One more photo from my wife's phone, showing that we did indeed get some roof sheathing on:   

We had a good weekend's work. I completed the major part of the roof sheathing, added blocking in the loft, and hung my free front door.

Through trial and error (I only dropped 3 pieces of sheathing) I figured out how to get the plywood up on the roof and placed without killing myself. Key in this was my purchase of a Gorilla Grip (http://www.amazon.com/Gorilla-Gripper-44010-Panel-Carrier/dp/B0007TYCA8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308576447&sr=8-1), a clamp that allowed me to pull the sheathing up the ladder and get it in place, and quickly get it off to allow the piece to drop into place. The Gorilla Gripper costs a little more than I'd like, but it was worth it in the end.





I was finishing up the last few pieces, just as a thunderstorm was starting.



Unfortunately the rain started about 15 minutes too early:



I made many thousands of mistakes with the post-hung door, but it opens, shuts, and locks, so that's good enough for now. It's starting to look like a real place now.



For next week I've ordered the loft T&G, praying the weather cooperates enough to get a couple coats on poly on before we get it in. Also ordered some windows for the following week. Cheers,

Rich

Looking great.  Excellent progress,  especially considering the weather.   

What are you using for sheathing?  I've never seen that product before.

Ah, the Zip system. It's fairly new I guess, but it's combines house wrap (or roof felt) and plywood. The cost is slightly more than you'd pay for both, but not having to deal with house wrap makes it worth it, to me at least. I also don't have to rush to get a roof or siding on. Here's the website: http://www.zipsystem.com/ . It also is like nailing by numbers. As long as your framing is on 16 inch centers, you just put a nail in each black dot. A good thing for an inexperienced crew of friends and neighbors. The only downside is that the coating on the panels is a little bit slippery.

Looks like you have quite a crew helping at times - that weather doesn't look like fun though.  Won't be long & you'll have it done 

We had lots of extra rain this year but it's starting to get hot now...

I think I'm getting better about setting achievable weekend goals. As my parents were visiting, I didn't expect to get a lot done. Rain once again wasn't helping, nor was my lumberyard guy. Despite it all, we managed to get the loft floor on, with a couple coats of poly. I would have preferred to get more poly on before installing, but that just wasn't going to happen. But we're really happy with the way it looks.

My folks, lending a hand:



The (relatively) finished ceiling/floor:



Next week we're hoping to get a couple of windows in, and possibly (finally!) finishing off the roof sheathing.

 
awesome progress!  excited to find another thread to follow too.  thanks for the tip on the grip.... i'll be looking into that.

You guys are doing a great job on this - top notch craftsmanship.  The weather can be a real struggle.  I framed my place in ME the summer of 09 - the rainiest in recorded history.  I still get PTSD when it starts to rain.  Keep up the good work!

looking good.  curious how you did that ceiling floor... because it looks like there is plywood down already... did you cut the boards to fit in between the beams ??  looks like you pulled up the plywood, put the boards in, and then put the plywood down again? 

Thanks guys, I do appreciate the support. We were using plywood temporarily, initially to help get the gables, rafters and roof up, and for something to sit on while putting down the tongue & groove. We cut the T&G to length (either 15' or 12' depending on where it was going, down from their 16' lengths), put on a couple coats of poly, and then installed it. The plywood was removed as we made progress with the T&G. It'll be resused again for cabinet carcasses and maybe temporary stair treads. After that, maybe firewood  .

tks... thought maybe you doubled up with both.  looks good.

Nah - that stuff is plenty beefy by itself:

i guess.  place looks really well built.  wonder how that material would work for a combo ceiling/floor in a larger cabin.  do they use it that way?  tks.

If you haven't seen the Jeff922's Victoria's Cottage in Western Maine thread, check it out: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=8803.msg113802#msg113802. His pictures of his beamed ceiling definitely inspired my poorer, scaled down version.

Very cool cabin coming along nicely.

Thanks for the photos and the updates. Good work!

Added some modern conveniences this weekend, like a radio, phone, and windows!  And I pretty much finished the roof (aside from some trim issues). It looks more like a real house now.

For a $15 application fee, the local phone company strung at least a 1000 feet of wire and hooked us up. Not a bad deal:



I had never installed windows before, so I took my time with these. I think I got 'em right - they open and provide light and everything:







We also added this nice little 18" square, stationary awning window that looks out on the brook in the back. Not cheap, but we like it:



From the outside:



It was probably 110 degrees on the roof yesterday, but the sheathing is finished. I'll have to fix a couple of issues here and there, but it really makes the place look more proportional and less elongated:



Nothing major scheduled for next week, which is okay. I need to knock a bunch of detail work off my list.

Cheers,

Rich

The stairs, step by step (pun intended  ): it took a couple of weeks and a lot of forethought and visualization, but the stairs really came together nicely. I'm a little astonished that what I designed in Sketchup months ago is almost exactly what I ended up with. I know it's not my carpentry skills (or lack thereof) so I think it's more of an affirmation of the design tools. Anyway, pictures:

I started by building the platform, then attaching the lower risers. I plan to build in storage in all the underneath spaces:



I then framed the steps on the platform. I had a hard time visualizing these. It took a lot of graph paper, but once I started it all came together. There's a surprising amount wood and nails in those, but they are very solid feeling:



Then, I moved the ladder over and added the upper risers. I was really nervous these would be way off and I would end up dismantling the whole platform. But with some minor adjustments, they fit very nicely:



Next, I removed the ladder and added the treads. I had taken all the upper and lower riser treads home to work on them last week. I'm using the remainders from the loft T&G, trimming off the tongue and rounding over the edges. Finally, I cut and added the platform treads. I'll trim them up at home this week:



Eventually, I'll fill the screw holes with dowels, before putting some poly on them. Not for awhile, though:



Of course, now that we have stairs, we can also have some furry blankets to keep us warm when it finally cools off the fall    :



-Rich

Great job on the stairs!  Isn't it good feeling when you see a project jump from paper to real life?

I really like your stairs.  We currently have a ships ladder going to our basement and I have been toying with adding a spiral staircase or a regular steep stair case.  We don't have to build to code and we have another entrance to the basement since it is a daylight basement.  Anyway, what are the dimensions of your stairs (width, rise, run, and total height)?

A very nice job on a cottage stair. That is about the most comfortable small stair I have seen - not too steep but takes up little floor area.

Just joining the chorus..the stairs are great 

Thanks all. I really appreciate the back pats. The stairs have 8" risers, 10" run and are 2 foot wide. The platform is 20" x 48", so each triangular step is 20" x 24" x whatever the hypotenuse works out to be. The total height is 96". I was worried that the 8 inch rise would be uncomfortable, but it really isn't and it sure beats using a ladder (no hands!).

That doesn't meet code for a full-sized residential stair but it works well for a loft and 8" used to be standard for riser height (now 7.5" to 7.75"). The four steps on the landings keeps that height down as well.

If someone is building a full sized stair here are the typical code details:
http://www.countryplans.com/Downloads/IRC2006.pdf

You're quite right, John. I wouldn't recommend 8" risers in any more normal application. We aren't required to adhere to code where we are, though I'm mostly trying to. In this case, adding an extra step would, I think, given me a rise of 6.5", but would have taken up a lot more space (relatively). Besides, I like 12 steps better than 13    .

A couple of questions.... do you have an regrets on using 12' walls? Do you think 12' walls would be ok if you are using 2X4's instead of 2X6's? I'm planning on building a 12X16 and was planning on using 2X4's and I like the amount of room in the upstairs with the 12' walls.