Winter Break

Once again, I have not posted in awhile. Rest assured, we have been busy trying to get the cabin done to a good point to leave it over the winter. Originally, we wanted to get the roof on, but that didn't happen. Instead we were able to get the Tongue & Groove on (this is the wood "paneling" that will be the visible ceiling). After the Tongue & Groove, you have a hidden set of rafters, insulation, plywood, and then the actual roof. We got all of the T&G up and then covered everything with a roof wrap that will, hopefully, keep it dry throughout the winter. We are very excited that for the most part it is covered. Obviously snow can still get in through the ends and the cracks, but with the way the wind blows we're hoping it won't be too bad. Here's the steps:

The rafters are 4" by 12" beams that are about 28 feet long. They are all stained the dark color which will also be the wall log color. We needed the crane to get them up.


Working on the rafters - Kenyon's dad has been a huge help


Looking up through the rafters


All 40 of the rafters are up


Kenyon with his rafters


Kenyon drilling the rafters into the ridge pole - we don't want them going anywhere


Next was the Tongue & Groove. We had to stain all of this. This was quite an experience and took forever. We did two coats of stain plus a topcoat. We started out staining up in the cul-de-sac using extra pieces of scaffolding as "racks". We fought rain and wind and finally snow. I am so glad it's over! In the end we had to start bringing it home and staining in our garage because it was too cold outside. I think our garage now has a Honey Timber tint. We used approximately 6,864 linear feet of 2"x6" T&G. If you're wondering how much that is - it's a lot, more than you ever want to have to do.

If you know us well, you know that we did everything mathematically. I had a lot of spreadsheets and lists to plan out the most efficient way to use the various lengths of T&G with the least amount of scrap - and keeping the "seams" at alternating rafters. The planning was crucial. It allowed Kenyon to just be on the roof and have everything preplanned so there was no stopping to consider what to do next. It also helped save money because it really was the most efficient usage of the T&G.

Kenyon's brother Spencer came to help. Of course, it started snowing.


Halfway up the first side of T&G. All the snow was making us very nervous, luckily this was the last snow storm for awhile. This was when I started to go up to help. Let's just say me up there, didn't work out. I wouldn't call it a fear of heights, more like a fear of falling 39 feet headfirst onto the cement floor.


While I was sitting watching Kenyon work up on the roof, I decided to take a picture of the snow, to show how crazy it was up there.


This is what it will look like when you're inside the house and looking up at the ceiling. This is the first thing we have done where it is a "final" look. After guessing at stain colors, we're really happy with it. The unstained logs in the picture will eventually be stained the dark brown color.


Another shot looking up at the ceiling. The open ends will get covered eventually.


Final work for the winter. We could not have done it without the help of our LHBA friend, David. The T&G is all up and it is covered with roof wrap. The roofing store guy assures us this will keep it dry all winter. Our fingers are crossed!

Ridge Pole Up!

I know I haven't posted our updates lately, so let me catch you up and then I'll post the pictures. We finished the walls - there are 12 rows of logs and they are about 16' 5" from the top of the basement walls. When you finish your walls, the goal is to have all 4 corners within 1" of each other. Before you start, this seems completely reasonable; however, once you start stacking these logs, it seems like that is going to be impossible. We're not talking about perfectly shaped/pieces of wood - we're talking about logs that not only are not at all even but also there are no two alike. I can't believe it, but we actually ended up about 1 3/4" off across all 4 corners. I understand that you are probably like us back when we were naive about such things - but now that we're wiser, we recognize that this is nothing short of amazing.

The next step was to start installing the Ridge Pole Support Logs (RPSLs). These are vertical logs that will support the Ridge Pole which supports the roof. The log has to sit on a piece of all-thread which is sticking up out of the cement floor. The log is pre-drilled so that it will set on the all-thread.

My job was down in the basement with Kenyon's dad. His job was to help guide the log down and make sure we had it coming down in the right place. My job was to be laying on the basement floor to make sure we were lowering it onto the all-thread. Watching a 2500lb log being lowered down with one strap almost on top of you is a bit surreal.





Since I'm guessing that the average reader is not interested in all of the specific details I will gloss over them a bit. I may try to do a post on the LHBA Forums with the details of some of our ideas that made things easier. So, we did 2 RPSLs.



Next, is the girder. This log supports the floor for the 2nd floor. You cut a hole in each side of the house and "thread" the log through the holes. It was a bit tight through the 2nd hole, but it made it.









We finished up with the 3rd RPSL and the Ridge Pole. The Ridge Pole has a tip end diameter of 18" and the butt end has a 33" diameter. It weights between 3500 and 4000 lbs!






Our next steps are to put in some small support logs to support the first floor. Then, we will have the rafters, tongue & groove ceiling, other set of rafters, insulation, plywood, and then the roof. We are going to try to get all of that done before the snow makes us quit. It seems a bit ambitious, but we're crazy, so why not? We do have a lot of help coming out to visit in the next few weeks so that will be great!

We did decide on a stain. We're going with #10 - it's the one on the end.

10 Rows and Stain Choices

We now have 10 full rows of logs up. We plan to do a total of 12. We need to get a some extra long logs for the top row (cap logs) the logger has one for us, but needs to get one more. So, we won't be putting up the last two rows until we get those logs. We don't want to do the 11th row, because we will need to measure the 12th row logs and then pick the best logs that will help make it the most level for the 11th row. Right now, the corners are within 1 - 1.5 inches of each other. The goal is 1 inch - once we started, we never thought we'd get that close!

To give you some perspective, here's a picture with Kenyon's dad standing in front of the house. He is an average-sized man!


This is a shot from the downhill side with Kenyon there to give you perspective.


We need to pick out a stain color. If you want to vote please feel free to let me know - understand that this is not a democracy but I am willing to listen to opinions! Our plan is to have a green metal roof and then on the inside to have a really light color stained ceiling and floors and keep in mind that the outside wall color will also be the inside wall color. So, while we like the dark for contrast and the looks, we don't want the inside of our house to seem too dark. The dark streaks on the wood won't be there in the final thing - this log just didn't have everything scraped off.

The Crane!

(Note: I posted 2 posts today, but the second one is so long, the first one probably won't show up on your page. Because, I'm pretty sure if you're reading this, you are riveted to your seat by the excitement.)

After much deliberation and weighing all the options, we decided to use a boom truck/crane to put up the rest of the logs, the best deal actually came from hiring an operator to do it rather than renting the truck ourselves. He came all day Friday and half a day Saturday. Here he is setting up:


Here is the crane in action.


It was just so tall! With the crane, he could pick up the log and swing it over into place within 15 minutes. It is amazing!

After the first day, we had 5 logs on plus some time taking logs off the top and building up the scaffolding. He just left the truck overnight, we let him borrow our old truck to drive home in. We figured we didn't need to worry about it, since his truck is worth a whole lot more than ours! In fact, after filling up ours with gas the other day we realized that 14% of the value of the truck, is the gas.

In an effort to speed up the process, we precut a lot of rebar in different lengths, here's our organization.

Then, since we're getting up higher and higher, we needed a method of getting the rebar up to where they needed without someone having to go up and down the ladder. Here's our makeshift "dumb waiter". Who knew that the bag they gave us in business school would come in so handy?! Shout out to the Krannert Graduate School of Management!

It gets so unbelievably hot up there during the day because we're in direct sunlight the whole time. I have discovered though, a nice spot of shade up until about 12:30pm, I hang out here a lot!

At the end of the weekend, we have put up 11 logs, 8 with the crane and then 3 on our own using the forklift. We can only use the forklift on the close wall and were able to get one on each side, but it's too tall now to use the forklift on the side walls anymore. So, we currently stand at 9 rows + 1 log of the 10th row. We don't have any pictures with the one log, but here's 9 rows. After 9 rows the walls are about 12 feet tall above the concrete. After the 10th is finished it will be about 13'6". It looks like we'll probably only need 12 rows. Next time we'll make sure to put a person in the picture so you can get some perspective on just how tall it really is. Seriously, it's big.

Back to Work!

When we last left our heroes, the snow and rain halted their progress for the winter. It was mid-November and we had to stop with 6 and 1/2 rows of logs on the walls. We decided in an attempt to even slightly reduce the amount of snow/water in our basement and through the drain to try to cover up the house a little bit. We put most of the remaining logs on top of the house and then got some huge tarps and put them all over the house. We didn't actually expect it to keep all the snow out, but we hoped to try to lessen the impact. It definitely worked, although by the end some of the tarps were pretty torn by the wind! Here's a picture about 7-10 days after we decided to stop working - I think you'll see why! We did go back and put more tarps on after this picture was taken. Oh, and I feel it only proper to mention that when I say "we" put tarps on, I was not the one climbing all over the logs putting the tarps on. I'm more of an idea person.

Flash forward to last weekend, in order to get moving, we needed to get all those logs back off the house and onto their racks. We got a forklift again, although it's slightly smaller than last year because they didn't have the bigger size one. Of course, that makes me nervous, since I'm the one whose life is at the mercy of the forklift.



When we got to the 3rd log in the row (of 31) it was a Doug Fir, which is a heavier and stronger log - it was too heavy for the forklift. So, we thought about it, surveyed the area, and decided, how bad could it really be if we just roll this log off the side? We looked at all possible scenarios, and decided that it wouldn't be too bad. Based on the positioning of the log, we were fairly sure it wasn't going to roll down the mountain. So, Kenyon got the crow bar, and started rolling it.

And you know what, it was uneventful. The log rolled off, the uphill side hit first and then when the downhill side hit it bounced the first end up a little but that was it. Other than an indentation where the first end hit, you would have never known.

We did manage to get most of the other logs off that weekend, and finished the job later. We did have to modify our compound this year. With the busy little guy we have on our hands we knew that he wouldn't stay in one area very well, so we got what I like to call, "The Corral". I also got some of those play mats to put on top of the mulch just to make it a little safer. With the amount he has fallen on the swingset at home and cut his face on the mulch, I knew we'd need something. But the kids had a blast on the little climbing toy. Before you start worrying, we have made sure that the kids are not up there when we are using any heavy equipment this year!

I know it's been awhile...

I know, I know, it's been a long time since my last post. But, never fear, you haven't been missing out on anything! Basically, in mid-November we had to stop working because of rain and snow. The forklift kept getting stuck in the mud so, we were done until spring. We ended with 6 1/2 rows up. Then we took as many of our other logs as could fit and put them on top of the house, think makeshift roof. We proceeded to put really big tarps all around the house. We knew it wasn't going to keep it dry inside, but our goal was to keep the majority of the snow out. And, it worked! The tarps ripped by spring, but it definitely did the job and was worth it.

So far this spring, it has been too wet to start working. The past week or two it is finally dry so we're gearing back up. Hopefully we will have the site ready to go and some equipment up here in the next week - fingers crossed! More updates when something happens!