Made a short trip to the cabin and got some fertilizer stakes in by each tree and tested the watering but found a cracked connection so I'll fix that next trip and turn on the spigot for the rest of the season.  So far though the last three trees seem to be doing well

My plumb is doing well


Last apple is also doing well


The cherry is all blossoms

The ants are back but I think I hit them early enough with the Home Defense Max.  Hope so anyway.

The trees are looking good... 

I'm heading back up to my place next weekend to do a little work. I need to pour 8 footings (4 ea. side) for my porch roofs and do some more backfilling in prep for my framing.     

Looking good!

Thinking of heading out to mine next weekend (5/28). Not a working trip, but one to just assess things and get some additional motivation.    Might only be for an overnight, if I can get out on Friday early enough.

Of course it's Memorial Day weekend, so if I get the itch to do anything, maybe they can deliver the excavator and I can get started on doing SOMEthing up there.

Oh take the whole weekend!  COME ON!

My wife and will be at the cabin that weekend too.

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 17, 2016, 02:01:39 PM
Oh take the whole weekend!  COME ON!

My wife and will be at the cabin that weekend too.

Well, things got a little bit more interesting...

The company I'm working for is moving the office ... and the present office will be closed beginning next Tuesday.  The new office won't be available until the middle/end of the first week of June.  So we're all supposed to work from home.

It is quite tempting to head up this weekend, do some stuff, work from the east side all next week, and then do stuff on the weekend before coming home for the move to teh new office.

I am sorely tempted on this one.

Who knows, maybe this is the time to get the project moving!

Sounds like oppurtunity is knocking... oh, it's for you JavaMan

Many a day I worked from the cabin   But I have power (solar) and internet (Huges) as well as a landline phone that I can forward my cell too

But if you're up working and need a break, shower, or just to visit let me know your schedule and I'd be happy to have you over for a meal if you find yourself working all week out there...but let me know ahead of time as I'm more often than not in Moses Lake and running back and forth a couple days a week

But I am always looking for an excuse to go to the cabin!

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 18, 2016, 07:29:40 PM
Many a day I worked from the cabin   But I have power (solar) and internet (Huges) as well as a landline phone that I can forward my cell too

But if you're up working and need a break, shower, or just to visit let me know your schedule and I'd be happy to have you over for a meal if you find yourself working all week out there...but let me know ahead of time as I'm more often than not in Moses Lake and running back and forth a couple days a week

But I am always looking for an excuse to go to the cabin!

Well, it would seem that there are a LOT of folks encouraging me to head up to the cabin sometime during the next couple weeks.  I havfe a friend here that says I should go up as long as I'm back for Friday activities.  Unfortunately I wasn't thinking and scheduled lunch tomorrow with a different friend.

So, perhaps I will head up Saturday afternoon.  If push comes to shove, I'll just have to head into town to find the local starbucks in Omak... I think it's in the Safeway there. ... Ideally, my Karma will find a signal up on the property.  That would be awesome.  With the genny in the back of the truck, and the Karma, I'd have internet for work during the day.  And with the long days I might actually get some stuff done "after work"!

I'd love to be able to rent the excavator and at the very least get the road/drive cut in up to the building site.  That would actually put me ahead of schedule!

I'll Im/email/or call if I head that way - maybe one day we can get together for lunch or something.

Spent a great weekend at the cabin mostly burning slash and cleaning up


On the first day I fell the tree that was right in front of the wood shed.  I'd planned on that for some time and finally got to it (you can just see the stump).  Then I bucked it into saw logs and set them in a deck for the next day.


On Saturday one of my guys brought out some birch that I milled up for him and then I milled some 1x's and another 6x6 for the deck roof framing and sheathing.


We continued to clean up the slash that was let from previous trees I'd felled and got most o the hill south of the cabin cleaned off


I'm always so amazed at how green it is this time of year

Sorry we missed you !

I went up to my place, and at the (poor) advice of someone went Saturday morning early.  Wound up pretty much blowing the entire day and was unable to rent an excavator top get stuff done.

But it worked out ok.  I picked out at least two drive routes to the building site.  Also saw the fire damage.  Spotty on my place - there will be a few large trees that can come down to be milled up - maybe plenty enough of dead ones to use for the cabin.

The guy south of me appears to have kept his horse barn, but lost the cabin.  At least from what I can tell.

Hopefully we can connect next time!  Your place is looking really good 

Sorry I missed you!  My wife told me she received a text from you when we came down from the property (she has my old number) and I meant to msg you my new number (it's been a few years since we last got together it seems!).

Glad to hear your place survived!  I was thinking it probably did but was a close call!

Even short trips to the cabin inspire me   and I just had another.  It was almost wintry when I arrived with all the hail on the ground but soon burned off and the day was decent enough that I was able to get the water line to the trees fixed and the timer set up to water them.  Then I planted 8 mounds of winter squash in the hope that it will grow well in the order with the water I have there.

The cabin still needs a lot of work but at least I can go and enjoy a short visit when I want to   It also got down to 31F last night!  Wow!  Hoe the cherries didn't mind!


This cheap timer has worked well with my low water pressure and keeps the trees happy in the dry months.


My last apple is doing well this year!  No buds this time but it wouldn't matter anyway since no other apples survived to pollinate it.


The plum is doing well too


The cherry is loaded but it also has afids on it so I sprayed it with soapy water to see if that would help


You can the little black bugs everywhere on it.


Lots of rain this year so I'll need to mow soon!

All in all a good short visit and I enjoyed reading in fron tof the wood stove all evening

Place is looking amazing, makes me want to pack up and move out that way.  I hear that nailit69 is offering to build cabins for hippies.  Maybe I can buy something near him, grow some long hair, and throw up some big blue tarps all over the place.

Despite going to the cabin for the Forest Owners Field Day to show off the mill I did get a few hours today to put the posts and beams up for the roof I'm building over the deck (which I guess makes it a porch)


My new bark spud worked great to strip off the dead bark off these year old logs


And my 6x6's were plenty dry to screw them down to the top.


I have plans to get around the corner (just need to cut the beam so I can fit the second into it)


Once the beams and posts are all up I'll set the ledger on the cabin just lower enough to sneak the new roof up under the old one.


Then I'll install railings between the posts and relax!

Will the porch roof replace the roof on the entry? Looks like it should be nice and beefy.

Quote from: pmichelsen on June 27, 2016, 09:49:26 AM
Will the porch roof replace the roof on the entry? Looks like it should be nice and beefy.

Yes   The porch was built about 5 years ago and the deck was added later....not I plan to have just one roofline from the porch around the covered deck/porch that was added and will be continued around the cabin

Some more pics from yesterdays work


My tools for peeling logs and cutting off branches.  The bark spud really worked great on the dead bark that was rotting off already but I haven't tried it on newly felled trees.



Tools for mounting posts to the deck.  I used Timberlock screws (6" and 8") and made use of the brace to screw them in.  It was very handy.


First pole set up and secured.

Now to get the rest of the job done!

Got up to the cabin at 2:30pm yesterday and after getting settled in and most importantly, making sure the cordless phone and answering machine were hooked up (I pull the battery when I am gone and plug in a land line style phone so it will ring without power and I can answer if I arrive and it's ringing before I can switch them out).  I do this for my work as it's important that I am available all of the time day and night.

Once settled I went into the orchard where I'd planted some winter squash near the irrigation line for the trees.  I put in some drip irrigation and noticed that at least 4 or 5 of the 8 mounds had 2 inch plants in them   Some were pretty dry so I'm hoping my adding water will get them going too.  I then did some pruning on the trees and checked the cherry.  Seems the afids are dead from the spraying I did and many of the cherries appear to be surviving and may yet yield edible fruit.  Next I got the weed eater out and mowed down the grass and weeds in most of the small orchard.

I bought a new rifle and wanted to test it out (no sites yet but hey, who can blame me?) so I ran through a couple mags (30ea) and managed to hit my target despite the lack of sites   Felt good to pop off a bunch of rounds like that and much of what I learned and practiced over the years came back like riding a bike   I'll clean it up and attach sites which should be arriving today, then maybe zero this weekend.

Finally, with the important stuff out of the way I got to work on the deck.

I grabbed the tractor and went and picked up two suitable logs I had laying in the old log deck, peeled them and after running around looking for a tape measure which I realized was in my 'mill box' but managed find a crappy one I had used previously to measure the depth of the water in the cistern years ago.  It worked and I soon had both logs peeled and cut to length.  Then I stood them up, one at 6 feet from the corner (as planned) and the second right on the corner.  This one will move later when I get the deck extension done but it will do for now as is.  Finally I cut the first beam at 45 degrees in the corner and then cut the next beam to match (more or less) and stuck it on top of the posts.  I was down to my last two 8" Timberlock screws so screwed it to the two new posts with those and used some 4" deck screws to tie it in the corner to the other beam.  I'll bring more 8" and 6" timberlocks back this weekend to finish screwing it down but for now it's secure.

The next step is to install the ledger on the cabin wall and set some rafters.  If all goes well I can have the roof framed before long

Once that was done I rigged the tractor for mowing and mowed an acre of field or so before busting the sheer pin and calling it a day   4 hours of effort an I feel a lot was done!

Just relaxed last night and though I head home today (after getting some work done in town) I'll be back Friday to mill in the valley so I'll spend a couple nights at the cabin.

Now I just need to find a simpson bracket for a 4x8 rafter  to attach at the end of the wall in the corner

Quote from: OlJarhead on July 07, 2016, 11:05:43 PM
Now I just need to find a simpson bracket for a 4x8 rafter  to attach at the end of the wall in the corner

I found this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Simpson-Strong-Tie-18-Gauge-2x-Hip-Corner-Plate-HCP2/100375181 but it's for a single rafter (hip)....I have a long span (about 13 feet) and though I am using 1 3/4 x 8" rafters I thought the span was too much for them and that I should double them up to give me a 3 1/2" x 8" hip.  Using these is probably about like using 2x9's since they are stronger than 2x8's but not quite the depth of a 2x10....anyway, maybe I don't need to double up the hip....

It seems that you could make that bracket work if you had no other choice.  It probably voids the warranty or whatever, but would it change the strength properties overly much to bend the tabs out a ways on that Simpson bracket so that it's wide enough to fit your 4x?

Quote from: ChugiakTinkerer on July 08, 2016, 01:05:22 PM
It seems that you could make that bracket work if you had no other choice.  It probably voids the warranty or whatever, but would it change the strength properties overly much to bend the tabs out a ways on that Simpson bracket so that it's wide enough to fit your 4x?

I wouldn't use it on the 4x and may not need the 4x anyway.  Looking at span tables it seems the span length is fine for the hip rafter actually so I was probably over engineering the span.  In my mind though, since many jack (?) rafters will be attached to it, it should be stronger....some call for 2x10's but those are 1 1/2 x 9 1/4 and this is a 1 3/4 x 8 so it's very close, I surmise, in strength to a nominal 2x10

Your rafter looks to be pretty close to a 2x10 in performance.  You can check a general beam calculator and plug in the dimensions of your rafter here:

http://www.forestryforum.com/members/donp/beamclc06b.htm

Picking some arbitrary numbers, I did a few calcs to see how your rafter compares.  For a Doug fir #2 with a 12' span, 300 lbs live load and 100 lbs dead load, the deflection calculation is as follows:

2x8 nominal deflects 0.1637"
1.75 x 8 actual deflects 0.1044"
2x10 nominal deflects 0.0788"
Double 2x8 deflects 0.08184"
Double 1.75 x 8 deflects 0.0522"
Double 2x10 deflects 0.0394"

You could actually run your porch dimensions through this calculator and see how your rafter will hold up to the snow load as a single or as a double.  Using the Doug fir again and a span of 156", your rafter in single mode can withstand 850 lbs before it fails.  Assuming 24" rafter spacing that means a rafter in the middle is supporting 26 square feet of roof.  850 divided by 26 isn't much, only 32 lbs a square foot.  Your snow load probably exceeds that.

If you double up your rafters like you mention, then running a 3.5 x 8 beam through the calculator allows up to 1710 lbs, which allows you to double your total load on the roof to 64 lbs.  If you need more support you should consider a different rafter or a spacing of 16".  Also, that's based on the physical properties of Doug fir #2.  Your wood may be better (or worse) and should be taken into account.

Edit: I reread your comments above and realize you're just looking at whether to double the hip rafter.  Given the calcs above I would definitely double it.  Oops, also realized my all calcs were using 144" span.

All good points.

I've been looking at a 19.2" spacing vs 24" and using singles except at the hips.  I'll check the calculator out.

Incidentally, I have an old shed on the property (was there when we bought) that has 2x4 rafters (insane right?) which have managed to hold up the roof though they are sagging.  I've seen a number of 2x6 rafters used in lower pitches than my main roof (12:12) but felt I needed to go as close to 2x10 as possible with the logs I had available to mill.  I went with 2x8's at 1 3/4 x 8" to get inside simpson strong ties but learned today most ties are NOT 1 3/4 but rather 1 9/16 and you have to order the wider ones.....but then I discovered many use joist hangers (much cheaper) and notch the rafter like you would for setting it on top of a ledger.....which leads me to think:  Hmmm....maybe I should just set them on top of a ledger.

I think what I'm going to do is use the ledger and simspon strong-ties (joist) and notch the rafters assuming I can get the 1 3/4" ties (vs the nominal ones).

I'll go over to FF and check that out (I'm there every day and was thinking I should check there too! DOH!)

With Ponderosa Pine #2 B&S I show 600lbs Allowable Fiberstress in Bending (Fb)(psi) -- I don't see another reference to 'shear'
With Doug Fir #2 B&S I show 875Lbs

Span is 10' 1 11/16" for the main rafters.
Deflection shows: 0.0701"
Max Moment (ft-lbs) - 380lbs
Shear -- 16PSI (which I calc as 192lbs per square foot (not sure I did that right but I multiplied by 12)
20 square feet per rafter


The hip is 14' 2 5/8 and if single:
Deflection:  0.19088"
Max Moment (ft-lbs) - 532lbs
Shear -- 16PSI

Not sure if I did that wrong and haven't quite figured it out yet....

Double that hip gives me a Deflection of 0.09"