Dogtrot at Hightop

[ScottA]

Thanks John, I should be fine with plywood since I'm keeping the stove out to the minimum clearance for conbustables anyway. Where did you get the stone and what was the cost roughly?

[Redoverfarm]

Scott this was purchased a a manufacturing plant not far from here.  They had a special and the flats were $2.95 sf and the corners were $3.95 sf.  M-Rock was the brand.  I think they have the product at some Lowes stores.  There is several manufacturers of this stone.  What I put on my houise was Heritage out of Ohio.  I think at one time I had a catalog in which Owens Corning also had quite a selection.  Just do a search on cultured stone, faux stone and there are several.  Getting back to your original question in that you will probably only need flats unless you are going to incorporate an outside corner.  They do not make a inside corner that I am aware of.  They also do not make a 45 deg corner which I will need for my hearth so I will have to be inventive and use flats alternating the protruding edge on every other course.  I think.

[ScottA]

Thanks John, I'm going to look into it. I showed your door to my wife and she likes it and the idea of using the stone behind the stove.

[Willy]

Excelent craftmanship on your door way! Wish I could work with stone. I may try and build a fire pit just to see how it goes. Mark

[Redoverfarm]

No I haven't quite working on the cabin.  What I have been doing for the last week and a half was putting stone on the flue.  The flue measures 80" wide by 40" deep and 17 feet on the highest side.  The ground floor wasn't too bad as I could reach the ceiling heigth of 7' but above that I had to resort to the scaffolding which just slowed the progress down having to carry all the rock, mortar to the walkboards then up again to the highest walkboard.  As it stands now I have a small area left over the front doorway on the loft which is only and end 40" X 6 ' left.  If I can get out of bed in the morning I will finish that up.  But not finished by any means.  The next step will be to grout and tuck point the joints which will probably take as long as the laying did.

If you notice there is an area at the bottom and also at the top which is not finished.  I will run my ceiling T&G and my flooring on the 1st floor first.  I can then cut the rock to fit.  The stone is so irregular that it could be a nightmare to try to contour the ends of the ceiling and flooring to make a good fit.

I also found the slate tile for the entry door outside set back ( 12" from log wall)this past week so it is ready to be laid.  I will be using the same tile for the fireplace hearth area out 3'-4' from the hearthwall into the living room floor.  The hearth is 12" wide.

The mantle is missing.  I had one but didn't think it looked proportioned with the fireplace and took it back.  It was 14" X 80" X 2-1/2" thick.  It will be a handhewed log sawn to 5-1/2" thick and will be 16" W.  I would have liked it to have been thicker but since I put a recepticle in that is all the room that I now have.  In the photograph you will notice a piece of deckboard tapconed which is acting as a spacer while laying the rock and will be removed when the mantle is installed.   I have enclosed a few pictures of the rock if you would care to see them.
                                 Entry door & inside fireplace



                               Kitchen side of fireplace(Cookstove location)



                           Rear foyer view of fireplace to front door



                               Living room of fireplace view

[Sassy]

Looks great, Red!  Lots of hard work & detail   

[Redoverfarm]

Thanks Sassy. The real challange is getting fake rock to appear as natural rock.  But that is part of the fun to see if you can make that happen.

[MountainDon]

It looks great, John! Truly fine!

[Redoverfarm]

Somewhat productive week afterall.  I managed to grout the first floor chimney stone to the point of getting on the scaffolding.  Since the weather was favorable I decided to tackle the chimeny above the roof line.  Well anyway theres the scaffolding again.  Can't seem to get away from it.  I used roof jacks on the opposite roofs  in the valley.  Then bridged those with 2X8 & 2X10's in a triangular fashion.  The using 2X material to the top of the buck I laided a gangplank over to the chimney.  I wonder what OSHA would say about that.
Although not pictured is the other valley which I made the same triangular platform but was able to crawl across the ridge (used the flue top as a work platform for stone and mortar)to reach instead of erecting another piece of scaffolding of which I didn't have anyway.


Well it didn't go without incident.  I had laid 75% and was on the side pictured and the generator started acting up. Oh yes it wasn't mine it was borrowed.  Mine is in the shop.  Anyway when I went to start it the rope handle broke. No problem I just took off the recoil and retreaded it back.  Then after a couple of pulls without started the other end broke in the inside.  Off again and retreaded it.  But apparently something didn't go back right so it is OOC for now until I get a chance to tear it down again.  Yes your right borrowed another for about 30 minutes and got it finished.  While everything was in place I grouted what I had done yesterday and very carefully what I did this morning.  Now with the exception of tearing down the platforms and the scaffolding I am done on the roof. 



Well it didn't take long for the neighbors to try to root into the cabin.  Had the same ones visiting last year.  The porch post makes an ideal bedroom. I started daily to teardown the beginnings of the nest but over the weekend one was complete.  I figured they wouldn't be too much of a problem as I wouldn't be doing anything in that area for some time and she was more determined than I was.  Last year they laid two sets of eggs.  So far there is 4.  The nest was ample size with 4 little blue eggs but as you can see they quickly outgrew their home.  They can be a real PIA and messy.  This variety is a Eastern Phoebe.

[glenn kangiser]

Well, they are cute and you did need another pet...

[ScottA]

I had a nest in my cabin too John. The 2 chicks just left the nest last weekend. I didn't figure they'd be much trouble so I left the nest alone.

[Redoverfarm]

Well Glenn I figure they will be there most of the summer. Last year they built a nest on the sill joist next to a rafter.  They had one set and before I could move the nest to work they laid another set .  I Moved it two rafters over and she found it and rised them also.  Were gone by fall. 

[glenn kangiser]

Maybe you could build her a little poop shelf and slip it in when she's not looking.

[Redoverfarm]

This past week was an easy one. Not by choice mind you.  My generator bit the dust and I took it to the shop.  Borrowed a friends which is old and the recoil starter (plastic) broke.  I ordered a replacement part last week and it showed up today (friday) when I was finished for the week anyway.

Although I say easy it really wasn't. I did things that did not require electric or if it did I could run it from the inverter on the truck. Like the drill, 4-1/2 angle grinder which I used to lay the tile at the foyer entrance.  I also finished the stone grouting up to the point that I had stopped until I got my ceiling in.  Which I ordered locally from a mill. Without the insulation and ceiling the temp's in early afternoon were unbearable with the ouside at 96F the loft had to be well up to 100F or above. In addition I placed two log collar ties in the living room directly above the two ceiling beams I had in place.  Quite a small feat considering they must have weighed close to 100# each and I had to move them scaffolding level by level, one at a time to the ceiling. Construct deadman arms against the rafter to have them sit on until I could bolt them up.  I moved to the basement for wiring in the afternoon which was pleasant

Today I cut in the outside light boxes on the back of the cabin (Board and Batten Room).  I will be installing a light adjacent to each back door which will lead to the deck area on each side of the room. Eventually it will be connected at the end to form a "U" shaped walk around deck.

Since I had to take the light up to the cabin to get the exact measurment for the box placement I thought I would see what it looked like on the stone wall near the entryway of the front door.





This is a picture of the slate tile that was laid in the foyer offset at the front door.  Later I will make a transition strip from the porch deck to the tile. 



Oh yeah and by the way the phoebe laid 4 more eggs in the same nest.  At least I will have company to talk to in the next few weeks

[ScottA]

Most impressive.  I really like how the entry is turning out.

[MountainDon]

Dang, John. You do nice work!!

[glenn kangiser]

Very nice, John.

[BiggKidd]

John,

  Your work is outstanding looks so sharp. That door the rock face and logs go togeather like a hand in a glove.

  Larry

[Sassy]

Wow!  Fantastic    Just got a chance to look at the pix 

[CWhite]

John, your place is looking wonderful.  I still think it looks like the entrance to a castle, even more so now with the stone step in front of the massive door and the light fixture looking like a lantern. 
Again, you are so neat.  It's always clean with not a speck of dirt anywhere.  I'm impressed. 
Great place, and I always look forward to seeing what you've accomplished.
Christina

[Redoverfarm]

Sorry no new pictures today but I thought I would bring anyone interested in the project up to speed. 

I spent the majority of the week covering the basement entry wall with stone.  Originally I was going to stone up to the rim joist and then finish off a 1X to cover he rim joist.  But being your own boss gives you the latitude to change your mind. .  The rim joist was covered in Ice guard and then metal lathe attached.  Well sort of.  After going to the only building supply in my area they were out of lathe wire.  So I improvised by using rabbit wire instead.  Works basickly the same with the exception that it has to be attached more(nails). 

With my son out of school he was a big help this week mixing mortar.  That is one job that I am completely tired of.  Since I started I have probably mixed 200 mortar boxes full.  Anyway I went on the Mountain his morning to finish parging the small area to the left of the porch so that the stone could be lapped around the corner from the basement wall. 

Ran out of "iceguard" so I went to a neighbors who was building a cabin not far from mine.  He borrowed some 30# felt at the first of the week so I didn't even have any felt paper.  He had started a 28 X 36  2 story cabin on Monday and as of today they were putting the titaninum felt roof protection.  He has a friend from his home town in Charlotte,NC that builds houses.  He brought up a 8 man crew and amazing in one week that the rough is done including interior paritions.

Anyway back to my snail project.  Just in case you don't remember the photograph of the area that I was referring I included a photo so you would have some idea of what I had done.  Hopefully I will get a photograph in the near future to share.



Now the only problem is that I probably created more work for myself in that the block retaining wall would look better if it had stone as well.

[ScottA]

I  agree you need more wire mortar and stone for those walls. Get busy.  J/K I love the cabin.

What are your plans for this place? Going to live in it or sell or what?

[Redoverfarm]

Want to rent it?  Not real sure right now.  Originally was built to sell but if I can keep the cost down it would be nice to keep for family and friends.  Sort of like yours only 1-1/2 mile from the house. 

As for the walls.  No wire required just mortar and stone.  Not real high on my priorities right now.  Have to save something for later. 

[considerations]

A throwaway plastic place mat strategically positioned makes them better room mates.  They feel safe there, or they would not have come back.  Means you're special. 

[Redoverfarm]

Well I promised some up-dated pictures so here they are. 
Finally finished with the stone for the time being.  Only have a very limited amount left to do on the flue once the flooring and ceiling is installed. I am going to have to figure out my materials a little better as I used everything down to the last corner stone and sand.  In fact I had to get 1- 5 gallon bucket of sand (neighbor) to finish grouting the kitchen exterior wall stone.  I am so used to having a little surplus.   


Kitchen (east end) wall



Kitchen wall and right front porch



Basement entrance and left front



Basement entrance view



Can anyone find the additional work that I created for myself?