10X14 Mini-Cabin in Charlestown N.H.

[Woodsrule]

Hello All, 

Thanks to Mountain Don, I have been able to figure out how to post these pictures.  We started our cabin about 2 1/2 years ago and have had a great time along the way.  We picked up a nice 10 acre piece 1000 feet up on a ridge in Charlestown, N.H.  Charlestown is on the VT/NH border and our land is 1 1/2 miles from town as the crow flies. As you will see from the following pictures, we had plenty of help from friends and plenty of laughs.  We're nearly done the cabin, with just the flooring left to do.  I will post updated pictures of the inside in a couple of weeks.  Feel free to suggest, comment, or criticize.  I must say, that without the suggestions from the members of this site, it would have been infinitely harder to accomplish our goal.  My thanks to the administrators of this site and to all the members. Semper Fidelis.




Starting to dig the holes for the Bigfoot foundation.  The man running the machine is my younger brother Rejean.  He is a paraplegic; he lost the use of his legs in a logging accident 11 years ago, but that did not stop him as you can see.  He runs an excavating business, fixes ATVs and fabricates metal.  Got inspiration?


It's nice to have friends with toys.  Russell ( may he rest in peace) helped us out for many days with his skid steer and supervised the concrete work.  He was a concrete inspector for many years and insisted we do things the right way!


The holes turned out to be one large one since the ground was so bony. 


Bigfoots are in and the sonotubes are leveled.  (So we thought anyway) A couple were off by an inch here and there, but close enough for govmint work.


A nice shot of the sunset.


Everything backfilled and rainproofed. Looks kinda eerie, huh?


The deck is done and so are we! It was a good weekend's worth of work.


Walls are going up.  We did 2x6 construction for extra insulation.  The extra cost was negligible.


Working on the loft ends


Note that I used plenty of bracing.  Bracing is your friend.


This is what we WERE sleeping in.  My wife and daughter were not amused.


Walls are up and sheathed with  5/8 T-111.  It's tough stuff and hard to screw into, but it's permanent.


Rafters are going up.  We went with 9 1/2 Pitch.  It's not 9 and it's not 10.  Close enought for gummint work.


Electric service is in.  In Charlestown, you can do your own.  I pulled the permit myself and the inspector insisted that I pound in two 8' ground rods.  It was a bear, but it is peace of mind.  My friend is an electrician and helped me with the setup.


Rafters are done; We tarped it and hoped for the best.  The tarp survived a windstorm, thankfully.


The eave vents are in. T-111 is really hard to drill through!


Roof decking is done and so was my back. The Larry the Lobster look was the result of the July sun.


Sheathed and dried in!


Roof done and temp ramp in.

[ScottA]

Hey you cheated! Excavators have no place in cabin building. I did mine with a shovel. Looks good though. Seems like that tent could withstand alot. Expecting rain?

[Woodsrule]

Scott, we get plenty of rain there and the contraption we were using kept us dry MOST of the time.  We had quite a good time retiring that tent.  I cut it up and used it for a tarp.  I have more pics, but can't post them because I keep getting a message "maximum character length exceeded"  Anyone know how I can post the rest of the pics? Thanks, Tony

[MountainDon]

"maximum character length exceeded"  Anyone know how I can post the rest of the pics? Thanks, Tony

I've never run into that using photobucket.    Is that coming up on photobucket or here when you paste in the IMG link?

You could try making a new folder, for the new images, using a shorter folder name folder name on photobucket.   

[Woodsrule]

MountainDon,

The problem is not photobucket.  It appears that my initial post has too many characters and it won't let me post anything after my last pic.  I copied the post to Word and did a character count and the count is right around 5000 so far.  When I tried to modify the post a warning appeared "maximun character length exceeded."  Apparently, I am over the limit.  Any suggestions? Tony

[MountainDon]

OOOPs. Sorry I misinterpreted the phrase. Start a new message (click the reply button) and keep on going. There is a 5000 (?) character limit, including spaces, to each individual message. But you can have as many messages to a topic as desired.

Hope that clears it up

[MountainDon]

In fact it's better to open a new message by using the "reply". That's because some people make use of the "new" tag that appears when a post is new to the viewer. Same as some use the "Show unread posts since last visit. " link near the top of the screens to bring up a list of new things.

When you edit an existing post message the "new" label does not get turned on. The "edit" or "modify" is best saved for correcting spelling and other small changes/additions.

[Redoverfarm]

Basickly there is nothing easy about work except the satisfaction of knowing that you did it yourself and it's finished. Right now I am midstream on both.  You have probably learned a great deal so the next one will be easier. . By the way I lived in Charles Town for 15 years but in WV.

[glenn kangiser]

With all the nice pictures, it's hard to tell that there are 5000 characters there. 

As mentioned, just hit reply and start posting pix again in that reply.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

It's great that your brother is going ahead on with what many would deem impossible.  More power to him.

[MountainDon]

The characters in the IMG links are counted. They add up

[glenn kangiser]

I should have known you'd count them.

[Woodsrule]

Thanks for the help everyone.  Continuing on, this is a shot of one of the lofts.  The pic is misleading; there is about five feet of headroom in the lofts, plenty to sit up in and move around.



The windows and doors are now cut in.  The little windows in the lofts are "samples" that we got from a friend in the business.  They work perfectly and and to scale. We got the door and other windows from a salvage yard.  Total cost=$200.00.



This is the loft ladder.  I made it from black pipe and off the rack hardware.  I looked into the library ladders, but the hardware alone was in excess of four hundred dollars. The ladder itself is made from select 2x4's and scrap pieces of oak.  Total cost= $20.00. Makes a Yankee proud.



A full side shot of the ladder.  It glides smoothly and stores against the wall when not in use.





The 300' driveway.  It's less steep now thanks to little bro.



The new and improved handicapped ramp.  What?



A view from near the outhouse (one holer).  The loo is about 120 feet away and downwind.


Little bro's new and improved toy.


The real handicapped ramp and small deck.

[Woodsrule]

The loft railings are made out of oak, hickory and maple.  I drawknife them and then turn the tenons with the Veritas tool.


This is the opposite side.  I made these from ash and maple scraps that my buddy tried to throw away. Tried.



We have beautiful bluestone one the property, so I decided to skirt the cabin with it.  The skirting is about two feet wide and serves a couple of purposes. First, it looks nice (pleases the missus) and keeps the wind from howling around under the cabin.  Also, I brought it right up to the joists, so it adds structural integrity. The first purpose is the most important.



The real ramp is in and most of the skirting is done.



The electrical service is now in.  We undergrounded it from the pole (only about 45 feet) and glad we did. The orange wire is 10 gauge for the in the wall heater.


The aforementioned in the wall heater.  It's rated for 400 square feet and is more than up to the task of heating a 140 square foot mini-cabin.



The walls and ceiling have now been insulated and sheathed with some nice faux maple paneling and the last major undertaking will be putting down a permanent floor, hopefully soon. I will post more pics in a couple of weeks. Take care, Tony

[MountainDon]

I should have known you'd count them.

Copy it from the write/edit window so you catch all the IMG tags, paste into MS Word, click on "Tools", select "word count". The results list words, paragraphs, and characters with & without spaces. 

[Woodsrule]

Hey MountainDon,

That's what I did after your tip. Now I know exactly how long a message I can post. Thx.

[glenn kangiser]

Cabin looks great, Tony.  I really like the rock work.

You can count on Don, our numbers man. 

[Woodsrule]

Thanks Glenn,  I really enjoy stone work. Where I permanently reside in RI I have an abundant supply of stone that seems to "grow" every year, so I have, by necessity built a lot of mortarless stone walls. I take my time and appreciate the fact that the walls will be here long after we're all gone.

[John Raabe]

Great cabin Tony!  Very tidy and handsome. Strong too!

I'm a bit concerned that the stone facing may provide a moisture and insect route to the walls and floor system. Is there flashing and shielding that is not obvious in the photos?

[mvk]

Tony

Good job really like your railings. I'm not to far from you over in Milford. Isn't Charlestown where Carlton Fisk is from. Pretty country and nice site.

About that stone are you going to return it along the eve side I would consider splash as well as what John said if you haven't already.

Mike

[Woodsrule]

John, I did not think of insect invasion, so I will look into some type of flashing.  What type do you suggest? I believe I have some aluminum coil left overs, would that be stapled to the underneath or what?  Mike, you are correct; Carlton Fisk is from Charlestown and I got to meet him when I was a kid.  My dad played in a softball league and Fisk showed up one time to meet and greet.  He still holds the record for home run distance in the area.  Reportedly, he once hit one nearly 500'.  Sounds like a fish story, but there you have it.

[John Raabe]

I remember helping on one stone facing project on a log cabin with a full concrete foundation. We were able to devise a sloped cedar 2x as a water table to carry water running down the wall to the outside of the stone facing.

The problem with doing this on a single wall house is that you will probably have to do a saw kerf into the siding and get a bend of the flashing up in there. Otherwise water running down the grooves in the siding will get behind any flashing you might put on top of the siding. You do not want to rely on caulk as I show in the trim on this diagram. This is a two piece trim detail that covers the ugly flashing made out of gutter coil aluminum.



A water and termite shield is a sheet of material with a steep turned down lip over open air so that an insect or water drop can't make it over the lip and up onto the topside.

I'm not real happy with this detail (which is shown on the beam side of the house), but you may be able to use some of these ideas and find something that will work.

Check locally on what termites, carpenter ants or other critters you have in your area and what works to stop them from getting into the house.

[John Raabe]

Already I can see an improvement to this detail by making the trim board come all the way down the back of the water table board. The trim board 2x can then be nailed (and perhaps glued) into the back of the water table board forming one strong installation piece. Stronger and easier to nail to the house.

[Redoverfarm]

Tony The metal termite shield is normally set with a 30 degree slope.  Supposeably they cannot make the 30 deg and fall off.  At least that is what I was told.

[Woodsrule]

John and Redrover, Thanks for the tips. Next chance I get I am going to look at what I have got and with your directions printed out and handy, will devise something that will divert water away from my gingerbread house! Thanks and keep the suggestions coming. Tony

[glenn kangiser]

Even an air gap - maybe an inch between the rocks and wood should help - then watch for soil or termite bridges.