My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

[glenn kangiser]

I like the last idea.

The walk behind Ditch Witch should do pretty good --- heavy with drive wheels.  It should grip a pretty steep hill.

I'd go ahead and use that statement, Don.  We have white supremacist and everything here now and I know the feds are watching --- very closely --- you never know where.

[MountainDon]

Whoo-Hoo! We pushed down some more trees to make room for the cabin. There's no more changing minds about where to locate it. 









 

[MountainDon]

The next evening after we cut up the trees and stacked them James did some cut and fill and made a more or less level spot for the cabin. It began to rain so he called it a night.





The cabin site viewed from the low SW corner.



I used the Jeep's 11.5 wide tires to pack the dirt.



The view from the SE corner



The wood stakes were reference points used for checking the levelness of the grading with a water level. We lacked a transit level. 

[MountainDon]

That evening we experienced a downpour. This was actually convenient as it showed up the deficiencies in the grading.



James fitted the Claw to the skidsteer and hauled the stumps off to the burn pit. Hopefully the fire will be hot enough to make them burn.   



It's a start...   

[MountainDon]

PS: the 14 x 26 has grown into a 15.5 x 30.     

I changed the title of the topic... hope that doesn't confuse anyone unduly.


I have a pile of posts and concrete mix up there already and a load of Hem-Fir 2x10's to make the beams sits on the trailer in the driveway. 

[John_C]

March 3  John C said

So over the last two weeks the cabin is growing a bit over 2 sq. ft. per day.  By this time next year it will be a house, sometime after that a McMansion.  It's a vicious cycle

April 4 Mtn Don said

Closed to significant changes.

And now it clearly makes sense to build it 16x32.      

[MountainDon]

And now it clearly makes sense to build it 16x32.      

       

 

[MountainDon]

For the most part the hole digging was easy. There's a layer of 1 to 2 feet of nice black dirt and then under that the brown pumice/dirt mix that usually digs well. It was softened up by the recent rains as well. Exceptions do occur and we had three of them, on the second set of five holes. One and two; a 4 inch layer of very hard pumice and a large piece of basalt right where each post hole was supposed to go.    So I moved two holes slightly off the planned 7 foot centers. And three, on the second to last hole I hit a tree stump that had not been visible even before grading. I ended up putting an old worn bar and an old many time hand filed chain on the cheaper chainsaw and cutting the stump, dirt, pumice and all up and out of the way. 

[ScottA]

Looks good Don. 16 x 32 should do nicely. If you need more room you can add on later. 

[MountainDon]

If anyone is wondering "why are the wood piles covered with plastic?" it's NOT because we want to keep the wood dry. No. Covering the green cut wood with plastic will bake and kill any Pine Bark Beetle eggs/larvae. The plastic must cover the pile to the ground and remain in place over the summer. Then the sides may be rolled up and the plastic left to protect from snow/rain or removed altogether and saved for the next cutting.

[peteh2833]

That looks like a nice pile of wood!!!! Is it all pine?

[MountainDon]

It's about 94% Ponderosa Pine, 3% Douglas Fir, 2.5% Aspen and .5% Oak. Approximately.   

[phalynx]

With all that wood laying around, surely 16x34' isn't out of the question?

[MountainDon]

 

[Redoverfarm]

Looks like a nice stand of pine.  Shame it hadn't grew to saw log demensions.  Probably be another 8-10 years before that.

It is so much easier to fall the trees standing than cutting them off and digging the stump when clearing land.  Cut's the time in half or better. Had once cleared an old apple orchard (300 + trees). Only took about 2 minutes per tree.  The land owner thought he would make a profit by selling the firewood first on another orchard.  Left about 12-18" stump.  Took about 3 times as long to dig the stump out.  So whatever profit he made went toward the extra machine work.  If he would have let us know we could have pushed out the tree and left for the firewood brigade and then came back to pile up the stumps.  He might have made a little that way.  Some people have no idea of how machinery works or how it works better. 

Also looks like lightning had struck one of the trees behind the shed.  I have two on my land that looks similar.  Each are about 30-36" diameter and not a sign of bark.

[MountainDon]

Yep, most of the trees are too small for much lumber. We do have several big ones that would make lumber, but they're too few and too nice to cut.

There are at least two lightning struck trees right in the vicinity of the cabin/shed/RV. One of them we saw happen while sitting in the gazebo about 100 feet distant. That was a very bright/loud flash/bang! As well hiking around the area one sees much evidence of other trees having been struck over the years.

I guess you could say that lightning strikes are our tornadoes, our flood, our hurricane, our earthquake dangers. I've been struck but have had hairs on my head stand up from gathering static charges; a portent of possible doom. 

[Sassy]

Moving right along...  yes, I can always think of where we might need more room....    I can understand your expansion completely 

[Redoverfarm]

The last one here had the bark split from the top to the bottom.

Yep if the hair stands up there is no use in ducking. Just lucked out in being at the right place.

[MountainDon]

I was on a ridge in the Colorado Rockies a few years ago. We'd 4 wheeled up over one of the 10-11,000 foot passes and hiked up a ridge to a peak for a better view. Clouds began blowing in fast; dark clouds. As we were descending I was getting little shocks around my ankles, sort of felt like insect bites. Hair was all electrified and standing off everyone. Other got shocks as they reached out to steady themselves on a rock on the way down. Later we figured the 'bites', the shocks around the ankles were strong static discharges at the metal boot eyelets. We all made it down safely without further incident.

[MountainDon]

EDITORIAL NOTE:  Since designing and building this cabin I have learned more about foundations. I would no longer build on piers and beams. If I had this to do over today I would use a different method, perhaps a permanent wood foundation, perhaps a full perimeter concrete footing and block wall crawlspace. I'm not sure which. However since conception of this project I have had contact with professional engineers and have learned about the shortcomings of pier and beam. I have since made modifications to the foundation that should help head off any movement. That was a great deal of work and was much more difficult to do than if I had done the foundation by the code book in the first place.


A few quick photos for all, and then it's back to the mountains after picking up some materials.

All the posts are in place. Yes, this is a switch from the original plan, but many things have changed. I ran across a local rancher who had some .60 PT 6x6 timbers he hadn't used. So I used them. Concrete pas in the bottom. I belled the bottoms out with a pipe that has a piece of rebar welded on the end and a T-handle on top. Rotating, poking, etc in the hole bottom reamed them out; the post hole clamshell was used to clean out the pumice/dirt mix. The posts had tar applied, set in place and the holes then backfilled with fresh pumice we 'mined' from the burn pit wall. Pumice varied from 3/4 inch or so down to coarse sand.



The main beams are built up 2x10 Hem-Fir in four layers. Four layers is one layer more than planned but that matches the width of the rough sawn 6x6 posts perfectly. We used some of Mr. Simpsons T-brackets.

The post spacing was supposed to be 7 feet on centers. That worked out for the first side we dug. With the rock problem on the other side two posts were off by 5 and 7 inches. Not a problem though as the 7 foot spacing involved some material waste. Five posts, spaced 7 ft on center plus a one foot overhang at each end = a 30 foot beam. We used two basic patterns, with the plank ends meeting over posts.



The perfectly spaced side went as planned using two 16 foot planks for the first layer and an 8, then a trimmed down 16 to 14 foot and another 8. Repeat twice. The imperfect spaced side worked out well as we had some extra lengths to play with. All joints still sit over a post with at least 2 inches bearing. I used the last of my old stock of non full round head Bostitch, and now non-code nails on the beams.

Here's the two completed beams with a test fit of two 2x10 floor joists.



The beams ends still have to be trimmed to the final 30 foot length. We've run corner to corner diagonals and have found ourselves at within 1/8 inch. Tomorrow we'll try to find the perfect mark, then cut them off and begin on installing the joists, etc. That is IF the joists and more arrive. We ordered the materials for the shell from the Los Alamos Ace Hardware lumber yard. They didn't have a firm date, either Wed or Thurs. For prices that a sometimes better than HD or Lowe's and sometimes not, plus only a $50 delivery fee for the load it's well worth it compared to lugging it all myself over many trips.

They didn't have any 4 x 9 foot sheathing so I'm picking some up here in the big city in the morning. It's so the wall sheathing can extend down over the joists in one piece.

Till later....

[glenn kangiser]

That's some great progress Don.  Thanks for the pix.  Have a good trip.

[ScottA]

Looking good Don. I now see the 2x19 in the other thread was a typo. How did you end up with 15.75? Are you going to leave the bottom open or skirt it with something?

[glenn kangiser]

I think he's going to leave it open in case he wants to add a basement.

[Sassy]

  

Making good progress - and always such a neat worksite! 

[NM_Shooter]

C'mon Don, more pix.  I know you must have the floor joists in by now.  (probably have the roof on too).

-f-