Hello everyone,
  I've been reading lots of posts on here and had no idea how many other people had lost their minds and deceided to build a cabin in the woods. It's been great seeing all the different landscapes and ideas I though I'd share mine also.My wife and I where lucky enough to find 1.6 acres of lakefront( She insisted or no go) close to Superior/Duluth.The land was owned by the grandson of the man who origially had divided the lots years ago I believe it was  the only raw piece left. We are surrounded by some of the best parks this area has to offer,Did I say very lucky. We started about 2 years ago now and are going to hopefully get a cabin up this summer ,we have 3 small kids are not rich and live 3 hours away In the twin cities and I am mainly doing this alone. I hope to retire here so I have a little over 20 years to finish it so bare with me, but I am getting tired of sleeping in the suburban,cooking on the trailer having the neighbors dog steal my cooking stuff etc. I have somewhat cleared the land started a boardwalk to the lake had a soil test done found the property stakes and had some midpointstakes installed recieved the zoning permits and am now waiting the building and electric permits. I usually go for a week at a time once a month during the summer and fall so posts may be further apart than some peoples.I am not a computer wizard but will try to figure the picture thing out.I dont really have any plans worth putting up I basically gave the permit guy some hand drawn stuff and he said at least it wasnt on a napkin and he did'nt think I could put a flux capacitor in my footing.It will be what I would call a modified pier and beam foundation.

We bought th property late in the year and where able to get some trees cut just enough to put a tent up off the road,still had to park on the road

Going to be a nice build to follow. Tx for sharing.

We pulled stumps for 4 days with bobcat-zilla and got somewhat of a driveway

Now I wanted to get to the lake,This is not going to be easy the first picture is my neighbors boardwalk,so I knew what I didn't want and the following is what we have to get through

Its a start to the long journey to get the boardwalk in

And the first section is in,Its basically a deck ,it can only be 4' wide I used 2x8x10' stringers resting on pre-cast footings I made (each weighs about 300 lbs.) We remove the topsoil which is acidic as concrete and literally burns the skin off your hands,then dig until you hit sand (usually around 1 foot ) backfill with class 5 and then do it again and again and again until you have about 240' worth

Here's where we are  as of last year about 60' left to finish and a 30' intersection at the beach area http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7TDzA4OP-Y

Without the flux capacitor how will time travel be possible? Looks like you're off to a good start.

Thats what I was telling him,LOL!

Talked myself out of the pier and beam foundation and will be doing a full block basement . Just got all the permits so we are ready to go.Hope to start digging early june it has been fairly wet there in the past years so we'll see.Also was able to find a block supplier that will deliver 12" block for 1.90 each. We took advantage of menards 11% deal and ordered a good portion of the materials ,I gotta say Im not a huge fan of storing all that stuff but the rebate pays for about half of the roof trusses.

The hole is dug and the footings are in, the picture is deceiving but they are 7 feet down. Dug the hole with an old bobcat that fought me the whole time.

Poured the footings the next weekend using a conveyor truck, 7.25 yards in about 30 minutes with no effort ,they are nice. Started laying block later that day. The driver was the only professional used in the build.

Had some help the first day then I was on my own and I am not a mason and these are 12 in. blocks so the progress is slow but here is where I am at so far. In order days one,two and three. I am taking a little break now for birthdays and pool openings but will be going up for 5 days in acouple of weeks to hopefully get close to finishing the block work.

Quote from: pmichelsen on March 29, 2013, 11:17:45 AM
Without the flux capacitor how will time travel be possible? Looks like you're off to a good start.

What the inspector does not see, he does not see.  I usually sneak the flux capacitor in during a blizzard and install it in the crawl space and attach to the footing with ought or double ought wire cable double shielded after it has been inspected.

I use to drive a mixer truck in this life - but 35 years ago but never claimed to be a professional.   

Glad your off and running.  Looks like a great place to retire to in a few short years......   

Looks like you're really moving along with that block work! Did you find that you got faster as you move along? How are you mixing your mortar?

mwhutch- I mix the mortar in a cement mixer I mix 2 80# bags at a time and keep it covered in a wheel barrel and scoop a board full at a time as I use it, I may use  2 boards at a time depending on temperature. It is slow work, the first course and the corners especially .I think I was doing 80-90 blocks a day by myself 13 hour days with very little breaks, a friend of mine told me a good mason with a tender does around 200 so whatever that means.We could only fit so many inside the footings when they where delivered so the rest are at the end of the driveway now, so I suspect the next half will go slower. I'm happy if I'm making forward progress and staying healthy. But I will be happy when the foundation is done, Its been alot of work.

Well some more progress on the slowest foundation ever. Spent an entire day moving 7 pallets of block into the hole and 30 bags of motar the heat index was 107 that was a horrible day.The next day was a little better and putting the tarp up helped until I got in my truck and the ignition lock cylinder broke and I could'nt shut it off. So at 10 pm with the light of a lantern and small flashlight I had to take the column apart to remove the lock cylinder,nice!But I was able to get 3 walls 9 courses and 1 wall 7 high and almost all the vertical rebar is in hopefully 2 more weekends to finish.

WOW!!   Your block work looked great.   

No it is not much fun when the temp creep up there.......

Thanks Rick, It's defenitly honest work and the expirence has given me a greater respect for all the full time block/brick layers out there.

Well another weekend of laying block this time it rained all day saturday and was in the 40's on sunday really slowed the mortar down. Sleepin in the truck was alot nicer though got to watch a little We where soilders. but all the corners are done so what you see is the top of the mountain, hope to wrap it up this coming weekend ,suckered one of my friends to come help a little.

last block finally went in 8/3/2013 @ 7:30 pm i had a helper cutting blocks and hauling water which was a huge help there's no way I would of finished that soon otherwise.we also got a good start on filling the cores I am filling the corners and the cores with rebar with concrete the rest is getting sand then the bond beam is also concrete othewise the calculator said 11 yards of concrete to fill it solid I already think filling the cores every 32" is overkill. We also got the exterior footing stripped hope to finish the filling and get the waterproofing done this weekend so I can get this thing backfilled and start getting some of this sand out of my way.

Great looking foundation !

It was hot as heck in Southwest WI too, but the last 2 weeks have been very nice 50/60's at night 70 80's in the day

the ticks and gnats seem to have disappeared too

yes weather has been very nice lately and bugs are way down got the last of the concrete work done this weekend I figured it was about 4.5 yards either way it was alot of work I'm glad it's done and I'm glad I did it the way I did I have no regrets by no means am I saying I'm a great blocklayer now but holy cow am I greatly Improved from where i was when i started this project all ready to start the deck and the waterproofing weather permitting Im looking forward to having the skin return to my hands and finger tips.

From here it appears great!