Sunday, November 14, 2010

Cabin Building - Day 78-82 **Pictures**

Ok - so we finally got the camera to play nice with the computer so we could get these pics posted for you. Enjoy!!

Day 78 -- The Sheathing

First floor walls all sheathed - figuring out the loft sub-floor layout since we're a teeny-weensy bit out of square.
Looking in the "Front Door" on the west side - all the boxes are the stove, flue, & chimney assemblies. And another example of creative bush repurposing... a pretzel barrel for our 8d nails after the cardboard box exploded!
Looking in the "Front Door" - eventually we'll replace that ladder with an L-staircase. We did, finally, remove that lovely yellow ratchet strap once we got the subfloor down and everything stayed put - YAY!
With the walls done, the guys start on the loft floor.
Half our load of insulation. It was snowing that day, which is why G's butt is all white LOL!
Ripley hated being left on the ground while we were all up on the loft deck. After climbing 10 feet up the ladder, she suddenly realized how high up she was and lost her nerve.
Just look at that face!  "Mommy, you sadistic human, put down the camera and help me!!"
View out the "back window" - sorry for the blur, I was shivering!
View out the "front window".

Day 81 -- The Rafters

Stood the first 4 rafters we built the day before.
Running out of space to build trusses on the deck, so we started stacking them against the ones we'd already lifted and braced.
Ken counting rafters to make sure we had enough pieces cut -- ended up with two extra lower rafters OOPS! Note that Ken (6'1") can just squeeze under the pitch break. Our lower rafters are so steep so we only lost 16" of usable floor space in the loft.
There's the peak at 9'3" - or at least what it looks like from 5'6"  :)
Last one raised - and there's still some daylight left!!
Close up of our seat cut on the lower rafter (75°). The tail is angled to meet up with porch roof (15°) once it gets constructed.
Close up of the gambrel pitch break, where 75° lower rafter meets the 60° upper rafter. The angled joint is braced by a 4' gusset of 3/4" plywood, and a 4x11 tie plate bent over the rafter at the corners. This way, we avoided needing the support wall that you commonly find in gambrel roof construction.
Close up of the ridge braced by a 4' collar-tie/gusset from a 2x6, and 4x11 tie plate bent over the rafter at the corners. We'll come back later (after the sheathing) and add strapping over the outside of the ridge and pitch breaks to reinforce the bracing.
All up with the outside common rafters notched out for the 2x6 outriggers that will support the 2x6 barge rafters on the 2' overhang.
More pics out the "front window".
Sunset over the hills looking left out of the "front window".
And a very cool moonrise to end our day before climbing down off the roof.
The end of another snowy work day -- I'm hiding in the truck with the heater on because my hands were completely frozen!!
Day 81 - The Roof Deck

Here we are at lunch with the outriggers and barge rafters installed and the decking down on the east side. It was pretty windy that day, which made this job ever so much fun -- glad Ken was there to help because passing out the sheets and holding them in place definitely required 3 people on this steep a roof.
And finally, the decking down on the west side of the roof -- yes, the last 3 sheets went up by shop light because Ken is a crazy person!  :)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

your not out of square it was the sheets of sub-flooring that were not cut square. Looks great. Hoping all the best.

Anonymous said...

Great views from upstairs. Keep up the hard work.

Marybeth said...

WOW it looks great!!! The loft has much more room than I had imagined. Actually with the walls the whole thing looks much bigger to me. =) Can't wait to see pictures with the roof all covered for the winter, and everything sealed up. I know you must be getting very excited and ready to move. I think Ripley and Charlie are excited too. Take care of those hands. Hopefully you guys will be able to take a day or two off inside the cabin soon.

Linda Foley said...

Wow! lookin GOOD! You'll be able to sleep inside soon!

Anonymous said...

Of course the work begins when you start the finish work inside. lol Looking really nice. Cant wait to see it all buttoned up for the winter time and pictures from the second floor... Great view...

Your lucky to have a good neighbor like that...

Wash.

Anonymous said...

Looks great. It is a lot bigger than I had imagined. I hope you have more progress and good weather, or at least weather that is good enough to work in :)

Sam.... said...

Congratulations - another job well done! :~))

As I sit here in my warm house, I can't even imagine how frigid that whole experience must have been. Takes me back to my days in North Dakota when I was quite a bit younger. Who said youth was wasted on the young? You guys are a prime example of the fallacy of that remark!

John said...

I stumbled across your blog a few days ago....and love it. My wife and I dream of moving to AK some day (sooner rather than later) and following your blog makes that a bit more real! Keep up the good work...and the cabin is looking amazing.

HermitJim said...

Certainly looks good to me! Ya'll are making a lot of headway considering the weather conditions...

Won't be long until the pup decides to go all the way on the ladder!

Anonymous said...

HOT DAMN! HUZZAH! CONGRATS!! GETTIN' CLOSE!!!

Viva -- Sager

*g said...

Love the puppy pics! Every time I climb a ladder I'm followed by a cat or two. One made it all the way to the roof when I cleaned the gutters last year. Didn't want to come down when I was ready then was too scared to climb down the ladder. I have scars on my shoulder from the claws since I had to carry her down the ladder.....

Small Log Homes said...

You guys have done a lot of great work here. I especially liked the rafters. Any new pictures? I'd love to see what it looks like when it's all done!

Troy said...

Speaking of Charlie, how is he doing through all this? Does he roam at all on your homestead? It must have been tough for him to be on his own now with out his other buddy.

Admire your determination and dedication towards fulfilling your dream. Well done :)

Oh, and may I ask about your family? Anyone wanting to come up and visit your sanctuary?

Take care. :)

Plickety Cat said...

Troy - Charlie gets to roam outside during the day in "Not-Winter"; but we tend to keep her confined at night (too many predators for such a tiny cat) and in winter (way too cold and she has furless ears).

She tolerates the dog reasonably well for animal company, and doles out any frustration on the local rodent population -- who would have guessed an old one-fanged indoor kitty could be such a great mouser!

Gungnir's parents are planning to come visit in August -- realizing that they must stay in the vacant wall tent because our cabin is barely big enough for 2 people. I expect it will be a bit of shock coming from the city in NE England to the backcountry of Alaska... even in summer.

My family would love to come visit, but things haven't worked out on that front. My sister and her husband are in TX dealing with the drought on their homestead. And my parents just moved from TX to northern WA to escape the drought.