On Monday and Wednesday were up at the site working with Norm to get the house ready for the cold-snap and snow that are heading in to the area as I post this update.
On Monday, Katie and Abbie went up to continue site clean-up and help out where they could - lots of sweeping and gathering bits and pieces around the lot to put in the burn pile. Also helping Norm stoke the fire, which Norm lit right up near the side of the house and put plywood around to direct the heat to the upper deck where he had applied the final coat of deck membrane.
Spencer was busy with the backhoe/excavator doing the final grading of the lot. And his work continued on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Spencer and Norm installed the final bracket fastening the flying beam from the roof support to the frame at the front of the house.
I took the day off of work on Wednesday to meet the truck delivering the exterior stair case.
Norm and Tom wrapped Tyvek around the lower portion of the cabin to help protect it should snow get up past the foundation (which it is likely to this winter.)
One of the final activitiees of the day was installing and caulking all of the exterior doors.
As I crested Stevens Pass on the way home, it started to snow and continued for about 1 mile down the West side, but no roadway accumulation. I turned to rain quickly.
We believe cabin is "ready-enough" for winter now that it will still be there in the Spring. I will continue to work on it weekends, but am expecting very shortly that the final mile of my commute to it will be via snowmobile.
Next tasks for this weekend:
Panorama taken mid-day Wednesday, Nov 1, as Spencer grades the site and Tom warms up at the burn pile.
On Monday, Katie and Abbie went up to continue site clean-up and help out where they could - lots of sweeping and gathering bits and pieces around the lot to put in the burn pile. Also helping Norm stoke the fire, which Norm lit right up near the side of the house and put plywood around to direct the heat to the upper deck where he had applied the final coat of deck membrane.
Norm rolling out the waterproof membrane coating.
The front portch with the newly rolled-out waterproof membrane. We thought this would be dry by Wednesday, but when I showed up late morning it was still tacky. We're hoping it gets warm enough at some point in the next few weeks to get it fully cured.
The back deck with water proof membrane applied.
Abbie stoking the fire underneath the back deck to help cure the membrane.
Spencer was busy with the backhoe/excavator doing the final grading of the lot. And his work continued on Wednesday.
Grading the slope under the eve and on septic drain field.
The backyard area which will eventually be a firepit with large stones.
Some of the big rocks that will be used for our firepit.
Septic drain field grading. The big green lids are access hatches to the septic tanks.
The big rocks at the left will make their way over to the firepit.
Scooping our white marble gravel up the driveway.
On Wednesday, Spencer and Norm installed the final bracket fastening the flying beam from the roof support to the frame at the front of the house.
Fastening the bracket always takes a bit of coaxing.
Spencer setting the lag screws in the bracket.
The bracket finally in place.
The washers fastening the back side of the beam to the bracket.
I took the day off of work on Wednesday to meet the truck delivering the exterior stair case.
The delivery driver dropped the stair package at the front of the driveway. We had to muscle it off the truck, which thankfully had a lift gate to aid in the process.
All the boxes on the garage floor, the stringers laying on the ground, and the galvanized treads leaning up against the garage. Figuring out how to piece all this together SUCKED. One of the worst "Some Assembly Required" headaches around. Thankfully, whoever wrote the assembly manual did NOT work previously for Ikea...
The stairs are temporarily mounted to the front porch, just with lag screws. Need to come back up with lag bolts that go through the porch joist, and it also needs to be releveled. It took me three tries to find the correct hole to use for leveling the treads front to back.
All the screws and bolts are only hand tightened right now. After I tighten everything, I need to mount the hand rails on the outside. Then we'll drive bolts into the bottom of the stringers in to the concrete walk way to secure it permanently.
Norm and Tom wrapped Tyvek around the lower portion of the cabin to help protect it should snow get up past the foundation (which it is likely to this winter.)
West side of the cabin wrapped in Tyvek.
East side of the Cabin wrapped in Tyvek.
One of the final activitiees of the day was installing and caulking all of the exterior doors.
The basement door will be painted dark-gray/black in the Spring, to match the others.
The deck door.
Installing the font door.
The front door from the inside. We still need to decide what color to pain the outside. The inside will be painted the same dark gray/black as the deck door.
The front door from the outside. And notice the wonderful light generated by my new 4000 lumen LED worklight!
We finally left the cabin just before 8pm. As we were on our way out to the freeway, Norms trick tailgate popped-open and dumped the ladder out on the road. I told him I probably wouldn't follow him down the pass on the freeway.
As I crested Stevens Pass on the way home, it started to snow and continued for about 1 mile down the West side, but no roadway accumulation. I turned to rain quickly.
We believe cabin is "ready-enough" for winter now that it will still be there in the Spring. I will continue to work on it weekends, but am expecting very shortly that the final mile of my commute to it will be via snowmobile.
Next tasks for this weekend:
- Tighten the stairs, finish assembling the railing, aand mount it all permanently to the top porch and bottom landing.
- Install locks on the exterior doors to prevent unwanted intrusions.
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