24' x 32' Lake Cabin in Oklahoma

[Snoopy]

 Jim ,
 
  Lookin' good !.....Probably the smartest move in making this the most comfortable room 1st.

[TexstarJim]

Thanks Snoopy

I'm almost finished with the exterior painting and I have decided there are other things more fun to do than painting.  I hate it!





I will be trimming out the windows, door, and ac unit (through the wall) with Western Cedar.  I will prime the cedar, then paint it the same color as the trim along the soffit and roof edge.  I'm only using cedar because of its ability to withstand moisture.  Western Cedar is cheaper than Red Cedar.  

I've still got to build the ramp up to the porch that will cross the little stream on the North side of the cabin.  It will join the porch in the area where the blue ice chest is setting.  Once the ramp is built, I will build the railings all around the porch\deck and on the sides of the ramp.  I thought about covering the ramp with a roof, but won't do so for now.  Down to the nitty gritty on my finances and watching my budget very closely.

And I still have to box in the roof over the porch with soffit.  I can't do that until I can finish the other sides of the cabin because I need the scaffolding used elsewhere to install the soffit under the porch.

I expect to be totally finished by the end of June.

[TexstarJim]

Summer heat has actually eaten my lunch on this project.  This area of Oklahoma has been under heat advisories and heat warnings almost every day since the last week of June.  Due to my health, I am unable to tolerate heat in excess of 80 degrees and those days with high humidity find me gasping for breath.  Below is a picture of the progress thus far and I haven't been able to do anything outside since I got this ramp/deck built over my little creek. 



The ramp is not finished by a long shot, not even screwed down good.  Heat moved in before I could finish the ramp and get the railings built and put in place.  I hate not having something complete, but I don't have a choice right now.  I'm hoping by the middle of September I can resume outside work and totally finish the exterior.

[Texas Tornado]

Hi TexstarJim,
Can you please explain why you did this?
The beams will be (2) 2"x12" sandwiched together with (2) strips of 1/2" plywood (staggered) in between.  Each beam will be 32 feet long and there will be three.
Irene

[TexstarJim]

Yes, for strength and rigidity.  Almost impossible to find a naturally occurring beam that is 32 feet long without spending a wheel-barrow full of money, so I simply made my own beams.  The lamination provides the strength, mainly the staggering of the boards as put together.  (shown in the pictures.)

[Texas Tornado]

Thank You soooo much!!!!

[chad]

Hi,jim ive been reading this on and off and your cabin looks great.I have a question,is your 2 by 12`s directly on top of the 6 by6`s or did you cut a step in your 6 by 6.Also if they are directly on top did you have the welding shop make flat plates.and how thick are they?Once again your cabin looks great!  

[chad]

Hi its me again,is your 2 by 12`s treated its hard to tell from thanx.

[TexstarJim]

Chad, I apologize for not noticing your questions before now.  If you will go back to the 2nd and 3rd page of this thread there are pictures that show how the beams were built and also attached to the 6x6 posts.  The 2x12's are not treated.

The beams were built in place and originally, I intended on sandwiching (2) strips of 1/2" plywood in between (2) 2x12's, but decided to use a single strip of plywood.  These beams were put to the test during the winter because I had the entire order of sheetrock delivered and stacked into one single pile inside the cabin.  I became concerned that that much weight would eventually cause the floor to sag and show a low spot later.

After getting the sheetrock hung and all off the floor, I was glad to see the floor remained level without any noticeable sagging where (90) sheets had set for several months.

With cooler weather on the way, I will be resuming my work and start taking pictures and updating this thread more often.  I sorta took off for the summer and I haven't been pulling this thread up too often.  Sorry for the delay in responding. 

[chad]

Hi,thanks for the response and help.the water leveler is great!I plan on building an A frame cabin on my land hopefully next year.Cant find too much info on building one but im going to make my posts and beam similar about 3 feet off the ground!If anyone has any further info on an A frame construction I would greatly appreciate it.Seems like the fad of the A frame died out in the 70s.Thanks for posting all of ur cabins and progress this site is great.I think im hooked

[MountainDon]

You could start a discussion topic on what the pros and cons of an A-frame design is. Lots of folks have thought about them; we did. But then we thought about a number of things we never did for a lot of reasons.

[chad]

Thanks for the advice mountain.