaked.   :'(  I know it isn't the first place to get wet during construction, but I was hoping to get the roof on before we got an extended period of rain.  Hopefully I can finish the interior walls this weekend and get all the wall sheathing nailed off before the trusses arrive the week of July 4th.  We built the walls in sections so two of us could lift them,  before standing them up we sheathed them so I will have to do some ladder work this weekend to nail off the sheathing where it laps wall sections and floors.   This should be great fun.  

[cecilia]

Hello Chuck

That is certainly a stunning location.

Knowing how the love and knowledge of gardening learned by working with my father when I was your daughter's age, I can say that you're offering her a treasure that is priceless.

One question I have to ask (living in a medium bushfire area myself) is whether you have a fire plan. Are you, like us, required by law to submit a personal strategy for dealing with bushfire. Building permits are only issued here (Victoria, Australia) when a feasible fire plan is supplied.

Look forward to seeing more photos (on my newly acquired and almost worn out broadband)
cecilia
www.duckpond-design.com.au/theduckpond

[rdzone]

Cecilia,

I don't have a fire plan in place, but I need to get one together. There is no need for building permits at my location, but even then I wouldn't have to have a fire plan.  Here there is a program called firewise which aids homeowners in make your lot fire safe. I am planning on jumping right on the bandwagons as soon as I get a roof on.  

I definately need to cut a few more trees down around the perimeter of the cabin.  We didn't want to clear cut everything as most builders do here.  We started with a small foot print and need to expand things.  

[Kodakjello]

Great progress so far and I'm glad you found a silver lining to those rain clouds . So with fire as a concern, are you going to go with metal siding and  a metal roof? I've never lived in a forest fire area so I'm curious as to what a fireplan would have. How do you make your lot safer?

Kodakjello  

[rdzone]

Thanks for the comments.  I plan on metal roofing and maybe hardiplank siding.  I have thought of metal siding too.  I needed to follow some firewise guideline about keeping areas clear a certian distance from the cabin.  Keeping the propane tank a certian distance from the structure.  I also need to develop an evacuation plan, etc.  

Here is a good link for firewise planning  http://forestry.alaska.gov/pdfs/02firewise.pdf

here are some recent photos



The first two walls on the second floor.



my little helper



the tower from down below

[Sassy]

Wow, you are moving right along!  Beautiful area  

[rdzone]

Yep we are moving along.  Not to bad for really only two people working on the place during weekends.  I hope to have 4 or so people helping when we set the trusses.  We are getting ready to order windows.  Hopefully we can get the roof on in a couple of weeks then once the windows get here I will start putting them in.

[rdzone]

Well we got the windows and doors ordered.  This weekend was wet, but we managed to get all the interior walls built and up.  I also was up and down the ladder a lot nailing off all of the sheathing.  I still have some ladder work to do, but I needed a longer ladder to reach the top.  I got a 32' this weekend that should do the trick.  I didn't get any update photos because of the rain, but I will get some this week.  

Trusses get delivered tuesday, but I don't think there is any way they can place them on the wall, so I will hopefully have enough manpower to get them on the wall.