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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 9 Oct 2011 22:45 - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Hey all, I've been more of a lurker here than a poster, but I thought if anyone was interested I'm getting through my cabin. It's 12x12 about 100 yards back into our 3.14 acres. I have designed it and built it all mostly by myself with some help from my wife when she has the time to come. It's been quite the adventure but we're getting to the point where it really looks like someplace someone would want to go and visit occasionally.
My framing abilities have left something to be desired sometimes but I learn as I go and realize why it is you do things the way it's supposed to be done later when I've had to go back and figure out how to fix things. Every time I go and work I do so with a smile on my face because working there is like a vacation for me.
Link to the land and cabin pictures.
Note: The other building in some of the land pics are on an adjacent property. There are 208 pictures. The first half are of the land and the second half are of the construction of the cabin.
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hattie
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# Posted: 10 Oct 2011 00:53
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Welcome to the forum Bzzzzzt. Your place looks great!!!
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johng
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# Posted: 10 Oct 2011 08:20
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Nice place!
That corner of the state is beautiful. The spousal unit loves going to Eureka Springs.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 10 Oct 2011 09:39
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Very nice! I love that tall roof line. You must have a loft up there. Do you have any of the interior done?
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 10 Oct 2011 16:28 - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Thanks for the compliments. This land is where we plan to retire but we wanted a little place to go out and enjoy it while we're young too. It is about 12 miles from Eureka Springs and about a mile from the Missouri border. We just love the lay of the land and there is a runoff ditch (I hate to call the thing a creek because it is only wet during/after rain) that runs through the property that is just beautiful.
As far as the roof goes, yes there is an 8x8' loft up there that will be the bedroom when we're finished. The inside is currently bare studs. Our intention is to get the outside trimmed and painted for the impending winter months and focus on the interior perhaps in the spring.
I am especially proud of these pictures that show the land and the cabin construction.
Here's a shot showing the portion of the upper part that is the loft:
It is just 8x8 up there and the front 4' of the cabin is open to the roof line as a vaulted ceiling. I need to find me a couple of windows to put in the upper part to stream the morning light into the loft.
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mrmiji
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# Posted: 10 Oct 2011 17:16
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So how much imagination have you pumped into figuring out just why those rocks were stacked as they were, when it was done, and what the place looked like then?
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 10 Oct 2011 19:33
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That rock "wall" is on the edge of what used to be a pasture back in the 30's and 40's. When the rocks would work their way to the surface they would pick them up and chunk them into the edge of the woods. Now it's just a cool place for snakes to hang out. LOL
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Hans
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2011 00:20
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Nice workmanship on the framing!
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cabinbasics
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2011 10:26
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Awesome! Love the pictures throughout the process.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2011 16:48
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Thanks guys. I'm an electrician by trade and I am around a lot of framing but have never really done anything of this magnitude by myself before. I've done all the work by myself. When I framed and decked the roof there was no one there but me. I had to figure out how to get those sheets of OSB up there and held in place completely by myself. My wife comes when she can and she will hold stuff or hand stuff up but has no mechanical skills whatsoever. It's been a real adventure. Can't work on it this weekend but next weekend I'll be finishing the outside trim and preping for outside painting which (weather permitting) will be the following weekend.
I just love going out there and working. The land is so beautiful and I always see a lot of wildlife and it seems when I go there I'm just a happier person.
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neb
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# Posted: 14 Oct 2011 17:11
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Awesome place and looks great.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 16 Oct 2011 09:07 - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Since my cabin is a 4 hour drive from my main house I sort of have to plan trip's down there, but today, we have to go drop my daughter off and we'll be within an hour's drive of it so we're just gonna casually stop by for a few and just take in the scenic beauty. We love that little plot of land so.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 18 Oct 2011 17:37
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Quoting: Bzzzzzt it seems when I go there I'm just a happier person
Wow...this sounds just like me!
I'll bet by the end your wife will know how to run all the tools and will have a pretty good feel for how to do stuff just from helping you. I know I have learned a ton and genuinely enjoy working side by side my husband.
Congrats!
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 18 Oct 2011 18:18
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She really loves going out there to help. Sometimes it's just being there to hold a ladder or to hand something up to me but it's always a big help. One day I had her running the miter saw cutting some short 2x4's and she just loved doing it. She loves the land and the cabin just as much as I do. The only thing she hates is the outside toilet. So I'm trying to think up a good "chamber pot" for her until we get adequate toilet facilities constructed.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 23 Oct 2011 21:06 - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Worked some more on the cabin this weekend. I got all the outside trim work finished up and some insulation on the inside. I just grabbed 4 rolls of insulation at Home Depot when I was going down to see how far they'd get me.
I used plastic fascia board that looks like wood but just used the leftover siding as soffit. All the trim is caulked up and ready to paint. After I paint I'm going to cut some vent holes in the soffit for air flow. Next weekend we're gonna go down and start painting which will probably be our last major work weekend this year.
I also saw 2 deer that were on my property. I took some pics of them on the adjacent property. It's really cool to be able to wake up and see deer right outside the cabin through that big window.
I started a new gallery for pics. It can be found here: http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/rr321/Smorkle1/Cabin%20Pics/?albumview=slideshow
In case anybody was wondering, I keep the Meeks house wrap plastic over the window to keep anyone who might wander up on the place from peekin' in and seeing my pots of gold. LOL
I sure do love this place.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 26 Oct 2011 17:53
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Purchased our paint today. I did a lot of research on paint (that is, I asked 3 painters I know) and decided on Sherwin Williams. It's a little pricey, but I am told that the longevity of the paint will make it worthwhile. I don't mind painting, but I don't want to do it every year either. So the paint party is this weekend. Yee Haw!
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Montanan
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# Posted: 26 Oct 2011 23:24
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Good choice on the paint! That's the only paint I use and it is incredibly durable. The other great thing about SW paint is that they are spot-on with color match. I have had bad experiences with hardware store paint mixes being different colors from batch to batch. SW paint is always exact. What color are you painting?
Quoting: Bzzzzzt My wife comes when she can and she will hold stuff or hand stuff up but has no mechanical skills whatsoever. It's been a real adventure
I can relate to that! I came into this with no skills at all. But I've become pretty handy with a circular saw and hammer and nails, so at least my husband can set me up doing the wood work while he does the wiring and plumbing. =)
And yes- I am happier at the cabin too...I get giddy as soon as I turn off into the canyon for the last 30 miles of our 150 mile drive.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 27 Oct 2011 18:13
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Our paint colors are a deep brown with a hint of green for the main color and the trim will be a light green about the color of new leaves in the spring. We chose these colors so that if anyone was trekking through the woods they would be less likely to notice our cabin (other than the obvious trail that leads to it.) Also there is a clearing that you can barely see the thing from and we felt somewhat camouflaging it would be advantageous.
Our drive is about 220 miles from our main house, but we get to drive about the last 30 or so through the Mark Twain national forest and some other gorgeous land.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 27 Oct 2011 22:11
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I was out at Home Depot and Lowes tonight and was looking at wood for the interior walls. I looked at tongue and groove 1x8 pine (this would cost over $600!) 4x8 sheets of grooved wood panel that would look similar to the pine (over $300) and then looked at the 4x8 sheets of OSB. ($90) I didn't really look at sheet rock because I really prefer some kind of wood on the walls. OSB really isn't that pretty, but for the price it's hard to beat. Still haven't made any decisions. Will have to consult the interior decoration expert of our family (The Wife.)
On the plus side, I discovered that I had enough electrical boxes and 12/3 romex to completely wire the cabin with 2 circuits which is one more than my generator currently has. We'll see what happens there.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2011 15:25
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Well it's painted, and just in time for winter. Dunno if I'll be using it much until spring but perhaps a little. Not looking forward to freezing my tuckus off.
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2011 15:28 - Edited by: Bzzzzzt
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Latest picture.
Here's a link to the cabin pics so far: http://s496.photobucket.com/albums/rr321/Smorkle1/Cabin%20Pics/?albumview=slideshow
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steveqvs
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2011 16:35
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For the insides of some cabins around here a builder I know uses the local saw mill and uses 1x6's. Not too expensive and he routs just a rounded corner on each board and they fit pretty nice and look good....
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 30 Oct 2011 21:32
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Thanks Steve, I'll look into that.
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Montanan
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# Posted: 31 Oct 2011 13:19
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Paint looks good!
We used 1x6 T&G for our interior partition walls and found it was MUCH cheaper at a local building supply store than at Home Depot- like HALF the price, and much nicer quality. Definitely call around to local shops and sawmills and see what you can find. Good luck!
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 21 Jan 2012 11:16
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I finally got around to the interior this weekend. I've previously insulated it with R13 insulation and last weekend I roughed in for some electrical outlets. I put 2 lights and 1 receptacle in the loft and 2 lights and 7 receptacles in the main area. I put them all in a 70A 2 space panel with 2 20-20 Piggy Back breakers giving me 4 circuits. I'm going to put an L5-30 Male Cord End on some 10-3 SO cord attached to the breaker box (which is 3R since it is outside) to plug directly into my generator. It only puts out 120V.
It is my intention in the future to set up some solar panels and run A/C wiring from it's batteries/inverter to use the same plug in to be able to run the lights. I won't need a transfer switch because the L5-30 will either be plugged in the generator or in the solar but can't be plugged into both at the same time (obviously.)
If I'm able to get grid power in the future it'll be very easy to convert it for that function.
So yesterday I went down to the cabin and installed 10 sheets of OSB in the lower portion of the cabin for the inside walls. OSB is not the best looking stuff in the world but it's better than looking at the insulation. Dunno yet if I'll paint the OSB, try to polyurethane it or just leave it the way it is. I need about 13 more sheets in my estimation to cover the entire inside walls, the loft ceiling and the lower ceiling.
I didn't take any pics at all of the interior yet, but I will.
Funny tidbit: I bought all the material here in KC and then brought it down to the cabin with me. All, that is, except the 5# box of screws I was going to install the OSB with. LOL Luckily, I had enough screws left over from the exterior to get every sheet tacked up with 6-8 screws. I'll go back and finish securing them later.
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oldbuddy
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2012 08:32
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Your cabin greatly resembles ours. Everything you say about your cabin is exactly how I feel. I absolutely love being there. Working there never seems like work. We put 1/4" OSB on the inside walls and will put up tongue-and-groove pine vertically over top of the OSB. I finished a room in my home that same way and it looks great.
Ours is 12X16 with a 12/12 roof. Yours looks like a 14/12 roof or close. It's a lot steeper than ours and ours is steep! I can't tell what your using for roof covering. Is it shingles or metal? I'll bet it was fun putting that on!
We just finished our insulation about 3 weeks ago and believe me...3-1/2 " was plenty. Do you have a wood burner for it or are you using propane heaters? It won't take much.
Your land also sounds similar in description. We have a 30-40 rock highway out the front door of our cabin about 70-80 feet in front of us. Our biggest problem is getting up the hill to the cabin. Since I bought a Honda Foreman 4X4, that is no longer a problem. We climb about 600 feet in 4/10 miles off the hard-top road! She's pretty steep in places.
My son (Old Buddy) and I built it mostly with some help from friends and relatives but we did 90% of it and like you, had never done anything like this before. Live and learn. Anytime I screwed something up I said, "It's a cabin for Pete's sake!"
We built it for the grand-kids (7, 5, 2-1/2 and one-on-the-way) and hunting season . It's raining today here in eastern Ohio or I would be up there today for a few hours enjoying myself.
I enjoyed reading your thread. Good luck on your completion...but don't get in too big of a hurry. Enjoy it while you can.
P.S. I have a potty chair which my son hates but it's better (for me) than sitting on a five-gallon bucket. I just put a brand new garbage bag in after each use and that pretty much handles it.
Old Old Buddy
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oldbuddy
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2012 08:36
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CORRECTION:
"We have a 30-40' rock HIGHWALL out the front door........"
Old Old Buddy
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Bzzzzzt
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2012 18:06
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Our roof is a 16/12 pitch. I framed it, decked it and roofed it (with shingles) completely by myself. The weekend I did the framing and decking there was not another soul around. Yes, I put 4x8 sheets of OSB up on the roof joists by myself.
When I roofed it, my fiancee held the ladder for me, but I did all of the work myself. I got a hell of a deal on shingles. They were leftovers at the local lumberyard. Regularly somewhere in the $55/bundle range we got them for $10/bundle.
Currently we only have a Mr Heater Little Buddy and a 1500 watt electric heater that we run off the generator. It keeps the chill off.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2012 22:53
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Bzzzzzt. Hi! Wondered if your cabin is anywhere near the tornado that hit the other day? Hopefully not!
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turkeyhunter
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2012 22:56
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nice looking cabin--like the color as well. GOOD JOB on your build.
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