24' x 32' Lake Cabin in Oklahoma

[TexstarJim]

Just a few more pictures to share after the roof has been totally finished:



This picture above is looking northwest towards the lake.  Notice the 3" vent pipe because it will be the only venting for the plumbing.  Should be ample at that size.



This picture includes a shot of the 10' x 16' building that is currently my home while I am building the large cabin.  It wasn't meant to be anything other than my combination tool shed and work shop.  But its nice to be here close to my jobsite, tools, and materials.  Just in case any of my stuff decided to grow legs and run off!



The picture above shows the front of the lake cabin along with the front of the tool shed\work shop, (temporary living quarters).



And finally one more picture of the bay window.  The bay window is 8 feet long and almost 5 feet wide.  A slider in each end, vinyl-clad, thermo-pane, Pella.  This window was a bargain because it was a return to Lowe's and originally sold for $360.00.  I picked it up for half that:  $180.00

It fit my needs fine because I wanted a large window looking out towards the lake.

I was going to take some more pictures, but will have to wait later in the day because the sun is in the worst spot right now for taking pictures looking south.  Just too much of a glare and the I wanted one showing the roof from the front side.  Maybe later...... sigh........ 

[poppy]

Hey Jim, are you sure you will be motivated enough to finish the cabin, since that tool shed looks like it has all the comforts of home including A/C? 

Good deal on the window, but where is the bay part? 

[TexstarJim]

Oops, misspoke poppy........its not a "bay" window......... sorry.

[Redoverfarm]

Oops, misspoke poppy........its not a "bay" window......... sorry.

I guess you could actually say it is a " picture view window" as they used to call them.  Nice progress.  It is always good to know that you are finally out of the elements and hardly anything can slow you down at this point.

[TexstarJim]

Thanks Red, it sure is a "good feeling" and I appreciate everyone's good wishes to help me get to this point.  I can sorta relax in regards to the weather from here on out.  No excuse not to be working now...... 

Here is the shot I wanted to get earlier today, but the sun interfered due to the glare;



My goal is to now finish up any work along the gable ends and get everything done that requires the scaffolding.  Once I get the scaffolding down, I can close in the front of the house with the sheeting.  Get my remaining windows installed and I will be pretty much finished with the exterior.  That includes all the exterior painting.

Inside will go fast and my plan is to be living in the house by mid-March.  Wish me luck!

[MountainDon]

Yeah, that would qualify as a picture window in my book.

Curious here... how are you installing / flashing the windows? Is the window flange over the T1-11 or under it?

[TexstarJim]

The window flange will be under the siding Don.  Even if I have to temporarily lift the siding up to slide the window in, the flange needs to go under the T-111.  The hole for the window can be cut out large enough to accommodate setting in the window, but I think I can do it by allowing the siding to hinge up from the bottom (after the hole for the window has been cut) and placing the window, then letting the siding back into place.

Dang you guys don't miss nuttin.........   

[Bobmarlon]

looking really good!  I wish I had known more about the T111 that was a smart call the way you did it. 

[Pine Cone]

I like it!  Wish I had a view of a lake, but I'm getting new neighbors soon and might get a better view sometime in the next year or two if we can agree to cut some trees down.

Occupancy by mid-March sounds like lots of work.  Hope you get some good weather between now and then!

[TexstarJim]

Well Bob, its something you can consider in the future should you ever choose to build a house with siding.  Just keep in mind though, this type structure loses some strength because the sheeting is not attached below the bottom plate of the frame.

Pine cone, hopefully some day you and your neighbor can reach agreement on which trees to cut on both your place and theirs.  Open up the shoreline and increase your view of the water.  I'm lucky, my neighbor feels the same way about trees blocking the view of the lake.  We both like the big trees but have no use for the smaller ones that group up and block our view.  We both have chainsaws too.........   

Weather has been terrible lately, wet with snow and lotsa rain.  Really too cold to get much done but today I was able to remove the osb sheet that hung on the corner (it was placed to give strength to the wall as we lifted it up), then I got the house wrap installed all the way up to the edge of the front door.  Tomorrow I will finish the house wrap and once its all the way across, I'll start nailing up the last of the exterior sheeting and the house will be closed in completely.  Well, except for the sliding patio glass door and the main entry door.

My son's bringing over a wood stove when he gets time and that'll break the cold inside......even without insulation.  It was 35 degrees when I came inside and my fingers were pretty much numb.  But overall, it was fun getting to work and knock out yet another chore.

I'll get some pictures posted over the weekend of my progress.  Thanks again for your encouragement and compliments.

[TexstarJim]

I have installed the exterior siding all the way up to the north side of the front door (entry way) and should have the entire west side completely sheeted by Monday. 



Notice the exterior door behind the swinging doors in the little storage building.  That door will be moved to the new cabin when needed.  The storage building is my temporary dwelling while I build the lake cabin. 

I have all my windows here too including the sliding patio glass door and that patio door came in pieces to be assembled. 

I am not looking forward to building that patio glass door and regret buying it now.  But I wanted a low "E" patio door and it is.

[TexstarJim]

Officially finished with exterior except for the trim and painting.  Today I installed the last of the exterior sheeting all the way across the front and then the small strip that goes along the top;



Here's another view:



The sliding glass patio door (placed in front of the master bedroom looking out across the lake) was a booger to install.  Exacting fit, lotsa effort went into getting the frame squared and plumb, and the doors are heavy and much work for one person to lift and insert into the slides.  But after finishing, I was proud for the view I now have. 

[ScottA]

Comming along nicely.  I feel your pain on the patio door. I did one myself.

[TexstarJim]

Did I mention the patio door was not pre-hung?  It came in pieces and the frame had to be put together.  Never again I kept saying to myself.........never again. 

[novicebuilder]

The project is coming along real good.  Thanks for the pics.  I'm glad you got the door installed today.  A woodstove inside will surely break the chill on cool morning now. 

[TexstarJim]

Well, it's been so long since I have updated this thread it had migrated back to page 4.  I've been working really hard since the weather improved and I want to share some pictures of both inside and outside.

This 1st picture shows the Southwest corner of the house and gives an idea of the height of the cabin.



I've got all my windows installed except for the kitchen window and it should be in anytime.  Since the drywall crew will be here later this week, the kitchen window will be wrapped in wood later on instead of sheetrock.  The rest will be wrapped in rock.



Interior shot of bathroom entrance and the entrance back to the utility room which will double for a spare bedroom when the grandkids come for a visit.  The area where the short green ladder is setting is going to be a combination shower room and closet.



The picture above is the water manifold and the next picture shows a close-up because you can control each water application throughout the cabin independently, hot or cold, from one central location.  Makes it convenient to be able to repair a leaky faucet while not interrupting the water in the rest of the house.



If you're planning a new build in the future, I highly recommend you consider installing one of the water manifolds.  The cost was around $150.00 extra, but it is labor intensive.  I figure it was worth the extra work now for those times later when I might have to work on the plumbing.



This final shot is of the bedroom area that has the sliding patio glass door looking towards the lake.  Later on I will build a screened in area on the deck that will be accessible only from that patio door.  I figure if the mosquitos and gnats want to pester me, they will have to follow me into the house and out the patio door.



I had originally planned to wall off the bedroom from the main living area, but I had several people suggest just leaving the living area and bedroom area "open".  The more I thought of it, the more I liked the idea and went with that.  Nice thing about building your own place, you can make those decisions as you go.

I'll be sharing more pictures more frequently as I have time and I want to thank you for looking at these. 

[ScottA]

Looks like you're making good progress. 

[TexstarJim]

Cabin is ready for the drywall crew.  I know a lot of people do their own sheetrocking, but I'm not able to do it by myself and these guys are so much faster than one person doing it alone.  Here are a few pics of the interior;



This picture was shot from the Northwest corner in the living room.  To the left is the kitchen area and right behind the yellow light-stand is the bathroom.  The next doorway leads into the utility room and the doorway to the right is for the shower room/closet area.  The bedrroom sets to the right of the shower room.



The picture above is looking through the wall from the utility room into the bathroom.



Shower room has been framed out to suit a HVAC unit for future installation if the need should ever arise.  The through-the-wall ac unit I am installing (combination heat pump/air conditioner) should work fine, but just in case I added air vents in the ceiling before the cabin is sheetrocked.  A lot easier to install them now then later on.



Finally, this shot is from the opposite end of the cabin looking North.  Kitchen area is over to the right of the stack of sheetrock and the living room to the left.

I've installed speaker wire for a surround-sound stereo system up close to the ceiling in the Northwest corner (where the television will be mounted) with additional speaker wires in the ceiling at two locations about 12 feet from the corner.  I'm not an accoustics expert by any means, but I figure getting the two speakers behind the audience should give the effect of surround sound.  I didn't want any wires dangling on the wall or along the ceiling after I've finished the cabin.

I'll be adding more pictures after the drywall crew has hung the sheetrock.

[Snoopy]

 Hey Jim ,   I've been tracking your progress all along and have just got up the nerve to join the Forum.
  Great job - your rockin' & rollin' ! If I could just go back for a moment and ask you - Is that plywood
  sandwiched between the double 2x12 and the single 2x12 (stacked on top of each other) ? And if so ,
  what is the reason for that ?  I , personally haver never built a foundation this way ,but am very
  interested .

[TexstarJim]

Welcome to the forum snoopy, glad to see you joined.  To answer your question:

Placing a layer of plywood between the two (2) beams (2x12's) gives additional strength because you stagger the ends of the beams so two ends don't join at the same place.  (In other words, the ends of 4 boards don't junction at the same place)  The plywood reinforces the junction because it also overlaps any joining of ends. 

Pier and beam construction is usually very strong and adjustable later on in case you have some settling of the structure.

Hope this explains the technique.

Here is a shot of the interior after the sheetrock has been hung:

[Snoopy]

 My apologies Jim , I did not do a good job asking that question....I understand the plywood between the
double 2x12's , but I'm talking about where you had placed your lone 2x12 atop those doubles to start
your floor joists. It looks like a layer of plywood sits between your floor and the built-up beam. But just
on the outer perimeter .....Am I a little clearer on that - I'm certain the problem's with me !

[TexstarJim]

Oh OK, I got you now.  No, that's a 1x4 laid flat that runs around the top of the entire set of beams.  In order for me to get my floor framing exactly square, I wanted some lee-way for tweaking and the 1x4 enabled me to do that.  Had I went to an extra lot of work and trouble, I might.......and I emphasize "might" have gotten the beams perfectly square and built my floor joists inside of the beams.  But working with concrete, rough lumber, and working alone, I decided not to try that.  Using the pythagorean method of squaring up a rectangle (the 3,4,5 method), I got the diagonal within a quarter of an inch by building the frame on top of the beams. 

I was off more than that with the beam structure, almost an inch at one corner.  So, the layer of 1x4 laid flat gave me a good working surface to squaring up the floor framing.  I hope this answers your question.  Good question by the way.

[Snoopy]

 Oh , a 1x4....OK !  I  thought that I saw something like that. And  I understand why. Working by yourself
takes alot of guts and determination ,but your success is much sweeter. You're making great progress and
going plenty fast - don't let anybody tell you different ! The 3-4-5 method is useful know-how ,much like
your water-level. Another extention of the 3-4-5 is the  6-8-10 method(as you probably know) . It can be
a little more tricky using longer measurements though when your building alone.

      Thank you for the response.....Look forward to more updates !

[ScottA]

Looks good but I consider hiring sheetrockers to be cheating. I'll bet you are hiring drywall finishers too. 

[TexstarJim]

Looks good but I consider hiring sheetrockers to be cheating. I'll bet you are hiring drywall finishers too. 

Yeppers, and he is almost half done with the finishing of the walls.  Took those Mexican drywall hangers less than 5 hours to sheetrock the entire house, it would have taken me two weeks.