We finished framing the last wall and had the trusses delivered at noon.
Dean and Sheldon finished hanging all the siding while I went to pick up our windows. Got those installed. Then we started standing trusses.
We got 6 of them in place, 7 more to go on Friday then it’s roof metal time!
Kitchen side window.
Bedroom egress window.
Starting to look like a cabin now!
Tomorrow is a school field trip so we’ll be doing other things, be back on Friday for more building fun.
#aklife
#cabinlife
Today we started standing walls. Got 3 done. Tomorrow will be finishing framing and sheeting then trusses will be delivered at noon.
Let me just brag a little on the beautiful weather we’ve had the last two days. So nice. Alaska tan coming my way, right before the rain. ☔
#buildalaska
#cabinlife
Started the day off with getting our electric service hooked up. Dean worked on sizing joists while I set up our rain shelter and hooked up our temp power outlets.
The mill broke down so Sheldon showed up on the job site to give us a hand. We sailed through setting the floor system and in no time the sheeting was down and BAM!
Tomorrow is walls! Woohoo!
#shebuildsit
#cabin
No rest for the weary. Finished one cabin yesterday and rolled into the new job site this morning. This is a 12′ x 24′ cabin, dry in only. (No interior or finish work!!)
We spent half a day gathering supplies. The rest of the day we set our paver/pier foundation & brackets.
Then we sized our rough sawn beams and set them into place. Leveled and squared them and cut our rim joist and laid out our joist placement.
Time flies when you’re having fun. Time to clean up and stow our tools. Monday we will knock out the floor joists and blocking. Hopefully getting some sheeting down for the floor too.
Finished!! The building that is. There’s still plenty of clean up to be done this weekend. On to another waiting project.
#alaskabuilt
#cabinlife
#lakelife
#whitespruce
We’re almost done with this little log tiny house build.
280′ square feet of interior living space. Equal storage space below. 4′ x 14′ of covered front porch. Full service kitchen and 3/4 bath. The customer will be doing the shower at a later date
So much finish work. The bathroom pocket door trim consists of 12 components! All custom made trim, nothing store bought. It’s all Alaskan white spruce. Local logs milled at SND’s sawmill. You can’t get more “Alaskan Made”.
#alaskalife
#tinyhouse
#logcabin
Where has the time gone? Between working snow removal (Dean) and running the sawmill for a month we’ve kept busy. A month ago we were riding snow machines and wearing the warm clothes. Now we’re digging drainage ditches, jumping on the trampoline and wearing summer attire.
Also last month I started experimenting with oyster mushroom cultivation and started my first tote of substrate. I had started with a grow kit from Home Depot. I grew one out last year and we enjoyed the ‘shrooms so much I thought why not grow more?
I pulled a bit of the grow block off and used it to innoculate some straw and coffee grounds. I let it sit and grow mycelium until today when I checked it and I had pinning!! Woo hoo!
Can’t wait to eat them in about 10 days or so.
The kiddos set up the trampoline today, with some difficulty. But it’s up and ready for high energy kids. While we were out a large flock of sandhill cranes flew over chattering steadily. We’ve seen several geese flocks over the last few days but these were the first cranes. Summer is here.
Dean has been in the boat every available moment. He’s so excited about the prospect of halibut fishing at will. To be honest, so am I. But I still do have a house that needs finishing…
The kids helped me prep our wine cap mushroom bed today. We raked it out, layered cardboard first, then straw. We added our spawn and then top coated it with sawdust. Over that I put some wood mulch to keep the sawdust in place.
Next on the list is an outdoor oyster mushroom bed. Maybe next weekend? And I’ve got to get another tote started indoors. I’ve got pearl and phoenix varieties for indoors.
The Oldest has plans for gardening this year, so a few more raised beds and updating our current hillside beds.
Back to work on the rec cabin build tomorrow. Another day another dollar.
#aklife
#aksummer
#winterisover
That’s how I feel this past week has gone, a busy, buzzy, blur.
We took last Friday off to spend the weekend at the cabin. I love going to the cabin but it requires a significant amount of preparation what with taking six people and a dog. So the day off from building work was spent on prepping work, grocery planning and shopping along with packing food and supplies. Then there’s the loading of the snow machines and gear, which Dean usually takes care of. So not really a “day off” from working.
But when you finally get there, the peace and quiet sets in and all that hustle and bustle is worthwhile. Then it feels like you’re a lazy little bee buzzing leisurely from flower to flower without a care in the world.
Back to work Monday and along came the snow. Dean works snow removal at nights when we’re in a snow cycle. Monday night was snow removal after building that day. Then Tuesday we started at a one hour delay and worked a short day because he had to go in Tuesday night. Weds was another short day and as soon as we got back from work we got a call for another moose salvage, so back out to collect a very young injured moose that had to be put down. Another late night. Moose takes precedence. Dean was supposed to work snow removal that night so Jake filled in so we could get the moose.
Thursday was another “day off” to work up the moose that we’d prepped and quartered the night (early morning?) before. Dean worked snow removal that night and I worked the moose.
Feeling a bit like burning the candle at both ends. Today we’re just wiped out. It’s not productive to try to build in cold temps while also being physically exhausted, neither is it safe. So we’re home again today. I’ll work on canning some of this moose meat, there’s nothing quite as good as fresh canned moose. And maybe take a nap.
I’ve never been more grateful to have so much to do.
A bee’s work is never done. 🐝
#gratefulforallthethings
#Aklife
We started a new rec cabin this week. It’s been a long break but I’m back.
This is a 14’×20′ on a picturesque lot overlooking Island Lake.
It’s always exciting to start a new project.
Hoping to end the week with three courses of logs done. We’ll see how tomorrow goes!
#aklife
#shebuilds
#winterwork
We’ve been working on our upstairs bathroom. It’s been partially out of service (the toilet) since early March when we had a smallish fire in the bathroom trash. Thank goodness for keeping fire extinguishers in our home! And for being home due to covid-19 shutdown!
We had some drywall repair to do and let’s face it, neither one of us likes to do drywall. So it has been waiting on us to finish it. And finally we’re back to it. I’m tired of only one toilet in the house with 6 people!!
The meantime I’ve been sourcing materials as they go on sale or clearance. So when we were ready we could do the reno for less $$.
Dean started sanding & applying more mud while I started to strip down the map decoupaged vanity top. I scored the surface and used some fabric softener mixed with water to loosen the paper. Most of it scraped right off after soaking for a while. The rest got a light sanding and then I wiped down the surface with a damp rag.
Next was fitting the tile to the vanity top. I rough cut the tile to fit, now I need to trim the edge pieces to fit the tile into place. I had intended to use penny tile, since it would be easy to fit and no cutting needed. The colors Home Depot had just weren’t right though, and this hex tile was perfect. Plus it was on clearance so I got a bargain deal on all the tile for about $13. Now I’ll be learning a new skill, cutting tile! Yippee!??!?
Dean never has been fond of the dark taupe colored walls so we opted for a sage green color. With accents of beige tile, sable grout (bought on clearance for 10¢ a box!!) and one wood accent wall we hope to add interest to this unusually long, narrow, odd shaped bathroom.
#renonation
#updatedbathroom
#diyAK49
Alaska on my mind... 