Building our dream home in the NC mountains

It's almost mid August 2011 and the love of my life and I are getting ready to begin a year long adventure building our dream cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. We're actually in Oregon, as we speak (8/11/11) wrapping up a glorious 10 day vacation with my wife's sister and brother-in-law at their cabin in the mountains.

Why the title "The Maple Tree Adventure"? Our property is on Maple Tree Lane at an elevation of 4200'...sounds like an adventure to us.

We've talked about this for a long time and now that it's a reality, we are excited to start the process. The process should take about 10 months. The build should be completed by next fall 2012.

Our goal is to offer up a blog entry daily. Some posts might include a photo, others may not. The adventure takes my wife and me in different directions for awhile. She teaches school and will finish out her career in June 2012 in Raleigh. I, on the other hand, will head to the mountains to get the cabin rolling in the next week or so (8/16/11).

Keep us in your prayers, leave your comments and plan to visit us next spring 2013.

Kent & Darlene
210 Maple Tree Lane
West Jefferson, NC 28694

(828) 406-4823

Friday, December 2, 2011

Busy, busy day

We're on a roll. Today was a busy one. Lots going on.

Tim and James were busy installing collar ties to the roof rafters. Collar ties help strengthen the roof system by preventing the weight of the roof from spreading out to the exterior walls. The ties connect the opposing rafters and lock them in place.

Wood padding around the basement windows and doors was also installed. This creates a nailing surface when installing the windows and doors. Without padding, you have concrete blocks that are hard to fasten windows to.

I ordered some 4" x 12" x varied lengths of pine from a local sawmill. These pieces will be cut to form the stringers and steps for the stair system going from the main level to the loft level. Once they are cut to size, but before installation, I'll use an axe to rough up the edges. This will give the appearance that they were 'hand hewn'. Should be a dramatic look when finished.



We are going to use milled pine for the walls, floors and ceilings. Sounds like a lot of pine so we are considering using some old weathered/painted wood as wainscoting. The pine on the walls would be installed horizontally above the wainscoting while the weathered wood is installed from the floor up vertically 42" or so with a top cap. The pieces to the right are cuts from the wood available. Scrub them lightly with a wire brush and then a sealer coat of satin polyurethane and it should be neat.

Late in the day, we got our first load of pressure treated lumber to start the deck and porch. We try to get material delivered earlier in the day but the lumber company was slammed today. The deck and porch will start to take shape on Monday.





The last photo is of a small pot belly stove that a good friend gave me while I was in Raleigh at Thanksgiving. I enjoy seeing Junior when I'm back in Raleigh. He and I speak the same woodworking language and enjoy sharing ideas. I told him about a stove I bought for my workshop when he offered up this beauty. I couldn't stand it, so today I brought it outside (it isn't installed yet) and threw in some wood and stoked this baby up. I can't wait to install it once the windows (see them through the open door in the background) are installed in a week or so.

Thanks Junior...you made my day!!!


One final note: I was reminded today that the first blocks for the foundation were laid on October 14th. We've made tremendous progress in a short 50 days.This blog has had 1068 hits since we started. Heck, I barely know 10 people!

More coming,
z
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