Victoria Cottage NE TN

[NavyDave]

Getting excited Colchester...the end is within sight now 

Archimedes, that insulation states that it can be up to R-16 "based on application". I installed it based on reccomendation and with as much care as possible and I must say that I'm amazed with it's performance in an unconditioned space so far. Although I'd agree with you that R-16 seems hard to believe with such a thin piece of material.

[highlandva]

Dave,
Your project looks so good and has been very inspiring to me.  The craftsmanship is amazing👍. We have started and passed our footer inspection on Tuesday.  I will be working on getting my thread started for our Victoria and hope to come close to what you have created.  Hope all is well, happy 4th!

[NavyDave]

Josh, thanks for the kind words. I'm glad to hear that you're getting up and running. Lots of work getting where I am now and still quite a bit to go but we are planning for a November move in date.  We are about 2 weeks ahead of schedule for that but i'm not letting that date make me skimp on the details.

[NavyDave]

It's been almost 2 months since I've posted anything and I've been pretty lazy. Not lazy in building but in uploading pics and posting them. I'm pretty happy with the progress I've been making and am still on schedule for my November move in date.

I've built the carcasses for the kitchen cabinets using a Kreg pocket hole joinery device. This thing is really a great building tool. I've never built anything as delicate as cabinets and they are of professional quality.


I started my cabinets by building the base from the wall to the toe kick and shimmed them level. this took a full day but the level platform made things much easier when I was installing my cabinet boxes.


I used 3/4 inch birch plywood for the carcasses.




Kreg pocket hole jig.


putting the face frames together for the cabinets.


I also used 3/4 inch birch plywood for the face frames.



I am planning on pouring concrete for my countertops and have been waiting for my sink and cooktop to come in on special order so I could move forward with building the forms for the pour. The sink is all done and I just received the cook top so the form for that will be built within the next few days.


The countertop forms are built for 2" thick countertops.


This is the form for the under mount farmhouse (apron) sink.


form installed over sink.


the sink is a 60/40 with a 10" deep basin. Will seem like a swimming pool after RV life!


27" double oven cabinet.

I needed to build the 3 gable attic vents before I could move forward with installing the ceiling. Otherwise I'd have to belly crawl through the attic to install them.





I finished the T&G ceiling. I used 74 1x8x12's and 2 1/2 gallons of semi gloss polyurethane. It's amazing that the house has drank 10 gallons of that stuff already.....will be glad when that process is over!









I built a coat rack/bench seat with built in storage for gloves and hats in the laundry room. This was also built using pocket hole joinery.


This is the base to my coat rack. We'll be able to slide shoes underneath and store hats and gloves in the bench seat.







On a lighter note, we have a few additions to the chicken coop. 2 of our hens went broody and they hatched 9 of the 11 eggs that they were sitting on. We've had a couple of attacks by what we think were hawks so we have 5 left.

[ColchesterCabin]

and here I thought I was glad to have my windows and door in... That craftsmanship is amazing!

[rich2Vermont]

Dave - such awesome work! The pocket joiner does make it easier, but it still takes a lot of skill to create all that you've done. Very, very nice.

[NavyDave]

Colchester/Rich2Vermont, thanks for the compliments. I'm lucky since this house happens to be my full time job so I can really pay attention to the details.

One thing about having a small house (beside the cheaper utility costs) is that it doesn't take very long to paint. We primed the walls yesterday and put 4 different samples on, made our decision and got them painted today. We went with a bright red color for the kitchen area and end wall of the larger loft and a light olive color for the laundry room and the remainder of the living area. Here's a few pics so you can get the jist, although pics don't really do it justice.

[NavyDave]

In the past 2 days I've tried to tap into my creative side by giving a shot at building the kitchen island that I've been putting off. I'm glad that I procrastinated and saved this for last because I was able to refine my skills with my tools while building the regular kitchen cabinets and that really made a difference.

Since everyone on here loves visuals so much I've put a step by step pictorial. Here goes:


similar to the way I built my kitchen cabinets I started with layout lines on the floor to make sure I was starting square.


I used 2x4 blocking for a solid base and for nailers.


3/4 inch birch plywood for the base and the main uprights. assembled using my pocket hole jig. Love that thing!


I used 3/8" wainscoating for the 2 sides which will be open shelving. The front spindles are 35 inches tall and are fastened to the floor with a normal 2 1/2" screw with the head cut off so it could be threaded on. The corner blocking is made from 1x4 stock.


face frames cut to fit.


face frames were assembled. The indentations of the structural 6x6 posts were filled with 1/4" birch plywood. The shelving was installed into the 2 side shelves.


The last thing I did was make some trim to dress things up.


OK, so my wife asked me what the point of the spindles are and I said "uuuuum they look good" after she mentioned it I thought, they really serve no structural purpose other than decoration. I told her that they were screwed and glued into place but that isn't something that a power saw wouldn't fix. We are playing the spindles by ear for now though.


I got a GREAT DEAL on this butcher block material from our local sawmill! I paid $100 for over 50 board ft of perfectly planed and squared Black Walnut and Ash. I originally planned on an end grain butcher block but after laying the material out and finding that it fit absolutely perfect without any cutting other than trimming the ends i'm thinking that a side grain butcher block would be best. I do know that an end grain butcher block lasts longer but I figure this 3" thick stock will more than outlast me. Anybody have any thoughts on why I shouldn't go with a side grain block like I have pictured?

[mwhutch]

That is going to be quite possibly the most beautiful island ever! Your build is really looking great! Please post as many pictures as you can when you do the counter tops, we are going to try to do the same on ours, and we'd love to see how others make them.

[NavyDave]

Mwhutch, there are a bunch of how to videos about pouring countertops on YouTube and I was also able to find some good stuff on pinterest. I'll post as much info as I can for you when I get to that point. I'm gonna get the bathroom built before I do any concrete in the kitchen though. I'll be doing some concrete work in the bath also and I'm waiting until all the forms are built so I can do all of my pouring in one day. I'd say we'll be ready come the beginning of October. Thanks for the kind words and interest.

[Jimbo Ricketts]

read entire thread as well as the tool shed build , amazing. its also amazing to me that you really have no prior construction exp yet you pulled this off like a BOSS ... new occupation homebuilder, cabinet maker , hire a few guys u r in business .

[NavyDave]

Jimbo, Thanks for the kudos. It's true that I have no prior building experience (other than smaller projects). Like I've said I am tackling this project full time like it's any other job. I'm working from 7:30 am to 4pm Monday through Friday and sometimes Saturdays when i'm behind schedule. The entire project has taken almost twice as long as originally planned but after I got the roof on I sat down and did some hard figuring and allotted myself a certain number of days for each phase. I have a November 1st move in date and am really trying to stay on schedule since we wanna do Thanksgiving in our home this year. I gave myself 21 days to finish the kitchen and my 21st day was today. Obviously not done yet but I finished the laundry room 10 days ahead of what I allotted myself there so I have a few more days to go. Tomorrow I start the bathroom so I can get all of my concrete forms built before pouring the kitchen (will be pouring the bathroom sink and a ledge around the bathtub also).

as far as running a crew.....HaHa.....I'd never be able to make any money running a crew because I work too slow  of course maybe the crew would work faster than me  . I've been volunteering with our church recently rebuilding stairs and building a couple wheelchair ramps for some needy folks around here, that's pretty satisfying so i'll probably stick to that. Of course volunteers don't make any money either.

Cabinet maker is a possibility though. My plan has always been to build a workshop after the house and build furniture through the winter to sell. Cabinets are pretty precise but i'm getting pretty good at them. Spent the last 2 days building my upper kitchen cabinet carcasses and am VERY happy with them!


carcasses are made from 3/4" birch plywood.


My wife has always talked about having a plate rack in her kitchen and apparently a full setting consists of 12 plates so I had to accommodate our soon to be new plates. The wine rack seemed like a good choice for above the plates and is fairly decorative.

[Jimbo Ricketts]

i said it once i'll say it again ,"LIKE A BOSS"!! thats a fine looking kitchen there .shoot i'd invite the church over sometime for burgers or somethin and let'em see that sweet house , might round up some cabinet business & whatnot .

[NavyDave]

In the past week I've been working on the bathroom and have made some significant progress in a fairly short time. I built the Jetted tub base and tested the jets out to make sure they worked before I framed the surround (tub was bought used for $125). Then I built the sink base and linen closet carcasses before framing the shower and toilet wall, pouring the 2 layers of the shower pan and starting the shower surround. I also finished my butcher block on the kitchen island and built a medicine cabinet and some decorative shelving in the bathroom.


Tub base framed with 2x4's and shimmed level. Tub surround face frames built using 3/4" plywood will house 3 access panels for tub plumbing.


Sink base and linen closet carcasses.


Shower and toilet wall framed. This took up 36 inches from the bedroom addition.


30lb felt paper on the sub-floor and wire mesh on top. 2x6 blocking along the floor will give a solid backing to pour the mortar.


The first of 2 layers of sand mix (mortar) graded at 1/4" per foot.


While waiting for the first layer of mortar to set I finished gluing my butcher block.


Then I sanded it smooth and rounded the corners using my orbital sander with first 60 grit then 80, 120 and finally 240.


And finished it using linseed oil. It turned out to be a little darker than I imagined it would but looks good.




With the butcher block finished and the first layer of shower mortar dry I was ready to prepare for the second layer by laying this 40 mil polyurethane underlayment.


2nd layer of mortar poured and the drain height set.


Then the Hardi-backer board was put on 2 walls and the shower curb.


Shelving above the foot of the tub and the back of the medicine cabinet to the right.


Finished medicine cabinet.


Later i'll build 3 1/4" shelves inside.

[germangirl]

   Wow! I am loving all the attention to detail, and love you are putting into your new home. It's stunning! I look forward to viewing the progress made.

[Mike 870]

Ha very creative way to clamp your glue up!  I like it.  Everything is looking great, when I build a cabin someday this will be the standard I shoot for.

[NavyDave]

Thanks to all for the kind words. It's been a long road to get to where we are but we're very glad we stuck to it.

Mike870, The picture of the tie down straps that I used to clamp the butcher block is kind of deceiving. I didn't use the strap to clamp the entire thing. I first glued and clamped the center portion that would be between the 2 6x6 posts using regular wood working clamps. Then after setting that portion between the 2 posts (after the glue dried overnight) I was able to determine if i'd need to notch out the outside material to fit around my posts. Luckily it fit almost perfect and I had to notch out very little of the outer stock. The pic of the straps shows how I had to clamp just the portion that fit around my posts. A little bit of redneck engineering but turned out to work really well.

This weekend we did something a little bit different. Instead of spending Saturday working on the house we ended up helping a member of our church cut sorghum cane and process it into sorghum. Pretty interesting process that's shown below:


Sorghum cane. Leaves need to be stripped to ready it for the juice extraction.


this is an old sorghum cane press that is being run by a belt being driven from a 1951 Farmall model A. We used to own a Farmall Super A when I was a kid and ran a buzz saw this same way to cut slab wood to heat with. The man on the left is a 92 year old WWII vet and is sharp as a tack.




Here's a 150 gallon tank that was fabricated just for reducing the sorghum. Just for an FYI out of 1/4 acre of planted sorghum we got 260 gallons of juice which reduced down 10 times to 26 gallons.

[NavyDave]

I'm finally through with my concrete counters except for the polishing and it's definitely been an ordeal. We used a 5000 PSI concrete made specifically for countertops by Sakrete. I mixed it on the dry side because too wet a mixture weakens the cured concrete. If I were to do it again though I would have added a bit more water so it was a little easier to work with. I used rebar along all edges of the countertops and all cutouts. I used a sawzall with the blade removed to vibrate under the counters and along all the edges and it really did a good job filling the voids.


Empty countertop forms with rebar reinforcing the edges and pvc siliconed in place for the plumbing fixtures.


I was the mixer.


while the wife helped with the finishing.


and after a long day the kitchen was done.


the next day I poured the bathroom concrete.


I waited 2 days to remove the forms and was pleased with the results. The edges had some rough pitting but read that it was fairly normal and also read to remedy this you can mix a "slurry" of 2 parts Portland cement and one part sand bedding mix to a fairly soupy mixture to fill in the rough spots.







I wanted to give the concrete plenty of time to harden before I polished it so I shifted gears and worked on my woodstove hearth and surround. I wanted to house our flat screen TV above the woodstove and in front of the stove pipe so I had to get creative with some heat shielding.


For the hearth I used 4 inch block and paver bricks as a base. The upright posts are 4x4 with 6x8 cross members supporting 6x12s used as a wide mantle.


I used rebar painted black to dress up and shield the surround and used a piece of 1/2 inch hardie backer painted with high temp black paint to shield the stairs and wall.


Here's the finished product. More 1/2 inch hardie backer in back of the TV surround and above the stove.


The right side of the enclosure will be used to hold wood.


In back of the TV enclosure I've used brick around the stove pipe to act as a heat sink and a partial heat shield and also is a decorative addition. It's dry stacked for now but will soon be mortared into place.


Heres a smaller project. A wall mounted range vent hood that uses a 6" vent to the outside.

The next project is flooring. Moving fast to make the November move in date.

[southbalto]

OK...I'll be the one to ask.  What are the minimum clearances on that stove??  I'm shocked if the manufacturer/UL approves such a small distance to the top of that alcove.  And the connector pipe?  Is it doublewall or single?

[NavyDave]

The minimum Alcove height (if combustible) is 54 inches. This alcove is 24 inches above the stove with 1/2 inch cement board (not combustible) and a 1 1/2 inch airspace between it and the combustible mantle. the stove pipe is a single wall 6 inch pipe with 2 larger 8" stove pipes around it with 1 inch standoffs from the 6" inch pipe and 2" from another layer of cement board which has a 1/2 inch stand off from the combustible mantle material.

You are correct that this application isn't per the manufacturer but given the first trial of 3 hours sustained burn time and the second of 5 hours of sustained burn time (this trial I purposely over fired it to 700F) I'm satisfied so far. More trials of higher intensity and longer burn times are coming and if i'm dissatisfied with any of them I'll either put another layer of cement board above the stove with another 1 1/2" stand-off and or replace the single 6" single wall with 8" surrounding pipes and stand offs with a triple wall pipe where it passes through the mantle. So far testing is going well though.

Here's a picture of the alcove shield and stand offs. You can also kind of see the 8" stove pipe meeting the heat shied.

[NavyDave]

The past 2 days were spent installing flooring. We decided to go with laminate instead of hardwood. The laminate that we used was a 5 inch wide Pergo max "Hand scraped Hickory". It was extremely easy to work with and installed in about 15 hours working alone.

[grover]

What was the determining factor on the laminate vs hardwood?  Home Depot has some hand scraped solid wood flooring for, I think $4.89 per square foot.  Pretty expensive but not too bad considering some of the other flooring. 
I have no idea about your TV/woodburner setup but it looks a little scary.  I would wonder what your insurance agent would say?

[grover]

The rebar on the sides is a really good idea especially if you have toddlers/kids around.

[NavyDave]

Grover, the determining factors for the laminate were:

1. Cost - at $2.69/ sq ft I was able to install the floor for a little over $1000 which is just about half the cost of solid wood. There's no doubt that solid wood would withstand the test of time better but where we stand with funds right now it was a decision we are happy with especially with the look we've achieved with this product.

2. Ease of installation - this product had a foam underlay already laminated to it and with the ease of trimming the boards with a saber saw and it's easy snap together installation I was able to install it in minimal time. With the move in date quickly approaching any saved time is welcomed.

For the wood stove surround...fire scares me as well but the testing on the heat shielding is proving to be successful. I definitely will not need to add any additional layers of shielding above the stove but have decided to replace the 6" single wall and 8 " shield where it goes through the mantle with a length of triple wall pipe. I've decided to do this not because of any heat build up I've noticed but because I believe the triple wall pipe will offer added protection to the mantle. Like I said, fire scares me too and I'll sleep better at night knowing the triple wall length is in place.

[mountainlady1956]

Oh, I love how beautiful your house is looking. I admit I was a bit of a hardwood snob but several years ago put in some good quality laminate that looked handscraped. It looks gorgeous and has held up very well. Yours looks vey nice! Do you think you'll be in for Thanksgivig?