Howell Cabin

If you liked all that inside wood, you're going to love doing it again outside! November 5-8 we got started putting the same tongue and groove material up for our soffits -- the exterior ceiling that covers the rafters. The first day was a slow setup day; we got one side of the front section done, and the other just started. Jon stayed late and finished up the other side -- once we had the rhythm it went pretty fast. The second day brought snow. We finished the north end and started down the west overhang, which is a little shorter than the other.   On Sunday we finished the west overhang. On Monday we got started on the bigger east overhang.   There two little gaps that needed to be filled, so Jon made just the right pieces of wood and painted them to match the siding. That wrapped up a four-day long weekend. Two weeks later, we put in another couple days. Saturday we arrived to find our worksite -- and materials -- covered in snow.   We got the east overhang mostly fin...

  Wow, the second side went a lot faster than the first! We got the tongue-and-groove down to the wall on the east side of the ceiling today, wrapping up a six-day work week.   This is Jeff, the guy that taught me and helped me install all that T&G.   I also managed to touch up those corners I fixed up with bondo earlier in the week. On Sunday I had an hour to kill, so I finished up the last courses in the upper loft. They're trickier because they have to be ripped, and the rip width varies along the length of the wall because the framing isn't perfectly even. (All the first floor framing is perfect because Eliot and I did it :) They still need a trim strip, like the great room walls.

  Today I showed up to an open gate ... and a dump truck and an excavator. Jason & Dave were getting started digging to place our water reservoir.       Later Kelly showed up to plumb the tank and the pump.      Then Dave shaped the driveway, making a little berm to reduce the temptation to drive on the tank.   Now our house has running water! Only one fixture is connected, this garden spigot. Meanwhile, Jeff and I kept pushing on the tongue and groove. We completed the west ceiling today!

It's a cabin; it should have lots of wood. So the great room ceiling is paneled in tongue-and-groove. We're using a prefinished product, which is great because applying finishes is really boring. Here are the first few courses getting started. My helper is Jeff from Selah. He knows his stuff; I'm really glad to have him on around to teach me about finish work. I'm hoping he'll want to come out some more.   Our first task on Monday was to make a safe way to operate at ceiling height. We built platforms on the oft-abused collar ties, and then used ladders on those for the very highest bits. After Jeff went home, I used a chainsaw to cut up a couple logs I'd left in the driveway.     On Tuesday we got quite a bit farther down the ceiling. After Jeff went home, I tried splitting some of the wood. I succeeded, but it was the wood handle of my axe that split. Guess I can burn it now.   On Wednesday we got down to the collar ties. That's Jeff marking the ceiling to...

We did most of our work Sunday. Christina and Jon and Siggy worked on the upstairs shower stall.     Kids played Uno.     I'm not sure if it's the same squirrel every time, but this guy lives here and gives me a lot of chatter. Jon came by Saturday afternoon to drop off the Wedi board for the shower. He did another little dump run, and fastened the spare wheel on the snowmobile trailer.

Not a lot of completed work to show for the weekend; we're mostly getting things ready for later work and later fun. A delivery of 300 prefinished tongue and groove boards showed up Friday. We loaded it into the house and turned on some electric heat to bring everything up to a stable temperature. Our garbage pile had grown pretty huge, so we hooked up the big trailer and loaded it up with literally a ton of trash. We also managed to give away some better leftovers on Craigslist. Last, we unloaded the snowmobile trailer and got it roadworthy. Siggy's bringing the spare tire up to fill. That was to prepare for Sunday's adventure. Christina had found a couple pretty nice snowmobiles on Craigslist. We pulled the trailer to Federal way to pick them up, then drove back up to the cabin to park them until the snow catches up with us.