My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

waggin · May 05, 2009, 05:39:29 PM

Thanks guys for steering me toward the bi-metal hole say...as soon as I close this it's off to home improvement store land.

On my deck, I tried to err on the side of caution...ok, paranoia. I put the L-flashing under the siding & over the ledger, then I put some more L-flashing behind the siding & over the deck board. My ledger board is at the 2nd story, so there's also siding below it. Looks like any water that got behind yours would drain to daylight. The lap of my siding on top was in the right place (fortuitous accident, not by planning!) so I figured, why not add the flashing?

Redoverfarm · May 05, 2009, 06:21:41 PM

waggin I am not sure what type of material you used for your ledger but there is one thing to remmeber. That is if you used PT lumber and it comes in contact with aluminum flashing it will corrode. You can put a layer of "ice guard" or 30# felt between the two and you would be OK

May 05, 2009, 06:26:11 PM

Quote from: Redoverfarm on May 05, 2009, 03:35:43 PM

I have been looking for a diamond hole saw. I have 6 holes to drillin 1/2 marble tile. I bet that is going to hurt. 1" to 2-1/4" probably at the $$$

I had to drill through concrete block and found a cheap(ish) carbide hole saw kit, I think at OSH. I can't find it on http://sears.com (which usually has all the OSH stuff) but I think it was something like this one: [usl]http://www.cvfsupplycompany.com/mahosawkicag.html[/url].

waggin · May 09, 2009, 12:39:10 PM

Redroverfarm,

I think/hope it was the galvanized steel, but I'll check...thanks.

MountainDon · May 11, 2009, 07:50:35 PM

Another weekend and some progress here and there...

I finally installed the 26x26 fixed window in the end wall adjacent to the door.

Oroginally I was going to make the window myself, after all it's just a simple non opening window, I told my wife. Well, then I thought it over a few times, priced a sealed glass unit and came to the conclusion it was not worth the trouble. So this is made by the same company that did the other windows.

I also installed some more T&G on the interior of the wall. I was out of material so dropped by the Lowe's and picked out the few I liked the looks of. Once up there, I discovered the T&G pattern of my original purchase was different. The new ones had a narrower T&G. So I ripped the back of one groove off and face naled it. Then continued above as far as material on hand would take me. I'll haver to round up some more to complete. This time I'm taking a sample to match the T&G.

Another, 'finally I...". I hung my wife's 'castle in the woods' picture on the bedroom wall of our 'castle in the woods'. Too bad about the couple of window reflections in the picture's glass...

Anyone know the name of that castle in the picture? Or the name of our cabin/property?

More news to follow....

May 11, 2009, 07:59:57 PM

I got the east wall ready to build the battery box. Since most of the lower section of this wall is going to be hidden, I opted to place two sheets on Hardie panel cement fiber board horizonatally in lieu of lap siding planks. I installed a 12 foot ledger PT 2x6 for the platform. It is spaced out from the cement panel with hot dipped galvanized spacers.

The battery box roof will begin about where the cement board panel is. Above that point will be hardie plank lap siding as on the other walls.

I also installed the three PV panels on the pole using a Unirac mount. Here's the pole top cap mount. That's a 4" steel drill pipe.

Here's the first panel in place...

and here's all three...

For any curious viweers, here's a close up of the clips that secure the panels to the longitudinal mount arms.

MountainDon · May 11, 2009, 08:00:42 PM

First person to correctly name the castle (either one) is invited to a BBQ in the Jemez.

Don_P · May 11, 2009, 09:51:05 PM

Neuschwanstein?
Exactly what type of critter do y'all BBQ?

smcdaniel345 · May 11, 2009, 10:05:00 PM

I'm interested in the battery box you are building. I want to operate from solar only, husband is scared that it won't be enough. So we are starting with a little of both. Would like to hear/see more about the solar set up.

May 11, 2009, 10:14:41 PM

Don_P's fast and correct!

That's a 5000+ piece jigsaw puzzle, BTW.

BBQ? Chicken is my specialty but I do beef, too.

As for my PV system, I have it all planned and have most components on hand. As the installation progresses I will be updating here, as well as placing some info in the Off Grid topic. It may take a while to get it up and running as my two work lists (mine and Karen's) have slightly different priorities, that are subject to altering priorities.

As noted in many places here before, the place to begin is to do an accurate, honest energy use audit. Keep in mind that any sort of electrical device that uses low tech resistive load technology (incandescent lamps, electric heaters and cook stoves...) require large amounts of storage.

MountainDon · May 11, 2009, 10:16:04 PM

BTW, that array is rated at 624 watts total.

Don_P · May 11, 2009, 10:24:38 PM

Well that gives me an excuse for a road trip

Actually I'm easy, we'll eat anything slow enough to get caught off guard

NM_Shooter · May 13, 2009, 11:23:01 AM

Quote from: MountainDon on May 11, 2009, 10:16:04 PM
BTW, that array is rated at 624 watts total.

Isn't that amazing? 624W is a boatload of power. 35A at 18V!!!!!

Consider how inefficient the solar panels are too. We (humans) have got to figure out a better way at harnessing solar power.

BTW.. I had to take a second look at your castle picture. I thought it was a sister of a picture that I have. I inherited this from my Grandfather. He was given this by a restaurant manager as a wedding present. The restaurant was a Chicago restaurant owned by Al Capone. My grandfather used to eat there when he was dating my grandmother, and he had commented to the proprietor how much he liked this painting:

It is an odd style... it is painted on the reverse side of the glass, so the stuff in the foreground gets painted first.

MountainDon · May 13, 2009, 12:07:20 PM

I love castles; visited a number of them when I was in Europe.

Neuschwanstein Castle is near Munich, Germany and was the inspiration for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland.

May 18, 2009, 03:56:02 PM

More news to be added later.

Abbynrml · May 18, 2009, 05:30:59 PM

Oh no! Please tell us thats not your property.
That would be a real loss!

Phssthpok · May 18, 2009, 05:45:52 PM

Quote from: Abbynrml on May 18, 2009, 05:30:59 PM
Oh no! Please tell us thats not your property.
That would be a real loss!

Looks more like the results of a fast moving brush fire than a full on forest fire. The charring only goes up the trunks about 10 feet and doesn't seem to be that extensive either. I'd lay odds the trees (most of 'em anyway) will be just fine and may even experience a burst of growth without underbrush to compete with for water/nutrients.

ScottA · May 18, 2009, 06:39:22 PM

I think this is a hoax by Don. I don't see no green hardiboard in them ashes.

MountainDon · May 18, 2009, 07:00:52 PM

No hoax. Just a "more news at 10" type of a teaser.

Those previous photos are looking west across our property line to the property next door. Here's a shot looking SW but a few steps further back.

...and another looking in the same direction but 100 feet more to the left.

MountainDon · May 18, 2009, 07:03:08 PM

Here's a shot from within the burnt area looking back towards our property.

and some more...

... and a shot up the property line looking north...

This was taken Saturday after the neighbor and 2 of his friends cleaned up the half burned rubble and the ashes.

May 18, 2009, 07:06:15 PM

The fire was Friday afternoon. Here's the mop up crew on Saturday. They located and soaked three hot spots, stumps with hot coals down the roots.

Sunday they came back and found one still hot.

MountainDon · May 18, 2009, 07:07:54 PM

... and here is the source of the human caused fire...

The fire spread to the pine needle duff and deadfall on the ground. A mild wind sent it one way and then another, but mostly west towards our property.

Redoverfarm · May 18, 2009, 07:11:49 PM

Sort of thought that was an adjoining property as there was no cabin pics in the debris. Then I thought surely he didn't dump the ashes from the stove near the woodpile.

. Is it even legal to burn in a barrel anymore. You can't here unless you are in the coal mining region. But alot of them still dump their sewer into the streams. Go figure.

ScottA · May 18, 2009, 07:18:13 PM

I get really grumpy when people start fires around here. It doesn't look too bad but I bet it stinks.

MountainDon · May 18, 2009, 07:18:33 PM

So the first moral to the story is to be extra careful with any fire this time of year in particular.

The second moral to the story is to clean up your land before you build a cabin. That's what we did. For those who have not read through this entire topic, we spent about 2 years picking up deadfall, cutting trash trees and cleaning up the pine needles. Part B of this is to continue clean up every year as fresh needles fall and dead wood accumulates.

The fire took out about 8 - 9 cords of cut and stacked firewood that had formed a fence of sorts along our western boundary. Fortunately our cleared defensible space gave the fire fighters a place to take a practical stand.