20x32 A frame cabin Central KY

[EaglesSJ]

Not to my knowledge. She is still scamming folks! 

[EaglesSJ]

After quite a long pause due to working in our garden and various other spring time projects we decided that it was time to get to work on finishing out the cabin so we started to work upstairs. Below are the progress pics. Coltons room is done and we are just deciding on what flooring to put in our room and then finish with the trim.

We put drywall in his room so that he could paint it whatever color he wanted and make it more "kiddy" I just finished building his loft style bed tonight and he couldnt be happier. We are all very excited to not be sleeping in an open insulation environment anymore. Just had to recoup some funds after the solar project (which is working flawlessly by the way!)

Anyways without further ado, here are the pics.











Our room still in progress. My dad came over for a few hours over 2 days to help put the boards up. Lindsay went to North Carolina to visit her family and I wanted to surprise her when she returned. (That was my true motivation for finally starting the upstairs) She was thrilled to see something other than R19 and made it back just in time to help stain. We did alot lighter stain upstairs to enlarge the room a bit. The pics make everything seem so small but it is rather roomy in person as it is a 10x16 room 10x20 if you include the stair landing.





After all of that work we decided to take a day off and went to a nearby lake with my sister and a couple friends.

[Redoverfarm]

Nice progress.  It's getting closer to completion which is always a good feeling.

[mogie01]

Great job guys!!

[rhelm]

I'll second that, great job!

Got pics of the garden?

[EaglesSJ]

Here are a few more pics, a couple of the garden after the rain today as well as our composting facility the new flower bed in front of the cabin, the new path to the cabin (idea borrowed from Mt. Don) and an old watering tank that Lindsay painted and turned into a big flower pot.

We want to spice up the area around the driveway. Maybe a line of dwarf fruit trees down either side or something. Any landscaping ideas for us? Either around the cabin or anywhere?

Anyways here and the pics.

[Redoverfarm]

Looks like you are settling into your new home in comfort.  When you plant your trees allow room away from your walkway.  Once they branch out you might be crawling out under the limbs.

[EaglesSJ]

We are also trying to think about what to do for the stairs. Lindsay wants to just paint them but I know that wont last and I really want to stain them but we cant because 3 middle treads are osb topped. There is also the option of carpeting them as a continuance from upstairs but we are really unsure about that as well.

Any ideas? I dont mind tearing them out and starting over fresh but the flooring is flush against the stairs and not under them so that is something to consider as well. Here is an older picture to refresh your memory as to what I am talking about.

[phalynx]

Think about getting some cheap, thin, engineered flooring and put it on it.  It would all match, you can trim the edges and stain the wood.

[MountainDon]

Q:  stocking feet going up and down?  If so, I do not like slippery stair treads. For painted or varnished wood treads there are anti skid tapes available. I've used some. Not the most pleasing aesthetically, but they do help assist in preventing slips and falls.

Here's one from a Google for anti skid stair tread
http://www.antisliptapeshop.com/Category/Anti-Slip-Tape/138?gclid=CPTX292VvqkCFRRigwodFDUKew

[IronPatriotTN]

Great update pics. The homestead is looking more and more complete and functional.
Sanding that drywall did not look like a fun day. But the room really turned out nice. Bet the boy had fun with that paint.
Good luck with the remaining projects.
~IPTN

[OkieJohn2]

My number 1 suggestion would be to lurk at your nearest big box store and hope to run into the DIY network Yard Crashers guy.  Fat chance of that happening, but it would sure be cool to see what they could do with a really BIG yard like yours.
As far as buying plants, there are a lot of mail order sources worth checking out, but I suggest you take a look at the Garden Watchdog before dealing with any company
http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/
Your best bang for the buck is buying very small sizes, with perennials they are called plugs with woody plants they may be called whips(basically a stick with roots).  Smaller plants seem to adapt a lot quicker and in a year or two you can't tell the difference between sizes. Dr. Carl Whitcomb of OSU did a study and tried various sizes of several trees, and in 3-5 years you couldn't tell the difference between cheaper whips and much more expensive balled and burlapped specimens.
Have you considered a fire pit near your front deck, Hot dogs and S'mores at sunset.  Have you considered grapes on the fence along side the driveway, yep, your bigger critters might find them tasty, but you might also get some grapes.  I wonder if you get enough sun along the walkway to have an herb garden closer to the house. 

[MushCreek]

The best thing to do for landscaping is to go native, IMHO. Check to see what's growing well in your area, and get more of it, or plants that like similar conditions. One of the great things about living out in the boonies is not having to have the manicured lawn and trimmed bushes. I like dual-purpose plants, if I can get them. Blueberries run wild on our property, so if I get a yen for a hedge, it will be a hedge of blueberries! Other cultivated plants naturalize well, such as azaleas. Think about daffodils, too. You can buy them in bulk, and once established, they will bloom for years. I put in 500 at my mother's place along the pond, and what a show they put on every spring!

[EaglesSJ]

Ok so with temperatures here hitting about 98 degrees and 90% humidity I decided enough was enough and went and bought a 15100 btu window a/c unit and mounted it through the wall upstairs. It is keeping the 2 small bedrooms upstairs as cold as a meat locker however the downstairs is not getting very cool even with a fan blowing the air down the stairway.

My question before I go cutting a bunch of holes is. Would adding open floor vents like used in central heat and air systems where they would simply be used to allow hot air to enter upstairs and cold air to fall downstairs help to keep the place cooler? If not what can be done to help keep the place cool on these ridiculously hot and humid days. Keep in mind that the house is 960 sq ft however the walls are angled in so that reduces the space that needs cooling dramatically and it has 6 inch walls which have more insulation than a normal house, it is in the woods so it is shaded, and I only have 3 doors and 3 windows. All of which are double pane energy efficient type.

Another unit downstairs really is a last resort as I dont have the power nor the space to add another unit. Im running the generator a few hours a day just to keep this giant thing going

[Texas Tornado]

Ceiling fans would help move the air...

[EaglesSJ]

Got a pond dug today. Its about 100x60 and 15 feet deep. Took about 5-6 hours for the pond and about the same for the gun range and all the other little extra things that he did (cleaning out a fence and some old log roads ect.) Next comes a dock. Also got my gun range expanded and will be adding steel targets soon. Here are pics of the progress thus far. You can also see my granny and pa out there helping me pick up dead tree limbs. All in all it was a very good day!

[Rob_O]

Granny and Pa are real troopers. It was ugly hot out there today, hit 101 here in Louisville and I'm sure it wasn't much better down there

[Don_P]

That's some nice looking poplars in the pile, any plans? They saw or hew nicely.

[Sassy]

Wow, that is a nice pond!  Doesn't look like you have many rocks...  our ground is mostly rocks - and to think I once was worried that Glenn would give all our rocks away 

That was pretty fast digging!

[EaglesSJ]

That's some nice looking poplars in the pile, any plans? They saw or hew nicely.

no plans, was just gonna cut them up for firewood. cant really think of anything i would want to do with them. i dont have a way to transport them to the local saw mill. If I cant do it with a chainsaw it probably wont get done I have been wanting to try my hand at making one of those wood bear statues. Maybe Ill give that a shot?

[Don_P]

Could be fun, careful with nose work. Rip a groove right up the middle of the back to let it check there and relieve most of the drying stress. You can also saw as if bucking for firewood but stop at the same depth all along the log, then pop off those pieces with an axe to leave a flat surface. Do it once and you have the makings of a bench. Do it 2 times and you have a cabin log. Do it 4 times and you have a beam.

[ben2go]

no plans, was just gonna cut them up for firewood. cant really think of anything i would want to do with them. i dont have a way to transport them to the local saw mill. If I cant do it with a chainsaw it probably wont get done I have been wanting to try my hand at making one of those wood bear statues. Maybe Ill give that a shot?

Got a local mobile saw mill?Most guys are fairly cheap.I know the guy near me can always beat the box store lumber prices and he comes out and does it.

[EaglesSJ]

Working on a new project now and I thought I would post some pictures. Installing a small septic system and a high efficiency flusher. After a few days of my son having diarrhea I realized that my days with the composting toilet were coming to a close. I will post more pics of the septic system itself after I complete the drain field and such. For now here are a few.

[nathan.principe]

I will be watching this close! Ive been dreading installing mine and Im getting to that point.  Are you getting it permitted?

[EaglesSJ]

No permits required. When I talked to the inspectors when I first started building they told me I didnt need any permits as long as I didnt plan on hooking up to public water or electric. They said they look at me just like they do the Amish. Im sure if I was unsafe with it and emptied it into a local river or something that might be a different ballgame.

They did say that if I ever hooked up to those I would have to bring everything up to code but I dont ever plan on doing that so it doesnt really matter. I am building it every bit as good as the septic systems that worked just fine years ago. To be honest I never understood the whole code thing anyways as the deer and coons never ask anywhere where they can dump their waste at. Most commonly by the river they are drinking out of. Always find it strange the things people come up with to make money.

Ill post more pics tomorrow if it isnt raining and I actually get to do some work. Except for the digging it is going in really fast.