My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

[MountainDon]

Closed to changes -- who ever heard of such a thing?

Closed to significant changes.     Better? 

[glenn kangiser]

I think we'll just have to see how this works out.

[John_C]

Closed to significant changes.

Uh-huh   

[Redoverfarm]

I hear ya.  The changes are never done except when you go there not carring any tools.

[ScottA]

Don are you 100% sure you don't need a media room? How bout a master bedroom? You know it's easier to visualize window placment after the walls are up. 

[MountainDon]

Just a little tidbit of good news today.

I checked with the Ace Hardware lumber dealer that is located about 30 miles from the mountain property. Pricing on the pieces I checked, studs, 2x8x16, 2x10x16 are very comparable to HD and Lowe's. They were a couple percent higher, but they were quoted as "retail". On a larger order they'll discount. AND they'll probably deliver it (one large load) for free!! The guy I'd need to talk to was off, but that sounds quite favorable. No hauling it up myself in several loads. I'd even pay a reasonable delivery fee to save all the work myself plus my fuel costs.

More to come...

[glenn kangiser]

I have found the same -- Unless buying sale items the local guy will beat the big boxes many times.

[pericles]

You know, the ACE out by us actually gave us the lowest estimate by almost a hundred dollars, provided a detailed cost breakdown with alternative lumbers, offered to deliver the wood in whatever increments we wanted, ($15 charge though) and was the only local place that could provide solid PT beams.  I was surprised too!

Jack Larkin
jlarkin1@law.villanova.edu

[MountainDon]

We spent Saturday/Sunday working! Oh I am tired! I've definitely lost my high altitude acclimatization over the winter. 

It was a heavy winter with a half dozen trees near the cabin site that fell from snow and wind loads. We got those cleared up and added to the wood pile, but have another 8 to clear from the back way in/out road (fire escape). It's presently impassable.

We plotted the part of the east boundary that is not fenced. There's only a 450 ft stretch that's unfenced but it's heavily wooded and on a slope that gets as steep as 30 degrees. We have the north and south survey stakes to work from. Using a 50 meter (165 feet) tape and some simple geometry plus a compass we got it positioned close enough for govmint work. Pounded in some T-posts, have more to do, then the actual fence.

I'm not used to working at 8800 feet. Tired!

We did take time for a hike and discovered the bears are up and around. We found fresh digging/rooting around a nearby big old pine sump. About two feet across at the bottom, old and partly rotten, 'something' had a feast, going by all the digging around the base.

I forgot to take a picture as we were engrossed in trying out a couple of FRS/GMRS radios for range over the hilly terrain.

I shot the bejeebers out of some bear sized OSB panel sections to try out the new shotgun. I have to admit to having never fired 00 buckshot or rifled slugs before. Strong medicine!

[Willy]

Hey Don it is time to quit playing and get started on your cabin. You just need to jump in and start pounding nails you will get back in shape fast. Once you start building it will become addictive and seeing it go up is energy forming. Best part is when you get the roof up so even in nasty weather you can still work. Mark

[MountainDon]

You are right Mark. We hope the stars align in late May early June. I have a four wheeling trip in the way next weekend and then James, my skid steer/backhoe owning neighbor is away for a weekend or two....  So Later this month early June looks to be the trick... 

[Willy]

You are right Mark. We hope the stars align in late May early June. I have a four wheeling trip in the way next weekend and then James, my skid steer/backhoe owning neighbor is away for a weekend or two....  So Later this month early June looks to be the trick... 

Playing is fun in a couple weeks it is my turn to play!! I will have finished what I intended to build on my cabin. I only have 3-4 days of work left but I have to wait for the metal roof materials and windows. Fire season is like a big camping trip for me. You can go out for a month at as time on a fire. The 12-16 hour days are a bit tiring but it is a adrenelin rush when things blow up once in a while. Food is great way more than you can eat in a day. Mark

[MountainDon]

I've been too busy around home with errands and all to get to this before now. Last week I built a storage shed up in the mountains, just a small one, 8 ft x 8 ft. but big enough to hold what I need up there. (Remember that spaces always fill to their capacity no matter how big... maybe I can limit the collection of stuff. Maybe I'll have to build another someday. I built it to prove to myself that the shoulder injury is no big deal and that I can manage building on my own quite well right now.

So here's the beginning. A 6x6 PT timber laying on the ground; leveled ground mind you. All the duff, pine needles etc. has been scraped away. No fancy foundation; it's only a shed. The same method was used by my neighbor three years back and it still looks straight, the door opens and closes...



So the north side sits on scraped level ground whereas the south side is lower. Therefore I set 4 concrete blocks in the ground; got them all just about perfectly level; bubble totally within the centering lines, just a little closer to one on the south beam than the north.. I used PT 2x6 joists 16" OC. 2x4 blocking because I forgot to buy a 2x6 for it; had a PT 2x4 though. Floor turned out sturdy with no bounce.



I also used PT for the floor, 3/4 inch plywood. The corner to corner diagonals were within 1/16 of an inch! I outdid myself on that.



Here's the first wall, facing west. I wanted to square it up on the platform and nail the siding on, but there was no way I could raise something like that with 1 1/2 arms and the siding being HardiPanel cement board.



Second wall framed...



Four walls framed. Mostly new lumber but a few pieces are recycled. The door header is a PT 4x4 about 12 years old. I knew I was saving it for something some day.



Yep, those side and rear walls look to be a little short. They're 73.5 inches floor to top plate on the rear wall. It's a shed so I did a shed roof. 2x6 rafters, 16" OC.



The HardiPanel overlaps the floor joists by 3.5 inches and extends up to the upper edge of the rafter with a Z-strip between the horizontal panel joints. Self-made door, nothing fancy, long screws used to hold the frame together. That's a perforated metal strip and a 5 inch turnbuckle to help keep the inevitable sag under control.



Rear view with the left over piece of HardiPanel temporarily stored. The roof is covered with #30 felt. It'll get shingles or metal in a couple weeks, maybe.



I began by stating this was a test of the shoulder injury... I shouldn't have done this. Nothing more soon.    I do need to paint it though and build a step. I've got a half log for the step.

[MountainDon]

Part of what was keeping me busy here at home was replacing the springs on the trailer. One broke hauling those materials up. One of many overloads. Now The trailer sits a few inches higher than before and doesn't seem to bounce as much when empty. Every single nut was rusted on solidly after 28 years and needed to be heated with the oxy-acetylene torch to come loose. All new bolts and shackles too.    Plus I cleaned and greased the wheel bearings since the wheels were off.

[Redoverfarm]

Don if your shoulder was bothering you I know someone that would have lent you a winch to pull the wall sections up with.

[MountainDon]

Ya' know where the winch was though... home.     That's one of the pitfalls of having it portable.

The garage door won't go down when it's installed on the front either. 

[Willy]

Well Don it is nice to see your pounding nails in a short sleave shirt! No snow perfic building weather till the bugs start eating you alive or it gets to hot. Nice shed now when are you starting the cabin? I love giving you a hard time. I quit my pain pills yesterday and today I am getting my head back! Tired of laying on the couch thinking of things to do. I still need to paint the house and rake some gravel up at the cabin after they dump the 12 yards on the drive way monday. I can deal with pain better than the pills messing up my system! Mark

[ScottA]

Nice looking shed Don. My biggest problem is my knees and elbows getting stiff. Just take lots of breaks but keep moving forward.

[apaknad]

hi don,
i am looking for property and was wondering about land prices by you. take it easy on the shoulder. are you doing this by yourself(i am single and am concerned about lifting walls and such).

[MountainDon]

hi don,
i am looking for property and was wondering about land prices by you.

Sorry to take a while on this reply... we were in the mountains.

Not cheap! We paid 19,500 an acre.

Yes I'm doing most everything myself, but I do have a friendly/handy/able neighbor and a friend with property a few miles away. I'm helping him with a few things and I'm sure he'll be able to help with some of my heavier needs.

Here's a link to a local guy who handles a lot of property sales in the area.
http://www.jemezproperties.com/bootzin.htm

[pericles]

$19,500 an acre?!  Remind me again how many acres you bought??  We paid about $1,200 an acre in downstate NY.

-Jack

[MountainDon]

1.5 with an first option on the adjacent 4.5

The Jemez Mountains area is primarily National Forest land with scattered parcels of private land. It's about 55-70 miles from Albuquerque. Summer temps run a good 15 degrees cooler in the higher elevations hence part of it's desirability. Also superb stream fishing and Deer and Elk hunting.

[MountainDon]

Progress, of sorts. After a countless number of times dumping the Porta-Pottis into one of the FS vault toilets we bit the bullet and ordered a Sun-Mar composting toilet. It helped that I had a $100 off coupon from Sun-Mar.

[Word to the wise... a year after our first inquiry and catalog request they sent us a limited time offer for up to $200 off... off the factory list price. I called the folks at thenaturalhome.com and asked if they would honor the offer. After emailing them a scanned copy of the certificates they responded that the offer was off the list price and they already discounted the prices. But they offered $100 off their price.]

So we ordered the AC/DC model with the plan to install it temporarily in the shed. After the cabin is up it'll be moved.

If you've ever looked into one of these you may have noted the pictures are all taken in a looking down view. For good reason. The dimensions are available on the website so I knew it was somewhat large. But seeing the actual unit is a revelation. Here's a shot of the newly installed unit with one of the Thetford standard size porta-Pottis for size comparison. The Thetford looks like a footstool. Note the custom toilet paper holder. 



The C/DC unit has two vents; a 4 inch and a 2 inch. The 4 inch uses convection circulation, the 2 inch has an AC powered fan. I also have a DC fan for the 4 inch tube (in the plastic bag hanging on the stud) but have elected to try it without at first.



I ran the vents through the unfinished roof. The rubber roof jacks are supplied with the Sun-Mar unit. They are temporarily secured with furring strips and drip edge material.



The somewhat unusual appearing stacks are called "diffusers" by Sun-Mar. Basically the inner smaller tube ends just above the spot where the larger tube begins. The larger tube catches most rainfall and prevents the water from entering the system. They claim it has less air flow restriction than a cap. They do seem to work.



Yes, that's a TV antenna. I found that we have great reception of all the Albuquerque over the air stations, whereas everyone else around us has nothing unless they use/pay for saelite service. There are advantages to being located on a ridge line. [Ditto for cell phone service]. I'm not sure yet if the TV antenna is a good or bad thing. We have noticed that thunderstorms do both reception on two of the channels. No big deal for me.

[MountainDon]

One of the small tasks lft undone was the installation of lightning protection for the gazebo. Here is the newly installed 8 gauge copper ground from the chimney, the highest and metal point on the gazebo.



The TV antenna has a similar ground wire coupled to an 8 foot 5/8 inch copper ground stake. Long time readers may recall last July 4ths near miss. Scroll down a ways.

[MountainDon]

The little Ryobi 18volt chain saw is handy for carrying in the Jeep. We've had to remove a tree from across a forest road on more than one occasion. However the Ryobi (10 inch bar) fell short last week.



Even my gas saws would have had a problem.