Concrete floor reveal

We came up Friday morning to drop off 40 sheets of finish grade birch plywood (which will go on the upstairs and basement ceilings), and had our first opportunity to see our new concrete floors. 

The floors are not yet in their finished state. When we get a little closer to finishing, we will sand all the floors to get them to a smooth matt finish. Depending on their color, we may add some stain at that point and then seal them.

I'm quite pleased with the outcome. 

Entry room and toilet room.

Toilet room

Entry from the doorway of the toilet room.

Kitchen / Family room from the entry.

Kitchen / Family from the NE corner

A couple of blemishes that will need to be patched later.
(I actually like blemishes because they make it more rustic.)

Bunk room.

Bunk room.

Upstairs hall bathroom / sink area.

Upstairs toilet room.

Upstairs hallway from the bunk room door.

Master bedroom.

Master bedroom.

Master bathroom.

Olaf's Snow Tracker - October 2019

We had two early snow events up at KnArrow Haus in October. Thankfully, a reprieve of warming for the last few weeks. But that's forecasted to change this weekend...

We're scrambling to get drywallers up there and materials stockpiled on-site so we can we work on finishes over the winter. 

7,500 Staple Dash #GirlPower

Katie, Annie, Abbie, Amelia and I all went to the cabin on an emergency Monday to get the in-floor heat ready for concrete in the morning.  It was an awesome day. Much more work and time thany any of us expected.

The girls, including an expecting mother, ruled the day.

(Left to Right) Katie, Amelia, Abbie, Annie.

After Saturday, I decided to buy a couple electric staplers, and 10,000 3/8" staples. We went through 7,500 staples today. The floors will be poured 1" thick. Chicken wire just doesn't lay down very nicely without a lot of staple persuasion.

Finishing up the hallway is the pregnant daughter.

Katie stapling down the chicken wire in the master bedroom.

Abbie nailing down chicken wire in the master bedroom.

Amelia keeping everyone entertained and cheering us on.

The bunkroom ready for concrete floors.

The main floor from the upper stairewall.

The master bedroom ready for concrete.

The master toilet room ready for concrete.

The hallway from the master bedroom.

The shower room is taped off to remind the workers not to pour the concrete in there. 

I'll be installing Wedi board and tile.

The upstairs toilet room. 

Katie gets sole credit for prep'ing the bunkroom.

Katie in the upstairs hallway.

Looking downstairs from the upstairs landing.

The main floor ready for concrete.

The entry mudroom ready for concrete.

We arrived at 10:30 am and pulled away at 6:36 pm.

Major changes Tuesday morning. Concrete truck and pumper truck arrive at 10 am.

Prelude to Concrete Floors

After a late arrival Saturday morning, Katie and I worked like dogs for over 9 hours to get the floors ready for concrete on Tuesday.

• We made the final corrections to the fireplace at took pictures (see prior post). And to celebrated we lit a fire that lasted all day and go the inside up over 65 degrees! Ahhhhh.
• I modified the upper temporary staircase so it can still be used while allowing room for the concrete to be poured and finished at the landing. 
• Katie silcone caulked the forms around the stairwells so that the final concrete edges looks good and isn't too sharp.
• Katie and I layed out and stapled the heating element matts on the top floor.
• We layed chicken wire in bunk room.

It took a little bit of thought to properly lay out the heating matts upstairs.  All of them have to connect to the power box and thermostat in the allway. I unded up cutting through a couple of bottom plates in order to route the wires. One matt in the bunk room, one in the master bedroom, one in the bathroom, and one in the shower.

We were hoping to get both floors totally ready for concrete, but by 9pm we were both totally exhausted and we had run out of staples. 

We still need to lay chicken wire in the master bedroom, hallway and upstairs bathrooms. Then we need to install the matts and chickenwire on the main level. Since conrete comes Tuesday morning, I have to take Monday off work to go back up and get all this done. (We're definitely buying an electric stapler Monday morning.)

Two MAJOR milestones.

Friday was a major turning point for KnArrow Haus. We signed papers for a construction loan and we were "cleared to cover" by the inspector!

Construction Loan

We drove to Leavenworth on Friday morning to sign documents for a construction loan. Now we'll have the funds necessary to finish the cabin. Getting this loan approved was a bit of an ordeal because we had to document *everything* we've done and spent so far. Normally construction loans start with just dirt. And because I'm an owner-builder, they wanted additional confidence that I know what I'm doing and can actually complete the cabin within a year. The loan funds on Tuesday.

We had a sweet little visitor come with us in the car ffor the day.

We ate lunch in Leavenworth, then drove to the cabin to meet the inspector for our framing reinspections and insulation inspection. He was delayed and didn't arrive until nearly 5pm. So to make effective use of the time, we worked forming around the stairwells to contain the heated concrete floors, which will be poured on Tuesday.

Installing the forms on the upper stairwell.

Forming up the bullnose for the steps to the basement.

Measuring for the stair tread form on the top floor.

This DeWalt brushless impact driver has been an amazing work horse.  

The brushless driver sips battery charge, and often lasts the entire day on one battery. It was used last year to install thousands of siding screws. It's driven hundreds of framing nails. And it's even been dropped several times from as high as 25 feet. 

Cleared to Cover

The inspector finally arrived at 5pm. He was exhausted. We were tired. But he went methodically through all of his notes and checked everything off that we had done to correct the items on his list, including the stamped engineering documents. There are still a few items on the outside -- bigger bolts on the beam brackets, and propery support for the front porch -- but they will be checked at final.

Then inspected the insulation and found only one problem with the fireplace insulation. There can be NOTHING within 1/2 inch of the fireplace insert and there were some little bits of FSK membrane just barely touching. While we was there we improvised some fixes with some metal strapping. Finally, he said if we promised to fix it properly and send him the pictures, he would pass us.  He was so happy that he gave me a hug and a kiss. Sweet guy. 

Here are the final corrections we made the following day after buying a 1'x2' sheet of 26 gauge galvanized sheetmetal.

Now that we've passed all those inspections, THERE'S ONLY ONE INSPECTION LEFT -- the FINAL INSPECTION.  That won't occur until Summer, if things go well, Spring.

At this point, the second half of the project commences on Tuesday with concrete floors. Doors on Friday. Attempting to get drywall the following week. It's all final finishes on the inside from here on out.