David and Lisa's 20 x 30 in Plumas County, CA

Sassy · July 13, 2011, 10:52:59 PM

Glenn put up stuff like you have in the shower - in a hurry, like you guys... it had only been 8 yrs since we had put the shower in & were expecting Grant, one of the students who had stayed at our place the year before. Grant had asked Glenn, "what is this stuff on the sides of the shower?" Anyway, I tried to use a little passive-aggressive technique on Glenn so that we could finally get something covering the cement board that was looking kinda bad. I told Glenn it would be kinda embarrassing if Grant saw it again, he took the bait & put up the corrugated steel

The steel on the wall & by the wood stove is from a mine that had burned down - the fire added some nice patina on the metal.

davidj · July 14, 2011, 12:09:12 AM

Quote from: Sassy on July 13, 2011, 10:52:59 PM
The steel on the wall & by the wood stove is from a mine that had burned down - the fire added some nice patina on the metal.

Did a quick search of the Underground Cabin thread and found a picture. That's amazing!

August 11, 2011, 09:23:55 AM

A couple of weeks back we got the tub, toilet and vanity in place. Still a bunch more to do - the vanity isn't connected up, the tub needs the shower installed and there's a very small leak in the tub drain. But hopefully only a few more hours work until the bathroom is ready for the final inspection, then on to the kitchen and decks...

BTW, the vanity is from Old Fart Woodworking. I was thinking about trying to make it myself but having seen the end result I'm happy I didn't - too much curved stuff for my amateur woodworking skills.

davidj · August 11, 2011, 09:33:21 AM

There's also work on finishing the pine panelling. Lots of furring to support the vertical boards. Also 3/4" of fiberglass to fill between the furring. This is on top of the polyethylene vapor barrier, but with a badly-filled 3/4" on top and well-filled 5-1/2" underneath it there shouldn't be any condensation problems.

Danfish · August 11, 2011, 09:49:30 AM

Looking good...vanity is way cool!

August 11, 2011, 03:40:31 PM

Nice! Like that vanity - never saw one like that.

Tickhill · August 12, 2011, 03:56:36 AM

Love the tub and vanity in the bathroom. Hope OJ doesn't see the tub!
Really like the industrial look of the tin.

davidj · August 12, 2011, 10:16:15 AM

Quote from: Tickhill on August 12, 2011, 03:56:36 AM
Love the tub and vanity in the bathroom. Hope OJ doesn't see the tub!
Really like the industrial look of the tin.

We're right next to an area that was one of the biggest gold mining areas late in the gold rush so there are loads of old mines within a few miles. And of course we're surrounded by trees, so all of the old buildings are wood. So we tried to mix up the two themes - lots of pine along with details that could have been "salvaged" from the mine. The railings, bathroom walls and vanity are three places where this idea had a big influence.

The next bit is the kitchen, which is where we're not quite sure what to do. The first idea was copper countertops and pine cabinet doors, but we're not exactly lacking in pine already. Another option was wood-and-copper cabinet doors with a (dirt-colored) concrete countertop. A copper range hood would be nice too, but the reality is we're gonna have to start with just a standard black one and maybe try and customize it later.

Any ideas welcomed...

duncanshannon · August 12, 2011, 11:56:42 AM

+1 for the concrete counter tops. they seem like a great DIY project that perhaps the family can help with too.

August 29, 2011, 07:53:05 PM

Found a nice, small two-bowl copper sink at HD (Pegasus I think), so now we've got a copper sink then the concrete countertop is looking more likely.

Bought the kitchen cabinets from Ikea - 4 uppers and 4 lowers came to under $900. This included fake-wood bodies, the plain white doors and no side panels or legs. I'm gonna cover all the exposed sides/ends with left-over pine panelling, so it'll look really built-in. For the doors, we were originally going to paint them, but the latest plan is to do a historic newspaper collage and cover with poly - pretty much how Glen and Sassy did their brown-paper floors but vertical and with more to read! Lisa's Mum has dug up a bunch of old copies of Popular Mechanics, so that should add to the industrial theme.

Does anyone know if you can put oil-based poly over water-based poly? We tried some marine grade poly on the newspaper and it looked a lovely historic yellow color but it started to make the ink in the paper run. The water-based poly didn't damage the paper but was too clear. Could we do one coat of each?

Redoverfarm · August 29, 2011, 08:06:54 PM

Yes David you can put oil over latex. But I would give it some additional time to cure before covering with oil. Even then the oil may turn yellow. Seems like it is in it's nature to turn. Any reason multiple coats of water based won't work. It is not a traveled area so wear should not be a problem.

davidj · August 30, 2011, 12:04:56 AM

Quote from: Redoverfarm on August 29, 2011, 08:06:54 PM
Yes David you can put oil over latex. But I would give it some additional time to cure before covering with oil. Even then the oil may turn yellow. Seems like it is in it's nature to turn. Any reason multiple coats of water based won't work. It is not a traveled area so wear should not be a problem.

It's actually the yellow color that we like, but the problem was that the dyes in the newspaper ink started to run with anything oil-based. Even with 3 or 4 coats of the water-based poly it was still only slightly yellow, but one coat of the marine grade and it looked like it had been varnished 30 years ago, which is exactly what we wanted. Lisa's also gonna try painting the newspaper with weak tea to age it, which will be good as tea is a lot cheaper than poly!

davidj · September 06, 2011, 11:09:57 AM

Finished off the back deck over the long weekend but forgot to take any photos.

We're gonna try and get our final inspection before the snow closes the road, which implies early November. So about 10 weekends (and one week of vacation) left. The to-do list looks like:

posts and decking on front deck (about 200 sq ft) + code-approved hand rails
another 20 linear feet of pine panelling on walls and random associated trim
kitchen - cabinets, temporary countertops, range hood, finish plumbing
a bunch of bathroom details
one more under-counter outlet, smoke detectors, one more fan, tidy up the junction boxes
all four interior doors
finish interior of two closets
organize propane, including tank, trenching and final fixture connections

This will leave the final countertops, all of the flooring and huge amounts of trim to be finished over the Winter.

It all looks very reasonable but I have a feeling it's gonna get a bit frantic towards the end given how it went with the rough inspection.

Anyone know what the classic slip-ups are for the final inspection?

altaoaks · September 21, 2011, 07:49:04 PM

Hi David and Lisa, just logged in and looked at your update. The bathroom is amazing, and i love the copper/barrel vanity and the corrogated metal in the bathroom. its just beautiful. I am so pleased to hear you are so near your final inspection. You must be very proud. great cabin!

September 23, 2011, 01:30:57 AM

Thanks for the feedback! This was the second bathroom I've done and I think that gave me the confidence to be a bit more adventurous than in other parts of the house. Everyone loves the barrel but the corrugated steel goes both ways - some folks really like it but an equal number are just confused by it. I was reasonably pleased with it just after I installed it but I'm liking it more as time goes on - it really is a nice room to be in.

duncanshannon · September 23, 2011, 06:50:36 AM

one more vote -for- the the corrugated steel!

davidj · October 19, 2011, 12:45:59 AM

Sorry, not many postings recently as I've been spending all my free time up at the cabin trying to get it ready for the final inspection. Lots of progress, although much of it isn't that photogenic.

Meanwhile, Lisa's been working on the kitchen cabinet doors. Here's what our front room looked like at home in the middle of it all:

Here's a close-up view of one of the doors:

And here it is in place:

It took Lisa a long time to do each one - picking all of the cuttings for two sides, then 4 coats of poly (3 water-based to lock in the print, then one marine-grade for final protection). We should be hanging the last couple of doors next weekend - can't wait to see them all up.

davidj · October 19, 2011, 12:52:46 AM

I finally got the decks finished - ended up going with "Deck Heard" KD redwood for about $1.65 linear foot but I had to haul it all up from the Bay Area. Looks nice and was ready to stain straight after installation. Not quite sure what I'm gonna do with the railings - they're not actually needed for code (<30" high deck) but I did need to have handrails on the steps as they're more than 3 risers.

Here's the back deck:

And the front deck:

davidj · October 19, 2011, 01:03:55 AM

The other big task was the kitchen. Not really much to it as I haven't done the trim yet. This will be a big job as the cabinets are just particle board with fake wood laminate and the plan is to pretty much cover them with pine leftover from doing the walls.

Here's the sink - the HD one was perfect as it's small for a double bowl. The counter tops were $25/piece close-outs from Ikea - just temporary until I get time to do a concrete one.

In this picture you can see the one big screw up - the corner cabinet door won't be able to open fully as it'll hit the range hood. I didn't think this through as it's basically the same geometry as the cabinets in our house in town, but I didn't take account of the fact that the range hood sides are angled in on the old setup but aren't on the new one. The fix will be to cut of the cabinet door and leave the bottom half of the cupboard open - we'll invest in pretty crockery rather than a new range hood!

davidj · October 19, 2011, 01:12:16 AM

Meanwhile we needed to get propane hooked up. At the last minute we rejected all of our previous 3 tank locations and worked out we could fit it right at the back of the lot. Needed a 24" trench with sand for the maybe 30ft to the tank (which has since been installed).

I also had to redo a bunch of the internal gas pipe. Originally I had the regulator location right next to a foundation vent, but code is that it has to be 5ft from any vents and windows. This meant moving it to a completely different wall as the North wall had no space that wasn't near either windows or vents. But the good news is that the new location is better for snow (on the gable end), closer to the tank and out of view.

Whilst Dwayne had the bobcat over we got him to pull out a bunch of manzanita stumps, including some in the outdoor kitchen.

October 19, 2011, 01:31:41 AM

Now the punchlist is down to about 3-4 days work before the final inspection:

14ft of wall panelling and some odds and ends of trim
two interior doors
final gas hookups
smoke detectors

Talking of smoke detectors, I had to check up with the county on the rules for carbon monoxide detectors. These are now mandatory in CA, including on existing residential structures. However, they weren't necessary when my plans were submitted. So although by law I need to have them, the building inspectors can't fail me for not having them. This is good news as, in a small cabin, plug-in CO detectors seem better than hard wired as they're cheaper and easier to replace (given they don't have the ceiling-mount requirements of smoke detectors).

The plan is:

1) a hard wired photoelectric smoke detector in the great room (less prone to false alarms from cooking and wood stove)
2) a hard wired CO/ionization smoke detector in the bedroom
3) a plug-in CO and propane detector in the great room
4) (maybe) a hard wired propane detector in the crawl space

ajbremer · October 19, 2011, 03:35:38 AM

You've done an awesome job davidj!

I'm praying that I'll be able to figure out a lot of the things that you've done. I'm building from John's 20x30 1 1/2 plans also. I'm just about ready to put my floor on and then get the walls up. I'm just going to take it one step at a time. If I can understand it then I can do it.

davidj, did you already have building experience before this project? You guys are doing great.

davidj · October 19, 2011, 08:23:59 PM

Thanks for the interest in the project.

Quote from: ajbremer on October 19, 2011, 03:35:38 AM
davidj, did you already have building experience before this project? You guys are doing great.

10 years ago I had pretty much zero building experience - my job is in IT and I'd lived in rentals all my life.

Then I bought an old fixer-upper house in the Bay Area and worked on it a bunch out of necessity. Some of the evidence from the early days is still around: the garage roof edge flashing which I put on top of the roofing felt, the garage wall sheathing where I cut the plywood into smaller pieces to make it easier to install and the small section of garage foundation where the top of the forms carefully followed grade rather than being level.

After a contractor remodeled my kitchen for me, and I watched and helped, I plucked up courage and built a deck and then remodeled a small bathroom, and this time got most of the important stuff roughly right (albeit taking forever to do it). So by the time we bought the property I had some idea of some parts of the job but really no proper experience, especially with foundations, framing and working off the ground. Another downside was that I'd always worked alone, so I'd not got much feedback - it'd be nice to have more constructive criticism. So, given that background, mostly I've worked it out as I went along, using books, countryplans and help from friends and neighbors.

Interesting, some of the general skills from my day job help a lot with the cabin - planning, attention to detail, budgeting, risk reduction, purchasing and subcontracting. However, when it comes to specific skills, it actually goes the other way. It's much easier to manage a computer room a/c installation when you've already installed your own main panel and a range hood to code - it's harder for people to rip you off when you basically understand what they're doing.

One of the key techniques I use is to first think ahead to work out all the following steps so you can visualize what you can screw up with the current work. But once you've got a plan, and you know the issues, focus on the job in hand so you don't get intimidated by the huge number of things left to do. So often I've no idea about most of the less-critical details until I get stuck into a specific job but they don't seem too bad once you take them one at a time.

And don't worry when it takes 3 times as long to do as you think it should. That's just how it always is!

metolent · October 19, 2011, 10:33:11 PM

That's a really nice place...

Is your base cabinet in the corner next to the stove a blind cabinet? Did you actually use a cabinet in there are simply frame it in?

davidj · October 20, 2011, 09:08:07 AM

Quote from: metolent on October 19, 2011, 10:33:11 PM
Is your base cabinet in the corner next to the stove a blind cabinet? Did you actually use a cabinet in there are simply frame it in?

There's no cabinet in the corner by the stove. I just screwed 2x4s to the wall to support the countertop and put in some horizontal 2x4s across the front between the cabinet and the wall. Currently there's a sheet of plywood covering the hole but eventually it'll be more vertical pine.

The other non-obvious cabinet detail is the peninsula cabinet. The backs of the Ikea cabinets are very thin hardboard, which would have made attaching pine to the back of it hard. The cabinet's also not as strong when not attached to a wall. So I put a piece of particle board (actually an Ikea cabinet shelf) vertically inside the cabinet to reinforce the back. You can see the screws attaching this on the RHS vertical edge of the peninsula cabinet in the photos. This is probably overkill in the current setup but may be more necessary once I get around to doing the concrete counter top.