More about Floor Trusses

A little advise to the shade tree log cabin builder.......never buy floor trusses from ABC ( a local truss manufacturer)......apparently not one person at that facility has a tape measure!

I'm certainly not an expert builder by any means, but I can read a tape measure. Heck.....the new ones even have the fractions printed on them. Take it from me....there are advantages to engineered trusses. The disadvantage is that you must trust and then pay some other outfit to build them for you. Therein lies the problem.

Floor Trusses

The work of building a log cabin doesn't seem to be getting any easier as we move along. Everything gets heavier and longer! On this day in cabin history we were putting up the floor trusses. The long trusses were 28 feet and the short ones was ten feet long. The challenge was just getting them on the foundation from the ground. They were delivered 5 days ahead of schedule, thankfully......we were ready.

At this stage of the game, I am very surprised and pleased with the progress in spite of the rain delay on the foundation, the lack of manpower to help lift the big stuff and oh.........this is the first time I have ever built a log cabin.

This is a pic of the first nail that was pounded in the cabin project. I got it started and then Kim drove it home.
Hey......maybe thats where that phrase came from!

Sill Plates and Flasing...the metal kind.

Kim and I worked every day in the evenings after or day jobs were done. We finally got the sill plates, flashing and sealer finished. Not a very difficult task....if it hadn't been for the block layers not having a clue on how to install J-bolts........it would have been much easier to get the plates down. Does anyone know a good block layer out there? Please.......please let me know of you do.

Block Laying Finished

Finally......after the monsoon season passed (which lasted about three days) the block layers finished up.

See there, I told you the possibilities were endless. Within a given structure of course.














First order of business was to fill the corners with concrete. Yes I know, it's overkill....but you never can over do a foundation......even for a humble little cabin like ours.

Yes it rained.....the up side is that it was cool enough that day to get it all done in one day.
We poured 2000 lbs. of concrete using a 5 gallon bucket. NOT FUN!!

Monday morning the mixer went back to the rental place.

Step Two.......Pour concrete & Lay block

Things happen pretty dog gone fast around here. The construction loan was closed on (of all days) Friday the 13th of July. The next morning we were off to the Highland Games. We returned home on the morning of the 15th to find the excavation work already in progress. Monday the 16th I had the block layer come to give me an estimate on the job. Tuesday the 17th I ordered the block from Summit Building Supply in Burnsville NC., the concrete was poured on Wednesday the 18th and the block were delivered on Thursday the 19th. I was in a mild state of shock to see things flow go so well.

The block layers came on Monday the 23rd and got about half to block done before 12pm the same day. And then........well, lets just say that I discovered a cure to the drought we are in here in the South. Build a house and it will come. I gave some thought to just converting the house foundation into a swimming pool. It was full of water, all I needed was a filter since it was a bit muddy.

Nothing lasts forever, including the rain. It did finally clear up a few days later and the block guys were able to finish up the job.....well.....after the mistake they made was taken care of. Nothing major really, they just didn't build the wall that we had talked about the day before. But that was all soon in the past once we were all on the same page.

Here are a few pics to bring us up to the point that the foundation block was completed.

She way look a little confused, she may seem a little at a loss for words, she may even broken hearted.

All these things are true. I think more than anything, she just doesn't yet see all the possibilities in front of her.






After the concrete was poured, then came the block. Ah,...the possibilities are endless!

Major changes are a foot

Oh boy! It's been longer than I intended since the last post. Theres plenty of excuses I can make for not getting around to posting here. Basically, I just haven't done it. Thats about it. Seems that time gets away from me faster than I would like it to. I hit the big four zero back in January. That was painful to say the least. A surprise birthday party made it a little easier to deal with. But, every day can't be a party....so reality creeps back from time to time and I get bummed about it. Some things I can change, this one......I can't.

Kim and I have done lots of bike riding this year, mostly spring and early summer. It's been way to hot and humid lately to get out and huff up and down hills on a bike. I am getting a little weary of the heat. I want to be out in the woods doing what I love. Soon summer will end and the weather will break and be more conducive to strenuous activity.

Now for the big news.......for most if not all of my adult life and a good portion of my teenage years, I have had this deep desire to step back into time and live life as our ancestors did. Well, for the most part that can be a little difficult to do. But still the desire lingers and I keep an open mind about things and life in general and grab for the little things that feed that desire of mine.

One big step in that direction has always been the fact that I wanted to build and live in my very own log cabin. Well..........it's finally happening. Yes world......we are building our dream cabin. That accounts for my lack of mountainous type activities as of late. So for awhile at least this blog will serve a dual purpose, one is to chronicle our life on two wheels and the other is to keep a log of the progress on the cabin.

I suppose that I should say now that when I say "building our dream cabin", I literally mean that we are doing the building. HGTV calls it sweat equity. I just don't have much trust in allowing strangers to build a cabin that I will be happy with.

So, from here on out......I will post pics of the work, tell of our failures and successes and maybe, just maybe I'll have a bike riding story to throw in from time to time.

It all began when we came back from the GFM Highland games on the 15th of July. Dave was digging away with the dozer, so I joined the effort.






By the end of a very long and hot day, house seat was done, footers were done and we were ready for concrete.