24' x 32' Lake Cabin in Oklahoma

[fishing_guy]

As a high school student, I worked summers with my dad and uncle hanging.  You "became" a journeyman when you could hang 40 sheets a day.

We had plenty of 6 hour days...the sheets were hung, and no more to do that day.

I quickly learned to hustle buns!

[TexstarJim]

Texturing was completed Monday night and I have started priming and painting.  Here's a shot of the utility room;



The small area to the right of the window was originally planned to be a pantry but in order for me to set my upright freezer into the utility room and not take up too much floor space (gonna use it as a spare guestroom too) I decided to set the freezer into this nook and have the door open even with the wall.  I have a plug in and cable outlet that will allow a television to set up above the freezer so the grandkids can watch tv.



Looking the opposite direction in the utility room shows were the washer/dryer will set.  I went with a light pastel yellow color for this room.



The picture above is peeking into the bathroom and notice the bath-mat on the side of the tub.  It saw some action last night and a nice hot bath sure felt great.  There will be a slender piece of granite set where the bar of soap is setting for a small shelf in front of the tub.  The vanity will set to the left of the tub and the toilet flange is set and ready for the toilet after the tile is laid.



And finally, here is a shot of the shower-room.  The shower-room and bathroom have only been primed with a sealer and will be painted a light pastel blue later tonight.

That's about it for now and thanks for looking.

[Redoverfarm]

Looking good Jim.  Be careful or you will work yourself out of a job.   

[TexstarJim]

Thanks Red and that's sorta the plan isn't it?

[TexstarJim]

The toilet was installed this morning and life just got a little easier;



I had to wait until my tile was laid and set before putting in the toilet.  Once I install the bathroom vanity, this bathroom is pretty much finished.  Lumber yard called today and said my interior doors are in.  Takes me about 20 minutes to install an interior door.  Won't take very long to trim out the bathroom and install the window stool, then it really is finished.

[Snoopy]

 Jim ,

  Lookin' good !.....Probably the smartest move in making this the most comfortable room 1st.

[TexstarJim]

Thanks Snoopy

I'm almost finished with the exterior painting and I have decided there are other things more fun to do than painting.  I hate it!





I will be trimming out the windows, door, and ac unit (through the wall) with Western Cedar.  I will prime the cedar, then paint it the same color as the trim along the soffit and roof edge.  I'm only using cedar because of its ability to withstand moisture.  Western Cedar is cheaper than Red Cedar.  

I've still got to build the ramp up to the porch that will cross the little stream on the North side of the cabin.  It will join the porch in the area where the blue ice chest is setting.  Once the ramp is built, I will build the railings all around the porch\deck and on the sides of the ramp.  I thought about covering the ramp with a roof, but won't do so for now.  Down to the nitty gritty on my finances and watching my budget very closely.

And I still have to box in the roof over the porch with soffit.  I can't do that until I can finish the other sides of the cabin because I need the scaffolding used elsewhere to install the soffit under the porch.

I expect to be totally finished by the end of June.

[TexstarJim]

Summer heat has actually eaten my lunch on this project.  This area of Oklahoma has been under heat advisories and heat warnings almost every day since the last week of June.  Due to my health, I am unable to tolerate heat in excess of 80 degrees and those days with high humidity find me gasping for breath.  Below is a picture of the progress thus far and I haven't been able to do anything outside since I got this ramp/deck built over my little creek. 



The ramp is not finished by a long shot, not even screwed down good.  Heat moved in before I could finish the ramp and get the railings built and put in place.  I hate not having something complete, but I don't have a choice right now.  I'm hoping by the middle of September I can resume outside work and totally finish the exterior.

[Texas Tornado]

Hi TexstarJim,
Can you please explain why you did this?
The beams will be (2) 2"x12" sandwiched together with (2) strips of 1/2" plywood (staggered) in between.  Each beam will be 32 feet long and there will be three.
Irene

[TexstarJim]

Yes, for strength and rigidity.  Almost impossible to find a naturally occurring beam that is 32 feet long without spending a wheel-barrow full of money, so I simply made my own beams.  The lamination provides the strength, mainly the staggering of the boards as put together.  (shown in the pictures.)

[Texas Tornado]

Thank You soooo much!!!!

[chad]

Hi,jim ive been reading this on and off and your cabin looks great.I have a question,is your 2 by 12`s directly on top of the 6 by6`s or did you cut a step in your 6 by 6.Also if they are directly on top did you have the welding shop make flat plates.and how thick are they?Once again your cabin looks great!  

[chad]

Hi its me again,is your 2 by 12`s treated its hard to tell from thanx.

[TexstarJim]

Chad, I apologize for not noticing your questions before now.  If you will go back to the 2nd and 3rd page of this thread there are pictures that show how the beams were built and also attached to the 6x6 posts.  The 2x12's are not treated.

The beams were built in place and originally, I intended on sandwiching (2) strips of 1/2" plywood in between (2) 2x12's, but decided to use a single strip of plywood.  These beams were put to the test during the winter because I had the entire order of sheetrock delivered and stacked into one single pile inside the cabin.  I became concerned that that much weight would eventually cause the floor to sag and show a low spot later.

After getting the sheetrock hung and all off the floor, I was glad to see the floor remained level without any noticeable sagging where (90) sheets had set for several months.

With cooler weather on the way, I will be resuming my work and start taking pictures and updating this thread more often.  I sorta took off for the summer and I haven't been pulling this thread up too often.  Sorry for the delay in responding. 

[chad]

Hi,thanks for the response and help.the water leveler is great!I plan on building an A frame cabin on my land hopefully next year.Cant find too much info on building one but im going to make my posts and beam similar about 3 feet off the ground!If anyone has any further info on an A frame construction I would greatly appreciate it.Seems like the fad of the A frame died out in the 70s.Thanks for posting all of ur cabins and progress this site is great.I think im hooked

[MountainDon]

You could start a discussion topic on what the pros and cons of an A-frame design is. Lots of folks have thought about them; we did. But then we thought about a number of things we never did for a lot of reasons.

[chad]

Thanks for the advice mountain.

[TexstarJim]

  Hurray!!!!!!!!!  Cooler weather is here and I can get back to my exterior work.  I've been getting some interior work done on a day to day basis, but I want the exterior finished asap.  I've got a few pics of some of the interior work, but will wait on posting them until later in the week.  I'm just happy that the long hot summer is finally over.......... mostly.   

[TexstarJim]

I've been able to finish the exterior of the north end of the cabin (painting, trim for window and ac unit, and corners).  Weather has been perfect the last few days and I've been ready at daylight each day of work.



After finishing the north wall, I started on finishing the east side (the back of the cabin) and this morning was able to get the kitchen window installed and trimmed out.  I had quite a bit of painting to do on the east wall and got that done yesterday afternoon.



Tough to get a clear view of the back of the cabin for all the trees and it won't be until later in the Fall before the leaves disappear giving me an unobstructed shot of the East exterior wall.

Except for the front of the cabin, the West side, all exterior walls are finished and I can pull the scaffolding down.  I'll set the scaffolding up under the porch and finish out the front of the cabin.  I'll be picking up my soffit (1/4" plywood) on Monday and get them primed and painted for installation.  I still have to get the picture window trimmed out along with the entry door and the sliding patio glass door.  (2) floodlights to install plus a ceiling fan on the South end of the porch.

I may focus on finishing the ramp (walk-way out over the little creek on the North side of the cabin) since it is more subject to weather delays in case we get inclimate weather this Fall.  I just lack the railings on one side of the ramp and then railings on the deck (the main porch) and all the decking work will be completed.  Oh, I still need to install the hand-rails on the steps up to the ramp and along the stairs up on the main deck. 

Below is a picture of the house from last year.  Quite a difference and looking back on this project, I can't believe it has taken so long, but all in all, I've enjoyed the building of my own cabin.



I've been getting some work done inside during the hot weather and will post some pictures later.  Thanks for looking.

[Texas Tornado]

Your place is just awesome!!!!

[Texas Tornado]

Any new pics of the kitchen area?
Irene

[IronPatriotTN]

Hey any new pics of the interior work?? 

[novicebuilder]

How's the finished product look.  Some overall pics would be nice.  It seems that you wouldn't have this project done if your son and you didn't have such a good working relationship together.  It's really nice to have such awesome kids!