A Victoria's Cottage in Western Maine

Started by Jeff922, April 14, 2010, 10:14:50 AM

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pocono_couple

great job with the shingles..   we are using them as well..(not quite as common down here in PA)  I am sure that the pre-staining that you did will pay off in the long run.   i opted to put mine up and then apply bleaching oil..   we still have a lot to hang, but that will wait till spring hits. 

what part of the mid-coast?  i used to own a farmhouse in washington..  i travel to maine as often as practical - visit chewonki  two times a year... 

pocono_couple

sorry jeff - did not mean to hijack your thread..   i absolutely love your place as well!  how close are you to the NH border?  i used to live in NH,  and, if things turn out right, we may be purchasing some property there again in the near future..  ( lakes region)   so you ski in the white mtns?    we were at cannon over christmas break.. 


Jeff922

Hi PC, I actually grew up in north central PA.  I learned to ski at Ski Sawmill (then Oregon Hill) but was always particularly fond of Elk Mtn.  The Victoria's I'm building is at Sugarloaf which is about an hour from NH and just 30 miles from Canada.  We recently took a mini-vacation to the Mt. Washington Valley, NH.  I love that area - there is so much to do!  I've been skiing for about 30 years and I've skied most everything in Vt, and ME, but for some reason have not done much in NH.  Some great places there for sure.

As a ski history buff, I had to get a pic of the Hannes Schneider Statue at Cannon.   ;)

"They don't grow trees so close together that you can't ski between them"

pocono_couple

hey jeff,  i had to look ski sawmill up ..  never heard of it before, but  i did not ski till i moved to nh from pa back in the mid eighties..  and now that i am back our trips have been local -  montage ( sno mtn now)  and elk..    i liked your pic from cannon..  we were up there last summer and hiked up the mountain.. and told the girls that we would bring them back to ski so we did that over christmas..  it looked a lot nicer in your pic than the day we were there.. we were socked in with fog.. it was pretty tough skiing even though they had a lot of snow!

  so, i take it that your permanent residence is in maine as well..   if we end up getting the land in NH,  i want to build a shop ( boat building)  and a small house..  i am looking at the 20x30 1 1/2 story..   that might actually be a little easier build than the one that i am currently working on..  not quite as high..    but, i can't get distracted with that dream until i finish up down here!   we too are in the sheet rock phase, and i hope to finish that ( except for the bath where i still need to do plumbing)  this coming week.  spring break starts this friday , and i plan on spending the better part of the first week at the house before heading off to wyoming for a week to visit my son..   i am anxious to see more pics of your progress..

duncanshannon

hey!

great project, beautiful work.  Deff. inspiring to read.

I just finished reading the whole thread... looking really good.  I esp. like the floor, I'll be checking into options for that for my place if/when we build one.  One build on here put in a concrete countertop which was pretty cool too.

Thanks for taking the to share all the great pics as well as sharing your story... love reading it!
Home: Minneapolis, MN area.  Land: (no cabin yet) Spooner, WI area.  Plan: 20x34 1 1/2 Story. Experience Level: n00b. 
Build Thread: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=10784.0


simplydownhill

What a great project, I think this floor plan is really versitile and has a lot of possibilities!  I see that you are in the sugarloaf area, I am a few hours away in NH.  It would be great to get to see this project in person some time, also, I have some experience dowsing for water.  There's actually two ways that I have done it, witching with a cherry switch and also using dowsing rods.  In either case I have been able to find water for 3 wells, as well as locate underground pipes and septic systems. 

Oh, and that picture is Cranmore Mtn in North Conway, NH... It's where I work in the winter, so I know the spot quite well!  Great picture though, too bad Hannes has lost one of his poles again!

Good luck with your projects!

Jeff922

Ooops! You're right, that's Cranmore not Cannon!  d*  I have not skied either mountain, but I have hiked Cannon before.  We love the North Conway area.  I've been taking a break from this project over the winter.  I'm trying to get myself established as a freelance graphic designer/illustrator and it's a ton of work (note to self:  don't build a house and try to start a business at the same time - it's nuts!).  But I'm really looking forward to getting back into the electrical work - probably in a week or two.  The last day of skiing will probably be on Saturday.  I'll be back and forth between my primary residence and this project through the summer.  Let me know when you would like to visit.  If you have thoughts about building a Victoria's, it would help a lot to see one in person.  I've never tried dowsing myself, would be a cool skill to have.  You could make a ton of money in my home-state of Pennsylvania if you could dowse for natural gas.   ;)
"They don't grow trees so close together that you can't ski between them"

Jeff922

Hey all, I haven't updated my progress in a while but I have some excellent news - I PASSED MY ELECTRICAL INSPECTION!!! :)  This was a very big deal for me because the electrical work was the most intimidating aspect of this entire project.  I had originally planed to hire a contractor to do my service entrance but decided to do that myself and save some money.  I also decided to "future-proof" my house with a structured wiring system because at some point we may live here full-time (maybe sooner rather than later  ;)).  It has taken a long time to do all this work but it was a good experience.  here's some pics:





My meter box.  I ran a #4 AWG grounding electrode conductor to 2, 8' rods about 12' away from each other.  Dry, sandy soil doesn't conduct well.





Here's where my power will enter the house.  I saved a little money by not using a mast and I still have plenty of clearance because of the slope of this lot.  Notice my phone and cable to the right.




200 amp panel.  





Some of the wiring in the kitchen.






This is where my home runs drop down to the first floor level and enter the service panel.





I surface mounted thinwall conduit for some overhead light fixtures downstairs.  This is where a small pendant light will be over the peninsula in the kitchen.






I have 4 lights like this on the first floor.





My voice/data/video panel in the master bedroom.  I used 1000' of CAT5e cable, 500' of quad-shield RG6 coax, and 500' of 16 AWG speaker wire.






This is where a flat panel TV will hang in the living room.  The state electrical inspector was impressed that I insulated all of my boxes.





This is where most of my electronic goodies will go.  The yellow cable is speaker wire.

"They don't grow trees so close together that you can't ski between them"

pmichelsen

Electrical looks good, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one running CAT5, COAX, and Speaker Wire in their cabin.


Sassy

Hmmmm, you're probably gonna give Glenn the need to do something like that - if he ever gets home! 
http://glennkathystroglodytecabin.blogspot.com/

You will know the truth & the truth will set you free

Tickhill

100 amp service? Also why not run a conduit riser to weatherhead?
"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

Jeff922

200 amp.  I saved money by not using conduit.  I think this looks cleaner too.
"They don't grow trees so close together that you can't ski between them"

Redoverfarm


MountainDon

Glenn will run a cable here, a cable there, when the need arises. Secure it with big staples or maybe binder wire. No need to get fancy now.   ;D ;D

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


fritz

Hi Jeff, great project and sorry if I missed this detail.  Tell me about your T & G flooring and how you installed it?  I think I read this to say you did two coats of polyurethane before you installed?

Then...did you glue?  Edge glue?  secret nail the boards?


Jeff922

Hey fritz.  I did a couple coats of polyurethane on the the bottom of the T&G before I installed it.  After it was up, I did a final coat and polyurethaned the beams below.  When I installed the flooring I put down a heavy bead of construction adhesive on the beams (to fill in any gaps and prevent squeaking).  Then I nailed each board through the tongue at an angle with galvanized spiral shank nails (10d?).  I drove two nails a couple inches apart in each beam.  I pre-drilled my nail holes to avoid cracking the tongue (which would makes a snug fit difficult). I also used a punch to drive the nails home without damaging the top floor surface. 
"They don't grow trees so close together that you can't ski between them"

fritz

Thanks.....like the look a lot.....looks great

Jeff922

#167
Good news:  I passed my plumbing pressure test!  :)  I'm officially signed off on all the inspections required for my project and it feels pretty darn good.  Pressure testing my drain/waste/vent plumbing was a bit of an adventure.  I was very tempted to just call a plumber to set up the test but ended up doing it myself.  It cost about $50 in supplies (but I can resell some of this stuff on ebay).  




This is a solvent welded test cap in a sink stub-out.  They are cheap and get knocked out when the test is done.





I also used a few of these screw-type test plugs (about $5) for my roof vents and difficult to solvent weld stub-outs.






This is a 4" test balloon I got used on ebay for about $5.  They are quite expensive to buy new.  The challenge was that I needed to shove it down a cleanout about 50" to get past my horizontal 4" main soil pipe to isolate the system from the septic tank and leach field.






I found this Schrader valve (tire valve) extension online designed to be used to check/inflate a car's spare tire without removing it from under the vehicle or in a car's trunk.  Luckily, it was just long enough and it was only $11.  I'll put it on my car's spare when I'm done  ;)






Next I used my car compressor to pump up the balloon to 30psi.  I was worried that I could loose the balloon down the drain so I attached some string and a little block of wood to retrieve it after it was deflated.  






I put the block of wood against a little flange on the interior of the clean-out and still had enough room to screw the cap on.






With some of the spare parts left over from my radiant heat pex pressure test I rigged up this tire valve and gauge to the kitchen sink stub-out.  It was cut off when the test was complete.   Thankfully the system held 5psi of pressure and appeased the inspector.  The inspector was extremely cool.  I explained to him that there would be no concealed fittings in the supply plumbing and that if there was a leak, it would be obvious and I could fix it.  Furthermore, I rationalized, all of my 1/2" pex supply lines run through 3/4" pex.  If there is a leak or problem, I can simply pull the damaged line and slide a new one through.  He agreed that it would be pointless to set up a pressure test for the supply plumbing and signed off my paperwork.  Like I said, very cool guy.
"They don't grow trees so close together that you can't ski between them"

Jeff922

Hummm...I noticed that I never posted a bunch of exterior pics.  Here a walk-around:























"They don't grow trees so close together that you can't ski between them"

Redoverfarm



MountainDon

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

rick91351

As I have told you in the past I so want to do one of those.  I just love the lines and look.  You did it proud and good!
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

metolent

Really nice work Jeff!  Congrats on passing the inspection!


waggin

Thanks for posting the finished exterior pictures...I love the natural porch posts in front!
If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy. (Red Green)