420 sq ft Cabin in Northern Minnesota

Started by jaransont3, March 18, 2013, 04:50:16 PM

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drainl


jaransont3

Jill and I made it up to the cabin on Saturday afternoon.  We are looking forward to spend a productive and relaxing week up here.  First order of business is clearing the road into the cabin.



Only one tree this time.

Everything safe and sound. Ready to open the cabin up and unpack.



The wild flowers were ready to greet us along with some woodland friends....











First project for this trip is to get some finish on the hardwood floors we installed last time. Emptied the cabin and swept and dusted them off.



First step is wiping them down with some mineral spirits.



Waiting for the mineral spirits to dry, but it gives a sneak preview of what they will look like with the poly on them.



Next is a coat of sanding sealer...



After the first coat of polyurethane. We are using Minwax's "Super Fast Drying" Floor Poly. This coat was dry enough to walk on after 4-5 hours. The second coat is got put on at about 9pm last night. Should be able to walk on it by lunch today. Nice thing about this system is you don't have to sand between coats and two coats is all you need. We are very happy with the results.



More later....
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN


Patrick


jaransont3

OK...on with the adventures....

While we waited for the polyurethane on the floors to dry, we attended to some yard work and other outside activities.  We borrowed my uncle's walk-behind weed whip (awesome machine, btw) and knocked down some of the ferns and weeds around the cabin....





and one of my absolute favorite and simple pleasure things from the whole trip...my screen door closing spring.



See, we never had a closing mechanism on the screen door before and I told Jill that I didn't want one of the new shock absorber style ones.  I wanted a simple spring that when you let the door go, it banged shut and the spring and the screen rattled and revurbed.  To me, that is what a cabin screen door should sound like. :)  Found an actual screen door closing spring at Menards!  Couldn't believe it.  Had a small spring within a spring that you could twist to adjust the tension and everything. I was very happy.  Jill thought I was a little nuts.

Other outdoor activities included pulling up the 100 feet of tri-plex I had buried to my nearest neighbors power meter a bunch of years ago.  Fortunately I planned this to be temporary and only buried it about 6 inches deep.  Wasn't too bad to pull up in our sandy soil.



The day after apply the poly, you could walk on it, just not but furniture and stuff on it.  So we got in the cabin and started painting.  Jill and our sister-in-law Janet picked out some great colors for the main space...yorkshire pudding yellow and queen anne's lace off-white.  The wainscoting and trim will be the white, the walls above that the yellow.





Once the poly had cured for a few days, we could start moving stuff back in....



Including the table and chairs I had built. We are very happy with the way they look in the cabin and they functioned very nicely.





On Wednesday night, my brother and his family came out to hang out with us and give us a hand at the cabin.  His girls stayed at Gramma's but Todd and Janet became our first overnight guests at the cabin...sleeping an the new floors with a blow-up mattress.  It was great.

Todd also brought along his ASV...



...to do some dirt work.  We trenched for the re-routing of the tri-plex out to the future location of the generator/storage shed...



and for the sewer line for the indoor toilet...



and the greywater drain field...



and he dug the hole for the 300 gallon rainwater cistern...



...to be continued.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Ok....after digging the hole, we got the cistern tank in place...



The bottom of the hole is about 6 feet.  Our frost line is about 4.5 feet.  the tank is about 4 feet in diameter.  So we covered the tank with earth to the top of the lid and then placed 3 inches of 8 foot by 8 foot foam on the top and then an addition 1-1/2 inches about 6 foot by 6 foot and then another 1-1/2 inches that is 4 foot by 4 foot.  That gives me a total of 6 inches over the entire tank...the equivalent of an extra 6 feet of buried depth.



All this plus the proximity to the cabin and the undisturbed snow cover should keep the tank from freezing in the winter.  We will see.  Next time we are back (hopefully in September) we will dig up the access to the tank and get the gutters and other plumbing to it hooked-up.  Right now it is just storing 300 gallons of air. :)

One of the other tasks for this trip was to cut down a dozen or so very mature poplar trees that were a threat to the cabin should they fall down.  My brother and I used a rope and snatch block along with his ASV to help make sure the trees fell were we wanted them to.  Worked great.





Little side project one afternoon was to make and install a small copper vent cap for the outhouse vent stack.  Copper roofing sheet, some tin snips and a few sheet metal screws and you get this...





We also changed were we park the car and how we access the cabin steps. In the process we decided to add some patio blocks to form a little walkway.  These are cast concrete from Lowes and are all the same shape.  We were surprised at how natural they looked when the spacing and orientation wasn't very precise... and they were on sale for $4 each.





,,,to be continued.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN


jaransont3

OK....one more post from this trip.

Another small project one afternoon was to make and install the screens for the dormer windows.  Really nice being able to have these windows open and let all the hot year up there out.  Helps with the cross flow too.



Couple more significant milestones this trip.  We got the greywater drainfield in and got the kitchen sink drain plumbed in...



We got the sewer line in to the septic and installed the new toilet.  Have to flush it with a bucket until we have water supply, but Jill really liked not have to go out to the outhouse in the middle of the night. :)



We got the tri-plex buried in its new home and installed a 60 amp A/C cut-off box to connect the tri-plex to a short piece of heavy SO cord with a twist lock to the 30A outlet on the generator.  Got all the temporary wiring at the breaker box in the cabin switched over and closed it up with the panel cover.  We also ordered and installed a Shurflo 4008 12 V on-demand pump.  So far we have only verified that it pumps from one buck to another until we get the rest of the plumbing hooked up.  Nice quiet pump, btw.  You can see the pump, our battery box/inverter, and our 20 gallon holding tank in these shots...





You can also see some of the pex tubing my brother started to run.  Here is one more shot of the pex install...



The pex is really nice to work with.  Looking forward to getting the rest of it plumbed up and collect some water.

and finally just a few shots on the last day after cleaning everything up and shutting up the cabin until the next time.











We had an absolute awesome week of family fun, relaxing, and extremely productive work.  Looking forward to the next trip back already.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

OlJarhead

Lots of great work!  I'm surprised you didn't put a manhole riser for the cistern so you can access it later.  The guy that installed mine did the same thing and I had to dig it out and install one.  Once I got to the cistern and opened it up the algae was pretty bad (not yet toxic) and it made me realize that others might not realize you need to do this.

In my location we can see -35f in the winter and my tank doesn't freeze despite having the 22" riser to the lid and no insulation in the lid.

Something to ponder ;)

jaransont3

I wonder where the algae was coming from and how it was growing without sunlight?  I assuming your tanks is fully buried from your description.  hmmm..

I do plan to have a small inspection port/access to allow me to check the level, sample the water, and add chlorine as necessary.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

OlJarhead

Quote from: jaransont3 on July 15, 2013, 03:59:14 PM
I wonder where the algae was coming from and how it was growing without sunlight?  I assuming your tanks is fully buried from your description.  hmmm..

I do plan to have a small inspection port/access to allow me to check the level, sample the water, and add chlorine as necessary.

It doesn't need light to grow but light allows it to grow much better -- at least that's how I understand it.  Our tank was buried under 2 feet of earth with a black lid and yet was full of algae though luckily not at a toxic level yet.  Read this: http://www.ehow.com/info_8522005_blue-green-algae-water-cistern.html


This is our tank which is a certified UG cistern.


After changing the outlet to the bottom and installing the riser so the lid could be at ground level.

In order to inspect and clean the tank you need to have access.


jaransont3

One of the projects I am working on before our next rip back to the cabin is  the kitchen countertops. We are using some of the left over hardwood flooring for the countertops.  I have managed to get the flooring nailed and glued to an OSB base and trimmed to fit.



I still have lots of sanding to do and then putting the polyurethane finish on.  I am also planning on wrapping the exposed edges with a bit of copper sheeting to tie it in with some of the other bits in the cabin.

I have both pieces ready for sanding.  You can also see the double drainboard sink we are going to be switching to in this picture...



This sink is in a bit rougher shape than the single drainboard one we have at the cabin now, but it has 8" spaced holes for the faucets unlike the 6" spaced ones on the sink at the cabin.  Will open up lots of other options for the faucets.  Pretty limited selection in 6" spaced faucets.  I will be sandblasting off the old porcelain finish and then powdercoating the sink white again.  Should be very durable...especially for the use the cabin sink will see.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

pmichelsen


jaransont3

I got the counter tops for the cabin polyurethaned this weekend.  Just need to add the copper edge wrap and they will be ready to go to the cabin over Labor Day week....



We also dug out the sink for the bathroom, got it cleaned up, and test fit the faucet.  It is a small bar sink.  Will be perfect for our small bathroom at the cabin...



We are really looking forward to our next week back there.  Lots of little projects to do before the trip including getting the kitchen sink sandblasted and powdercoated.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Got the countertops finished, including the copper edge wrap.







Now we just have to wait a couple of weeks for our next trip up there to get them installed.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Jill and I had a great week up at our cabin last week. We got lots done and even took some time to relax and enjoy the peace and quiet a couple of times. The weather was perfect. I will post pictures later today.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN


jaransont3

As promised, here a bunch of pictures from the past week...

New kitchen counters in place. Same Brazilian Cherry as the floors.


New sink and faucet installed. Faucet is only decorative right now....still need to finish the water supply system.


Friendly neighborhood spider.....NOT!  We found three of these in the cabin the first day we were there.  No more after that.  This was the largest of them...that is a full rough cut 2x4 it is spanning...


Jill refinished the bathroom door.


We built and installed kitchen shelves and put them to use.


Shed floor framing with pressure treated 2x6s.


Floor frame complete.  Shed is 6' x 8' with 8' walls.


Getting the frame positioned over the concrete foundation blocks and the blocks in position.  I used 4x4 pressure treated posts at each of the 6 foundation blocks.  They were cut overlength, the floor leveled up and then nailed to the posts.  Then the excess length was cut off.


Floor leveled up and the first sheeting going on.


First wall going up.


Wall #2


Wall #3


Hey...we need 4 of these wall things.


Rafters built.


Gable overhangs.


Me noodling on and trying to get the rafters evenly spaced....


Most of the roof sheeting installed.


Corner kitchen shelves I built and installed to match the long shelves on the opposite wall.


Very cool metal breadbox we found for $10 at a local antiques shop.


More corner shelves and Jill hung the leaf placements on the wall as decoration until we need them on the table.


Coat rack I built and the cool barn-style sliding bathroom door.


Close up of the door hardware. The rollers are modified v-belt idler pulleys from some car. Jill found them at a swap meet and I modified them.


Door handle we found a few years ago at an antique show.


Table with a left-over center piece from our wedding.


Overall shot of the kitchen.


Storage shed let us finally clear the porch off and get the Adirondack chairs and table on it instead of a bunch of lumber and drywall.


This is the exhaust vent for the generator in the shed.  You can also see the screened air inlets up under the eaves.


Access panel for starting and stopping the generator without opening the larger door.


Electrical hook up for the generator and an inside view of the exhaust vent. Will be adding a fan to actively ventilate the shed anytime the generator is running.


Shot of the finished shed...  Shingled roof.  All of the walls facing the cabin have been insulated to help with the noise.  Really just can't hear the already quiet Honda generator when it is in the shed.


Jill built the very stout and solid steps for the shed.


All cleaned up and shut-up until the next visit.


Cleaned up porch.


View of the shed as you come down the driveway. the cabin is just around the corner to the right.

John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

We also took some time to relax this trip...

John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Jill and I got the chance to spend a long weekend at the cabin this past weekend.  We went back for my grandmother's funeral which made the visit bitter sweet, but we did get to spend the weekend at the cabin.  We didn't even bring any tools for projects....we just relaxed and enjoyed the time with family, friends, our dogs and the cabin.  We even skipped the generator this time.  We only took the battery/inverter box.  It lasted the entire 3 days without even coming off the full charge indicator light.  Granted we only used it for lights in the evening.  Didn't bother to plug in the frig.  It was also our 1 year wedding anniversary on Friday so that made it special too.

Anyway, here are a few pictures....

Jill and I exploring the logged off ridge south of the cabin.  I used to hunt  in this area while growing up, but it wasn't logged off then...weird to see it without all the trees...


Love this time of the year in northern Minnesota...no bugs, great colors, and cold enough at night to need a fire...


Our "new" futon.  We are now ready for overnight guests...


Futon was a hit...


Just relaxed..even started a puzzle Sunday night.  Perfect way to spend the evening with the fire crackling in the stove...


My favorite picture from the trip.  Took this picture early Sunday morning as the sun was rising...


Looking forward to the next trip....
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

OlJarhead

Great stuff :)  I love that feeling (the one where you take the picture in the morning with the sun shining through and just feel great because you have a cabin in the woods :) )

jaransont3

Quote from: OlJarhead on October 16, 2013, 08:22:15 AM
Great stuff :)  I love that feeling (the one where you take the picture in the morning with the sun shining through and just feel great because you have a cabin in the woods :) )
Yup.  I think the reason I like that picture so much is that it brings back that feeling when I look at it.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Merry Christmas everyone!  Jill and I got back form our cabin late Thursday.  We had a great time with family and getting to spend our first Christmas at the cabin.  It was wonderful.

We arrived Saturday afternoon to find our neighbor had done a wonderful job keeping the drive into the cabin clear...especially since there was easily 14-16" of snow on the ground and cabin roof.





Cabin was only 10F inside when we got there, but we got the generator hooked up, the battery box plugged in and a fire going in the stove.  The new ottomans looked great in the cabin.







By the time we went to bed the cabin was already up to 60F inside.  Extra blankets and the dogs helped keep us warm through the night.

I love the crisp clear MN mornings...



Sunday and Monday we spent time getting some of the door, window, and baseboard trim installed with my new Bostich compressor and nail guns.







Even got some primer on some of it.  We think it definitely helps to make the cabin look more finished.



We also installed a small ceiling fan.  Really helps even out the temperatures in the cabin. 



It runs just fine on our Honda generator, but I switched the wiring to try it off the battery/inverter and the fan motor has a very noticeable hum when it runs.  Guess that is what comes with a PWM inverter instead of a pure sine wave.  I switched the wiring back to the generator side for now.

We had sort of scary/hectic Monday evening.  Monday night was supposed to be the coldest night during our time there with lows below -20F.  The temps had been dropping all day.  Our little restored 50+ year old cast iron boxwood stove was keep up just fine, but we were burning it pretty hot.  I was taking a break from the trim work and laying on the couch getting ready to order some pizza when I glanced at the stove and saw a narrow bright orange streak going across the side of one of the large cast iron side panels.



A crack about 12" long and 1/16" wide had formed in the side panel about 1/3 of the way from the bottom.  Pretty scare to think if that panel had failed completely.

I damped the stove down and as it cooled off the crack closed up.  Re-stoking it caused the crack to open up again.  NOT GOOD.

I order the pizza and wings, picked it up and took it to my mom's place.  Got online there and did some internet research/shopping for a local source for a new stove.  Fortunately we have a Menards about 40 minutes away that was open until 9pm and they had a Drolet Eldorado stove in stock and on sale.

We left Mom's at 8:00pm and were on our way back home with the new stove by 9:00pm.  It came fully assembled fortunately.  I had let the old stove go out when we left for dinner.  By the time we go back there with the new stove the inside temperature was down to 32F.  My youngest son, Ethan, had made the trip to the cabin with us and having his young strong 19 year old body there to help with the 270+ lbs stove was great.  We had our first fire in the new stove burning by midnight.  Inside temperature had dropped to 29F by then.





We stayed up for a couple more hours fiddling with the stove to get the setting rights and get it up to temperature and get some heat in the cabin.  Finally filled it wood at about 2:00am.  The cabin inside temp was near 50F.  Last time I went out to get more wood I checked the temperature with the reading in our car.... -27F



The 50F felt chilly when we crawled into bed, but it was comforting to know it was 75F warmer than it was outside.:)

The stove worked great the rest of the trip.  Is definitely more efficient.  Took some getting used to.  There is not much of a lip when the door is open and you are supposed to load the logs cross-wise.  Round ones tended to want to roll out.  I think I am going to cut my future would short enough (about 10" long) so that I can load it end-wise.  Safer and I should be able to get a little more in it.  It comes with a small blower, but it is not Ultra-quiet like the Drolet website claims.  Pretty loud actually.  Don't think we will use it much.

Christmas Eve day Jill and I headed out to get our Christmas tree.



Lots to pick from...



Decided this small Balsam would be perfect...



and it was.



Beautiful Christmas morning!  Nice warm fire in the new stove, drinking hot chocolate with Jill and my son Ethan, enjoying the view of the snow covered MN morning.  Doesn't get better than that!



We headed back to Dearborn on the morning of the 26th.  First order of business when we are back there in the spring....

Put up more firewood!



Only about 8 sticks left and half of those I grab from my Uncle's place the night before.

We had a great time.  It was really cool to share the cabin with my son Ethan.  He had not been there in a couple of years and he was excited to see the progress we had made.  He is also excited about making a trip there on his own in the future.  That is one of the things that I wanted to have a cabin for.

It has been great year.  Looking forward to 2014!
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN


Tickhill

Thanks for sharing the pictures and the story of your last few visits, exciting to see people living out their dreams.
"You will find the key to success under the alarm Glock"  Ben Franklin
Forget it Ben, just remember, the check comes at the first of the month and it's not your fault, your a victim.

Pray while there is still time

MountainDon

Good thing you were there when the crack showed up and not out playing in the snow with a fire in the stove. 

Nice looking place. Looks like you gained some usable floor space with the stove change.

We're heading up to our place soon for a week or so. I wish we had your snow amount. I think we'll still be able to drive up to the front door. (roads don't get plowed, but the snow has been sparse and melting most days.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

jaransont3

No doubt Don.  Was a very scary thought to think of that side blowing out and dumping burning logs and embers out and onto the floor.  Scariest part was that the crack grew more the hotter the fire got.  Of course the crack opening up made the fire even hotter.  Not a good combination.

We loved the vintage look of the old stove, but the new one is definitely a better aspect ratio for the cabin and much more efficient.  It also has a larger viewing window so we see more of the fire.  However, because it is better sealed we don't hear the fire burning like we did in the old stove.

I can live with that for the peace of mind and efficiency we get from it.

Enjoy your time at your cabin.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Jill and I had a great week at the cabin last week.  Hard to believe it had been nearly 6 months since we were there for Christmas.  Fortunately the cabin was none the worse for wear.  We had a chance to relax and to get lots of projects done.

Here are a bunch of pictures....

Front Porch


The Loon Puzzle we finally finished and Mod-Podged.  I even built a frame for and hung it on the wall by the end of the week.


Built a small fence to control traffic and to add a little visual interest.


Did it all with my chainsaw.  Will eventually replace with cedar when this one rots away.  It will be interesting to see how long the maple and balsam last.


Readying the bonfire...


Got our woodshed built.  Not many sticks in it yet, but it will be full by the end of the 4th of July week when we are up the next.


Got the deck jacked up, leveled, and on its piers and footings.  Need to build steps up to it next trip.


Had a friendly, but short, visit from Henry (just over an inch across) before his untimely death...


Jill got a  bunch more of the trim primed and painted.  Still more to install and paint...


Got the soffit and fascia and rain gutters installed on the back inside corner.  This is the section we are using to fill our cistern.


Used wedge shaped open cell foam inserts for the primary leaf diversion.  Seemed to work good.


Another view of the fence.


About where we left it for this trip.


Dug down to the cistern and got it plumbed for collection and feed.  The white PVC comes from the gutters and first flow diverter.  The blue PEX feeds the cabin after picking up from near the bottom of the 300 gallon cistern via some rigid PVC pipe in the tank.


Started wrapping the 2x4 ceiling joists with some 1x6 knotty pine...


We like the results...




They will eventually get stained darker to match the floors and counter tops.  We are also going to add a false ridge beam and rafter beams.


This was one of our thrift store finds.  Jill did a great job sprucing it up with some Old English and elbow grease.  No more living out of suitcases when we are there.


We managed to get a very relaxing canoe ride in our river.






Our first flow diverter really works!  It rained hard Friday night and by Saturday afternoon the weep holes had done their thing and drained it.  The diverter had done its thing in collecting all the pollen and shingle grit and dirt that washed off the roof.




My brother came out Saturday and we got most of the internal plumbing finished up.  We came up a few fittings and hoses short so I will have to bring those with us next time and finish it up.  Also have to vent the water heater and run the gas line to it.


More plumbing and we got the medicine cabinet and bathroom sink mounted.




Better shot of the assembled first flow diverter.  I divert the first 5 gallons.  I should collect about 60 gallons per inch of rainfall if my calculations are close.  I assumed 60% efficiency in collection.  We got it installed just in time too.  It rained all Saturday night and all day Sunday and into Monday.  Local weather station reported over 4 inches of rain total.  Cistern should be dang near full.


Jill planted lots of flowers and hostas and stuff.  Should be really nice when we get back up there....assuming the critters don't eat it all.  My mom and I built the trellis.


and finally....out other thrift store find.  The lamp and lamp shade for about $7.  Jill and our niece gathered all the greenery and Mod-Podged it to the lamp shade.  Turned out great.


We are really looking forward to getting back up there for the week of July 4th.  My youngest son is coming with us this time.  His 19 year old body will come in really handy for filling the wood shed.  Having running water will be really nice too.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

_JT

Place is looking awesome! Very cool vibe.

One thing I'm wondering about, though, is your cistern. I see your first flow diverter (cool design, btw), but am I correct in reading that you're collecting potable water off of a shingle roof? My understanding was that that wasn't a good idea, and that if you wanted potable water you really needed a metal roof.