Our Tiny (10 x 12) Cabin

Started by Gary O, July 31, 2011, 09:19:24 PM

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Gary O

Thank you, Andy

Got a wildfire 40 mi from the cabin.
Horribly dry summer combined with a winter that yielded only a foot of snow, and now lightening...well, this trip w/be interesting

I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

rick91351

Gary may the force be with you....
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.


Gary O

Thanks, Pard

gonna be a l-o-o-o-n-g summer
I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

rick91351

Yep us as well again this year.  Aug last year was charming.  last year this c* closed to within a couple miles of us.



This one hooked around and almost got us from the west



Me I spent three days in this jungle over at the neighbors ranch fighting fire.  At sixty years old and 100 degree days decided running a locomotive was not a bad way to put food on the table.....

 
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

MountainDon

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


Gary O

Tired

The Moccasin Creek fire is genrly contained.
I expected to be breathing smoke while we were at the cabin, but the winds were favorable.

This old age thing is gettin' old.
My scurry has turned to mosey.
Happy thing is, I'm making fewer mistakes.

Saved the hanging of the French doors for last, but the first thing I did when we got there was measure the opening.
The last few days before we left were spent wringing my hands, 'cause I couldn't quite remember the exact height of the opening, even though I'd written it down in my notebook.
It was the next to the last thing I did before we left the cabin.
The very last thing I did was put my notebook away....in my bedside drawer....at the cabin.
Buuut, all fits quite well.

Ever see an old man do a cartwheel?

Me neither.




Morning comes early


The door is now on








more room now in the main cabin










I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

rugger8

Gary O!

Amazed at your work!  What did you have to do to steam bend all that wood??? d* d* d*

Just kidding of course, place looks great and stay away from the fire!

Jeff

Gary O

Hah! Funny.
Had to use the fisheye to get it all in.

It is coming along, but having a harder time keeping the vision these days.
Once we get the roof and siding on, I'll feel better.
That'll be all done by mid Aug.

Thanks Jeff

cheers
I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

John Raabe

Nice project! Here's to cooler temps and clear summer air!
None of us are as smart as all of us.


Gary O

Thank you Mr John.

'Clear' is the word
I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

OlJarhead

Lots of fires here too!  Glad you're making out well.

Gary O

Hey Guys

We arrived at the cabin around 9pm last Tuesday.

Usually we get out, walk the cabin area, looking for signs of break in, or wildlife events.
Usually we go; LOOK! What's this?!...discovering later that they are our own tracks from last time.

This time my lady made a beeline to the poophaus.
Considerable coffee intake on the way down was more than ready to outgo.

Note;
I built our loo in the strict style of the (I really don't know what to do here) ancient culture of early ignoramusism, religiously adhering to the 'I've gotta poop now' method.
One of the unique features is having to insert and outsert a board from the back of our facility in order to cover and uncover the 5 gal poopail.

In my woman's scurry to the back of our poophaus to remove the board, she suddenly got real quiet, trying, in the dark, to focus on and fathom what her mind was trying to explain to her.

'Gar, come here....quick!'

'What?'

'JUST....COME....HEEEEERE.....!......'NOWWWWW!'

My mind registered that my dear woman of 45 years, mother of my children, grandmother of my grandchildren, might be in trouble, and most definitely is facing down some sorta wild animal, most likely a hungry puma (of which, by the way, would make a really cool name of a rock band...'The Hungry Pumas').....

.....where was I......ah, yes....screaming woman.


I immediately went into rapid dawdle, tearing myself away from starring at the load in the pickup, breaking into a speedy saunter.
I mean since it's obviously a large heaving drooling ravenous wild mountain lion, why confuse everyone by rushing in and suddenly becoming the other white meat?
(this tactic learned from many years of astute survivalist training)



As I came around the cabin, here is what I saw, that my wife was trying to explain to me in great detail (in as few stunned, stupefied words as possible);










How I falls 'em (four at a time)


root cellar, quick


too close to call (shudder)



However, the main event, the one that was our main purpose of this trip, the putting on of the roof, was somewhat of an adventure all by itself.

Wednesday morning clouds formed.

Ah.

Not gonna be so hot.

Nice.

Mosey.

Tear off sagging roof tarp.

Gaze, with frozen stupification, at waterfall from sagging tarp gush directly onto bed, camera, pistol, and other important things, like me.

Haul tools and organize things while cabi swabs out bedroom cabin and hangs things out to dry.

Mosey.

Rest from mosey.

Work, grunt, work.

Rest.

Sip coffee.

Ponder next thing to do and how to do it.

Get the 2x6s three fourths on and suddenly realize my arm, hand and thumb are no longer functioning, deciding instead to compete with my back for spasm count.

Rest.

Sip coffee.

Ponder.

Watch strange birds.

Go 'Whazzat?' several times in repetition.

Consider nap.

Tell each other to slow down, 'we've got three days'.

Rain happens.

Rather suddenly.

Lots and lots of rain.

We discover 2x6s, tightly nailed, leak like sieves.
We gaze at the tarp shreds now on the ground.

We commence to mutually scream out pointed nouns and adjectives;

'THE (effing) BED!

'THE (effing) FLOOR!'

'EFF EFF EFF EFF!!!'


....all the while waving our arms in the air, running to and fro, banging into each other like berserk windup toys.

Eventually, I scurry up and down the ladder, with the agility of a wounded rhinoceros, throwing tarp shreds and OSB scraps onto the roof.
Ever see a wounded rhinoceros scurry up and down a ladder?
I-I-I-I think not.

It's not pretty.

By the time I ran outta crap to throw on the roof, it's done raining.....for the week, it turns out.

It's now close to 8pm.
I have no idea it will never ever ever rain again.
I just want to sleep in a bed....a dry bed....from the dry bedding from the main cabin.
An old fat man pulled up his trousers and tore all the wood scraps and tarp rags back off and doggedly finished the subroof...including the tar paper.....then drove 20 miles for a new tarp.

Tired?

I hadn't known that kinda tired since....well....I don't know.
My back spasms had spasms.

Ever OD on naproxen?
I only took two, before bed.
Only I couldn't lie down.
Too much pressure in the chest.
I actually couldn't move.
Considered the possibility of having a heart attack, and death.
Started welcoming the possibility of death.
I could feel my lady's quiet concern, momentarily asking pertinent questions like, does your left arm hurt?
Why are you sweating?
After a lengthy Q&A, she handed me two Tums.

Bingo.
I'm ready to put on the roll roofing.

Thursday and Friday we did menial things and took lots of moments to enjoy our little patch of pumice.

Life is good.

Horrifically good.

Next trip, the siding, roll roofing, and other stuff.


 
I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

Redoverfarm

That is one bad attribute of pines in that they have a very shallow root system.  Generally they are alright if left in masses but once you open an area up they start to fall.  Seems if they are left together they are sheltered somewhat.  They also in my opinion are a dirty tree meaning that they are constantly loosing limbs which have to be picked up.  Looks as if you have a few more that are close to the cabin.  I believe I would try to get rid of them or maybe one day they will create a "skylight" where you didn't plan to have one.

At one of my residences once upon a time had huge white pines nearby.  I believe it was in 92 we had a huge snow storm pass through dumping about 3' of snow.  Yep you guessed it.  One not so close to the house decided that it had stood upright long enough.  Measuring about 36" in diameter some 100 feet tall decided that my wifes car was a good place to lay down.  Had three limbs about 6-8" penetrate her then 1 year old Pontiac roof.  The limbs went all the way through to the pavement underneath.  Total loss.   :(

Gary O


Yeah, John, it's been my quandary from day one.
Thing is, the point of having a cabin in the woods is a cabin....in the woods.

The pines here suffer a double whammy.
There's only a few feet (in some places, inches) of pumice, then hard pan.
The roots tend to flare out even more.

These four trees were definitely tied in to each other.
I'd planned on at least topping them before moving there.
They looked to be leaning the direction they fell, but even though I thought the cabin to be safe, I'm no wizard.
We have only a couple other trees of significance within cabin range, and they seem to be listing leeward and away from the cabin.

All in all, stuff happens.

If one of our cabins gets crushed, I'll weep a while, kick some pumice, then build a better one.

If all three (or four) get thwacked, I'll shake my fist at god, and build out by the meadow.

If I happen to be having a long winter's nap when the bough breaks. Well....it's been real.


I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson


rick91351

Gary please refer to the photo of you and an ax and an exposed root system on some pine trees.......  This ax as been entered into evidence of contract violation.  A private photo lab has identified this ax as an Acme Model Eversharp 32 Double Bit with life time Eversharp Warranty.   

Notice here been given and your receipt there of does constitute a termination of the clause in contract and hold harmless agreement you signed when you bought said ax.  Line three explains that this ax shall not be used in root grubbing.....

Photographic proof that you were root grubbing does in fact violate the Acme Eversharp Lifetime Sharpening Agreement.  We will no longer sharpen your ax for free.......       
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

Gary O

Found out!

Exposed!

Exposed like the grubby roots I've been grubbing.

Is there no peace?!

Is there no equanimity for the common grubber?!

Fellow root grubbers, UNTIE!



I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

Gary O

#291
 So we whipped down to the cabin(s) to lay the 2x6 floor and nail on the exterior trim and finish staining/sealing.

Love to find places that have cheaper stuff than the Home Dopies of the world.
Found this obscure place that has all kinds of salvaged building materials and unusual wood pieces.
I was like a kid in a candy store.


Settled on some rough cut 1x6 fir.

I have this vision.
My woman shares the same vision.

'Give the place a rustic look...yeah'


Here's where things got complicated.

'rough cut' is not necessarily 1x6
It can be 1x6...in places
Other places it can be 1x5...or 1x3.....



Thusly, getting things level and plum don't work out so well.
If you try to match 45° cuts (like a picture frame), you end up searching thru the pile for same widths...there are no 'same widths'.

And 1x tends to split when pummeled with a 7d ring-shank nail...especially when on tippy toes on the uppermost 'THIS IS NOT A STEP' part of the ladder....leaning far to the right, one centimeter past the colossal misfortune zone, clinging to the wall like a morbidly obese batgrampa.

Our neighbor Greg, down the road, must think I am the most abusive husband ever, because these lovely rustic trim boards absorbed every guttural loudly uttered moniker I could sputter, beginning with the pronoun 'you'.

Buuut, as usual, we had fun, rested in places, enjoyed our meals outside, and mustered a sense of pride in what two aged wheezing overfed almost retirees could accomplish in one day.

Oh, and we had a little visitor Saturday night.


Sometime after total dark set in, while we were still relaxing (plopping, heaving, gasping, slumped) in our camp chairs, sipping ice tea, admiring our work, we both saw something flutter in front of the cabin.

'Whazzat?'

'Dunno'

'Huh'

We got up, stumbled around putting the rest of the tools away, tripping over the little sapling stump (cleverly positioned between the two cabins) for the 27th time, and trudged into our new rustic boudoir.

Gotta say, it was nice to lie there on the bed, gazing at our handiwork.

My woman zonked out immediately.

I heard a noise.

A nibbling or skittering, mouse like noise.

I was thankful she didn't hear it (let the little guy enjoy his evening), 'cause she'd be up and searching for it...with a hammer.

Read my book till I got sleepy, and twisted off the lantern.

Laid there in the dark, barely making out the ceiling beams.

Saw something rather dark flutter.

Twisted on the lantern.

A bat was zooming around the cabin.

.......huh......a bat....huh......

.........A BAT??!!

Nudged the little woman.

WE GOT A BAT!!

Covers fly.

We're up.

I wish I had a video of us flailing away at that critter with the only things available.....foam cushions.

Gave the shotgun a thought.

We opened both doors, but the little sucker just wanted to go up.

It would stop, cling to a high corner, panting (I imagine...or maybe that was just us), then, after we threw shoes and books at it, commence to fly around and around, deftly dodging slabs of foam.

I jumped up on the bed, strategically teetering, making pathetic circles with my arms while falling backwards onto the floor.

My woman didn't miss a beat, remaining a non-stop foam whisk machine.

I figger we got about 47 minutes of aerobic flailing until we finally got it out the door.

Next trip I'll put the screens on.













I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

OlJarhead

On your floor did you T&G it or lay it straight just tight together?

On rough cut lumber:  it should be a min of 1"x6" (often referred to 4/4 x 6" (4x1/4" = 1") -- being rough sawn / rough cut, simply means it was not planed to size and edged.

OlJarhead

Oh and very nice work by the way :)  Always enjoy the escapades too ;)  d*

Gary O

Quote from: OlJarhead on September 23, 2014, 02:37:26 PM
Oh and very nice work by the way :)  Always enjoy the escapades too ;)  d*
Well, OJ, I've shopped T&G and car decking, thinking I needed all the help I could get, as far as securing a good, tight fit and no warpage. But, man, the lumber yards think a whole lot of their crappy, loosely graded boards. Pricing is a bit nuts.
So, on the first cabin, I went with plain ol' 2x6 kiln dried SPF for the floor and the roof/ceiling.
I mostly pick/sort myself, eyeballing and laying them together, less knots and wane.
The A frame cabin was built a half dozen or so years ago, and no issues. (I kinda wrung my hands for a few months).


So I'm purty comfy with them now.
As for using factory dimensional lumber for exposed flooring, I had my doubts. Thought I better saw off an 8th inch off the sides so they wouldn't have that rounded feature. But, seems sweepable.
Aaaand, it's a cabin.
As far as 4x4s for studs, it's mostly cause I don't care to (or have the skill to) align everthing to hoyle so I have more surface to sink a nail or screw....and I don't build to exact calculations....('that should hold a snow load')

Not fully readin' you on what's 'rough cut', but this stuff seems to have been just run once thru the blade.
Not sure what it was originally intended for, but at $.95 for eight feet, I liked it (notice the past tense).

and just used roll roofing, but figger it's a good sub layment for the good stuff, whatever that (tin?) is....






I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson


Gary O

Quote from: OlJarhead on September 23, 2014, 02:37:26 PM
Oh and very nice work by the way :)  Always enjoy the escapades too ;)  d*

....and thank you.

I get a kick out of writin' about 'em.

cheers, pard
I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

OlJarhead

Since I run a small mill I'm a little more intimately familiar with 'rough sawn' lumber ;) than most I'll wager lol  But in short you cut it to 'true' dimensions so it can dry (shrink) and be planed to match 'dimensional' lumber (a dimensional 2x4 is actually 1 1/2" x 3 1/2").  I do however mill different ways for rough sawn lumber:  on the wholes (1,2,3,4" etc) which actually leaves 7/8" thick boards rather than 1" if sawing 1x's or using a mill scale which will actually produce 1" thick boards, or for those who just want 'dimensional' straight off the mill I mill at 3/4ths....the advantage being you get a little more out of a log but the end product if planed will be thinner that a store bought product (if sawing 3/4)...

Personally I use 7/8ths stuff all the time (my doors were made with it for example) and my 2x decking is really 1 7/8" because I milled on the evens for it...in the end the point is that the blade (in my case band) is just under 1/8" thick so if I saw at 1" it will carve off a little less than an 8th leaving a slightly smaller board unless I use the mill scale to compensate.  However, a portable mill can make whatever you want :)

BUT I'm rambling now! lol  d*

Gary O

Heh, OJ, yer ramble beats my drone any day.
Thanx for the contribution.

When I get ready to build a real cabin (a sprawling 400 sf with loft), I'll be tapping yer knowledge.

cheers
I'm enjoying all that I own, the moment.

"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air." Emerson

rick91351

Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

rick91351

Your bat story made me realize the other day when I went down to the shop.  The big drive in doors were left open. My out feed table and table saw were sitting there in the door way.  I turned on the saw got the board up there to rip just touched the board to the spinning whirring blade and out sprayed a raw hamburger looking concoction bloody and hairy.  YUK!!!  Something fell down in to the sawdust below as well.  I had a bloody streak on my planed board and some little chunks of something.  Out sprayed on to my start of the day clean shirt a sort of yuk....... as well as up my arm.  I finished ripping the board. This point I am not sure if it was nerves of steel or very poor reaction time but I never flinched.  I thought a mouse most likely had secreted himself under the table saw during the night and some how ran and got in the blade.  I went back to the trailer and washed real well.  Hard telling what brand of Hantavirus, Black Plague, or Flu that destructive little mini-monster was packing.  Then now after reading your bat story and noticing all the bats flying around at night up here this year.  Most likely was a rabid bat possibility.  I think I am about to become one of those clean freaks that lock themselves in a clean environment and will not even contact my keyboard and touch screen without washing it with chlorine wipes.  I shall have the bug exterminators here weekly......   

However I did get off on another tangent.  I would love to own up here a new Saw Stop Saws.  They really make sense to me anywhere but up here where it is a couple hours to the hospital barring Life Flight they just seem to be a good idea.  I want one of those saws that you touch the hot dog to and in hundreds or thousands of milliseconds the cartridge pops (explodes) and the blade is stopped instantly and disappears below the table with narry a scratch on the hot dog.  Yes friend it the hot dog is still eatable and in one piece.  However your old wore out demo blade is toasted and a $70 Saw Stop cartridge is shot.  Mostly in my case here it would have been a new $100 Thin Kerf Forrest blade is ruined as well as a cartridge.  The bright side the death of a most likely rabid rodent would not be on my conscience. 

Note to the Garry Santa - Please a Saw Stop Saw for Christmas!!!
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.