Nov 15th- great weather!!

Well we muddled through a killer stress headache and got the floor partially replaced from the "great chimney smashing incident of 2009". We needed to replace 6 boards that were missing, fix up the framing to hold up the boards and make a door way hatch for access.

We also did more leaf raking and just sat and watched the clouds.

leaves lots of leaves

Quick trip to the cabin to work on the leaves. We took a truck load out to the compost center. Leaves on the one side of the cabin I raked into my garden spot and will use them as compost for the garden. Other side of house was not raked, we hope the wind blows them into the backyard.

Looks like we will be purchasing a propoane heater for the cabin to provide heat during the cold weather.

Well, the weather is a changing. We had a blast this year even if it was a bit rough. Emily and I finished the sub-floor Saturday and spent time cleaning up the mess. We hauled 3 big bags of creosote home for the dumpster and some of the larger pieces of junk. Next year all that will be gone!! The front half of the building still needs to be stripped but it will wait till we get the back half started and the bathroom started.

I will probably still go up north this winter but work projects will be limited to insulating the roof areas and possibly starting the floor work for the laying tile in the living areas. I expect temps will be a big negative, but just being there helps clear my head. We need to do something that makes big heat to use it during the winter.

October 2nd

Worked on putting sub floor in. Kathy and Josh helped for a couple of hours. We got 4-5 sheets to go to cover the back 2/3rds of the house.

Stupid power supply failure caused me to not be able to work on Sunday so no pictures.

Architect has plans completed, pretty close to what we want the place to look like. I need to scan them to post them.

Sept. 20 work weekend

Busy weekend, beautful weather, Ben figured out how to spend Sunday after lunch......
Here's the Saturday work all finished up. And yes, the door frame is level...... This is the first new thing installed on the cabin, demolition is just about all done. We got the front of the cabin to finish up, but the back 2/3rds is go for remodel.
Sunday, me and Maria worked in slow gear, removing the ugly OSB covering the old shower access and fitting in siding to fill in the hole. The "experts" used a chainsaw to make the hole originally. Sheesh......

We also plugged the hole in the sewer line which is in the ground in the bottom pix. Used to be an old vent pipe there that was just sitting on the pipe, not screwed in, and had filled with dirt and rocks. We ran the water pump to wash it out and hopefully keep it clean , but our pump is not making a very high amount of water pressure...

I got like 10-12 spider bites on my backside which I can only guess is they are in my chair!!! Raid on order list!!!! I had planned on installing sub-floor but pulled my neck-shoulder out on the door so heaving around big sheets of wood fell off the list.

Labor Day work party

Well Labor Day is here, summer is winding down. Maybe the mosquitoes will go south soon.

We finally got the ugly walls down, took two work days to do it too....

This roof tie will probably stay and will become a solid looking beam. Basically we got 2/3rds of the cabin ready to now begin working on it. We will start with the back wall windows and door. First thing is the floor needs to be laid down, the subfloor is very bouncy, just ask Ben. Our other major project is the bathroom which is ready for work too. We need to brace the wall and then cut out the bad rotted stuff and replace it. The one end needs some masonry work as the blocks have become loose from the wall.

August 31st workcrew

This is the new improved open back area. No more walls and parts of walls any more. The wall to the right is ready to come down once we cut it free.






Yeah this is the "bathroom" area and the wall was full of wood shavings/sawdust as insulation. Also, Josh broke another sledge hammer.

Camp Bear-Buck 2009

Welcome to Camp Bear-Buck!!!!! It's the 2009 camping trip and we are , yes we are, live-blogging from the camp!!!!! We got no "toilet", but we got broadband.

Arrived Friday late, tired , stressed out... We popped a screen over the old window and got it open to catch the lake breeze. Kinda muggy but by 11 it was a cool breeze so much I cut the opening by half.

We popped out our remote surfing tools and lo and behold, thar be broadband out there and it's wide open.

In the pix, there is a small blue light on the wall, that is our repeater-booster that has a connection. Kids now know the phrase, " Two blue good, red-blue bad". Apparently , our friends are connected to Charter cable and we got zippy conections. I know who has the link, so I will go buy something from them.

On Saturday, we had the "pot-o-coffee" then fired up our camp stove for breakfast.

Menu:

Pancakes with blueberries ( not "sauce" like some resturants fake)

Farm Milk

Farm Eggs

Juice

More info later, it's raining hard right now, so we are sitting tight.

Flannel in July??? Why yes, yes it was cold

I'm sitting on the porch , it's raining ( more like a mist) and about 50 degrees. Flannel all around, didn't even break a sweat working...
And yes, I looked a little pissed, more like stressed out.

What else do you do on a rain day? That's the venerable Lay-z-boy chair now doing cabin duty.

Here is a depiction of the rear wall plans spray painted to help show where it goes from the plans. The white object is Maria's emergency potty, no more messes.....

Once home we discovered that Maria likes to play in the dirt...

Plans.....

Well we got some plans that I think will work with the small square footage of the cabin.
Basically, the living area would be in the back of the cabin facing the woods. We would landscape the backyard to encourage the squirrels and birds etc.



The front of the building would still have an enclosed porch ( too nice sitting out there with the lake breeze) but sitting inside and looking at the road from the cabin did not seem like a good idea.



Hidden in the "living area" would be an entertainment center on the back side of the kitchen cabinets that could be used for movies etc, just swivel the chairs around to watch.





The design software helps with visualizing the finished look. This view is from the front door looking into the building.

June 28th workout

The wee one running in the woods

Rotten part of wall and floor removed.

10 foot rim joist and sill plate removed due to rot. Door removed and wall put back in with OSB for outer skin. I forgot to take the all done picture.

May 31st work

Image of how new roof will look.

We are stalled till we get "plans" and something called a "permit" before we can "repair " the obvious damage to the building.

Should look nice once the pitched roof is popped into place.

Kids were a big help, they like going to the cabin.

This is the well and well, it is a mess. Oh of course the pump was split in half because it froze. We need to rip all this out.

Chimney video Part two

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDuaEKAXRIk



More Pics coming soon!!!!

May 2nd work-weekend

Lots of hard work this weekend. The "crew" worked on Saturday and Sunday.

We worked on the following:
Finished digging out the chimney
Removed broken gas pipe valve
Removed old kitchen gas piping/valve
Hauled out a truck load of debris, filling two washing machine boxes plus several other boxes
Marked out possible bathroom wall locations

Met with electrician, we will have power this weekend!! Lights, power tools, refrigerator!!
Tore out all the picky bushes in front yard
Hauled out two tarp loads of leaves to backyard

I'm beat. Too much like work, we got a 10 yard dumpster to order to finish the debris work and get all the junk out.

Chimney video part one

April 18th chimney removal day

We had planned a big push on the demolition for the 18th. Just about everything got in the way of that plan so we scaled down to working on the chimney as it was not going to be needed.

Anyways, after removing the top part we worked on the inner part with some unexpected results. Apparently, the floor joists are set 24 inches or more apart......

Josh spent about 3 hours on that project and then worked on knocking out the kitchen. I cleaned up the chimney after he left and then collapsed in exhaustion.

The roof was shingled over the hole so that is now water tight, unlike with the chimney.

April 11 workout!!!

Whew. Raking leaves is hard, especially when they are half rotted down. Dragged 2 huge tarps full to the back 40 and pulled up some tree roots that were right where people walk. Enough yard work for the trip imo.

Got the floor in bath fully pulled up and pulled out the old shower stall. Cut out old copper plumbing in bath.

Had a nice day with kids, we had a picnic on the porch and cooked on the camp stove. Kids were very happy and played out back and behaved really well.

Ben learned the terms hacksaw, hammer, and wreaking bar today. Hope he remembers them next week.

This is a new shot of the attic. Just imagine "loft" and no chimney.

March 28th

Pulled up floor in bathroom today. Looks like this is where the most damage is located, floor joists are rotten. It's full of wall rubbish from when they ripped open wall to build out this room.

Still cool up north, some snow still in woods.

We also brought the boat home, looks like we have a rebuild project there but should be good to go.

MArch 14-15 rip out party!!!

Whew what a weekend, filled a fifteen yard dumpster, 8 contractor trash bags, one bathtub, and started a pile of "burnable" wood out back.

We did not get it all done as the task was more then three guys could handle. Emily helped for part of Saturday by breaking out the ceiling drywall and by climbing around the attic.

It looks like there will be no problems with the cathederal ceiling plans as the ceiling joists are just nailed in not integrated with the roof joists.

This was about 3/4ths of the ceiling we got ripped out.

Yeah its a new ride for the bear....... see the boat in the back???

March 7th remodel

Some day my offspring will look busy when I'm around. Josh was moping around and it was raining such nothing else could be done at the duplex..... so we drove up and put in 2.5 hours of work on the cabin. Glad we did as the enormity of the project is starting to raise its ugly head.

Little ones love playing in the mess.....

Oh and the boat looks good enough to fix and use. Need a trailer to get it home.

March 1st pictures

We spent a good chunk of time at the place today, basically needed to shovel the opening of the driveway to make it possible to get anything into the driveway. Snow plowed up about 3 feet deep and it was all hard and icy.

We also dealt with the "toilet" issue and that went down the drain, so good for us on that one.

Here are some pics, it was about 12 degreeeeeeeees cold and we still had a blast. Kids keep asking about tv, computer and food when we go here. I ran the generator off the back of the truck ( -parked in road) and had a small heater to take some of the chill off inside. It did help a bit but was still pretty cold.

I think this is the back property line....

We were visited by our chief architect.... notice the hat position... also notice wall openings, I had a bit of fun kicking the walls in ( not hard the way they put them up). That door is opening to bathroom.

Back of place

The Porch out front'

South side of house. The door in pix is to the water pump.

Next trip is the big ripout. March 14th and 15th we take out the old insides and then we begin.

Interior Pictures

Kitchen and "utility room" And no one has looked into the deep freeze for "things".....

Kitchen and dining area. Shot from front of building

The bathroom sink...

The other bathroom items are not viewable on the web....

Welcome to the lodge....

Or cabin, or den or whatever I figure it out to be called. Currently "the cabin" is the everyday label ( especially since the term went so out of vogue back in 1984.....).

Anyways, this is the photo blog of the great cabin remodel of 2009.

I will upload the initial state of affairs in my next posts.

Planning on major demolition on March 14th/15th. Big dumpster will be there to hold it all as we take the building back to its roots.