Long awaited blog update for Cabin

Since it was May since I did the last blog update I figured I would start from early June the goings on.  Since NC is pretty much the epicenter of reported tick-borne illnesses in the US it would stand to reason that my chance of contracting this is pretty high given that we are in the woods just above very weekend.  Around June 5 I started experiencing the classic symptoms (headache, low grade fever, sluggishness) and went to the doc to be checked.  Upon my indicating I had been bitten several times by ticks in the past weeks she took a blood sample and prescribed doxycyline.  Five days after the doctor's visit I got the spots (which was actually my capillaries leaking under the skin - very bad news...).  However the good news is that I was already on the treatment and starting to get better so the damage was not worsening.  The spots disappeared another 3-4 days later and I felt much better.

This is what RMSF looks like after about day 5 of when I suspected I had a tick-borne illness. I was on doxycyline at this point for 4 full days.

 The cabin worked continued in earnest in July, August and September with us finishing the last bit of the deck (to be used as scaffolding for siding the dormer).

Taking a break to enjoy the quietness.

Completed siding and partial painting done

Beech log in front of the cabin has taken on some beautiful fungal arrangements

October 16

We added this awning after Hurricane Matthew dumped a whole lot of rain on us.  We decided we needed to redirect water from the main roof above the door off to the ground as water splashed on the walkway deck onto the door sill and leaked into the cabin.

Oct. 16

Exterior cabin finishes nearly done to make it ready for winter.  Needs deck railing and then we move inside to build the loft.

Tiny Cabin Roof Job with Generator Woes

So where do things stand with the tiny cabin project?

i) Over the Christmas break we more or less got the roof rafters in place and ready to put the sheathing on
ii) We installed the deck posts around the cabin and purchased the materials for it.
iii) We received our doors and windows from Home Depot and they are in storage ready to be installed after the dry-in
iv) the portable generator broke down and we had to order a new part which took a couple of weeks
v) we installed one side of the overall roof sheathing and metal on Jan. 16

 It is important to get a roof on the building as soon as practical to keep the framing members dry to prevent the onset of rot and wood warpage.  For us we had a lot of inclement weather in late December which prevented us from getting up there to start that phase of the project.  To prevent as much water ingression as possible we placed a tarp on top of the rafters to prevent direct rainfall soaking the plywood floor and wall frame.

I persuaded my neighbor (the fellow who built our pole barn/shop) to assist with the roofing and he graciously came out on Jan. 2 only to have our generator promptly breakdown when we tried firing up the air compressor for the nailer. One realizes how important electricity is to the continuity of any project only when it isn't there and when you bring in a professional framer on his day off to help! He packed up and said he'd be back when the generator was back working.   I returned home that night and researched what might have caused the generator to quit.  The main symptom I observed was that the motor would turn over and run normally but it would not generate power sufficiently to operate any tools.  I gleaned from my internet research was that it was most likely a voltage regulator issue that I had.  My generator is a 3.65 kW Homelite with the capability to handle surges up to 4.55 kW.  I looked up the part number from the generator manual and found that this machine uses a run capacitor which looks like this.  The nice thing was that it is a simple matter of undoing four bolts that hold the housing on and the capacitor sits inside it with two wires attached that just slip off.  When I removed the part I could see immediately this was the part that got damaged because it was slightly bulging on all six sides from overheating.  In retrospect it probably burned up when I had negligently left the well pump plugged in during a cold start-up the week before.  Generators like to be on and running steady-state before a load is applied - especially big ones.  The well pump is 3/4 HP,  240VAC sitting at 350' below the ground and even when the genny is running warm and steady it bogs down when the well pump kicks on.  Nevertheless we got the part (and a spare!) re-installed with little effort and we commenced with the roofing.

David and Scott intalling roof sheathing

David convinced me to invest in a pneumatic framing nailer to speed up the project.  Since he was offering his free time to build my roof I figured it was worth the cost and would likely use it on other projects to come.  The truth is it is a dream to use and productivity goes up about three-fold over screw fasteners.  The downside is that mistakes may take much longer to fix if disassembly is required.

30# felt (tar paper over the OSB sheeting)

Half the metal on

David and Scott finishing up metal roof installation

The metal we chose to install is called 5V crimp.  We used 26 gauge, 2 foot wide panels.  It is easy to work with and relatively inexpensive.  It comes in 8, 10 or 12' lengths fastened with special screws to seal out water.

So with concurrent projects going on we are very busy and never for want of something to do while we're up there.  The deck surrounding the cabin will be worked on again in earnest after the roof goes on and we'll sheet the walls and tack on the membrane in coming weeks.

Deck posts set during Christmas break

Tiny House Construction Progress

Thanksgiving Week Tiny Cabin Build - cont'd

All four walls got erected on our tiny cabin on Tuesday.  Elizabeth deserves most of the credit as she painstakingly laid out and measured everything 3X before I made cuts to ensure square and level joinery of the wall studs.  We chose to use purchased dimensional lumber for this project instead of milling our own from the trees on the property due to the time constraints we are faced with.  As we learned from constructing a woodshed working with logs is tedious and requires a lot of time to prep the logs which involves peeling the bark, notching the joints plus you need extra labor to lift and place for fastening.  With "2-by" lumber it is basically precision build ready with little effort required to keep things straight and level.  Next step is to install rafters and metal roof.  We ordered the doors and windows which will arrive in late December.  We'll start cutting down the trees this winter where the house will be situated but right now the wall tent is in the way.  After the cabin is done we'll take it down and move into the cabin for weekend stays.