Our 20 x 34 1-1/2 story cabin in Michigan

[itpdk9]

Mogie,
Your place is a huge inspiration and I am stealing a lot of your ideas. So thank you    I have a question for you though, I know that you put baseboard heat in your bathroom and bedroom, I was wondering how much you are using these with the wood stove in place.  I am in the planning stage and trying to figure out if it is worth it or not.  Second question, is there anything that you would change with your floor plan now that you are in and settled.  It seams like it will work really well but just figured I would ask.  Thank you again, your cabin is awesome and you should be very proud of it. 

Scott

[mogie01]

Thanks Scott, now that we have most of the work on the inside done we are really starting to enjoy our trips up north to relax and forget about work.  We're looking forward to reading about your build and don't hesitate to ask us anything, we'll help where we can

The wood burning stove does a fantastic job of keeping the place toasty.  We find that as long as we keep the doors to the bathroom and bedroom open they stay warm, but cooler than the  main living area.  Most of our guests like the cooler temps in the bedroom but they have the option to set the thermostat higher, we keep everything set at 62 while we're there so if the stove goes out at night it still stays comfortable.  We also have a fan/heater in the bathroom which we use when taking a shower just to take the edge off.  So far our electric bills haven't been bad at all, highest has been $50, though we have had a mild winter so far for Michigan.  I like having the baseboard heat in all of the rooms.  We also stop loading the stove up about half an hour before going to bed because the loft is always a bit warmer than below and we try to keep the maximum temp at 68.
We run the overhead fans all the time

I'm not sure if I would really change anything, the bathroom could be smaller and the hallway closet bigger if you wanted more storage, but when we add the washer and dryer I think the space in the bathroom will be nice.  If we never add a washer and dryer the storage in the bathroom is great too.  Actually, I really like how everything has worked out.  We've had family up at the cabin all throughout the holidays and every one of them commented on how comfortable it was and just the right size.  I don't think I'd change anything.

I hope this helped a little

[itpdk9]

Thanks Mogie... It helped a lot.  We are planning to do the full second floor as I know that the loft can get hot and it will be nice to have the extra room for a bunk house style room.  I was also thinking about tweaking your plans and adding a mudroom type area, but still kicking that around.  I was also planning on extending it the extra 10 feet as a few others have done.  From the pictures of yours it seams even the extra 4 feet is nice.  A friend of mine built the 20x30 1 1/2 story, he did a full 2nd floor which is nice, but I think a little more length will work better.  So thanks again.  I really appreciate your help.

Scott

[itpdk9]

Mogie,
One other question sorry to be a pain... Did you guys use 2x6x10 or 2x6x12 side walls? I can see in your pictures in the loft but can't tell what size you used.  Thanks again in advance.   

[mogie01]

They were 2x6x10. .... and don't think you're being a pain, we asked lots of questions on here too.

[itpdk9]

Mogie,

Another question for you.  Do you know or can you ask your Hubby the length of your roof rafters for both your cabin and for the porch.  It appears that you used 2x10's for your rafters 16 o/c, But I was wondering the length.  I am guessing 16 ft length for the roof of cabin and 12 ft length on the porch roof.  Also do you know what the pitch of the porch roof ended up?  I know the cabin is 12/12.  I think that is it for now.  I am in the process of getting my material list together...wow have material prices gone up from 3 years ago when I put an addition on my house.  The numbers add up quick  but.... it will be worth it in the end.  Thanks again for your help.

Scott

[mogie01]

Scott the rafters were 2x10s x 16 and cut to fit, I think they ended up just under 15' on the cabin, on the porch they were 10'.  The pitch is approx 5:12.

[itpdk9]

awesome.  Thank you Mogie. You are a huge help. 

[mogie01]

We had a couple of visitors up at the cabin this weekend.  This picture was taken from our bedroom window in the loft.

[Redoverfarm]

Always nice to wake up and see all that nature has to offer.  With the winters bearing down they often get closer to houses in search of food.  We see them constantly in the front yard pawing through the snow to reach the bluegrass lawn.  I really don't have any landscaping trees or bushes so I guess they are welcome.

[mogie01]

We were finally able to save up enough money to buy our fridge for the cabin, it's great having all that space for food  

Spring won't be long in arriving and we have started drawing up plans for a deck.  We'll start that in late spring, once the ground thaws.

Our new fridge

[ponygirl1]

Hi this is the Ponygirl. Can you message me who did you well and septic? we are getting some quotes I find too big. I think when they hear I am out of state and female it makes contractors think I fell off a turnip truck yesterday...which I did not.
Who was the guy the did the foundation? What did the well and septic cost? I really need some insight.  It is very frustrating. Do you know of any local guys to help do the exterior shell? Brad will be able to go up soon the get things rolling but I need some local help. Thanks, Ponygirl

[ponygirl1]

your cabin is beautiful. I hope we can ride by to take a peek at it when we come up in october. just from the ouside of course. how hard was it to put in the cedar panneling? we are planning the big enchilada with two bed rooms so we decided to shrink the existing bath room to a powder room, build a full bath in the master suite and get more kitchen space by shrinking the one bath into a powder roo. we gain a ton of kitchen space. also we ae going to build an enclosed porch on the back that will be heated to house washer and dryer in a closet and then leave an open pass through from the kitchen. kind of a mud room really so we can enjoy our view. the lot is already cleared so we save there. did you tile the bath area? and did you run all the flooring before you put in the cabinets? again anything you can tell meille huge.

[mogie01]

Ponygirl,

We had the same contractor (Carpenter Excavating) do the following:
Well – 160' wired with pressure tank
Septic tank and drain field
Cleared land
Poured Foundation (crawl space 20 X 34 X 4)
30' Road grade gravel Driveway with culvert/drain tube

It totaled about $15,000.00.  Sorry, we framed the cabin ourselves so we don't know any framers in the area.

Let me know when you are in the area and you can come by the cabin and take a look.  The panelling wasn't too bad to install, it just takes a while, but we think it's worth it
We tiled the bathroom floor and behind the bathtub/shower.  We ran all the flooring before installing the kitchen cabinets.

Your plans sound fantastic, the mud room will be really nice and the bathroom in the main bedroom.   

[ponygirl1]

Mogie,  Thank you for the info I am going to call them today! We dont need the clearing part but the foundation well and septice we do need. Dont need the driveway either since there is a rudementary one there already. We will be up on the Weeke end of OCtober the 3. I hope we can meet with everyone on that week end. I expect we are going to be in the 10k range with what we need which is closer to what we wanted to pay.

[mogie01]

We've been taking it a bit slower since completing the inside of the cabin, waiting for the nicer weather. 

Over the past few weekends we built storage for our wood for the woodburning stove, we wanted to get it out from under the front porch. 

This weekend we started the deck on the back of the cabin.




the beginnings of a deck

[mogie01]

We spent another work-filled weekend up at the cabin.  Next week we will work on the stairs and maybe stain the railing if the weather is nice.





I made a sign for our wood storage

[Redoverfarm]

You might try to do something about your railing post.  Since they appear to be a soft wood they will be prone to rot quicker than hardwoods (ash, oak or locust).  Leaving the tops flat will leave the endgrain open to where water will sit on top and penetrate.  You may want to round them off or find a coffee can lid to tack onto them. Just put a gasket around the nail or screw to block water from entering the attachment hole.  If you decide to round off you can use a belt sander w/ 60-80 grit.  Just drop down the post about 2" and draw a line around the post and sand from the center of top to that line.  It doesn't have to be that sharp of a point in the middle top but some incline will allow the water to run off the top.  Just saying.....

[OlJarhead]

Very nice!  Did you make the tenons yourself?

[mogie01]

Thanks Redoverfarm, we'll shape them a bit, they are cedar so they should last a long time. 

[mogie01]

Very nice!  Did you make the tenons yourself?

Thanks OlJarhead, we can't take credit, we purchased the railing from the same place our porch railing came from.

[mogie01]

This past weekend we were able to finish the deck, all that's left is to stain it once it has weathered.  Yaaaay   My husband utilized a great new hidden fastener for wood decks called Camo.  www.camofasteners.com


Some pictures, because I know everyone loves pictures....

Building the stairs

[ajbremer]

That looks excellent!

[ponygirl1]

Mogie  it looks excellent. I will be in Bear Lake Saturday. I would like to see your cabin!

[mogie01]

Ponygirl, I sent you a msg.  Hope to see you this weekend