Posts Tagged With: Kenneth Lipham

Day 26

It was not even remotely a surprise to Dave and I when, at the end of the day last Monday, the crew was still not finished. However, they had completed the stairs to the second second floor (excellent job José!), attached the front porch rails, put in the fixed widows in the great room, as well as the heavy detail on the roof trim. Dave stayed long after the sun had set and they were still working on laying the last layer of roof felt, in the dark, using their iPhones for light!  Heavy rain was due to set in the following day so it was imperative that they get the felt down before they quit for the night.

Day 27

I drove down Tuesday morning, expecting the crew to be finishing up and leaving that afternoon, and I wanted the opportunity to say goodbye and to thank everyone for all their hard work.  The rain had already begun and there was a bustle of activity inside and outside when I arrived. It seemed clear to me as soon as I arrived that there was still way too much left undone for them to really be leaving that afternoon. However, I knew that even if José and his crew didn’t leave, Mr. Lipham still needed to leave by the end of the day in order to get home to his family in Tennessee in time for Thanksgiving. Shortly after I arrived, it was discovered that they were 150′ short of roof flashing and asked if I’d run up to Home Depot to pick some up.  Not a huge deal, but the closest Home Depot is thirty minutes back in the direction I’d just driven from. By the time I drove up there, bought the flashing and drove back to the work sight, I knew I’d have to turn around and leave as I had to get home to start prepping for our own Thanksgiving festivities. So much for my thoughts of hanging out to get a group shot of the guys and to say a formal farewell before they wrapped things up and pulled away. There was such a storm of activity inside when I got back, as the crew worked to get things finished, that I felt I was in the way, so, I just snapped a couple of photos, expressed my thanks to Mr. Lipham, wished him a Happy Thanksgiving and off I went in the rain.

Dave went down later that afternoon, after I left, and was able to get the guys to pause for a moment to snap a group shot of the guys on the front porch with his iPhone shortly after he arrived. (You can see in the photo that the rain was pretty heavy at this point.) Regrettably, I had chosen not to leave my camera down there for him to use when I left, so the photo was not the great shot I had hoped for. Still, I’m glad he took it as it was better that not having taken one at all.

The Coleman Cabin building crew! From left to right- Mateo, Raymond, Mr. Lipham, José, Talon, Carlos, Nelson and Miguel

As he left Tuesday evening, they were still working on putting up the railing on the deck, again in the dark, this time using a flashlight that he had happened to bring along. Mr. Lipham did go ahead and take off so he could get home in time for the holiday leaving José and his J. M. Log Craftsman crew behind to finish.

Day 28-29

Dave went back down for a short time Wednesday to find them working away diligently in the heavy, cold rain, pausing every now and then to try and dry their coats by the fire.  They worked through the day Wednesday and finally finished on Thanksgiving day.  Needless to say we were not there to witness them wrap things up and to wish them well as they drove away. Such an anticlimactic ending to the dry in phase of this building process.  Mr. Lipham and Andy will be back in a few weeks to finish up the wiring and staining and to put in the basement windows that had to be reordered as the ones that had been sent did not fit properly.

We went down after Thanksgiving to check things out and, as we walked through the place taking in all of the details, we couldn’t have been more pleased.  It was such a great experience dealing with Mr. Lipham, José and the rest of the J. M. Log Craftsman team ( http://www.jmlogcraftsman.com/ ) and we can’t even begin to express our gratitude and appreciation for all of the effort that they put in to building our home.

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. 😦

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.

Although we had initially arranged for our mechanicals contractor, Todd Hawkes, to line up an electrician, with the sudden unexpected arrival of the Battle Creek building crew, we had to go to plan B. We needed to begin the wiring as soon as possible as it has to be done while the log cabin is being built, unlike a standard home construction, where you can run the wire after the framing is complete. Fortunately, Mr. Lipham had an electrician that he’s worked with previously who happened to be available and was willing to drive up from Alabama to help us out.  Within moments of meeting Andy, we were thrilled to have him join our team and it soon became clear that he knew a little more about building log homes than just running wire.

The wiring having been started and framing of the rafters done, things were running pretty smoothly until, in the course of inventorying the timber that was still left, three large lamibeams were discovered. Since all the heavy timber beams were in place at this point, the crew went back to review the blue prints to figure out where they should have been. It was at this point that it was discovered that there were two sets of plans on site that were being used. The difference between the two, one being an engineer set, showing lamibeams in place of the heavy timber beams that run the length of both the ceiling of the first floor as well as the roof peak. Since it was the engineered plans that had been submitted for the building permit, that meant in order for us to pass inspection the solid timbers that were already in place would have to be switched out for the lamibeams which are slightly stronger.

While the crew broke for lunch, Dave, Mr. Lipham, and José discussed what needed to be done.

A bit of a set back to say the least, but Mr. Lipham, José and our fabulous crew took it in stride and, their main concern being to do things right, wasted no time in switching them out. That meant un-building much of the roof and first floor ceiling structure that was already in place.

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Having successfully replaced the timbers on the roof peak, the crew switched their attention inside to the three beams that run the length of the first floor ceiling.

Although it put the crew a full day behind, we were all relieved that they were able to successfully replace all the beams with relatively few complications.  Hopefully that will be the last little hiccup during the building process!