days in the life of a
Previous POSTS
Log Cabin
May 24, 2011
CABIN-RAISIN'
In just 4 more days, our logs will arrive...a little later than the originally scheduled date, but I guess in the scheme of life a few days is not going to matter much.
As it turned out, with all the rain we've had since we broke ground May 10, we probably wouldn't have been ready for the logs anyway.
But they're arriving on the trucks from Tennessee this Saturday morning!!!
So I plan to post a weekly cabin update on Tuesdays from here on out, a progress report just in case you're interested in watching the cabin-raising from the comfort of your computer.
Here's what's been happening the past couple of weeks....
May 11...the footers were dug and prepared.
May 12...the concrete footers were poured....(that's the back of Mama and Dad and Karter watching)
...and the crawl space prepared.
May 14...the cement blocks were delivered.
Then the rains came (again!). By May 16, our nice neat crawlspace was a wet muddy mess.
May 21...after several days of rain, it finally dried up enough for the block-layers to do their thing.
May 22...the foundation is in!
More work to be done, weather-permitting ???) of course, before the logs arrive on Saturday. But things are moving around here!
Now I'm ready for some cabin-raisin'!
May 11, 2011
GROUND-BREAKING!!!
May 10.
The official ground-breaking for the cabin!
Not a moment too soon, since the logs are arriving next week. And there's a whole lot of work for them to get done before the logs get here.
I was working at church yesterday when my cell phone rang, the guy in the orange shirt's frantic voice on the other end. On the second scoop, he had hit and broken the natural gas line (that we had repeatedly told the contractor about....) and gas was spewing out. I rushed home and helped him find some fittings to plug the line.
I know...WHAT A WOMAN....
Actually, I showed him the box of odds and ends of pipe fittings, valves, connectors, etc. that Kim has collected over the years and he found what he needed.
At least now we know for sure exactly where the gas line is and that there's plenty of gas in it.
I know... a few pictures of a backhoe digging dirt is not all the exciting for you, but it is VERY EXCITING for us!
Our log cabin dream is really happening! And it all starts...
...with the ground-breaking!
May 11, 2011
GROUND-BREAKING!!!
May 10.
The official ground-breaking for the cabin!
Not a moment too soon, since the logs are arriving next week. And there's a whole lot of work for them to get done before the logs get here.
I was working at church yesterday when my cell phone rang, the guy in the orange shirt's frantic voice on the other end. On the second scoop, he had hit and broken the natural gas line (that we had repeatedly told the contractor about....) and gas was spewing out. I rushed home and helped him find some fittings to plug the line.
I know...WHAT A WOMAN....
Actually, I showed him the box of odds and ends of pipe fittings, valves, connectors, etc. that Kim has collected over the years and he found what he needed.
At least now we know for sure exactly where the gas line is and that there's plenty of gas in it.
I know... a few pictures of a backhoe digging dirt is not all the exciting for you, but it is VERY EXCITING for us!
Our log cabin dream is really happening! And it all starts...
...with the ground-breaking!
May 31, 2011
CABIN-RAISIN'...WEEK 3
May 24...temporary electrical pole....
...with a little electrical humor!
That morning Builder Steve said to me, "Now don't panic, but...."
It's never good when your builder says "Now don't panic, but..." and I began right away to panic.
Apparently, the masons who put in the foundation mismeasured the placement of the garage a tad bit....
...and the whole garage needed to shift north six inches.
I thought, who cares...so what if the garage is six inches the wrong direction? In a conventional home, it wouldn't be a big deal at all. But on a log cabin, it's a huge deal since the logs on the house are being custom-notched to accept the logs on the garage.
So what else to do but for them to tear out a few of the upper rows of the two affected walls....
....and stack a second correct wall in the proper place?
Which (after my panic) actually worked out just fine. After they grade it all, no one will even know and we'll just have an extra-sturdy double foundation on two of the garage walls.
May 27...rain, rain, RAIN....for 2 straight days. Ready for the logs, but things are a muddy mess on the site.
May 28...8 am....We watched from our front porch as three semis loaded with logs brought the long-awaited delivery.
Builder Steve had the nerve-wracking job of unloading the trucks....
...while our log home distributor Bruce oversaw and inventoried everything.
These beautiful round natural peeled logs are our porch posts.
Less than 3 hours later, the makings of our log home were unloaded, organized, and a huge wooden puzzle laid out waiting to be put together.
Construction begins today. YAY!!!
June 7, 2011
CABIN-RAISIN'...WEEK 4
Wow! When I look back at Week 3, I can't believe how much they've done in a week. The last cabin post left you with the logs having been delivered. Building started the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
May 31...the floor joists were put in
June 1...the subfloor was laid...
(And no, I don't think that guy is picking at his butt. On closer inspection (yes, I zoomed in...) he's really just reaching for his hammer hanging from his belt.)
...and that same afternoon, Builder Steve fastened on the very first LOG!!
June 2....
...the entire first row of logs is on and the second one begun.
In cabin-building terminology, it's not called a "row" but a "course" of logs. Just FYI....
Fast-forward 500 photos, 2 days, 1 luau, 1 wedding, and a big storm later...
June 5....6 courses of logs are up! It's really taking shape now!
LOVE the dovetail corners!!! Aren't the logs beautiful???
June 6...7 courses on...
...and the windows are being framed.
Woo-hoo!
Our cabin is becoming a reality!
June 14, 2011
CABIN-RAISIN'...WEEK 5
June 7...8 courses of logs are on. The work gets harder as the house gets higher. Those logs are heavy!!!
June 7. View from the back corner, where the master bath will be.
June 8...9 log courses on, with the tenth/ final one started.
June 8. View of the interior, from the master bathroom corner. Everything's a little wet after a rainshower.
June 9...10 courses high! The basic shell of the house is up!
June 9. My two favorite little boys are sitting in Gramaw's cabin window.
You may be wondering about the gap above the window. That is to accommodate the shrinkage that the logs will undergo as they age and season in the next year or so.
June 10 and 11 were rainout days. After such a long string of terrific weather, it was bound to happen.
June 13...preparation for the garage floor concrete. Builder Steve said they hauled in 110 tons of stone to bring the garage up to the necessary grade.
I just hope the feral cats that hang around here don't discover this big catbox and start doing their business in it before the cement man comes.
This week, hopefully, the garage walls will go up and the porches will get framed. Hard to believe just 2 1/2 weeks ago the logs arrived...things are definitely progressing...
