Humble Beginnings

We apologize for the gap in blog posts. We spent two full weeks working on the cabin with the help of friends then returned to work and entered a different kind of rat race. Before we knew it we were packing up for Labor Day weekend and another round of building.

We have made amazing progress. I am humbled by the support of family and friends as we work together to build our small cottage in the north woods. It's amazing to watch friends working together, finding a rhythm, and behold a wall appears!

We started by framing the basement walkout lake wall. That included using laser levels and story boards to make sure our floors would be level. We spent a lot of time calculating where the beams and support posts needed to be to support the floors above. It's no surprise that the engineers we had helping were great with math. What I did learn is that I stink at explaining what I'm trying to accomplish! After multiple scribbled drawings we actually came out with a plan that worked.

We've made some "field modifications" along the way. One of the larger changes was to invalidate our truss warranty by changing the floor trusses. Since we ended up with a walkout we needed to make a couple of changes or you would walk down the basement stairs and smack your head dead center into our floor furnace hanging from the floor above. Not to mention it blocked the window we worked so hard to align with the stairs! Oops ...

We made great progress during the first two week period. At the end of the two week period we had all the main floor walls up, plumb, and braced, along with the loft trusses in place. We returned Labor Day weekend to complete the loft subfloor and to build the east gable end wall. We also moved the roof trusses closer to the cabin by saddling them over the top of the bobcat and lifting the front end with the forks. <<Add Banjo Music Here>> We added aluminum flashing with hopes of mouse proofing the cabin.

The cabin walls are 10' tall and best explained as balloon construction where the wall studs run from the base plate and up to create the loft stub wall. The loft floor is created by having an LVL cleat attached to the east gable end wall at 8' and a double LVL beam that is supported by the stairs and basement posts below (see math 101 above for the layout). All the headers are double LVL's ... yes, it is overkill ... but to date, nothing I have built has ever fallen down!

The window seat will be a focal point of the small cabin. It's large enough to sleep in and is surrounded by large windows. The views will be spectacular with the front window running up into the dormer to create a full 8' window to the lake. At least I will know where to find Mkay!

Lessons Learned:

• Measure twice, cut once, and rent a board stretcher
• Have a bonfire each night to burn your mistakes
• If you are doing the hokey pokey around a standing sledge hammer and you still cannot see it, it's time to take a break 
• Build walls before Scotch
• Rough framing tolerances vary greatly

 A few pictures of our progress ...

Finally! We begin!

It’s Labor Day and we’re driving home from the cabin.  We got rained out today but we really can’t complain.  We’ve only had 2.5 rainout days, and the first one was the first real day of the building project.  It was a wash (so to speak) anyway because of air compressor issues. The guys spent most of the day looking for parts.   

As of today, the loft subfloor is installed and this weekend’s crew framed the gable end wall in the loft.  We didn’t raise it yet, however, because we want to do that when we can follow it with other trusses right behind for stability.

We’ve had amazing help!  Every day we’ve had at least 2 guys helping, and sometimes 4.  This weekend’s crew consisted of Al R and John T, both who’ve done a lot of framing.  Al is really good for Mark; he is a retired architect, and you can often hear him say, “that’s within tolerance!” or “they don’t call it rough framing for nothing!” which of course means, it’s good enough.  John is determined, willing, and strong.  When the engineers wanted to come up with a fancy way of doing something, John’s voice of reason sometimes prevailed.  For example, Mark and Al were trying to figure out how to use the bobcat to lift the roof trusses up to the loft, and John said, “how about we just carry them?” J  Help at other times has included Wayne, Dave (both of whom have always been there for Mark, and he for them for nearly 30 years), John K (math guy), and Alex (our son, working the chop saw, and the one to call when you need a big wing span).  This weekend we even had an afternoon visit by our youngest, Amy, and a friend of hers. They got to learn what a palm nailer is.  I asked Mark what has been the biggest surprise. He said, “that people would come back twice!”   It’s a long drive and hard work.  To watch these guys work together has been to witness community, support, and deep friendship.  It’s pretty amazing. 

We’ve had no major injuries, which nearly qualifies as a miracle since all except a couple are in their 50s and 60s.  I’m typing with 9 fingers today because I hit my left pointer with my hammer yesterday – hard – cuz my husband taught me how to swing a hammer J.  OUCH! (Mark did it too, last weekend, so I’m not the only one.)

I think we’ve made good progress, considering we’ve only been at this for 3 weeks. There’ve been days of remarkable progress and then some of very little progress.  While we’ve not had major setbacks, at times you could see a sawzall and several crowbars of different types donning the cabin deck, telling the tale of a mistake. 

“Give me a sawzall and a place to stand and I’ll change the world.” -  Al Raymond, Sept, 2016

Wayne, Mark, and Al after raising the longest wall.

One of the "nuggets" the excavator exhumed.

"How can we get these trusses up there?"

Labor Day weekend crew

End of the day relaxation

Minne, the foredog

MK and Mark

The east side of the cabin

Challenges are many when building off the grid, but Mark had many of those challenges conquered well before we started the project – stuff I couldn’t even fathom.  He’s been known to make DHDF’s (doo-hickeys for dumb friends – or something like that) to make our work easier and more consistent.  Jigs for easy cutting, jigs for measuring, etc.  

Most nights were capped off around the campfire, where we told stories, and where guys who didn’t previously know each other made new friends. 

Tonight I imagine we’ll be uploading pictures and planning the next trip, which is at least a couple weeks down the road.  It will be a truss-raising event, which will feel like a whole lot more progress.  Meanwhile, the change in temperature and the hint of red in the maples tells the story of a new season, and threatens our goal to enclose the cabin before winter.