Monthly Archives: November 2013

day 24 and 25…they’re still heeere

Posted on November 24, 2013 by the coleman cabin

We had been back and forth as to whether we should have a full masonry fireplace built or put in a more efficient wood burning insert. After much research on Dave’s part, we decided on an insert, as long as we could find one that would still give us the look of a massive wood burning fireplace that we feel every log cabin needs. After finding just the right one, Dave, after more research, decided he would be able to install it himself and went ahead and placed the order. Expecting it to arrive after the crew had left, he had it delivered it to our Midlothian residence, hoping it would be in smaller pieces as the total weight would be 600lbs. We were rather surprised when in showed up two days later, on two separate pallets, one of which we were able to break into smaller sections to get into my van, the other, the insert itself, in one complete piece and impossible for Dave and Max to lift even with a hand truck. I’d like to give a shout out to our awesome neighbors, Brian and Jason Astroth, and Bill Durow, who came over to lend Dave a hand in hoisting the massive thing onto our trailer so we could haul it down the the cabin…thanks guys we owe you one!!! Once down at the site, it took all six crew members plus Mr. Lipham and Dave, to heave it up the four feet onto the front porch and then bring it into the great room. Thank goodness they were still here when it arrived! Unfortunately, I was sick that day so there are no photos of the whole production. 😦

: the giant pallet containing the fireplace

: thanks to Brian, Jason and Bill, the pallet made in onto the trailer!

: once in the cabin, they realized the hole for the insert needed to be cut higher in order to be able to slide it in place

: José saws the log opening

: Mr. Lipham holds the level while José runs the saw

: using the chainsaw, José cuts the vertical lines

: and voila, we have the beginnings of a fireplace!

: brick will line the fire box and we will eventually place stones on the surrounding wall so it will look like a masonry fireplace

It came as no surprise to Dave and I when the end of today arrived and our Battle Creek crew had yet to wrap things up as we had thought it incredibly optimistic of Mr. Lipham when he set today as the new finish date. They had ended up losing two crew members durning the course of the time that they have been here which has slowed down the progress somewhat and, in addition, there was a discrepancy between what the Battle Creek rep had agreed to have completed for us and what Mr. Lipham and his crew had been expecting to complete. Fortunately for us, Mr. Lipham and crew have been great to work with and, despite running way over their expected finish date, they’ve been knocking out much of the finish work on the outside that they were not expecting to have to do.

They have spent the past two days working on the roof and porch trim, running more electric, starting the steps between the first and second floor and figuring out where all the railings need to be placed.

: key showing where each rail piece should go

: Dave places the rails in their correct spot on the deck

: Mr. Lipham joins in and lends Dave a hand

: time to lift the loft rails up to the 2nd floor

: Mr. Lipham and Dave work together to lift the rail

: they hand the rail piece up Raymond

: and now to arrange the porch rails

: meanwhile, José begins to work on building the stairs

: getting there, slowly but surely

: Dave tries out the first three stairs

: José draws a pattern for the stringer that the steps will rest on

: he begins to cut out the right angles

: one stringer in place

: so far so good!

: view of the fireplace from the loft

: Raymond continues to work on the 2nd floor wiring

: temperatures below freezing with the wind chill today so Dave cuts up more wood for the fire

: on to the fire with the newly cut logs

: yep, this is the best place to be this today

: Nelson, Carlos and Mateo work on the roof and porch trim while Talon cuts boards to hand up

: Miguel cuts the boards to the correct length

: Miguel throws Mateo another board…they never seem to miss when they throw things to each other!

: this should give you an idea of how cold it is today!

: Carlos hanging out on the roof peak with Nelson just below, waiting for more boards

: Talon tosses a board up to Nelson

: Mateo nailing the trim

: though it doesn’t look possible, Mateo did catch this one as well!

: new finish date, tomorrow…I just don’t see it

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Battle Creek Log Homes, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J. M. Log Craftsman, Kenneth Lipham, log home construction, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

day 19 – 23…framing the second floor, sealing the log ends and building the roof system

Posted on November 23, 2013 by the coleman cabin

By Monday of this week the tongue and groove had been replaced on the second floor. Thankfully, the crew had been able to pull it up and put it back down without damaging the boards!

: putting the tongue and groove back down

: tongue and groove floor in the kids room

: view of the tongue and groove from the 1st floor

Once the floor was put back into place, they moved onto framing the bedrooms and guest bath on the second floor.

: Dave and Mr. Lipham in the guest bath

: guest bath with the giant window that looks out over the front yard

: stairwell leading to the first floor…still no steps!

: Mr. Lipham, Raymond and Dave check out the guest room

: the inside of one of the bedroom dormers

: looking from the kids room to the guest room

: the guest room

: unfortunately, the front dormer windows are in the upstairs closets…clearly, we didn’t think that one through

: looking down into the great room from the loft area

Much of the week was spent working on the five layered roof system. First to go down was the tongue and groove that makes up the ceilings of the second floor and great room, over which was placed the first layer of roofing felt. That was followed by the layer of super thick insulation, followed by a layer of OSB and finally another layer of roofing felt. We’ll eventually have a tin roof placed on top of all of that.

: Talon finished the t & g on the ends of the great room roof

: Carlos trims out the ends of the roof

: Carlos, Nelson, Mateo and Miguel work together on the roof insulation

: the edge of the great room roof is trimmed out

: scraps of the super thick roof insulation

: a network of boards are put down on top of the insulation

: insulation in place on the back of the cabin roof

: sides of the roof are trimmed out

: insulation on the front roof

: OSB is placed on top of the insulation layer

: the final layer of roof felt is put down

With much of the major building complete, they began to work on smaller details.

: Miguel begins to work on the porch and deck post details

: Todd Hawkes made these awesome iron pieces to tie together the heavy support beams on the first floor

: Mr. Lipham holds one of the corner pieces in place…

: then pencils in the screw hole

: Raymond drills the holes for the screws….I left before they were finished so haven’t seen them in place 😦

We had heard from a few different sources, one of which was the Perma Chink rep at the Log and Home show, that log sealant should be used on the log ends…Mr. Lipham had never heard of such a thing nor seen anyone else seal their log ends in the 14 years that he’s been building log homes. Pretty sure he thought we were crazy for doing it, but we did it non the less. The log sealant turned out to be the consistency of Elmer’s glue and smelled remarkably like it as well. Actually, it ended up drying somewhat like Elmer’s as well. We’re now pretty well convinced that’s all it is.

: The log end sealant…or is it Elmer’s glue?!

: Dave rolls the sealant on to the log ends

: yep, looks like Elmer’s glue to me

: finishing the last row of log ends

: Dave hands the roller up to Nelson to roll the few logs he couldn’t reach

: still looks like Elmer’s glue to me

Though Dave had stayed down at the work site till dusk several times, I had yet to be down there long enough to see what the sunset would look like from our deck. We had arrived so late the day we went down to seal the logs that I finally had my chance as we were just finishing when the sun began to set.

: view of the sunset from the breakfast room

: looking out from our bedroom

: view from the center of the deck

: Dave and Mr. Lipham watching as Nelson seals the last few log ends

: old friends at this point

: looking out from inside the great room

We are still completely amazed that in just over three weeks we’ve gone from having just a foundation to being almost completely dried in! Although the first estimate was to be done in 16 days, Mr. Lipman’s new goal is to be finished tomorrow which will be 25 days…only 9 day over….stay tuned to see if they meet that goal. 😉

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Battle Creek Log Homes, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J. M. Log Craftsman, Kenneth Lipham, log cabin roof, log end sealant, log home construction, Perma Chink, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

day 18…windows, we have windows!!!

Posted on November 22, 2013 by the coleman cabin

First thing on today’s agenda was hammering down hundreds of metal plates over the wires along the second floor so the tongue and groove flooring could be put back in place. Dave pitched in and helped so that it would move along a little faster…this time, unlike the caulking incident, Miguel seemed happy for the help. 🙂

: Miguel is very happy to have Dave’s help on this one

: Dave tapping away at the metal wire covers

: Mr. Lipham pitches in to help as well

: tedious work to say the least!

: almost there!

Once the wiring issue was taken care of, it was onto the windows!

: bringing up one of the windows from the basement

: up the stairs they go

: over to the breakfast area

: getting ready to hoist it up to the second floor

: ready…steady…

: lift…

: Mr. Lipham, Carlos and Raymond hand it off to Miguel and Nelson on the second floor

: and it’s in

: here it is from the outside

: on to the breakfast room window

: and the kitchen window

: on to the rear dormer windows

: guest room window

: front dormers are next

: est voila!

Max had come down with us and spent the first half of the morning working on homework. When it was time to clean up, we all pitched in…there was sawdust and wood scraps everywhere so I picked up the broom while Dave showed Max how to blow off the sawdust with a leaf blower. He was supper psyched when Mr. Lipham let him switch out our puny leaf blower for his giant one.

: Max checks out his room for the first time

: enough with the pictures, Mom

: Max uses our puny leaf blower to blow the sawdust out of the house and off the deck

: Mr. Lipham hands him his own…now THAT’s a leaf blower!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J.M. Logcraftsman, Kenneth Lipham, log home construction, log home wiring, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

day 17…Dave discovers that the wiring hasn’t been completely covered with protective metal plates…up comes the recently placed tongue and groove of the second floor

Posted on November 21, 2013 by the coleman cabin

Dave’s BFFs, Dan and Steve, along with Dan’s son Matthew, met us for lunch at our local haunt, El Caporal, then drove out with us to check out the progress of the cabin as neither one had been down since we’d started the log construction.

: the front of the house today

: I think Dan likes the place!

: Dave catches Steve up on what’s going on

: beer and guns…Dan has come prepared

: Matthew poses for a photo at the front door

: checking out the kitchen and breakfast room

: Dave shows the boys the wiring along the breakfast room door frame

: Steve steps out to the edge of the deck and pretends he’s not afraid of heights 🙂

: around back, Mateo, Nelson and Carlos are working on the dormer roof

: after the t & g is down, they begin to lay the roof felt

: Raymond and Miguel work on the other rear dormer

Dan, Steve and Matthew took off to the other side of the property to do a little target practice while Dave went up to the second floor to check things out. He soon discovers that the the tongue and groove flooring has been nailed down directly on top of the wiring that runs between the t & g and the first floor rafters without first putting down the protective metal plates. The purpose of these plates is to keep the wires from being damaged by nails when the flooring is placed. Without them, not only is there danger of one of the wires being damaged, but we also won’t pass inspection without them. Dave calls attention to this error to Mr. Lipham, who promptly has the crew remove all the flooring and put the plates down over the wires. And there’s another day lost.

: tongue and groove flooring in the kids room…

: the guest room…

: and the second floor bath

: t & g of the 1st floor ceiling/2nd floor flooring and new H beam for the breakfast room light

: Dave discovers that the metal plates have not been put down over the wires

: this is what should be covering the wires

: up comes the tongue and groove

: hodge podge of recently removed t & g

: this is what the covered wires should look like

While all that craziness was going on, I took my camera for a walk. It’s been a full year since we first set eyes on this place and it’s beauty still astounds me. I find myself taking pictures of the same spots over and over, but with each season the colors and the lighting changes and I just can’t resist trying to catch each different setting on film. I particularly love the bright green moss that grows along the rock ridge and between the gnarled roots of the old beech trees.

: our resident Bald Eagle made an appearance today

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J. M. Log Craftsman, log home wiring, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

day 15 and 16….t & g ceilings and…this is why wiring a log home is different than your average house

Posted on November 20, 2013 by the coleman cabin

We both missed going down last Thursday to check out the progress on the cabin and were completely astounded when we arrived Friday at the site of the great room ceiling! We’d seen countless photos of the interior of many a two story great room in our Log Home magazines but were still unprepared for what we walked into that morning…it was simply breathtaking.

: looking up at the guest room

: and on the other end, the kids room

: looking out towards the front door and the guest bath above

: the fireplace

: another view of the guest room and second floor bath

: the great room door onto the deck

: looking back at the kitchen with the kids room above

: looking straight above in the great room…Andy was right, with the cross ties and t & g in, the off center beam is not an eyesore, thank goodness!

: another view above of the off center beam.

Most of the crew worked outside putting up more log siding, finishing off dormers and laying down more roofing felt. They’d been working particularly hard so we thought we’d bring in pizza for lunch.

: pizza break!

: outside, the crew works on placing log siding on the great room peak

: cutting the log siding

: Dave steps in and sharpens their chainsaw blade

: covering the dormer roofs

: Miguel lays down more roof felt

Although some of the first floor wiring had been done, we hadn’t witnessed first hand just quite how difficult some of the wiring would be. As I had mentioned in a previous post, all of the wire has to be hidden in window and door frames, across the first floor rafters and under the second floor t & g, and also up over the roof for the second floor ceiling lights and fans . This requires drilling through the heavy 12″ timbers and running over half a mile of wire, all to be connected down in the basement.(I’d somehow turned off the autofocus on my camera so some of the photos are slightly out of focus. Boo.)

: Andy wires for the deck lights

: Mr. Lipham steps in to give his son a hand

: it takes the two of them to drill through some of the beams

: this one was particularly difficult…

: still drilling….

: he seemed to be struggling so I offered to take over…much laughter ensued for some reason 🙂

: a brief rest…

: Andy puts in everything he’s got…

: and voila, it’s through but takes some effort to remove the drill bit

: Dave and Andy discuss electrical box sizes

: another team effort by father and son

: it’s stuck!

: hey Andy, do ya think you should be wearing safety goggles maybe?!

: next, Andy goes up to the highest point of the roof to drill the hole for the great room fan!

: and it’s through! (right where the off center beams meet)

: a little off center but it’s through and will be covered by the fan base anyway

: Andy seems a little worn out…why, I wonder?

: Andy and Mr. Lipham discuss what still needs to be done

: all of the wires have to be run into the basement to the electrical box

: Dave checks out the circuit box

: our awesome father and son team, Andy and Kenneth Lipham

Andy had to leave at the end of the day to drive back to Alabama and I must admit, we were sad to see him go. He has added such a positive energy to the work site, constantly laughing, helping everyone out and keeping the entire atmosphere upbeat. Before he left, he told us not to hesitate to call if we need help while we’re finishing the inside of the cabin…we may just have to “create” a problem so we can call him to come help us out! ;-D

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Andrew Lipham, Andy Lipham, Battle Creek Log Homes, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J. M. Log Craftsman, Kenneth Lipham, log home construction, log home wiring, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

day 14…closing in the front dormers, framing windows and placing more t & g on the roof

Posted on November 19, 2013 by the coleman cabin

Another unusually chilly and windy November morning on Colemans Lake. I spent most of my time sitting by one of the two fires we had going!

: Miguel throws a few pieces of scrap on the fire in front of the cabin

: around back we have a second fire going

: a lovely spot on such a blustery morning!

The crew continued to put down the tongue and groove on the roof and to close in the front dormers today.

: the front of the cabin this morning

: Miguel and Raymond continue to work on the roof while Carlos closes in one of the dormers

: Talon frames in the middle dormer window…this will be the upstairs bathroom window

: a template for the arched window is made

: Carlos and Raymond begin to place the dormer rafters

: a second rafter is in place

: from the inside of the middle dormer, Talon works on framing the arch for the window

: Talon has quite the array of hats but this is still my favorite

: looking up and the second floor dormers and tongue and groove that was just placed on the roof

: OSB is put on the middle dormer

: Talon and Gordo continue with the dormer rafters

: more progress on the dormer roof thanks to Talon

While most of the crew worked up on the roof, foreman, José, and our multi-talented electrician, Andy, worked on building the frames for the wall of windows in the great room while Dave and Mr. Lipham discussed our ideas for our fireplace.

: Dave and Mr. Lipham discuss the fireplace

: Mr. Lipham , José and Andy discuss the framing for the great room windows

: José and Andy begin to measure boards for the great room window frames

: Andy cuts the boards

: a pattern for the window frame is drawn on the floor…

: José and Andy match the boards to the pattern on the floor

After helping with the window framing, Andy does a little more wiring while Carlos, Nelson and Mateo start placing the tongue and groove roof around back.

: the the t & g of the front roof in place, Miguel and Raymond even off the side edge

: from the inside, the t & g of the bedroom ceiling looks awesome!

: around back, Nelson and Carlos begin to place the t & g on the roof

: Andy climbs up to run wire on the second floor

: ….across the rafters…

: and back down he goes…

: more wiring by our trusty electrician

: outlets and lights over the master bathroom sink are wired

: a pallet of tongue and groove is brought around to the back

: Mateo cuts t & g for the back roof

: cross ties for the great room ceiling rafters were put in earlier

: Nelson and Carlos wait ever so patiently for more t & g

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Andrew Lipham, Battle Creek Log Homes, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J. M. Log Craftsman, Kenneth Lipham, log home construction, log home wiring, The Coleman Cabin, tongue and groove ceiling | Leave a comment

day 13…building the front dormers and laying the first layer of roof felt

Posted on November 17, 2013 by the coleman cabin

We were very happy to have both Andy and José rejoin our team today! Despite a few snow flurries and crazy cold wind blowing off the lake, the crew started on schedule and began to close in the second floor dormers on the front of the cabin and to lay the first layer of felting on the roof.

: Andy, just back from Alabama, pops up on the roof to chat with Gordo

: Carlos and Talon work on the rafters over the Guest bathroom dormer while Nelson and Gordo put down the roof felt while Andy hangs out and drinks coffee 🙂

: Nelson and Gordo place roof felt over the tongue and groove, then nail down 2″ x 4″s on top of that

: it was freeeeezing out and Nelson is up there in a t-shirt!

: Mateo hoists another timber up to Miguel

: this will be the window to the guest bath on the second floor

: love Talon’s Hokie hat!

: Carlos and Talon continue to build the roof over the bathroom dormer

: Miguel poses for a photo standing at the highest point of the roof!

While around back, the fireplace box was being closed in, inside Dave discussed with Andy and José whether or not we could remove one of the off center rafters in the great room ceiling. In the end we decided to keep it even though structurally it would have been fine with out it, taking it out would be more of a hassle than it was worth. Andy pointed out that once the tongue and groove ceiling was in and the cross ties up, there would be so much going on up there that we wouldn’t notice it.

: nothing like hot coffee and glazed donuts on a blustery morning…oh and jalepenos of course

: Dave, Andy and José discuss the off center beam placement above

: the off center beam that was driving Dave crazy

: second floor bedroom is coming along

: the fireplace box from the inside

: fireplace box from outside…the master bedroom is to the right

: tongue and groove on the front porch ceiling

: tongue and groove on the second floor ceiling

: more of the second floor tongue and groove

view of the back of the cabin today

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Battle Creek Log Homes, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J. M. Log Craftsman, log home construction, roof felt, The Coleman Cabin, tongue and groove ceiling | Leave a comment

day 12…staining the outside of the cabin

Posted on November 16, 2013 by the coleman cabin

Unfortunately, Max was sick the day the crew started staining the outside of the cabin so I missed the big event. On top of that, Dave forgot to bring my camera with him so what few pictures he took were with his iPhone, which leave a bit to be desired. Better than nothing though and he did get a little video footage:

Getting them to stain the outside for us was definitely a great decision…it would have taken us weeks to do what they did in a day! The process looks pretty simple, one person sprays the stain on the logs while another follows behind with a brush to make sure it goes on smoothly…however, they’ve done it a million times so I think they made it look a lot easier that it would have been.

While half of the crew worked on staining, the other men were on the roof putting on the tongue and groove that will make up the ceiling of the cabin.

: five buckets of this and we still ran out and had to order more …although they did do two coats rather than one in order to make it darker

: once the stain is dry a coat of clear gloss will be applied

: before staining…

: and after one coat

: one person sprays while another follows behind with a brush

: half of the crew worked on staining while the other half began to put the tongue and groove on the roof

: half of the crew worked on staining while the other half began to put the tongue and groove on the roof

: tongue and groove that will make up all of the ceilings in the cabin

Our concern in choosing the Oak stain was that it looked much lighter than what we wanted and was also had a little more of a yellow tint to it than what we had in mind. The Cedar, on the other hand, was too red and too dark but there was no color choice in between the two. So we went with the Oak stain and decided to put on two coats to make it darker…thank goodness we didn’t go for the Cedar because even the Oak initially looked much darker that we wanted! Thankfully though, it didn’t have the yellow tint that it had in the sample and as it dried it has lightened up a good bit so we’re really happy with our choice. Good thing ’cause there’s no going back!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Battle Creek Log Homes, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, J. M. Log Craftsman, Lifeline Ultra-7 Oak stain, log cabin staining, Perma Chink, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

day 10 & 11…bleaching the logs and adding the log siding on the second floor

Posted on November 14, 2013 by the coleman cabin

Saturday morning Dave went down ahead of me so that he could be there when our stain was delivered. We had initially planned to do the staining ourselves but when we saw first hand just how high the second story is on the back of the cabin where the double wall of windows will be, the more daunting it seemed. We made the command decision the day before that we would have our Battle Creek crew go ahead and do it while they were here, given that they had all the necessary equipment and knew what they were doing. However, this put us in a time crunch as the forecast for the next week was freezing temperatures and snow flurries. Mr. Lipham said that if we could get the stain overnighted, they could start staining by Sunday and be finished before the icy temps set in. After much back and forth, it was decided that the cheapest way to have it overnighted was to pay a driver to drive it down from Tennessee. We also had to make a quick decision as to which color to choose. After attending the Permachink talk at the Chantilly Log and Timber show, we decided to go with their Lifeline Ultra-7 line as it had the best reviews and only requires one coat. This left us with fewer choices, none that really jumped out at us. In the end, after talking with Mr. Lipham about it and listening to his advice, we went with the Oak.

The stain arrived as scheduled and the crew went to town trying to get everything done on the outside in order to start staining on Sunday.

: Dave making the call the previous day to order the stain…we chose to go with Oak, which is the second one from the top on the sample behind Mr. Lipham

: completed decorative timbers on the front porch entrance

: dormers were framed in on the second floor bedrooms

: deck posts were placed and wrapped

: heavy timbers were placed to support the deck roof

: the temperature had already started to drop and the wind was picking up so the crew had two fires going today

: Dave places rocks around the fire to try to keep it from spreading to the dry leaves lying close by

: much safer!

By Sunday, the log siding was ready to be placed. The full timber logs make up the first floor walls as well as the double story wall around the windows in the great room, while the two second story side walls are framed, covered with OSB and then covered with the log siding. Once it is finished and stained, they will look like logs as well. Once the logs and siding are finished, caulking is placed, if desired, in areas where there are slight gaps. While the crew was on lunch break, Dave decided he would pick up a caulking gun and start doing a little caulking himself. Clearly none of the crew members know that Dave has done his share of caulking in the past. I heard a quiet muttering in Spanish behind me as one of the crew members tried to catch Miguel’s attention to let him know what was going on. Next thing we knew, several heads appeared around the corner of the front porch as everyone came to see what was going on. Miguel promptly came over and removed the caulking gun from Dave and proceeded to do it himself. Lunch break over!

: log siding going up on the second floor

: Dave picks up a caulking gun

: a few of the logs have slight gaps that need to be filled before staining

: Miguel quickly steps in and takes the caulking gun away from Dave 😉

: Miguel continues caulking

: Dave and Mr. Lipham review the blue prints

: OSB is placed over the band board to prepare for log siding…low on OSB, the crew cleverly cut up and used the walls of the crate that the windows had arrived in

: a piece of log siding is cut in half lengthwise to match up with the half log above

: a full piece of log siding is placed under the half strip

: Miguel and Mr. Lipham go over to fill a bucket with water…

: Miguel turns it on a little to fast…oops!

: yep, Mr. Lipham, this IS going on the blog, but don’t worry, we’re laughing with you not at you!

: they begin to bleach the logs to prepare for staining

: mud is power washed off the deck first, then bleach is applied

: after bleaching the logs, a coating of Borate is applied to control for insects

By the time the caulking had been finished, the wind had really picked up and the command decision was made to call it a day and wait till Monday morning to start staining. Just as well since ideally the caulk needed to set for 24 hours before applying stain.

day 8 & 9… in which Dave finally gets to do a little work

Posted on November 13, 2013 by the coleman cabin

Dave and I both missed going down to watch the building progress last Thursday so got around bright and early Friday morning to head down with the plan to hang out all day. Mom had been wanting to check out the progress as well as she hadn’t been to the lake since just after we purchased the property, so she made plans to come along with us. Building had slowed down a bit the past couple of days as José had to take a couple of the guys off to finish another project that they had previously started. Andy had also returned to home for a few days so we were down to just half the original crew. When we arrived, a few of the men were working on laying the back deck, while the others were around front setting the heavy timber porch frame over the front door.

: view of the cabin just after we arrived

: they’re building us a cabin- the least we could do was bring them hot coffee to drink on such a blustery day

: Mom pulls up a chair close to the fire so she can watch the action

: Bingo, always happy for a warm lap to sit in, soon joins Mom

: meanwhile, the men are busy putting in the heavy timber frame around the front porch entrance

: they had placed the heavy porch posts and roof system since we’d been there last

: the porch floor had been placed the previous day as well. FYI – it took 2380 screws to attach the porch floor

: the a-frame for the roof is in place

: Mr. Lipham brings over the heavy timber for the porch roof- he may not be as spry as he used to be, but he can still carry him some timber. 😉 Do you realize how heavy these things are?!

: the pitch on the first frame was slightly off so a new frame was built

: working on making a steeper angle for the roof frame

: our vantage point from in front of the fire

: the steeper pitch was perfect so the crew began to place the heavy timber peak connecting the porch roof to the cabin roof

: meanwhile, the other crew members were busy laying down the deck floor

: Mr. Lipham checks out the newly laid deck floor

: the beautiful view from our deck

: bringing up more temporary flooring for the second floor

: the crew breaks for lunch over by the fire…notice the recently delivered roof insulation stacked behind them

: Miguel takes the opportunity to get in a little more fishing

If you know Dave at all. you know that he has been dying to jump in and do a little work himself. He had been fretting for months over the fact that the deck and porch posts were going to be placed directly onto the concrete pads that had been poured and finally decided that he was going to improve upon that plan. He drilled into each concrete block, epoxied a large metal bolt into each hole, and attached metal hangers on which to place the posts upon.

: Mr. Lipham and Dave discuss where the porch posts will sit

: uh-oh, our first injury

: a contractor’s bandage- napkin and electrical tape…duck-tape’s not the only multipurpose tape you know

: Dave begins to drill…

: and drill…

: 5″ bolts seemed good on paper, but once he started to drill the concrete, 2 1/2″ suddenly seemed way better

: Dave puts me to work blowing the dust out of the holes

: time for the epoxy

: in goes the bolt

: once the epoxy sets, the metal hanger will be bolted down, ready to support the post

I know I’ve posted plenty of photos of the lake and dam, but I just couldn’t help taking a few more…it’s just so beautiful. I will leave you with a few more shots…

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, colemans lake, Kenneth Lipham, log home construction, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

	the coleman cabin on and then there’s the wir…
	the coleman cabin on day 26-29….and they…
	Bryan Johnson-French on day 26-29….and they…
	Tom Egelandsdal on day 10 & 11…bleachin…
	the coleman cabin on and finally, we can spend the…