Schneewagen Delivers. Chimney Repaired.

If you've been following the story line, you'll recall the Olaf struck a blow to our chimney a couple weeks ago. The repair crew was scheduled to come up last Wednesday, but US 2 was closed for 5 days due to massive snow dowing trees and powerlines. This morning, a week later, was the reschedule.

Katie met the fireplace-chimney crew at the Yodelin parking lot this morning and hauled them and their gear in to KnArrow Haus -- in three separate trips.

 

Katie at the end of the day after towing the crew's van
to US 2 from the Yodelin parking lot.

Road conditions on US 2 the morning of January 22, 2020.

Sammy the (ferocious) snow dog and Katie withy Schneewagen

Katie and Sammie in front of KnArrow Haus with the crew's repair materials
sitting on the snow in the background.

Schneewagen transported the fresh chimney sections, supplies and
snowshoes for the crew to KnArrow Haus.

The crew on the BIG ladder.

I wonder what OSHA says about 2 crew members
on a ladder in 6 feet of snow....?

Staging area for the chimney repair.

The (hopefully) fixed and rebraced chimney.

 A little snow on the back deck

Selfie-video after towing the chimney crew's rear wheel drive
van to US 2 from the Yodelin parking lot.

 Hopefully, that's the last we'll need to worry about the chimney for many years.

Schneewagen Extricated from 40" of Snow

Lowland snows all last week closed Highway 2 from the Eastside to Stevens Pass due to downed trees and powerlines. The fireplace repair guys were scheduled to come up last Wednesday, but with Highway 2 closed, they're rescheduled for this week.

Since we were up there to check on the KnArrow Haus on January 3rd, over 140 inches of snow have fallen, accumulating over 40 inches on the ground -- and on top of Schneewage. Devon and I went up late afternoon to dig out and attend the annual homeowners meeting.

Schneewagen is somewhere underneath this pile of snow.

Schneewagen resting peacefully.

Devon locating the front hood of Schneewagen.
His snow shoes are slightly above the level of the front hood. 

The front of Schneewagen uncovered under 40"+ of snow.

Schneewagen's roof was slightly deformed under the weight of the snow.

There were several rain and warming cycles that froze the snow to the cover over Schneewagen.

It took about an hour and a half of constant digging to be able to get in the doors. Our initial attempt to drive Schneewagen out of it's hole didn't work. We had to dig out about a foot in front of the front and rear tracks. Then it came out like a champ, and we were able to drive up to the KnArrow Haus and even plow some new trail in the thick blanket of new snow. There's been so much new snow that the entire neighborhood is otherworldly -- entirely changed in appearance, and so quiet with so much snow.

Olaf strikes a blow to the chimney

Got a message from my next door neighbor on Thursday evening that my chimney was a casualty in a snow shedding event off my roof.  It had made a loud noise, and when he went outside to see what had happend, he noticed the chimney sitting on the top of the snow pile.  He dragged it around to my garage door.

The top of the chimney with braces still attached. 

What's left of the chimney sticking up above the roof.

The chimney up the side of the house was also wrenched.

We borrowed a neighbor's ladder, but it wasn't long enough to get up to the roof. 
It was a 30 footer. Need a 36 footer at least. 

You can see the chimney supports are massively bent and were torn off at the base where they were mounted to the roof. 

The chimney cap was slightly bent, but I was able to bend it back in to shape without too much trouble.

When the fireplace installation contractor showed up this spring to install the supports I didn't keep good enough track of what they were doing. Instead of anchoring the braces to the top edge of the roof, they put them to the side in the main body of the roof.  Grrrr.

I'm working to get them up there as soon as possible with a tall ladder to get things rectified. 

Olaf Update & Schneewagen's Maiden Voyage

According to Olaf's Snow Tracker, Stevens Pass is experiencing a lighter-than-usual snow year. We've even set some new minimum snow fall accumulations in November and December for the past handful of years.

Here's how that amount of snow looks at KnArrow Haus:

Abbie, Katie and Colin shoveling the KnArrow Haus walkway.

We used Schneewagen to transport a gaggle of family and friends up to KnArrow Haus to inspect our progress over the past year. Schneewagen worked like a champ.

Inside Schneewagen (with 6 people in 4 seats)

Then we spent the day in Leavenworth.

Lunch at 'South' in Leavenworth. Mmmmm.

Leavenworth Selfie

The compulsory group picture.

No progress on KnArrow Haus over the holidays. 

Next on the punch list are paint, installing the remaining 3 doors, installing wood on the ceilings, sanding the concrete floors, and constructing and installing the staircase.

I'm getting ready to order cabinets and sinks for the kitchen and kitchenette and all the bathrooms. And Katie's planning to begin painting. 

8-hour snow tracks install on Schneewagen

When we got Schneewagen (our Honda Pioneer 700-4) home, I drove it off the trailer and in to the garage -- no problem.  The next week I ordered the roof, windshield, and doors. After they arrived it took a Saturday afternoon, evening, and another weeknight evening to get everything installed.

We realized after everything was installed, that with the roof on it was now too tall to drive out of the garage....  Our solution to the height challenge is shown below.

Deflated tires to back out of the garage.

The last view of Schneewagen with wheels.
(Notice the rear tracks leaning on the garage door).

Thankfully, it didn't really rain on us. But to hedge our bet,
we setup the pop-up shelter, just in case.

After taking the wheels off, the first install step was installing brackets on the A-arms.

Tightening up the A-arm bracket on the left side. 

The A-arm brackets took a little convincing, wedging, physical (and verbal) persuasion.

My able gopher took a selfie.

A-arm brackets installed. 

Installing the tracks was also an adventure in frustration. Each track weighs over 100 pounds, and figuring out which holes to line up with the bolts and actually lining them up -- not enjoyable. 

Lather, rinse, repeat on the front wheels/tracks, although the A-arm brackets were a little easier to install. 

Working in this position further exacerbated my should pain, which I learned last week is caused by a torn labram in my left shoulder. Not in the mood to schedule that surgery, at least yet. 

Installing the stabilizer bars and steering limiters.

Installing the stabilizer bars and steering limiters.

Torquing everything down.

Torquing everything down. 

We started at 1 pm and finished a little after 9 pm. My only breaks were to watch some quick YouTube videos showing how to adjust angle of attack and the steering limiters.

A week later, I finished up the final modifications, which included adjusting the rear shock absorber pre-load to firm and cutting back the step bars so they don't accidentally hit the rear tracks.  Just waiting for a towing cover to arrive on Tuesday, at which point we'll trailer it up to the pass for the season.  Stevens has gotten about 2 feet of snow in the last few days and is expected to open this week. (No more untracked vehicle will be able to drive in to the cabin until Spring.)

Primed, Textured & Heated

The drywallers were able to finish the Saturday after Thanksgiving (using chains on their van).

BEFORE: Family room wall with 2 coats of mud

AFTER: Family room primed and textured.

BEFORE: Kitchen wall with 2 coats of mud.

AFTER: Kitchen wall primed and textured.

Now that the drywallers are done making their mess, I took the opportunity to hookup the infloor heatwing on the main floor. Of course, I forget to take a picture of the "after", but here's a picture of the wires and rough-in box.

Main floor thermostat rough-in box.

The thermostat box was a little challenging to wire up. All the copper grounds wired together and stuffed in the back of the box. Three sets of wires from the heatwing matts on the lower right were hooked-up with the capped 10-gauge wires on the upper right. 12-gauge wires on the lower left to power the thermostate. And the 10-gauge wires at the top from the termostat to the relay that switches the matts on/off.

I'm scurrying to get the snow tracks mounted on the side-by-side. Our final 3 doors are completed, and we need it to haul the doors from delivery truck (that can't come up the road now that there's snow) to the cabin.

We're also getting ready to place a kitchen cabinet order.