Dogtrot at Hightop

[Redoverfarm]

Not much work on the cabin the first part of this week.  The temps have been really low in the am(6-7F) and a daily high inthe mid 20's.  So I decided to finish all the interior doors.  All but one are done and it only lacks one more coat of poly.  IMO there is no comparison between the "knotty" pine and regular pine 6 panel doors.  The knotty pine has twice the character as the regular pine. But hey there wood solid doors.  Here is a side by side picture of the two.




Also ran into a good deal at Home Depot last week while I was picking up some primer.  I originally wanted a farmer sink but they couldn't be had at the price I wanted to pay.  So I ended up getting this sink which was in the closeout section.  Brand new in the box "Kohler" cast iron/porcelin.  I checked and it was originally sold for around $300 and it was marked down to $52.  The faucet set I bought at the builders auction a couple months ago.  The sink is actually "bone" colored (appears white in pic) and the faucet set is oil rubbed bronze.

[pickngrin]

Nice work on the doors - they're going to look great in the cabin.  Heck, they look great sitting in your garage. 

We lucked out and got a similar sink from some friends doing a kitchen remodel.  Also got their old stove. 

[ScottA]

Nice work John. That sink looks about the same as the one I'm going to use.

[Redoverfarm]

Scott originally I was going to get a granite farmers sink.  Bid was to me a $150 and I declined.  Later found out it cost $1400  .  I would have hated to drill 4 holes in it anyway.  The only thing that held me back it was just one large rectangle bowl.  I could see that two bowls would work better for when I wash the dishes

[Sassy]

I would have bought that up in a second!!!  I have a 2 bowl sink - one is a little larger than the other & both 9in deep, but now, I sometimes wish I had a big one bowl sink - you can always put a plastic dishpan in the single sink - if you have something really big to put in the sink, the double sinks won't hold it whereas the single sink would. 

[Redoverfarm]

But Sassy I would have had to go under the house and put another support for just the sink.  Must have weighed 300#.  It was nice though.  Well water under the bridge now.

[Dog]

I like the double sink myself...One side for storing dirty dishes and one side that is clean. Not that I EVER have dirty dishes waiting to be washed! 

The porcelain scratches easy with pot and pans, but cleans up nicely. $52 bucks is a great deal! Congrats!

The doors look great!

[Redoverfarm]

As the old saying goes " time flies when you are having fun".  I had a little extra time today and went back on my log to refresh my memory.  I actually started the site in 3/06 and the first log was laid in late 8/06.  Everyone keeps asking me how long it has taken and with this on-going project I wasn't sure anymore.  So I guess it will actually be 3 years in August that I started laying the cabin up.  The time between March & August was on the site work and foundation.  Anyway this is how far I have come in 2-1/2 years. Hopefully it should be ready in August this year if everything goes well.


This is the small cabin (kitchen)



This is the large cabin (livingroom)



And this is the cabin today

[glenn kangiser]

Time flies when you are having fun.

[Redoverfarm]

On Thursday last week I made the trip to the cultured stone manufacturer about 1-1/2 hours away and picked up the needed stone to cover the range hood.  In addition rather than making another trip I also PU the stone needed to complete the retaining walls.  Although I will not get around to finishing them until mid summer.  Friday I laid the stone and today I grouted the stone.  In addition I re-coated the master bathroom and painted the master bedroom.  I was not impressed with Olympic paint though.  I have used Glidden and Valspar which IMO is far superior in application and coverage.

WHAT DO YOU THINK

This is the ungrouted version which I wanted to post as it shows the true color of the grout when dried.  The second one is the grouted version and is still green. It should cure out to be the same as the log wall chink.





This is the paint color of the upstairs main loft bedroom, loft bathroom and master bathroom. It looks like a mixture of "olive drab" and "khaki". 





This is the color of the Master Bedroom which is close to the Khaki color.



Tomarrow I will tackle the gable end of the living room wall (scaffolding) and the other gable end wall of the small loft over the kitchen. 

 

[ScottA]

Looks great John. 

[considerations]

Love what you've done with the place! 

I wondered if Humpty Dumpty would win this round.  In Spades!

[Redoverfarm]

Love what you've done with the place! 

I wondered if Humpty Dumpty would win this round.  In Spades!

[Dog]

WoW!!! Looking awesome!

[Jens]

You truly have done a very clean, awesome job with this house.  I love log houses...sigh...

[Redoverfarm]

Well I just added another link in the chain of completition.  About a month ago I posted concerning the gaps surround the beams in the drywall.  I tried caulking but after it dried and shrunk this didn't seem like a very good option.  Then Don P suggested drywall.  Been there and done that and if I could do anything to keep from breaking out the tools again I would.  I then tried his second suggestion.  Instead of tryin to fabricate the screen molding that is exactly what I used.  I trimmed all the beams and the point that the drywall met the T&G ceiling.  I painted it the same color as the walls so it would not stand out as much as a wood tone.  Here are a couple of pictures. 

Bedroom



Bathroom



Now I guess I can work on the ceiling beams/loft floor joist to make them presentable again. Paint splatters, drywall collisions and the like.  After a good cleaning and a couple coats of Polycrylic they should look like new.  If not they will have character. 

[MountainDon]

Looks good from here John. 

[Redoverfarm]

OK I am moving on to the next step in the project.  One that I have dreaded since I put up the basement walls.  That is filling in the voids of the crawlspace so I can get a moisture barrier down.  Hindsight is always 20/20 in that I should have done this before the floor joist and deck were installed.  With the weather improving it will soon be time to install the flooring with is to include hardwood and tile.  I didn't want to do the floors until the moisture barrier was laid.

So I will start here  (10 tone of stone)



Then go through here (3'X3') on both wings



And I will end up here



Oh yeah I forgot to mention the most important step of all



One of the main reasons that I posted this is to remind someone to take the necessary steps to avoid this in their project.  I have always found it better to learn from someone else's mistakes. 

[Redoverfarm]

Well if you every wonder how many 5 gallon buckets it takes to move a ton of gravel then the answer would be around 39.  And if you ever wondered about how many shovels it takes to fill at 5 gallon bucket the answer is 7.  To make a long story short I managed to move the 10 ton of gravel into the crawlspace to the tune of about 390 buckets.  I did manage to find a friend(preacher) that had a Satoh ( Mitsubushi) Beaver tractor.  My original plan was to build a shute to funnel the gravel into the crawlspace openings but after a closer look I would not get enough pitch for gravity to do it's thing.  So to the back-up plan and that was to use the Beaver to shuttle the 5 gallon buckets to the opening.  After getting on and off the tractor 780 times I got it done. 

I lucked out this evening with the hardest portion which required carring the buckets from one corner to the other.  I had bought a couple of grocery rollers a couple years ago which I had intended on using for an out-feed for my table saw.  Using two at 90 degrees worked out well.  One to move it away from the opening and the other to move it along the wall.  My son was a big help this evening as he stayed in the crawlspace and emptied the buckets as I feed them on the conveyor. 

If anyone contimplates coming back later to backfill DONT. Take the time to do it when it is easiest.  It would have took me probably 1/2-1 hour to use the tractor and dump the gravel over the wall. Instead I wasted two full days.

Here is a picture of the heavy equipment used.



Yes all work and no play makes for a dull boy.  Sort of a reward for his hard work.  Playtime.



Tomarow I will get the moisture barrier down.

[Redoverfarm]

Well I haven't posted in some time but I have been steadily making progress.  I have the plumbing rough in in the bathroom wing to the basement main drop line. In addition I laid 1/2" ply on the kitchen floor atop of the 3/4" Advantex subfloor in preparation of laying the tile.  I have been doing alot of finishing on interior components such as doors, casing for the windows, 1/4" X 3-1/2" T&G beadboard which I will use for the door fronts of the base kitchen cabinets as well as the back of the upper cabinets which will have glass door fronts.

I guess there is always a little bad that comes with the good.  A good friend of mine that owns a saw mill was going to saw out the log stringers for the stairs passed away last Thursday night.  So I figured I would have to find someone else.  I went to pay my respects to his wife who actually worked with him in their two person operation.  Surprise to me she said that he had sawn it at the end of the day Thursday because I needed it soon.  God Bless his soul. His wife said he didn't get to the planks for the steps but by the end of the month they should be ready to be picked up with the stringers.  His son who cuts timber will try to keep the mill running a couple days a week and cut timber the other days.  His funeral was done as he requested and that was to be buried where he could see the mill in a coffin that he wanted made from his own lumber.  His son dug the grave and make the coffin and he was laid to rest while the powerplant (Detroit Deisel) was running.  Touching. Just good honest people of simple ways .   

In another note I made a trip to my local lumber yard and picked up the 2X12 stringer material for the steps to the basement from the living room as well as framing material for the partition in the basement to enclose them.

A friend is making me my Kitchen cabinets as well as the cabinets for the shelf in the loft bathroom.  Nothing grand but simple to match the logs.  I will still have the plumbing from the Island but it will only be a drain and two supply lines. 

Having a difficult time in locating someone to come on site to run the black iron gas line throughout the cabin.  I had someone lined up but he moved so I am back to square one.  I was wanting to have it made on site rather than buy prethreaded portions and hope that my measurements were correct.  But I may have to go to this alternative.

So in the upcoming weeks I will be steadily working on the finishing aspects of floors, windows, plumbing and the like.  If I do something worthy of a picture or two I will get back.

John 

[Don_P]

I'm sorry to hear about your sawyer.
A whole lot of know how goes along with each of the old ones.
It sounds like he passed it on, well done.

For the black iron, check with your local gas company, they might know of some pipefitters that can help.

Now I need to tune old Fergie up, you just never know.

[Redoverfarm]

I would Don if we only had one.  Not a drop of Natural Gas in the whole county.  Only one distributor of propane. 

[ScottA]

John you might want to look into CSST gas pipe. There are several brands on the market such as tracpipe, gastite, wardflex. You could likely do that yourself as it is flexable and can be cut with a tubing cutter. Sounds like you're making progress on other fronts. Sorry to hear about your friend passing.

[Redoverfarm]

Scott I will have to google that.  I did have a competitor of tank suppliers look at it and he said that i would probably need a 3/4" line for 200,000 BTU rating.  He said he could do it but just didn't have the time with his job.  Still looking so if that doesn't pan out I will check into your suggestion.

What are you going to put as a Membrane in the shower of yours? Ditra? I was trying to find where I can locate it.  Nothing really close to me.  If I do find it I had better break out the American Express as I have heard it is rather costly.  Here is a good forum for tile if you get stumped or need to find out about something.  http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/index.php

[ScottA]

I have the membrane already. I had a piece left over from a job a couple of weeks ago. Strangly I had just enough left over to do my shower. 
I don't know what it's called. I always called shower pan liner. Its like super thick vinyl.