My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

[MountainDon]

Thanks for the kind words and your patience in reading my ramblings.

You have a good eye for detail.   That is a non approved "bird blocking"  

A few of us owner-builders commit the same "sin"; that of not estimating sufficient time to get everything done at the time "it" should be done, or would be completed most easily. I should have installed 2x bird blocking in the rafter bays as the rafters were being installed and before the sheathing was installed. While the walls and roof were being built it rained frequently, daily for a while. So I left the blocking for later. Later took a while in coming.  

I needed to close those off in order to keep birds out of the cabin and then after the ceiling was installed, out of the attic. I knew it was impossible to do everything I needed to do before snow flew and blocked us out for the winter. As it happened somewhere along the way I had picked up a couple rolls of aluminum flashing cheap; somebody's yard sale. I cut aluminum to fit the rafter bay width. They're nailed in placed from the exterior, nailing the bottom edge to the wall top and curving the metal in against the underside of the roof sheathing. It kept the birds and weather out of the attic over the winter. In spring when we were ready to blow in the cellulose attic insulation and install the soffit material I slid corrugated foam sheet insulation ventilators in between the sheathing and the aluminum.

As you continue your way through this let us all know if you see anything in the electrical stuff that is wrong or so-so. Many readers emulate what they see here and corrections to technique for either safety or practicality reasons are always welcome.

[MountainDon]

How well are the batteries wintering?

The batteries have done very well.  The fluid levels were well up; I haven't had to add water all winter. For the most part they are just sitting there doing nothing but a little self discharge with a daily top up from the PV system. Every time we've been up over the winter they have been sitting waiting at full charge. The log in the Outback charge controller records the last 128 days stats; max daily battery voltage, power (amp-hours and/or KwH) into the bank, max peak voltage from the PV panels, max amps from the panels, etc.

Of interest (to me anyways  ) is that the maximum peak input voltage from the PV panels was 127 VDC, well within the 150 VDC maximum permitted by Outback. That value was recorded a few times. [FYI, that value is usually hit first thing on a cold morning as the sun first strikes the panels, although I have seen it reached later in the day on occasion.]

This trip I ran the generator for a few hours and gave the batteries a tickle with an equalization charge. I hadn't run the generator since some time in January or early February.

[MountainDon]

Okay now! It's May 1st. It's spring! And what does that mean at the cabin in the midst of a pine forest?  

A fresh crop of needles dropped since last fall and blown out of the trees by the winter winds.

[MountainDon]

And what does it mean when the Miller's are confronted with a new years crop of dropped pine needles?

It's time to rake and burn!  Here's where we started...



Moving around the back (south) side of the cabin...



I seem to spend a lot of time burning stuff. 

[MountainDon]

There is a cabin in there somewhere...  (fallen pine needles do make a lot of smoke.)



see...



We had about 20 little piles and rows going...




We did a lot but do still have more to do. We want to clean up a wide swath around the cabin, shed and gazebo area and then work our way down the slope about another 100 feet or so. Last year it paid off handsomely when the small forest blaze occurred. This will be our annual spring ritual for years to come.

Pine needles do burn good, but if in too large a pile the fire slows down after the outside is consumed. It's necessary to turn the piles/rows several times. It's also nice to have a slight breeze to fan the flames. Just a slight breeze mind you.

My plan was to present next day photos of "after".

[MountainDon]

We planned on getting up and doing some more raking into piles and rows, all set to burn next time. At midnight the skies were clear and the stars twinkling. Some time between then and 6 AM something went wrong....

May 2nd dawns....



Looks like December!      The shovel's in the shed, put away till next winter.



It snowed on and off all morning through to 2 PM when we decided to head home.

[MountainDon]

I have added something to this thread. A friend wondered if an index could be added to make it easier to find a certain spot in the topic. So I have added an index of sorts way back at the beginning. I have inserted a chronological index of major steps and some minor steps along the way. Click Here to return to the beginning...

[Proud_Poppa]

Shooooey

Just finished the whole thread...took me about 4 days of readin' !

First....THANK YOU so much for all the work you did in documenting this project for us! Great hideaway!

A couple observations:
  It looks like your task of burning brush will never end! Gosh that area is just a perfect fit for forest fires isn't it!?!

  How long will it be before you tell the boss to "Take this job and shove it" and make your hideaway permanent. It would be a big temptation for me with as nice as you've got the place set up. It could only be better if there was a public library in walking distance! 

PP

[MountainDon]

Thanks and you're most welcome. And you are right, there will always be some brush trash to clean up.

Gosh that area is just a perfect fit for forest fires isn't it!?!

Ten years ago today some 40 miles away a prescribed burn left the prescribed boundaries and burned some 48,000 acres including several hundred homes in Los Alamos.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerro_Grande_Fire#Damage_to_buildings

It's like many of the forests in the western states.


I won't be telling the boss to "TTJASI" as I'm married to her.    But we have wound down to 4 days a week and take summer off.


The nearest library is a drive; back to the suburbs.

[MountainDon]

Nothing much this weekend, not even a single photo.

We raked pine needles, burned some and discovered something voluntarily coming up in last years small garden spot.

We marked 40 to 50 trees for future thinning.

I began laying out a couple of new drainage runoff holding basins, as well as a few new ground water diverters.

[gibby]

Greetings Don.  As a recent arrival to this site, I must say how much I enjoyed reading about your build from the beginning.  I'm not too far from starting my mountain cabin project, and I'd like to borrow your gazebo idea.  Our site will be 20 acres shared by four people.  The gazebo as a common area is the perfect 'first improvement' for our site.

One question, which I'm hoping is not redundant (sure didn't see it specified anywhere)... what are the dimensions of your gazebo?

Thanks for sharing your experience.  I've learned a ton!

Kevin

[MountainDon]

Thank you!  

The gazebo is 10 foot square. That seemed to be the minimum that would suit us. The plan had included a louvered set of covers for the cupola sides, however, we've seldom missed that. (It was to assist in keeping rain out, but that has not been a big deal.

[mountainmomma]

Would composting the pine needles be an option?

[glenn kangiser]

I think that might be hard.  Seems those things last forever.

I studied a bit of composting when I had about 210,000 lbs of horse manure here.

Composting requires a specific ratio of carbon, nitrogen, air and water.  Horse manure straight is nearly the perfect composting mix for a quick change to soil.  Loosen it - dampen it and turn it every week and it will be smoking, changing to soil in about 4 to 6 weeks.  It can catch fire if not taken care of and in too big a pile.

Pine needles would be heavy on carbon - likely very little nitrogen so they or other carbon heavy materials require a heavy source of nitrogen such as chicken manure or fertilizer to compost quickly.  Chicken manure needs carbon to compost quickly so they work together.  If you add carbon such as mulch to a garden, it will rob nitrogen from the soil if mixed in, so you need to add nitrogen or all purpose fertilizer to keep things growing better to make up for the nitrogen loss.

[MountainDon]

like he said. One needs to give it a lot of help. The layers of needles go several years deep and remain idnetifiable for several years. Then it gets more and more broken down, but very slow. A ton chicken$hit or fertilizer would help.

[Phssthpok]

Beware the Dread Gazebo.

[MountainDon]

Not much happening up at the cabin except for a lot of relaxing.      I blame my jaw work for my lack of enterprise. 

Actually we have done some clean up on the south, north facing slope; getting rid of the fallen trees and dead branches there.  I wonder if this will ever end? 

[Redoverfarm]

"Are we there yet"  I mean it is time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.  And no it will never be over as long as you have trees there will be needles, leaves or limbs to discard but that is something you can do at a more relaxing pace Don,  Glad you are getting along OK.

[MountainDon]

I was PM'd by someone about the water system as installed in opur cabin and asked if it was working well and if there was anything I would do differently if I was faced with another similar project.

Well, by coincidence, I have just now actually almost completed the bathroom. Yes, that has been a while coming. Anyhow, the water runs into and out of the bathroom now.     I have some door trim to finish and a few small details. Pictures and story on that will be coming soon.

Some comments and observations of the water system... Cabin water system inside is setup much like an RV)

I also never posted much in the way of pictures, so I'll remedy that today.

I used a Shurflo 2088 pump, the same as the one in the old RV. Even though Shurflo states that the pump is capable of a 6 foot lift I do not recommend using it above the height of the tank bottom. I had installed it on top of the tank to conserve floor footprint. Bad idea. That was well within the allowable distance even allowing for our elevation. (pump ratings should be decreased for higher altitudes.) It was only about an 18 inch lift but I noticed the delivery volume to be less than that in the RV. The RV pump is mounted at the level of the tank bottom.

So yesterday I finally got around to remounting the pump. It is now at tank bottom level. It's performance has been noticeably increased; much better volume delivery and the pump doesn't sound like it is working as hard. I never thought that small lift would affect delivery at the faucet.

Water flow at the shower seems to be adequate, but we have not showered in the newly completed shower yet. We're waiting on the shower curtain track.

More later, including some pictures. (have to run off right now)

[MountainDon]

One other thing I might do differently...

In such a confined space it is difficult to take advantage of the flexibility of PEX tubing. It does bend, but not too sharply without the use of "bend supports".  


I did not think ahead to include these in my box full of fittings and installation parts. If I had I could have used fewer 90 degree fittings for direction changes. 

An alternate to bend supports for the PEX would be to make greater use of the flexible hoses with braided coverings. As it was I used some of them for faucet connections and pump connections. The pump requires their use for vibration isolation.

Here's a general view of the under sink works...



The wiring to the pump will be lengthened next time to place the wires more out of the way. I'm going to try to position the pump so it's motor is not directly under a water fitting, just in case something leaks some day.

The RV water heater has extra layers of foam insulation. The next shot illustrates the tank connections. The bypass valves and hose are barely visible. That allows the heater tank to be isolated from the system; handy in freezing weather or other times the hot water heater does not need to be in service. Maybe more important in an RV than the cabin, maybe not.



Also seen are the shut offs that permit the shower supply lines to be turned off and isolated from the main portion of the system. That's something that has been handy while the bathroom was in a state of limbo. As well, it will be handy to be able to isolate the shower for ocassional cold weather use when the duration of cabin use does not warrant the use of the shower.