Dogtrot at Hightop

Whitlock · January 20, 2010, 03:25:36 PM

Believe him he speaks the truth

glenn kangiser · January 21, 2010, 06:03:52 PM

Don't listen to W.... he has seen the problem...

January 21, 2010, 06:05:58 PM

If the truth is know maybe even contributed to it.

glenn kangiser · January 21, 2010, 06:45:49 PM

You are so intuitive, John. He "helps" quite often... how did you ever suspect that?

Redoverfarm · January 26, 2010, 05:33:11 PM

It sure is good to get back on the mountain. Spent the last week or so at the house making the cabinets for the kitchen and bathroom. The loft 1/2 bath was the worst because I had to make three individual cubes to house the drawers and doors. The kitchen is just a 16" upper which is connected to the corner unit via a microwave shelf. The cabinet doors are actually finished. I need to pick up a set of cabinet hinges for the loft bathroom doors and a piece of glass for the kitchen cabinet. I would still like to incorporate a wine rack but I am not sure about locating it above the microwave as most of the heat rises in the kitchen and is held to that particular bay by the ceiling beam. Maybe I will have room to run it up one side of the microwave and reserve the top section as a plate rack. Something will come to me eventually.

Here is a Before picture of the space I am utilizing for the microwave and cabinet. I am not a cabinet maker so please overlook any discrepencies.

Here is the after

Here are two pictures of the loft/bathroom storage area. The room is a little tight so I couldn't capture it all on one picture.

Still haven't decided on a material to use on the deck ( where the rolled Ditra is). I was looking to tile but I also have some laminate wood flooring I could use. The problem it is a little light for the room trim. There is a upcoming builders auction on the 6th maybe I can find something there to my satisfaction.

January 28, 2010, 12:36:04 PM

Gorgeous cabin! We'll have to make a trip out there just to see your place

that is, if I can ever get Glenn to leave the mountain...

Redoverfarm · January 28, 2010, 07:25:00 PM

Thanks Sassy. Just tell him you are going to the mountain and to close his eyes. Different mountain but we won't tell him.

Here is the finished cabinet with the doors installed. Alot of trim work done today but nothing earth shattering. Will hit it again tomarrow as the forecast is possible 8" of the white stuff in the evening.

Redoverfarm · January 31, 2010, 03:24:43 PM

It was play day today. No work but I did manage to get the road plowed up to the cabin. At the house there was about 8" and at least 10+ on the road to the cabin and surrounding. Before I plowed someone had drove up the road with a full size truck. The undercarriage drug in the snow. Brave sole that's all I have to say to drive 6 miles to a dead end road without any inhabitants at the other end. I never saw the tracks out so I guess we will find them in the Spring Thaw if he doesn't make it out. It was a little much for the 4-wheeler. Hindsight I should have taken the tractor. But it was a nice day.

Redoverfarm · February 08, 2010, 10:53:23 PM

The last week has been trimming out the cabin in between snow storms and plowing. I managed to install the risers on the basement stairs, built a smurf door for the crawlspace under the stairs storage area, access panel in the loft for the loft bathroom plumbing, trimmed out the ends of the loft flooring which was exposted because of it's orientation to the livingroom and trimmed out the drywall/hardwood intersection at the basement stairs. The trim was simple in design being casing and luan was the loft access, 2X2 framed with insulation and luan skin for the crawlspace door and 2X ripped to 1/4" with a roundover for the T&G flooring ends.

Loft access to plumbing in the 1/2 bath. If I would ever have to gain acces I would still need to pull the cabinet to have enough room but a few finish nails and drywall screws to gain the room to crawl.

The "Smurf" (PC verticlely challanged)door with the absence of casing yet to be installed.

The basement stairs. The rosin paper is still left until I quite making all the trips up and down for tools.

The loft flooring trim

February 10, 2010, 04:48:21 PM

Great job on the stairs!

Redoverfarm · February 13, 2010, 02:39:15 PM

Thanks Thejapster .

Yesterday I plowed the road again with the 3" the day before. This makes 5 times in 11 days. This is really getting old. But with that little bit of aggrevation over with I managed to spend a couple hours installing two crawlspace doors that I had made at the house yesterday. Still some trim work to do when I get to town to pick up some casing , door stop and latches. Maybe it will cut some of the drafty air entering the basement. Also had a couple of guest. Nice people from KY just looking at some of the property in the area that they had found on the net.

kim(WVa) · February 15, 2010, 11:43:05 PM

hi redover..i have really enjoyed reading your posts great job on your cabin...hard work really pays off...i know what you mean about havin so much snow...
work for us is slow,we are just doin little by little,plan on really jumpin in there when weather breaks a little..keep up the good work...kim(WVa)

Redoverfarm · February 16, 2010, 02:19:46 PM

No earth breaking work now. Just finishing up odds and ends. Basicly using up some scrap lumber. I finished the crawlspace doors yesterday. My son painted them while I trimmed out the closet under the stairs. The crawlspace doors are just 2X material framing with two layers of 5/8" foam board inset into the frames. The door skins are some left over soffit plywood and 3/8 plywood for the backs. Couple 3" door hinges and cheap barrel locks. But it does seem to keep the cold air out of the basement.

I laid the Ditra tile underlayment on the loft bathroom shelf/cabinet. As soon as I make it some place to purchase some inexpensive tile that will be the next phase. The worse part of the day was cleaning up all the tools with cold water.

I am so tired of all the snow. I made up my mind that I wasn't going to plow the road again with yesterdays 4" so I just chained up the truck and went. The forecast is for snow (exact amount unknown) through next til Sunday the 21st. Maybe I will just wait until we have a little more and do it all at one time. It is not suppose to get higher than 30F until the 22nd when the sun is suppose to come back. So I doubt it will turn to ice.

Redoverfarm · February 24, 2010, 05:59:48 PM

Discovered a small problem. Well maybe small but I will have to wait until warmer weather to try to remedy it. That being the vent stack. Apparently the great amount of snow slidding off the roof has caused the vent pipe to lisp to the eve direction. When I installed I thought I had braced it with strapping against the rafter. Maybe in the haste I forgot. So if you are building in snow region make sure you secure the vent stack to avoid this. Hopefully it will not necessitate removal of the ceiling T&G and lord knows what else.

On a lighter side I managed to pick up some tile and installed it on the loft bathroom shelf. This would have been otherwise unusable space but building the cabinets I now have 4 drawers (6X18) and a two door which cover a 20"X20" storage area for cleaning supplies. I used verticle T&G in the back to the ceiling and I have yet to trim the front edge out. I guess if you were under 6' it could also double as a single bed.

I guess that all the plowing payed off. There was some brave sole who thought he could continued up the road for the rest of the 4-1/2 miles past my gate. That was short lived at the end of the straight and I guess he decided that he didn't need to go that way and backed out. With the warmer temperatures (35-45F) in the last couple days we have lost approximately 50% of our ground snow. The road today was in pretty good shape.

Unplowed Section (4-1/2 miles)

Plowed Section ( 1-1/2 miles)

February 25, 2010, 01:00:07 PM

Looks great John. Love the cabinets and dark stain.

Good luck with the stack project.

glenn kangiser · March 06, 2010, 09:58:59 PM

John - you probably already know this but in heavy snow country if you can get the vents to the ridge or high point area of the house, much less snow will be able to push against and bend the vent, chimney etc.

Looking great though.

Redoverfarm · March 06, 2010, 11:09:43 PM

Yes you are correct. It is between 1/3 and 1/2 of the run up the roof. Actually I only had a limited length of pipe left and it worked out to that location. In hindsight (20/20

) I should have just waited until I could pick up another stick of pipe. BTW I looked back on the photo's and it was stapped down about 6" from the elbow before running onto the roof and glued. I think I can get it back plumb in the spring and fix it.

Redoverfarm · March 08, 2010, 05:03:07 PM

Getting closer and closer to completion on the main floor and loft. Today I installed the toilet and sink in the loft 1/2 bathroom. The only remaining portions of the living space left is the modification of the fireplace and running a supply line for the gas heater in the master bathroom which I picked up last week. Here is a picture of the loft bathroom after the tile was laid and the trim applied. There is no room in the bathroom for a overview photo. I would just like to know what urged me to use pedestal sinks. They are a PIA to install. At least the ones that I got.

ScottA · March 08, 2010, 05:12:34 PM

If it makes you feel better John, all pedestal sinks are a PITA to install not just yours. Nice progress. I'm glad you got the toilet flange problem worked out.

Jens · March 08, 2010, 07:14:19 PM

Quote from: ScottA on March 08, 2010, 05:12:34 PM
If it makes you feel better John, all pedestal sinks are a PITA to install not just yours. Nice progress. I'm glad you got the toilet flange problem worked out.

I concur. I have never met one I liked...to install, that is. Of course, the one in our bathroom was free, found in a garbage pile, so it has at least that one redeeming quality.

March 08, 2010, 07:52:56 PM

Scott I really don't see the hype in Pedestal Sinks. But for my circumstances ( small room) it was probably a good choice. Maybe a larger room and plumbing coming up from below would be better but out the wall the only thing I eliminated was the cabinet below as the majority of the plumbing can still be seen. As I stated before the newer pedestals have the complete back missing which would make it easier. I only had a 2"X4" opening which made it impossible to put a trap in even though it was at the correct heigth. Then there came the drain stopper rod. Not. There was not an opening to use. So learning from the other pedestal I used my 4-1/2" grinder with a wet diamond blade and removed the upper 1/2 of the back of the pedestal.

Oh yeah the toilet.

I went ahead and picked up a standard wax seal and put it in the warming oven of the cookstove for a while. Needless to say that worked quite well. Anyway it's tight and not rocking when you sit on it. BTW thanks for your guidance.

Well thats another obsticle overcame by ambition. Now onto something else.

Jens I have never met a piece of salvage that I didn't like. Sometimes it isn't exactly what I originally wanted but as they say "the price was right".

Redoverfarm · March 11, 2010, 05:05:36 PM

The last day and a half were spent peeling pine logs for the railings. I got lucky in that I was able to pick pre-cut white pine which varied in demensions from 4-8" diam and 4-7' long along the highway. The highway department was cutting their right of ways which is common in this area to make the visibility better and keep them from falling in the road. There were several hardwood trees cut as well but that would was picked up as soon as it hit the ground for firewood. The pine which in this area is rather useless for firewood so most likely would just sit on the berm and rot. I got most of the useful portions and will wait until they continue along the road not that far from the house to get some more they have yet to do. Hopefully I can talk to them and have them to leave some longer poles for the porch railings rather than cutting them up in smaller lengths. All in all I got 24 poles. Back breaking work and I think I will just throw my pants in the dump from being covered with pine pitch.

I made a temporary holding jig to manage them better when peeling. I just straddle the log and work from one end to the other rotating the log as I go.

These are very common in this area. Even in the snow they still produce. ??

OlJarhead · March 12, 2010, 04:14:15 PM

Nice!

The stuff I've cut is all MUCH smaller but it's for loft railings. I want some bigger pieces for the posts but not too big. Maybe not bigger then 3" diameters. The rails I think I'll make with 1 1/2" diameter pieces (+/-).

Anyway, I have my jeep running like a champ

So I'm itching for a trip to the cabin. The plan is to go next weekend and stay for a week!!!!

Redoverfarm · March 12, 2010, 04:38:59 PM

OlJarhead most that I have seen the rails are usually 1/3 larger diameter than the pickets. Not real sure if you are going with the tenon cutter($$$) or not but at least make the pickets large enough to have a taper before the tenon. If not it will just be flat against flat and IMO doesn't look as nice.

I will have to wait until they are dry and see what shrinkage I have but most likely will be 5-6" rails and 3-4" pickets. Not really what I wanted but it will work and the price was nice.

Probably on the porch I will go with the larger sizes.

Redoverfarm · March 12, 2010, 08:16:16 PM

Spent today trying to correct the botched up fireplace by the masons. My cousin who is an A rated welder brought his welder to the cabin. We attached a bevel plate (3/8") in the back for a gradual incline of the smoke rather than the 2-3" offset. Also welded a piece of 6" channel to the linel to form a appron on the face of the firebox opening. The lathe screen was too light to tack to the channel so I had some #7 rebar which will do fine in securing the mortar. Next week I will try to lay the stone and make it look as though it has always been there.