Posts Tagged With: building a log cabin

we’re getting close….

Posted on December 14, 2014 by the coleman cabin

The gutters-

We went with Masco Contractor Services for our gutters as they fabricate custom gutters on site, creating seamless gutters that are installed with hidden hangers. They were even able to match our roof color…we were extremely happy with the results!

The return of George and Kris-

With the gutters now in place and a date set to refinish the upstairs floor, it was time to think about having more gravel brought in and the final grading done outside so we’d stop tracking red mud all over the place. We were super psyched to have George Lewis and Kris Cutter back to discuss our plans for the regrading and to show them what we’ve accomplished in the year since they’d been to see the place. George had been such an integral part of our project in the early stages and we’d grown pretty attached to him…we’ve really missed having him around on a regular basis!

: Kris, George and Dave look at a photo of the septic tank to figure out exactly where it is buried.

: George throws out ideas of what he plans to do

: George takes a look at the heavy timber upstairs

: Kris checks out our handywork in the upstairs bedrooms

: No George, I am NOT going in that closet

: George and Kris discuss their plan with Dave before hopping back on their Harley’s and taking off

: Kris suits up

: and off he goes…

: George hops back on his bike

: and takes off after Kris

: a few weeks later, George has regraded, seeded and put down fresh rock

: yay, no more tracking mud into the house!

: much better!

: retaining walls were constructed in the back on each side of the cabin

: fresh rock under the deck

: our newly graded slope over the septic tank

Counter tops-

We spent quite a bit of time searching through log cabin magazines trying to decide what type of counter tops to put in and in the end decided that we would go with granite, in some shade of black, as we felt we needed something to break up the monotony of the wood tones of the walls, floors and cabinets. We found ourselves rather bored with the usual patterns of granite in stock at most of our local granite stores until we stumbled across a pattern we had seen on line call Black Marinance (or Black Mosaic) and discovered that one of the larger suppliers in town, Classic Granite and Marble, actually had a few slabs of it in their warehouse. We fell in love with it as soon as we saw it and, though we searched through their entire supply, in the end, that’s what we went with. We were not disappointed by our choice one it was installed!

: WOW! 2 big guys carry in, and set the 700 pound bar slab! Glad we didn’t have to figure out how to do that on our own.

Lighting-

We’ve had much fun figuring out and finding lighting for the place! Most of the ceiling lights are attached to the heavy timbers that support the ceiling so a few of the ceiling lights we had picked out had to be returned as we realized they just didn’t look right hanging down from the beams rather than lying flush against the ceiling.

: faux deer antler chandelier in the dinning area

: track lighting above the cabinets in the kitchen

: edison bulb pendant lights over the breakfast bars

: overhead light in the kitchen

: hall lights

: entrance light

: light above the kitchen sink

: more track lighting in the great room

: and my favorite, hanging lanterns on either side of the front entrance!

Flooring-

Another decision that took quite awhile to make was the type of hardwood flooring to put down. We found many different type of wood in different shades that we loved, but once we took the samples to the cabin, we realized they just didn’t look right. Some were too light, some had too much variance and looks way too busy once there was a large area covered. After going back and forth with different samples, we decided that a medium toned wood worked best with the walls and our favorite ended up being a hand-scraped, 5″ Walnut Koa. Once we picked out what we were going to use, we had the upstairs floor refinished by Eco Flooring to match.

: first step, laying down the tar paper

: first few rows of hardwood

: great room halfway done!

: Max learns how to lay flooring

: Dave does a little custom fitting

: Dave, laying the floor in the master bedroom

: yep, I can now say I helped too…notice Dave is in a tee shirt and I’m in a hoodie and leather coat…one of us is clearly working harder than the other 🙂

: refinishing the upstairs floor

: it took two attemps, but the final finish looks great

: the guest room…Dave has spent a few nights here…eliminating the hour drive has allowed him to get more done on the weekends

: the loft

: Max’s room

: finished floor, looking from the fireplace back toward the kitchen

: the master bedroom

: looking out of the master toward the dinning area

: from the master doorway, looking toward the dining area

: looking out at the great room from the kitchen

Appliances-

Dave, in usual fashion, thoroughly researched appliance brands and models and did a price comparison for everything we were interested in purchasing. In the end we decided to order everything from HHGregg as they were able to give us the best deal, matching everyone else’s lowest price and throwing in a $500 gift card as well!

: The delivery guys came all the way from Richmond.

: They were super nice and did a great job.

: Everything showed up without a dent or scratch.

: Now it’s up to us to get everything hooked up!

: 20 minutes after they left there was a knock on the door. Turns out the ditch beside the driveway claimed a victim. Unfortunately, we had to call a wrecker to come pull them out so they could finish their deliveries.

second Thanksgiving-

With Dave’s family all in town for Thanksgiving, following suit from last year’s second Thanksgiving at the cabin with my family, we took everyone down the day after to check the place out. Rather than haul all of our leftovers down as we did last year, we decided to stop and pick up lunch from our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Caporal. The atmosphere was slightly different from last year when we ate outside around the bonfire, using a microwave we had brought along and powered with the generator in order to heat our food!

: Dave, Betty and Laurie head to kitchen for

: Max, Stephanie, Frank, Rachel and Dave hang out in front of the fireplace

: Gregg, chillin’ out after lunch

: Max in his usual place in front of the fire with laptop and headphones

: nice Christmas sweater, Dave! 😉

: Dave puts his dad to work figuring out the plumbing for the kitchen sink

: I’m sure Frank knows what he’s doing, really, he does

: installing the faucet ended up being a bit more difficult than anticipated, due to the extra support structure Dave had built for the sink, but he and Frank were able to get it installed and working a few days later

: our fully fuctional kitchen!!!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building a log cabin, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, The Coleman Cabin | Leave a comment

and… at long last…the walls are DONE!!!!

Posted on September 20, 2014 by the coleman cabin

So in the end it took three full months, working most every weekend and a few days during the week, before we were finally able to finish putting up the walls! With the help of our good friends, Brian and Lynne Astroth, we finally got the last walls put up over Labor Day week end- the very last little piece of tongue and groove having been put into place on August 30th. (Yes, I’m that far behind on my posts! 😦 )

: Dave works on building doors for the knee wall closets in the guest room

: frame done and hinges attached, he places a couple of shims on the floor to raise the door frame slightly up off the floor before attaching it

: once the frame is positioned properly, he attaches the hinges to the wall

: and the door closes perfectly. Yay!

: now for the tongue and groove

: door facing, done

: next, Dave cuts a couple of pieces of wood to create a door closure and attaches one piece vertically along the front of the door

: he then attaches the second piece horizontally on the door frame

: he leaves the screw slightly loose so that the horizontal piece can be swung vertically to allow the door to open

: and another door is complete!

: with both closet doors finished, the guest room is now done!

: now onto the linen closet, located on the loft, just to left of the second floor bathroom

: before framing for the closet walls, Dave decides to cut into the Durock wall of the shower in order to built a bump out for a soap shelf (the back of the shower is adjacent to the side of the linen closet)

: after cutting out a segment of the Durock, Dave constructs a wooden frame for the bump out

: the newly constructed bump out from inside the shower

: Dave then moves on to framing the linen closet walls…we’ve lost about half of the space due to the HVAC vents and return

: now for the t & g walls

: an opening is left in the back of the closet in case we ever need to access the junction box all the way in the back of the space

: Dave then builds a removable door panel to cover the access space

: linen closet, done!

: Lynne and Brian check out the inside of the cabin before heading out to pick up stones…it’s been a full year since they’ve been down and we hadn’t even cleared the lot yet at that point!

: while Dave is inside finishing up the closet doors, Brian & Lynne (who, amazingly enough, volunteered for this job) and I head outside to round up all the large rocks we can find to use for future landscaping…we are about ready for final grading to be done and don’t want them to be buried under all the red clay when that happens

: the efforts of our labor, several hours later

: rock collecting done, we put Brian and Lynne to work inside

: excellent, Brian, you look WAY more official wearing a tool belt!

: Dave gives Brian a quick lesson on cutting the t & g

: next, Brian learns how to angle the end of the board

: no stranger to carpentry, Brian is soon ready to man the saw on his own

: Lynne goes to work helping Dave attach the t & g to the walls

: Dave shows Lynne how to use the staple gun to attach the t & g

: I think Lynne is having fun now that she has the hang of it!

: another wall complete-excellent job, Lynne!!!

: oooo…..we’re almost done!

: Lynne and Brian watch as Dave cuts the FINAL piece of t & g

: after checking to make sure it fits, Dave writes the date on the final piece

: our last little piece of t & g, dated 8/30/14, ready to go up

: as there is no way to staple it in place, Dave uses a bit of construction adhesive to attach the last little piece

: and there it is…the very last piece of the giant puzzle

: the basement stairwell now complete, all of our tongue and groove walls are up….FINALLY!

: gotta love a friend who will willingly pick up a broom to clean for you!

: very tired and grubby, Dave, Lynne and Brian pose for a photo on the front steps before we take off

: Lynne and Brian are still smiling so surely we didn’t work them TOO hard

With Lynne and Brian helping Dave finish the walls, I had to find something else to do. After looking around I realized that we still needed to wire a few of the electrical outlets on the main floor and most of the outlets on the second floor as well, so I donned our “electrical” tool belt and went to work.

: my tools…

: first step- make sure there is NO power coming into the outlet!

: next, I pull out the wires…this outlet ony has three wires but some have five- two black, two white and a ground

: using my electrical pliers, I strip about an inch of the coating off both the black and the white wire

: grabbing the tip of each wire, I use the pliers to bend each of the ends

: the ends should all form the shape of the letter j

: I start with the black wire, which always attaches to the gold screw- if you have two black, you use both screws, but since there is only one here, I just use the top screw

: after hooking the black wire around the base of the gold screw, I then tighten down the screw

: flipping the outlet over, I then attach the white wire to the silver screw and then the ground wire to the green screw

: and there you have it… all wired and ready to go back into the wall

: the wiring is easy-peasy, pushing it back into the wall is really the hardest part!

: one down, ten to go…

Once the walls were finally in place, the next big task was to finish the trim on all the doors and window frames. Dave knocked those out fairly quickly as they were all pretty straight forward. Even the trim around the double wall of windows in the great room proved to be much less of a problem than anticipated!

The arched window in the upstairs bathroom, however, was not straight forward and thus required a little more ingenuity. After mulling it over for a few days though, Dave figured out just how to tackle it.

: first, we cut away some of the t & g along the top of the arch

: next, Dave places a piece of trim between the two window sections

: in order to be able to bend a board to line the underside of the arch, narrow slits are cut about 3/4 of the way into the board, about 1/4″ apart

: Dave continues to cut the slits along the entire board

: it’s now somewhat flexible but must be soaked in water before bending too much

: Dave uses a wet towel to soak both sides of the board

: while the board is soaking, Dave attaches a few pieces of wood to the existing arch so we will have something to attach the arch trim to

: after letting the board soak for awhile, it’s ready to be shaped into an arch

: once the wood is flexed and inplace, Dave places shims underneath to get it to make just the right arc

: hooray, it worked!

: now onto the window sill

: Dave places a shim under the sill to make sure it’s level

: once it is level, he uses the staple gun to attach it into place

: next for the side trim

: and now we’re ready to tackle the outer arch!

: Dave attaches a 1″ x 4″ to the floor to make a compass arm that will allow him to draw the correct arch that we will need for the outer trim

: after drawing the underside of the arch, he measure to see where the top line should go

: having made another hole in the board, he puts the pencil in and swings the arm along the plywood, drawing the upper line of the arch

: both lines drawn, it’s time to cut out the arch

: using the jigsaw, Dave cuts out the template for the arch

: using the plywood template as a guide, Dave cuts and then sands two mirror pieces from a 1″ x 12″ board…the finished arch will be formed from these two pieces, along with a keystone center to cover the seam

: all three pieces finished and ready to attach to the window frame

: hooray, both sides fit!

: and there you have it!

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building a log cabin, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, placing tongue and groove walls, The Coleman Cabin, trimming window frames, wiring an electrical outlet | Leave a comment

seriously, will we ever finish these walls?????

Posted on August 20, 2014 by the coleman cabin

The first floor walls having been a breeze to put up, and given that we now had the process down pat, we were certain that we’d finish the second floor walls within a couple of weekends. We were wrong. What we didn’t take into account was the number of angles we’d have to cut due to the slope of the ceilings and number of rafters we’d have to cut around, all of which slowed us down tremendously. As a result, here it is mid-August and we’re still not finished!

We have made progress however and are very nearly done…

the upstairs bathroom-

Mostly done but still need to trim around the window.

the shower walls-

: my supplies- cement, mesh fiberglass tape, putty knife and a box cutter

: first I apply a thin layer of cement over the seams

: next, I place the mesh fiberglass tape over the cement layer

: another layer of cement goes on top of the mesh tape

: master shower, done

: upstairs shower, done

the great room wall-

With our supply of tongue and groove dwindling rapidly, we decided to go ahead and finish off the wall around the windows in the great room next. If our supply ran out with only closets left to finish, it wouldn’t matter whether or not the new supply was an exact match, but we wanted to be sure that what we used around the windows matched the rest of the great room walls.

: Dave starts placing T & G along the left side of the windows

: he continues along the left until he reaches the as high as he can before switching ladders

: left side done, he moves on to the right, using a laser level to be sure both sides are going to match up in the midde

: glad that’s Dave up there and not me…it’s much higher in person than it looks on camera!!!

: in goes the last piece and Dave is very happy to be able to move back down to ground level!

sanding the stair-rail and loft support beam-

The following weekend, we made yet another stop at the Petersburg Home Depot to replenish our supply of wood for the window and door trim before heading down to the cabin. Once there, Max and I take on the oh-so monotonous task of sanding the loft support beam and stair-rail while Dave works on some of the more intricate walls in Max’s room.

: surely we’re pro customers by now!

: Dave figures out which boards he wants while Max stands ready to help load the cart

: Dave checks each piece for flaws before handing it off to Max

: Dave searches through more stacks for the perfect boards while Max loads the cart

: our supply for the day

: Max begins the arduous task of sanding the support beam

: moving along, slowly but surely

: done!

: meanwhile, I work at sanding the stair-rail

: close up of the handrail before sanding

: handrail, after sanding

: no, I STILL do not like sanding, Sam I Am!

: hours later, sanding complete, Dave and Max put the banister back together

: using long log screws, they attach the sides to the handrail

: next, they secure the banister in place

finishing Max’s room-

Once the stair-rail was back in place, Max and Dave went back to the task of trying to finish off Max’s room. Unfortunately, we ended up running out of tongue and groove halfway through the final closet wall and had to quit for the day. In initially calculating how much we would need to complete the entire cabin, we hadn’t accounted for the waste that would be created with all the angled pieces we had had to cut. Fortunately, Dave found a place in Petersburg that sells eight inch tongue & groove and the following weekend we were able to pick up more, rather than having to place another order to be shipped from out of state. (Most places locally only carry 6″ boards.)

: Dave supervises as Max works on the inside wall of his closet

: Max continues to attach the T & G using the nail gun

: three walls complete

: moving right along, Max starts on the final closet wall

: Dave helps Max mark where to cut the T & G for the air vent

: uh-oh, we’ve reached the last piece of T & G!!!

: Dave uses the rubber mallet to place the last piece of T & G

: Max attaches the board with the nail gun before finishing up for the day

: treasures to be sealed inside Max’s closet wall…

: a copy of the Dinwiddie Monitor that we had picked up last month

: and a 2014 Quarter

: the following weekend, after picking up more T & G, Dave finishes closing in the closet

: standing inside the closet, you can see where Dave has boxed in the HVAC

: nook and closet, done

: finished knee wall doors and trim

: window trim and sill, done

: another view of the finished window in Max’s room

: close up of the finished knee wall door and latch

on to the guest room-

Having finished Max’s room at last, we moved on to the guest room where we finished up last weekend with all but the knee wall doors and a little trim left to do.

: Dave, plugging away at the guest room wall

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building a log cabin, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, The Coleman Cabin, tongue and groove walls | Leave a comment

framing up the fireplace wall and hearth

Posted on January 13, 2014 by the coleman cabin

Another crazy weekend, weather wise. Saturday started with heavy fog that was just beginning to lift as we got to the lake. It was already warm and humid out when we arrived and supposed to get up into the 70s, but not so inside the cabin. As soon as we opened the front door, we were hit by an icy draft as the cold air from inside the cabin rushed out.

: early morning fog on the lake

: toward the afternoon, the heavy rain clouds rolled in

: the sky got pretty angry looking just before the deluge began

Undeterred from the icy inside temps, Dave started up the generator, turned on the heater, and went to town building the fireplace wall.

: Dave cuts the first boards for the fireplace wall

: side walls go up

: next, Dave makes a box out of 2x6s that will act as a cross beam to support the rock wall and future mantel

: framing in the top of the wall

: Dave checks to make sure it’s level

: moving right along….

: already 68 degrees outside, but so cold inside we could see our breath

: Dave is hard at work while Max and I park ourselves in front of the heater. (In my defense, I injured my back last week while helping Dave move the ladder out on the roof so am out of commission till it heals. Boo.)

: Fortunately, Dave’s pretty much a one man show and has no problem working on his own

: outer frame complete, Dave realizes that if he moves the upper edges of the wall in a few inches, he will only need one full piece of plywood to cover it

: upper wall redone, Dave runs two more boards up the center for added support

: ta-da…fireplace frame complete

: we decided to use Roxul to insulate the fireplace wall…it’s fireproof and will help retain the heat

: Dave inserts the first piece of Roxul

: he continues till the Roxul fills all the open spaces

: and now we’re ready for the cover

: once the OSB is placed, it’s easier to visualize what the finished fireplace will look like

: now to frame the hearth

: hearth frame done…

: a sheet of Duraroc is placed ontop

: and, we’re ready for the stone!

And, incase you were wondering what our place looks like from above, Todd Hawkes just sent us this photo… Thanks Todd!!!

The Coleman Cabin and Colemans Lake as seen from above

Categories: Follow the adventure as we build our log cabin | Tags: building a log cabin, Coleman Cabin, Coleman Lake Cabin, framing the fireplace wall, log cabin fireplace insert, Roxul, The Coleman Cabin, Todd Hawkes | 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…