Ok Thanks. That gives me some numbers to work with.

I'll check the local Menards and see what I find.

Quote from: Toyotaboy on April 17, 2012, 10:20:12 AM
Ok Thanks. That gives me some numbers to work with.

I'll check the local Menards and see what I find.

Toyota, we bought our wood from www.woodworkersshoppe.com.  It is prefinished and delivered for 1.80 sq.ft. 

This weekend we finished installing the t&g on the ceiling and started to install the flooring in the loft.











The flooring

great work!

We haven't been up to the cabin in a few weeks.  Our oldest son was home on leave and the youngest is home from college, so we took a well earned rest

This weekend I hung the drapes in the bedroom.  I found some nice branches laying around and tidied them up a bit and used them as curtain rods and brackets.  They didn't turn out too bad at all.





We used some of our log siding as the center beam at the peak.



We installed a fan in the loft area...





We finished the flooring in the loft and stained it...

Nice!  I love the dark stain on the floor!

Looks awesome. I really like the dark stain too!

I'm thinking about putting a gable vent on both ends of my cabin to let the heat out during the summer. Maybe even a power vent on one end  to help remove the hot air. I'm not planning on any AC.     

Thanks   We have noticed that the cabin stays nice and cool even when it's quite hot outside.  The loft does get a bit warmer than the main floor, that's why we installed the fan, to help circulate the air.  I'm thinking this will also help in the winter to circulate the warm air from the wood burning stove.

Outstanding work! I also just installed a ceiling fan high above the wood stove and notice immediately a cooler loft and warmer downstairs. I've been wondering what to do to soften the modern look of having so many windows and was considering a top curtain to add a bit of color. I admit, I'm thinking of stealing your idea and using the country checkered pattern you have up. I also like your dark floors. I wanted the same but, alas, when I arrived up at camp, the builder had already left it clear and put down poly. Oh well, next time. Well done and keep posting.

Doc

What are you doing for a railing on the end of the loft?  Just curious. I decided to go with a 40 inch wall. I felt it gives some privacy to anyone in the loft from down below.

I really like the way the center peak turned out.

Very nice home.

Quote from: Toyotaboy on May 14, 2012, 01:30:26 PM
What are you doing for a railing on the end of the loft?  Just curious. I decided to go with a 40 inch wall. I felt it gives some privacy to anyone in the loft from down below.

We're going to use black metal rods for the railings and we have some D-logs left over from trimming the windows outside so we thought we might try to use those as the posts, we'll see how that looks.  Most of the time it's going to be just me and my husband up at the cabin so we're not really worried too much about our privacy

Quote from: mogie01 on May 15, 2012, 06:43:52 AM
We're going to use black metal rods for the railings and we have some D-logs left over from trimming the windows outside so we thought we might try to use those as the posts, we'll see how that looks.  Most of the time it's going to be just me and my husband up at the cabin so we're not really worried too much about our privacy

I was also considering black spindles and thought the contrast between a hand hewn log top and bottom and the black spindles might look beautiful. In addition, the black spindles are less obtrusive and don't block as much view up or down. I priced the black rods at my local big box and found they were around $1.60 each. Needing around 60 of them and not having the time for yet another project, I eventually went with log. I used a very reasonably priced outfit called Wildcat Wood I had found online. Hand hewn with 4 posts assembled ran me $340 for a 20 ft span. In the end it was a huge time saver. I still wonder how it would have looked with thin black spindles. Keep up the good work and let's see the photos of how it's progressing!

Doc

AdironDoc, I love the look of your hewn railing, it compliments the rustic beams you used in the cabin.  Your place looks fantastic.  We have also thought about using hewn spindles, the same type we used on the front porch, but we're thinking of buying a black metal spiral stair and wanted to use something that would work with that.

Thanks everyone for all the encouragement.  We are starting to see major changes to the cabin.  For the longest time it seemed we just weren't moving along but now that we have been able to concentrate on the inside it's just amazing how it's taking shape

Quote from: mogie01 on May 15, 2012, 12:21:44 PM
Thanks everyone for all the encouragement.  We are starting to see major changes to the cabin.  For the longest time it seemed we just weren't moving along but now that we have been able to concentrate on the inside it's just amazing how it's taking shape

The inside is the frosting on the cake. Who doesn't love frosting? 

Mogie,

Please give me some tips on staining the floor. I stained my loft floor (eastern white pine) and it looks horrible.  Your floor looks great compared to the mess I have upstairs now.  I used pre conditioner but the color is very inconsistent. The color changes from area to area (all from the same can).  I used pre conditioner. I put a second coat on to try and even out the color but that made it even worse I used American Walnut from Rustoleum but it has a red tint.  Nothing like sample piece I tried while selecting the color.  Very disappointed and ready to rent a sander and try again.



I distressed it with a chain, bolts and an awl.

you should have worked on a sample piece first. did you sand it? even if you want it distressed it needs to be sanded. then the clear pre conditioner but the condition of the wood will dictate how many coats, you may need more then one. other then that it just looks like a bad color. also it still needs a poly coat, stain is just for color.

Quote from: CjAl on May 16, 2012, 09:29:38 PM
you should have worked on a sample piece first. did you sand it? even if you want it distressed it needs to be sanded. then the clear pre conditioner but the condition of the wood will dictate how many coats, you may need more then one. other then that it just looks like a bad color. also it still needs a poly coat, stain is just for color.

Yes I did a piece at home with polyurethane on it.  It looked great.  Used the same process on the loft floor (except poly) and this is the result.  I only sanded it with a palm sander to clean up the wood from foot prints and other scuffs.  Maybe that was the problem.

Love the darker floors!

The pre-stain conditioner was still damp, but wiped so there were no really wet spots, when you applied the stain?

By "damp" I mean, the stain was applied within a hour or so of applying the pre-stain conditioner?

When we stained our railings English Chestnut I noticed that as we progressed, the color became increasingly red. Turns out that there was still some thicker, more pigmented stain at the bottom of the can and that we had not mixed it enough. Could that have happened? Looking at your floor, I can't really see what's wrong with it. I've always preferred a less reddish tone, but with poly to put a shine on it, I don't think it would look half bad.

Ellbaker, it sounds like you did everything right.  We use Minwax products on the flooring, that's about the only difference.  I think once you put the polyurethane on it will make a big difference.  We normally apply 2 to 3 coats of the poly and give each coat a day to completely dry.

A lot depends on the species of wood and whether it is mostly clear span or have several knots.  IMO White pine is the worlds worst to get a unitform stain color.  It is a soft wood and the grain differs in just short distances.  I have used different brands of stains and I prefer Minwax.  I did not pre-condition any of my loft floors.  I have noticed that you can sand something too fine and the wood sill not accept the stain as well.  Here are a couple pictures of my floor.  You can see the difference where there are knots involved. But it turned out OK for a log cabin.

 I went up this weekend and the stain looked better.  It had mellowed some and lost some od the red tint.  I put a coat of satin poly on it and it looks acceptable. My wife convinced me to not stain the main floor. I put a coat of Waterlox on it yesterday and took her for a visit.  Now she thinks the flor is too light in color    I told her in few years it will age to a nice honey color and it will be perfect.  Second coat of Waterlox went on this afternoon. 

ellbaker I'm glad the floor turned out ok.  We still have the main room to do and hope it all turns out, a strategically placed rug is always a big help

This weekend we applied the 2nd coat of poly to the loft floor.  We did the scratch coat for the stones on the fireplace and the next day we stuck some of the stones up.  We started at the bottom just to give us some practice.  Next week we'll haul the stones up to the peak and start there and work our way down.