Dogtrot at Hightop

[Redoverfarm]

Work at Dogtrot has been miminal to say the least this past month.  I have been concentrating my efforts toward my parents house renovations.  Making good progress in that respect.  I have raised the sunken living room floor, painted almost all the ceilings (12" tiles), managed to remove all the carpeting and baseboards, raised a 14' basebaord heater (wiring work).  With just a few more ceilings to be painted and closets and I will be ready for hardwood flooring.

I did get my firewood supply stacked up and covered at the cabin as well as a supply on the porch.  I got around to repairing the chimney stone that fell from the flashing which I referred to on August 31st.  I went with a little different approach and that was to use "thinset" for adhesion instead of mortar.  I guess only time will tell if it works.  The repair altered the appearance somewhat but not to the point of being unsightly.  The previous stone broke when it slid off the roof and hit the ground.  So different stone was used.  Here is a picture of the before and after.

Before


After

[glenn kangiser]

Looks good from here, John. 

I also am working out getting wood ready for winter. [ouch]

[Dog]

.......all I can say is WOW! What attention to detail 

[Redoverfarm]

Well I put off the inevitable long enough.  I took off a couple hours from my parents home renovation to check out the vent stack at the cabin.  It was worse than I anticipated but not a total disaster.  The amount of snow that we got last year was higher than normal and more than a 2" 45 deg schedule 40 fitting could withstand. The picture is after the majority of the snow had either slid off or melted.  As near as I can tell there was probably close to 36" on the roof at one time.



The end result was it just busted the fitting.  With the winter drawing closer I just did a temporary repair.  Shortened the vent to the heigth of the roof boot and capped it off.  I added a piece of strapping to hold it tight.  If I would have known I would probably just bought another boot and left it sealed until spring.  It is doubtful that I will get everything operational this fall anyway so the vent is not needed.  It will give me all winter to decide the best course of action come spring.  I basicly know what I have to do but this is not the time of year to start.

[phalynx]

You got 36" of snow last year?  wow!

[Redoverfarm]

Yes and then some.  That was one time within a couple days.  Don't really know how much all total for the season.  About 30 miles & 2000 feet more in elevation they got over 215" .

[phalynx]

   Just wow....

[ben2go]

Kentucky got hit hard last winter also.We didn't think we were gonna make off the mountain.We were on top of Black Mountain at the KY/VA state line.

[glenn kangiser]

That's way too much snow for me.  [ouch]

We have had big snow storms in the past but not real bad since we have lived here.

[Redoverfarm]

While awaiting a shipment of a power inverter and other components for power at the cabin and renovations at my parents house the Dogtrot project is pretty much on hold.  But I did run into something that was quite odd.  

As I had posted ealier I had removed the tall vent stack at the cabin that was damaged from last winters snowfall and replaced it with a shorter pipe and cap.  I had went to the cabin on Saturday to pick up something that I needed at the house.  I had a piece of coil stock ( metal) lying on the loft bathroom commode to keep anything from falling into the commode. Additionally I had a trashbag in the bowl for the same purpose. When I lifted the metal I noticed ice on the underside as well as on the plastic bag.  OH NO my first though was that the roof had developed a leak.  I searched and could find no evidence of a leak.    Is it possible that the ice was from condensation resulting from the air entering the waste line outside ( Septic not completed) rising up through the sewer line and exiting through the toilet.  There is not water in the cabin yet.  The air passes underground and through the basement which is warmer (Near ground temperature) and since I had capped the vent line off the toilet was the only place that the air would escape.  Since it has been down to single digit temperatures here the condensation would freeze.  Does that sound logical?

[HoustonDave]

Somebody else will have to verify, but sounds reasonable to me.  If the interior is warm, and the other end of that pipe is open to the outside, then the trash bag acted like a vapor barrier.  Cold air from outside contacting with moisture collecting on the surface of the bag could easily freeze up.  Anyone else want to weigh in?

[Redoverfarm]

Just a little update on the earlier post concerning the mysterious moisture in the toilet.  I went to the cabin today and inspected the area again.  My assumptions were correct.  I plugged the toilet to prevent the rising air from the sewage line to enter the bowl area.  The rag was frozen tight but there was no moisture or ice in the bowl.  So it seems that by capping the vent stack that the warm air is finding it's way upward which just happened to be through the toilet which was the highest exit in the cabin.  The sink drains were stopped earlier to prevent anything from entering the drain.  

The road was surprisingly in good shape with just a skiff ( +/- 1") and in some places the sun had penetrated to show gravel.  The north west turns are still ice and probably will remain that way until March but with the skiff of snow there is still traction.  But I played it safe and took the 4-wheeler to inspect the road rather than chain up the truck.

Well I broke down and got a set of chains for my tractor as part of my Christmas present to myself.   I am now prepared now to tackle the ice.  Not cheap mind you but well worth the price of $750 when you consider the alternative of the previous years problems.  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=3613.msg73422#msg73422





On another note I got my belated Christmas present to myself all the way from Mount Shasta,CA.  

A Magnum MS4448PAE Pure Sine Wave 120/240 inverter, ME-ARC50 remote, BMK battery monitor, MMP175-30D DC Breaker, Magnum MEAGS-N Generator start module, DC & AC lightning arrestor's, WWS Mini-Magnum Power Center.  It is all prewired so the only portion remaining is installation and the battery bank.  The solar controller was ommitted for now but may be added at a subsequent date.

[MountainDon]

Serious chains John.  


Magnum Energy seems to make good inverters too.      They were on my short list.

[ben2go]

I'm so jealous of the nice toys and gifts you have there.

[ChuckinVa]

Merry Christmas to me. Merry Christmas to me. Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas to me ! Sorry John. Couldn't resist!

Those duo's look sweet. I have singles on mine but I have R4's and they are not as deep as your Ag's so they don't disappear in the tread as bad.
CHUCK

[Redoverfarm]

Don yes they are some pretty hefty chains.  With Ag tires it doesn't leave you with a lot of options pricewise as in comparison with regular tires.  The standard "ladder" chains would disappear in the treads.  As for the inverter Outback was also considered but seeing that I needed 220/240 volts it seemed like Magnum was the most logical in that I would only need one inverter and not two stacked.

Ben2go I sort of figured that these were bought out of neccessity. The inverter was definitely and the chains I should have bought them years ago. But at least it is not a tie or pairs of socks.

Chuck yes the chains appear that they will get the job done. Only downside is that I don't usually need them at the house with the pavement and am worried about tearing it up.  But after the driveway the cabin road is next and I definitely need them there.  But they are a real pain to take off and on so I will just take it easy and try not to let the tires spin too much.  

[ben2go]

Since we are talking tire chains.I recently saw a loader with these really tightly spaced chains that looked like they were woven into a diamond pattern.I have never seen any like them before.Is there a special name for them?They didn't look home brewed to me.Everything was to even on them to be home brewed.

[Redoverfarm]

Since we are talking tire chains.I recently saw a loader with these really tightly spaced chains that looked like they were woven into a diamond pattern.I have never seen any like them before.Is there a special name for them?They didn't look home brewed to me.Everything was to even on them to be home brewed.

I would say they can make them any design you want.  This is where I got mine.  Manufactured in Johnstown,PA.  They have quite an assortment.

http://tirechain.com/

[ben2go]

Since we are talking tire chains.I recently saw a loader with these really tightly spaced chains that looked like they were woven into a diamond pattern.I have never seen any like them before.Is there a special name for them?They didn't look home brewed to me.Everything was to even on them to be home brewed.

I would say they can make them any design you want.  This is where I got mine.  Manufactured in Johnstown,PA.  They have quite an assortment.

http://tirechain.com/

Thanks for the info.

[Redoverfarm]

Not exactly on topic with Dogtrot but somewhat related.  Wednesday I finally got the parents moved into their new (new to them) house.  I had went down to their house last week and moved a complete load of material that the movers would not move.  My Dad has been gunsmithing for about 50 years.   So I guess Homeland Security must have been asleep when I came back up the road. .  It was without incident or you would have probably read it in the paper or saw it on the news.    Now where in the world are we going to put all that stuff.

[glenn kangiser]

I like the chains too, John - nice.  Dry pavement will tear up chains too but I'm sure you know that.  At least the tractor is not real high speed.

When do you think you will get the inverter hooked up?  I haven't seen a report on them yet.

[Redoverfarm]

I usually only use the tractor in deep snow and the 4 wheeler most of the time.  Basicly got the chains for the mountain which is a gravel road, well I say gravel but this time of the year it is mostly ice.  But I am ready either way.

As far as the inverter.  It was sort of put on hold til I can get my parents settled in and maybe a little better weather.  I need to buy my battery bank and thought it would be better to hold off until I could be around to monitor them a little better for a while rather than leaving them alone for a week at a time with the generator auto start.  Oh well it will all come together before too long.  Nice of you to ask.

[duncanshannon]

Wow. I've read about half of this post over the last two days. Fascinating and exciting to read. Amazed at the place you have built for yourself! Should be a book or a movie or something.

Thanks for putting so much effort into sharing your project!!

[Redoverfarm]

No actual work on the cabin persa.  I started refinishing an antique chest for one of the bedrooms that I had purchased at an estate auction. I usually don't like to refinish antiques as it deminishes their value but some just leave you no choice.  I try to find a date on the dresser backs, drawer bottoms or mirror backs.  I found one on this one on the mirror itself.  The mirror was made in December 1908.  So I would imagine the dresser was probably made about the same time period.  It is basicly mahogany veneer and solids with what appears to be maple stained.  I am not quite sure what the final finish was but either it had turned dark over the years or it was a tinted finish to begin with.  Here are a couple pictures of the original finish and after it was stripped.  There is a door missing which I have stripped also which is a "bonnet or hat" shelf I quess you would call it.  

The mirror had some dark streaks which appears to be from someone wiping the back rubbing the reflective coating off. .  But using a tried and true refinishing trick I stripped the metal reflective coating off using toilet bowl cleaner.  The result is a piece of clear beveled glass.  Purchased a cheap 1/8" mirror which will be set directly behind the beveled glass in the mirror frame and the results are almost undetectable.  Here are a few pictures of present stage.  I will post one later of the finished product.  A good winter project.

[ben2go]

Ahhhh real furniture.That's a nice piece.Is it stamped 1908?