200 sf Mini Cabin - Olympic Peninsula - Washington State

Solar Burrito · May 19, 2010, 10:35:20 AM

Quote from: MountainDon on May 19, 2010, 09:23:33 AM
Quote from: Solar Burrito on May 18, 2010, 11:56:35 PM
I got a permit to cut down 9 trees improve the view.
that need boggles my mind..... does it cost?

Do you mean you don't see the need to cut down trees or get a permit?

I'm assuming you mean about the permit because I've seen video of your skills with a Bobcat

. Ya it's kind of a drag but we have property that is within the area of the Lake Cushman Maintenance Company. They maintain our roads, gates, boat launches, parks etc. in exchange for dues every year. So they want to know about tree cutting and building going on even in the most remote unimproved parts of the area (where we own land). So the permit is free but they still want to know. So I had to mark the trees and they came up and looked at which ones. Mostly they don't want people cutting trees with 20' of the property line or the road to maintain the forest feel of the land.

So far they have been really nice and appreciate us letting them know ahead of time. In fact he said my reason for cutting the trees wasn't good enough... I wrote down to improve the view... So on the phone I mentioned that they could blow down and hit the "structure" and he said that was a good reason. So know I know I need to make up better reasons

JavaMan · May 19, 2010, 10:54:52 AM

I'm guessing the need to get a permit... unless they aren't on your property.

The only thing that keeps me from cutting trees on my property is that in the purchase contract it states that I can't cut down trees except to for a building space. And that's because the holder of the contract doesn't want me clearcutting the land, selling the timber and walking away from the contract (at which point he gets the property back - but it would be worth much less than when he sold it to me).

Is that because most of that Lake Cushman development has CCR's?

ETA: I see you answered my question while I was asking it

May 19, 2010, 10:59:31 AM

Yes, I meant the permit.

It boggles my mind I guess because around here there are too many people who need to clear trees for safety and they don't do it.

At least it's free.

Solar Burrito · May 19, 2010, 11:18:10 AM

About the clear cutting, yes I'm sure they want to avoid that too since, there are a lot of trees and someone might do that.

Ya there are some restrictions within the Lake Cushman districts but they vary a lot since most of the land is like a rural housing development with streets and full hookups to utilities. Then their is ours that is undeveloped 5 -15 acre chunks of land on this mountain with a dirt road. There's a gate at the bottom that only owners have keys. No water or power. It's all actually leased land from Tacoma Power which owns the 2 dams on the 2 lakes. The 99 year lease expires in about 56 years or something then I hear it will be renewed but I'm not banking on it. I'll be 86 years old.

I think the rules for us are no cutting trees unless they are dangerous (leaning or diseased) or you are building or have a good reason... and no shooting Fireworks or Guns. That's about it.

MountainDon · May 19, 2010, 11:30:01 AM

Quote from: Solar Burrito on May 19, 2010, 11:18:10 AM
About the clear cutting, yes I'm sure they want to avoid that too since, there are a lot of trees and someone might do that.

It doesn't apply in this scenario, but there are times and places for clear cutting.

In a densely forested area small clear cut areas introduce some diversity that helps wildlife. That's especially true in forests that are predominated by one species. More grasses will move in. Different species of trees start up and so on. Just don't clear cut a whole mountain.

May 19, 2010, 11:44:03 AM

Quote from: MountainDon on May 19, 2010, 11:30:01 AM
Quote from: Solar Burrito on May 19, 2010, 11:18:10 AM
About the clear cutting, yes I'm sure they want to avoid that too since, there are a lot of trees and someone might do that.

It doesn't apply in this scenario, but there are times and places for clear cutting. In a densely forested area small clear cut areas introduce some diversity that helps wildlife. That's especially true in forests that are predominated by one species. More grasses will move in. Different species of trees start up and so on. Just don't clear cut a whole mountain.

Exactly. The property to the south of mine was logged a couple years ago (either the year I bought mine or the year before). I don't think they got everything, but it sure seems like it compared to mine.

I look at the satellite photo on google maps and it looks much less wooded than I think it really is ... it's a bit frustrating to look there because I can't see the contours of the land.

Anyway, Solar, I looked briefly at some property out that way about 5 years ago - I think it was 20 acres with a 20 X20 log cabin on it. Sometimes I wish I'd bought it, but I wasn't in a good position to do so (divorce pending, etc...) It's beautiful out that way.

And your cabin looks like it's coming along well!

Jeff922 · May 20, 2010, 06:50:56 AM

Yeah, it's paradoxical but true. Cutting trees down is often the best way to improve a forests' health. I own a 18 acre wood lot and actively manage it. This means a lot of cutting, thinning and prunning. And I'm kind of a tree hugger type

MountainDon · May 20, 2010, 10:03:32 AM

Good for you Jeff. One of my neighbors, who started the fire last year, is a tree hugger. It was mostly his untended mess that burned up. Stopped at our thinned and cleaned up property.

Jeff922 · May 20, 2010, 10:36:25 AM

Several years ago, I got a couple of books from the library on woodlot management. Reading them opened my eyes. Many things about maintaining a forests' health are counterintuitive. For example, standing dead wood (a snag) is extremely important for bio-diversity. Woodpeckers use them and many other species rely on the woodpecker holes. There are recomended minimum snags per acre, but in general, a few hardwood and a few softwood snags is good. Also, many people see log trucks loaded with big old trees and have a tendency to think "what a shame - those nice old trees". In reality big trees SHOULD be harvested. They are near the end of their life cycle. When you see young trees being harvested, the forest is being worked too hard and cut too soon. Fast growing trees make crap wood anyway.
Like I said, I'm a bit of a tree hugger, I planted about 70 saplings this year and try to do it every year. But I probabbly cut down more to promote growth and bio-diversity.

May 20, 2010, 11:05:42 AM

I keep meaning to buy some saplings from weyerhouser or someplace each year to put up at my place ... but I think that one of the things I really need to do is get rid of the piles of branches, etc... that are around the place from when it was logged about 5-6 years ago (I think it's been since then) - I think I need a bobcat or loader to make that a bit easier. I've cut up some of that and brought it home for firewood, but there are a LOT of those piles.

I'd like to put some Ponderosa and Doug fir up there. Maybe once I save enough to buy a hole digger

Jeff922 · May 20, 2010, 02:01:51 PM

Another great thing to do with brances is use them to enhance wildlife habitat. Lay down a few large logs directly on the ground and then pile a whole bunch of brances (slash) on top. Critters love it.

Solar Burrito · June 05, 2010, 12:06:00 AM

Made some good progress last weekend. This post is late. My friend Cam came out and helped us cut down some trees in front of the cabin. It improved our view of Hood Canal and gave us some more light for the soon to be moved solar panels. 9 trees made a huge difference! When they were down I realized that they were over 100' tall. Douglas firs.

He's a graphic designer now but still has his huge saw from as days as a forest fire fighter

Checking the lean of the tree. Most had a lean or two. Tall and skinny trees, some over 110' tall.

This is our old filtered view below

This is our new view after 11 trees.

Trees down, looks like we took way more than we did...

While Cam and I were logging Nate and Aaron were up in the loft framing the pony wall that boosts our ceiling height. Also they managed to get 3 gable ends framed up. The first one took 3 tries I think. The window openings are final yet, we still don't have windows anyway. They are 2x4' now and I think the windows should be 2x3'. Back to craigslist for some used windows. It's easier to find really big windows than small ones.

Anyway I'll be back up there Memorial Day weekend for some Clamming, Oyster hunting and fishing... More playing this time! Also I borrowed a snatch block to try to get some of those trees out of the forest.

Solar Burrito · June 08, 2010, 08:42:10 PM

Heading up there this weekend to put up the rafters.

Also We need to brace the foundation better perpendicular to the beams. She's pretty wobbly when 3 people are standing in the loft!

Solar Burrito · July 07, 2010, 02:46:00 PM

Here's an update, in June we got some of the rafters up then the easy half of the roof decking on.

The part where the two roof lines intersect is giving us real problems. No one can figure how how to cut the rafters right.

Especially in the "gutter" if that makes sense... Jack rafter too seem really hard for a bunch of newbs like ourselfs. Oh well we're going up again this weekend.

July 07, 2010, 04:29:11 PM

Burrito:

I did a quick search on your roof cuts and think you might find some good help in the links that came up:

http://www.google.com/search?q=cutting+valley+rafters&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Yes, you want to be sure you brace the posts both directions (to beam and joists). Looking at the picture it looks like you are riding "bare back" right now. Remember, triangles are your friend.

Solar Burrito · July 07, 2010, 05:33:18 PM

Thanks John I'll check it out. Maybe I can print it out then go up there.

Yes I like your analogy we are riding bareback, braced in one direction with the other direction's bracing pretty much failing.

Solar Burrito · August 13, 2010, 12:32:53 AM

Finally got the Jack rafters cut. I just used a sliding t-square and then hand sawed the 63 angle in after I cut the 45 in the other way. Glad it's done though.

I've been scrounging craigslist or cedar shakes and have found a few free sources. One was a cedar shake roof tear off of a nice house. I showed up and saw the condition of the shakes and just grabbed a sack ful for kindling. They were totally black and mostly split.

Then on monday I picked up a load of super rustic shakes, some are 1 inch thick and 24" long. They were siding and have a little green on them. Not sure if it's worth resuing them or what??? I want a rustic look but I don't want it to look aweful. I'm noticing these shakes don't have much of a taper.

No more craigslist free wood trips for me, it's always more trouble than it's worth!

Solar Burrito · August 26, 2010, 08:46:54 PM

This past weekend at the property was a very productive and really fun weekend. All the owners were there and our friends Ty and Kevin were in the area riding dirt bikes and they met us there Friday night. The great thing about that is, Ty and Kevin build houses for a living, so they know how to do things fast, and correct the first time without alot of head scratching and having to think about how to do it for 45 minutes then hoping it was right.

I brought up the huge 5x5 windows on the top of my Jeep rack so those are finally out of my back yard and ready to install. I got all the windows for the cabin so far for $100 not including all the gas and driving around to get them. We still need 2 more loft windows...

Ty started cutting the remaining roof decking or car decking as he called it. (2x6 T&G). They all had to be beveled to meet in the valley, way more work than OSB roof decking but it will be a better look on the inside.

Roof decking is on and the tar paper. Recently I've wished we had done a simple single gable building and used OSB as roof decking instead of a double gable design with 2x6 car decking for the roof! Man was that whole roof a pain for a first time builder like myself.

Oh well the boards look nice when inside the structure...

Up to this I we were kicking ourself for not building something alot simpler with one roof like and OSB roofing, but now that it's done it looks good. I definitly broke off more than I could chew with this roof line.

Tom · August 27, 2010, 06:53:44 AM

Looking good.
I considered a dormer in my loft, but decided that with my limited experience, I'd better keep it simple. At some point, I'm sure I'll wish that I had done it a little different, but I'm rushing against time. Hunting season will soon be here, and I haven't even gotten stands up yet.
I'm looking forward to seeing how yours turns out

John Raabe · August 27, 2010, 10:06:35 AM

The roof combinations and the decking do add to the complexity but you will likely be happy when they are done. Will you do foam insulation on the topside of the decking?

August 27, 2010, 10:58:27 AM

Quote from: John Raabe on August 27, 2010, 10:06:35 AM
The roof combinations and the decking do add to the complexity but you will likely be happy when they are done. Will you do foam insulation on the topside of the decking?

Foam insulation on top? that sounds good, I don't know anything about it. Can we do that with asphalt shingles? Because we already bought them and started a course on the back. Not that they couldn't be removed. How does Foam work?

John Raabe · August 27, 2010, 11:33:51 AM

Rigid foam is the way you normally insulate exposed decking roofs. There are different types of foam with different R-values. Even 2" can make a difference (Check out if you can nail your singles through this.)

Here is a site on EPS insulation: http://www.aussieroofing.com/eps-rigid-foam-insulation.htm - scroll about 1/2 down and look at the nailbase product that has foam adhered to an outer layer of OSB where you attach the singles. You spike the foam OSB layer into the decking. Note the R-values and thicknesses. Here's the US website for this product: http://www.achfoam.com/RoofInsulation.aspx?gclid=CPKCzqyG2qMCFQdGagodehta8A

Here is a more high-tech product with better R-values: http://www.atlasroofing.com/general2.php?section_url=50

Your uninsulated deck will have an R-value of about 2 which is OK in Hawaii but not for winter use in WA. Code for us is R-30 in sloped roofs and that is hard and expensive to get. This is what has killed the exposed beam and decking cabins that were built by Lindal Cedar homes and others in the 1960's and '70's. Lots of these in Washington state and they are expensive to heat. My dad had such a cabin in Leavenworth that came with one inch of foam (built in 1969). A few years later he tore off the cedar shingle roof and put down 6" of foam and a new nailbase followed with a new metal roof.

This extra expense and hassle is why my construction plans all have deep rafter roofs for better and cheaper insulation designed to fit between the rafters. You can then do thinner wood paneling on the interior side of the rafters to get much of the feel of exposed decking. It looks like your rafters are 24" o/c so you could still do this and just put on the roof you are already doing. Unfortunately you will not see the nice decking.

Example of 1x4 & 1x6 cedar: http://www.ciforestproducts.com/sidingRVS.html

Solar Burrito · October 05, 2010, 11:08:01 PM

Finally the roof is on and the cabin is officially dried in! (warning crappy photos they were an afterthought)
The weather forecast was RAIN RAIN RAIN all weekend but Nate and I said we were going to put the roof on the cabin and us Washingtonians don't usually let the weather change our plans. Nate brought his roofing nailer and better compressor along with some nails he found and we were off.

Miraculously the ferry ride out there was a bright sunny day almost 69 degrees and we were in our Tshirts on the back deck of the ferry loving life.

We got there and saw that the cabin roof with just tar paper on it had been leaking pretty bad in the with our recent rain storms. It was leaking in both roof valleys with one having a puddle of standing water inside. Good think we were putting a roof on this weekend. We cranked up the genny and setup some ladder jacks we borrowed and started roofing the back side of the cabin which is the easy and biggest side. The pitch is 12/12 so it's very steep. Nate was on the roof and I was cutting shingles to size and bringing them up to them.

No pics of the back side getting roofed since we were in a hurry and I wasn't worried about pics. Then about 3pm when we were almost done with the backside the rain started and the sky got so dark I though it was 7pm... Oh well I guess that's what they predicted. We both found some rain gear in the shed and moved on to the steeper slope on the front side. We got the 1 valley of the front side roofed by midnight then called it quits. We both were roofing in the dark and the pouring down rain with a tiny light powered by the generator.... good times... haha. But it had to get done and we were running out of hours.

By this time I was totally soaked so we moved inside, installed the door and cranked up the 35,000 btu propane heater then went to bed.

Both these pics were taken the Sunday we had to leave, pretty boring but I don't get the camera out when it's really raining hard.

Solar Burrito · October 08, 2010, 12:40:39 PM

I just got a an insurance quote for $650 a year for only 15k in coverage with Safeco. That's ridiculous... No wood stove allowed either.

Betty · October 10, 2010, 11:37:08 AM

Looks awesome!! I can really empathize with working in the rain, gets to you after a while.
I love the small window on the right, it's perfect. I regret not doing a more elaborate roof on mine, you're making me jealous

. Just wanted to say thanks for posting the rainwater collection section on your blog. I never thought of using a manifold system between barrels, but that looks to be a great system.