Rhododendron and Cedar

I received a call recently from a guy in Laurel Springs that has a slew of Rhododendron bushes and wants to clear some of them out. We'll be using the branches / twigs to make the railing for the stair system. Basically, you take the twigs and interlock them to fill the space between the top rail and the bottom rail of the stair handles.

I loaded as much as I could safely transport. Once back at the cabin, I pruned all of the leaves off and set the branches aside for use later.

Today (Saturday) I spent the day prepping an unusual three topped cedar post for the bottom post to the stair system and also set several of the pine posts. The next step will be to fit the top and bottom rails between each post and then start adding the Rhododendron twigs as filler. The posts all get cut shorter after I'm happy that everything fits. I'll post some photos soon and it will make more sense.

More coming,
z

The Great Wall of Maple Tree

More walls today. I know what you're thinking..."is he ever going to be finished with 'the walls'". The answer is YES, but just not at this moment in time. I'm working through the wood for walls and each day gets more walls installed. I suspect that within the next 2 weeks, the walls will be finished!

This is a view as you top the stairs onto the loft and master suite area. This is the end of the 1" x 10" pine. I'll start tomorrow with 1" x 6" tongue and groove pine for the remainder of walls (except the master bathroom that gets drywall).

You'll see, real soon, the install of the very old barn wood wainscoting for the living room and dining room (I know you'll be excited). This photo shows the barn wood on the barn before I harvested it.

More coming,
z

Warm at last

I mentioned a few months ago that my friend Junior gave me a small pot belly stove that belonged to his late father-in-law who I knew as well. My original plan was to use it in the workshop but instead decided to use it in the cabin initially as a conversation piece but maybe as a functioning stove down the road.

Before Junior gave me the stove I had already bought one, per above paragraph, and today I hitched it up and ran a test fire. Everything went as planned. It even raised the workshop temp from 40 to 48 during the short test.

This stove is an 'Atlanta' wood stove and other than flipping the stove pipe connector (below the white label on the stove pipe), it appears to be working well. I had to extend the stove pipe 2' above the edge of the roof to insure a good draft. That was the tough part...but now it's done and I can enjoy some warmth on those cold days that keep me in the workshop.

 This photo was taken Friday. I kept Tim's scaffolding until Saturday so I could finish the trim around the ceiling fan in the living room. The trim includes poplar bark and twigs for the ceiling mount. It's about 16' high and the scaffold made the job much easier. I took the scaffold back to Tim's house Saturday.

Tomorrow (Monday) it's back to work on the walls. It should go smoothly because all the subs are finished and I can rock 'n roll without interruption.

More coming,
z

Ceiling, ceiling, ceiling, done!

After a few days the ceiling is finished. Many thanks to Tim for all his help. We have a little 1x6 pine tongue and groove wood left from the ceiling but it won't go to waste.

We also finished the trim around the skylights. The skylights are almost 20' above the floor and having the scaffolding in place sure made it easier to install.

Tim left after lunch and is heading on to another job. Not as interesting as ours I'm sure. We'll miss him. He might be back if I need a hand.

I'm starting to add some interesting rustic trim as you can see. This photo is of the base where the ceiling fan connects to the ceiling. The square piece is poplar and the trim is maple. Makes for a nice touch.

Tomorrow I'm continuing with the fan trim (2 more fans) and then back to the walls.

I got a call from a guy about some mountain laurel he has and wants to get rid of. Mountain laurel and rhododendron are used to make railing. We've got about 25' that we need to make so this is perfect timing.

I've had the wood stove on for the past couple of days and it does take the chill off. Can't wait to see it in full time action next winter.

More coming,
z

The ceiling's the limit

Work began today on the ceiling at Maple Tree. Tim and I started installing the 1" x 6" pine tongue and groove ceiling boards. Because of the high ceiling in the living room we had to use scaffolding. Fortunately, Tim has the right equipment for the job.

Photo by Darlene Zotter

Over the past few months, I've been asked if I ever do anything to help with the build of our cabin. Today's photo clearly shows me on the scaffold with Tim working my butt off.

Darlene was here this weekend and we had a great visit. I enjoyed some superb meals not to mention her wonderful company. I sure do miss her and her cooking!

We'll be back at it tomorrow as we are nearing the ridge of the ceiling. We'll be adding some trim around the skylights and some poplar trim around the fan box on the ceiling while we can easily reach it with the scaffold.

More coming,
z

Getting toasty

I worked on more walls today AND set up the fireplace for the first fire. Our fireplace is a high efficiency wood burning fireplace. You load wood in, set the air control for how fast the fire burns and sit back and enjoy. It has an automatic fan that comes on and sends out 'firebox' heat that is normally sent up the chimney. The power isn't turned on yet so that feature will get tested when we throw the switch.

It burned for several hours on scrap wood and I felt like the temperature in the cabin went up. It definitely was warmer after a few hours.

I installed the walnut mantle also. It's 2" thick and has a beautiful grain pattern. The 'show' edge was left natural and has some interesting character as well.

We'll put the finish on when we start painting the interior.

Tomorrow I'll be back to installing more wall pine and picking up some more poplar siding for cabinet faces. I got a good deal on the remainder of some poplar siding that will make great looking cabinet door faces.

Still have to harvest our wainscoting from an old barn nearby. The owner sold me some wood and I need to pick it up. I'll save that for Darlene's visit this weekend.

More coming,
z

p.s. we passed our insulation inspection today...

Good day for waiting

I made an appointment for this morning at the local Ford dealer for service. The fact of the matter is that the truck has been acting kind of funny lately. i take off from a stand still and feel a shudder for a few seconds then it goes away.

Larry, my Ford guy, just called to tell me that the clutches in the differential need replacing. The good new is that they have the parts and can fix it today...now the bad news...$700 ouch!

I've parked myself at the library to do some designing of sorts. Not many people know but I like to design stuff. Today is kitchen and closet design day.

This shot is of one of the cabinets I designed on Sketchup. I put the parts together, size them, then explode them so I can add dimensions. The dimensions help me when I cut material to build the cabinets.

I also put together the start of our master closet area. I have to recheck a few numbers AND get the boss' approval before I move forward with the design.

Speaking of the boss...my sweetheart is coming Saturday to visit. Can't wait.

More coming,
z

p.s. If you haven't tried Sketchup then it's worth the cost...FREE. Search Google Sketchup and you'll get a FREE Mac or Windows download. Lots of fun.