14 x 14 Post & Beam w/ Scribed Log Infill

[JavaMan]

That is a nice tank.  I guess I need to scour craigslist a bit more carefully.

I have a number of things I'm looking for but can never get the search terms just right, it seems.

At 1/2 the plasitcmart price, that's a major score, in my book!

[Solar Burrito]

Are you going to fill it with rainwater or do you have a well? Also what type of pump setup are you going to use?

[Pine Cone]

Are you going to fill it with rainwater or do you have a well? Also what type of pump setup are you going to use?

Still working on the details of how to fill it.  I have a verbal agreement with my closest neighbor to share his well, but without a tank there hasn't been any urgency to get a formal well agreement on paper.  Now's the time for that I suppose...

As for pump and plumbing details, I'm not sure yet.  In the planned world I wasn't going to worry about a tank until later this summer, but this was too good a deal to pass up.  Kinda like the flooring that I bought when they were closing it out last fall, even though it won't be needed until next month. 

I ordered the "Cottage Water Systems" book by Max Burns that was recommended on another thread but it won't be here until the end of the week.  I also will probably be ordering a tank riser but I'm not sure at this time.  The goal is to keep it simple and inexpensive for now.  To start we might use a garden hose to fill the tank up part way and put a hand pump on it.

[MountainDon]

We used an Oasis pump on our tank top. So far we're happy. One thing to keep in mind is freezing weather if you have it and weather or not you will want to be able to access the water when the temperatures drop. I have a modification I'm going to make to assist in that. The deep well model Oasis pump helps avoid the freeze problem, but it cost much more.


http://www.oasispumps.com/pumps.html

[Pine Cone]

That looks like a great pump at a reasonable price.  Even if and when I go electric it would be good to have a backup.

About how long does it take to pump 5 gallons with it?  I see that it says "up to 10 gallons per minute" but how well does it really work?

I built what looked like an insulated doghouse over my last well head.  Seemed to help keep things from freezing.  Around here it rarely drops below 25 degrees F, and last winter's record lows were below 20 for a couple of nights.  Not sure it has ever gotten below about 15 degrees where the cabin is.  A few weeks of nights below 25 can be expected now and then, but it is rare to have a week where the daytime maximum is less than 35.

I can cheat however, since there is good electrical service out there.  There is a small Navy base which tests torpedoes and the like nearby and they get grumpy when the power is out for very long.  I had a tree come down on the distribution line near my cabin and was pleased at how fast they came out to fix it.  Unfortunately, cold bad weather and power outages do tend to come at the same time, so I would probably follow your example and make the pump easy to remove. 

I don't think that it gets cold enough for long enough to freeze the water in the tank as long as I bury it a foot or so below the surface and use a riser like you have on your tank.

[MountainDon]

I know I don't do ten gallons in a minute, but it's not too long to be a bother. Maybe next time ZI'll try to time a ten gallon run. What I can tell you is that, once primed, it takes 10 strokes per gallon. Now I should point out that I am pushing the water uphill a few feet through a hose, 1.5" ID.  For best uphill performance a back flow preventer should be installed at the pump. I didn't bother as leaving that out reduces complications (and cost) and I thought I'd try it out first.

If guess you looked at the installation in my cabin topic. If you have anything other specific questions just ask.

The temp there had dropped to a low of 8 degrees sometime before ours froze. It had made it through the 20's with no problems. Anyhow I have a change in mind; I'll post that whenever I get to it. Warm weather has placed it's position on the to=do list a tad further down.

[Solar Burrito]

Let us know what you decide to do. I'm still decided on my original plan of pumping the rain water we collect now up to our 600 gallon tank on the hill then having it gravity fed down to the cabin. Or to simply and put a 55 gallon drum under the cabin to pump into the sink with a hand pump.

Right now I'm leaning toward the gravity system since we have the tank that sits unused now, we have a 12v marine utility pump that can just reach the the height of the tank at about 20 feet. Then we would have more pressure and that magic feeling when you turn the tap handle and water comes out. I'm too lazy to run the hoses or pipes right now. I'm leaning towards using garden hoses for simplcity but I know they aren't the best system. Anyone know of a flexible hose that cheap to run 50 feet up the hill then 40 feet back down? I think pvc would eventually crack or get stepped on.

[MountainDon]

   Are you aware of the head to PSI relationship?  

Each foot of head provides 0.43 PSI, or 2.3 feet provides 1 PSI.  So 20 feet head = 8.6 PSI.

So that asks the question, is that 20 foot measurement the height from the faucet to the upper level of the tank or the bottom of the tank? If it is the lower level of the tank 8.6 PSI is all the pressure you'd have as the tank was about to run dry. If the tank was ten feet tall in addition to the 20 elevation that would only add 4.3 PSI when the tank was full (12.9 PSI); hardly what most people would consider adequate.

If you used a large enough diameter line, like 2 inch, the increased volume would help make up for the low pressure. You would need to use use something UV resistant, not white PVC, if it was buried. Gray electrical PVC is UV resistant but it's not rated for potable water. I believe black PVS pipe (the kind that comes in coils) is rated for potable use, just not certain. But it needs to be buried properly as on the surface it will crush and be easily cut. I don't like the idea of garden hose water myself. Not with it sitting there in the sun soaking up waterever from the hose as the water heats in the sun.

[Solar Burrito]

Well right now I've got 1 rain barrel about 3.5 feet off the ground to the bottom of it and the tap is about 2.5 feet off the ground. They are connected by a garden hose about 20 feet away and its flows ok, not much pressure but it works for washing dishes. It's probably only 1-1.5 psi. haha so low but it flows.

So If I add 20 feet in height and a 1 1/4" pipe it's going to be a massive improvement I assume. Can I shower with 8.6 PSI? not sure. What's an RV shower normally putting out. Anyway we don't live there so the water only gets used for washing dishes and eventually I'd like to get a wood fired water heater system for showers.

I could move the tank further up the hill I suppose but then my pump couldn't get the water there...

[MountainDon]

RV water pumps run around 40 PSI.

Many low flow shower heads require 40 PSI to work well.

[Solar Burrito]

Maybe it does but I don't think I need anywhere near 40 psi for a shower. Look at this picture. Derek says this solar shower he made works great. It's only 5 gallons of water falling from about 8' feet up. Looks like he's got some kind of shower head or hose nozzle on their. Mine would probably be similar but plumbed into a hot water heater and a large tank way up on the hill. Maybe the key is not using a low flow head.

Now does the pressure double if you have a twice as large pipe going down hill then getting reduced to 3/4"?


http://relaxshax.wordpress.com/2010/01/

That's one think we have going for us in Washington, we got lots of water! Too much most of the time. 

Sorry Pine Cone, I'll get off your thread.

[JavaMan]

Don't the neighbors look a bit askew at him taking a shower out there in the middle of the yard?   

Yeah, we have a camp shower that sort of operates on the same principle.

As for more pressure when you reduce the size of the pipe ... um ... I don't think so... just less flow

[MountainDon]

Now does the pressure double if you have a twice as large pipe going down hill then getting reduced to 3/4"?

Pascal's Principle states that a pressure applied to a fluid system at rest is felt  equally throughout the entire system. This means that, regardless of pipe diameter, pressure is felt everywhere. Decreasing pipe diameter will only reduce the flow rate of the water. 

Increasing the size of the pipe will result in higher flow rate, but the pressure is the same as it would be in a smaller pipe connected to the same source.

The low flow shower head, we have a head that is rated at 1.5 GPM at something like 40 PSI. If I tried to run that off 15 PSI there would not be much more than a trickle more than likely.

On a related idea, many shower heads that restrict flow use the trick of integrating extra air (room air) into the output. The water flow draws the air in much like a hydraulic ram can be used to move water. That air cools the output flow and causes the user to use more hot water. Of course the spray feels like it's doing more. Trade-offs everywhere.

[Pine Cone]

Still working on trim and furniture.  Progress is nice, but slow.

I'd thought I would back track and fill in some details on how the walls were built...

[Ernest T. Bass]

Very cool post; I hope there are more installments! The funny thing is that this method utilizes such short timbers, and yet you started with 34' logs.

[Pine Cone]

Very cool post; I hope there are more installments! The funny thing is that this method utilizes such short timbers, and yet you started with 34' logs.

I can lift the short timbers, but it is cheaper to buy the long ones...

Here is more...





More to follow...

[Solar Burrito]

Wow, beautiful work. A true craftsman!

[JavaMan]

How do you like that Granderg Mini-mill?  Does it work "as advertized"?

I was thinking of getting one of their mills and basically milling my own "D" shaped logs from large ones - similar to yours - for my next cabin project.

[Pine Cone]

How do you like that Granderg Mini-mill?  Does it work "as advertized"?

I was thinking of getting one of their mills and basically milling my own "D" shaped logs from large ones - similar to yours - for my next cabin project.

The Mini-mill is OK, but it works best when used in the horizontal position.  Their more expensive chainsaw mills would probably be better for milling boards, but the mini-mill works well for making larger timbers.

Been working on inside trim and misc. tasks.  Did some pruning, path cleanup, burning, electrical, and other tasks which had been postponed.

My wife was doing some weeding and other gardening work and the birds were making noise like crazy.  After about 15 minutes of non-stop robin warning calls I looked around and saw the reason.... They didn't like this guy hanging around near their nest.



It was a barred owl.  I have hear it before, but this was the first time I saw it in our yard.  The robins dive-bombed it, eventually chasing it into another nearby tree.  It hung out in our yard for about an hour.

Inside is closer to being done.  Got the blanket chest into the cabin.  Still need to finish window trim, but if the weather is warm enough for finishes to dry quickly tomorrow they will be done by tomorrow night.




Foxgloves are native weeds here, and they are just starting to bloom.  The wild rhododendron's are just about done blooming.

[John Raabe]

The cabin is looking good! Lovely spot.

We have a barred owl that visits us as well. Handsome and scary dude. Apparently they are an aggressive invasive species that is replacing our native spotted owl.

[Don_P]

I was looking for a pic I had of one here. My understanding is that he is from ours side but can migrate across the upper midwest to the NW and is better at taking the spotted owl habitat. I think they were crossbreeding as well.

Our Catawba Rhodies have just finished, flame azalea and mt laurel are wrapping up. My wife has foxglove that was in peak last week.

One of our invasives, multiflora rose has been perfuming the region the last couple of weeks.

[Pine Cone]

The barred owl made a brief visit again today before being chased away by angry robins.   Can't get no respect...

As a forester in California, Oregon, and now Washington I have been involved with spotted owls almost all of my professional career.  I was around spotted owl research studies back in the 1980's when I worked at a research forest. 

Spotted owls are finicky eaters and not that aggressive.  The barred owl migrated west into habitats the spotted owl wasn't using, and now is displacing the spotted owl.   They are similar in size and other characteristics.  I'm not sure about barred owls, but spotted owls are cavity nesters, making their home in holes in pretty big trees.   Neither seems very bothered by people.  Somewhere I have pictures of a spotted owl that hung out in a tree about 10 feet from the edge of the deck off the back side of the house I was living in.   

Working on window trim prep this weekend.  I decided to splurge and went for some fancy wood...  The darker wood is sapele, I am using it for the window sills and trim on two of the three windows.  The third window has a sapele window sill, but will have quilted big-leaf maple trim.  Here is a pix of most of it...



Not warm enough to dry paint very well (actually Minwax WipeOn Poly) so this won't get installed until next weekend.  I already built a sapele table which I will move out to the cabin when I get the floor finished. 

[Pine Cone]

Window trim is up.  The end is in sight!


East Window - you can just barely see the carpenter ant carving on the post to the left of the window.


South Window


West Window - another carpenter ant carving on the post to the right of the window.

And we even got some curtains up using alder saplings for the curtain rods.


Still have one door to trim, but that's only three boards.  I got the planer out and make some more finished boards today so I now have enough wood to finish the trim.  Outside trim is done.  Next step is to finish the basic electrical and the floor.  Then on to the stairs for the east door and the basic cabin will be done.

Unfortunately, the plans for new projects seem to be growing at an exponential rate.  Get the water tank buried, build a water system, finish the outdoor shower, build a kitchen shelter, storage shed, wood shed, build a new stitch-and-glue rowboat/sailboat, and of course, build the 2nd 14x14 cabin which will house a kitchen and bathroom. 

I figure I should have it all done by 2020 or so and then I can figure out what to build next...

[Pine Cone]

Time to finish up the "How to Build Log Infill Walls" saga, complete with a few typos and spelling errors

Enjoy




























It was mostly fun, but a lot of work.  I started building wall modules on July 19th and got the cap beam on the top of the completed wall modules on October 31.  I worked most weekends and most of those were three day weekends with help from my wife for log cleanup, misc prep work, and lots of pre-painting before assembly.   On average, it took slightly more than three days to make each wall module.  Full/solid modules took longer than the door and window modules. 

[Yonderosa]

Mighty impressive there Pine Cone.  The interior is stunning.  I especially like the lid.  I still have that to do on mine, the wife is leaning toward some faux beams and probably T&G Pine.