More Week Four

Little house, upon leaving.

The wall of windows with some detail work.

Here you can see that not all the exterior detail work is done, but you can get an idea of what it will look like.

Rick and me on the porch.

All three windows in.

The kerf cut frames did a good job bending over the top of the arched window.

I told Lauren that I didn't think I was going to figure out how to put in all the windows on the east side of the cabin, to which she responded, "Oh, that's alright, I guess we'll see the sun as it's setting." That kind of well-placed motivating sarcasm led me to much head scratching and these kerfs.

Here's the first east window.

The french doors installed. These really let in a lot of light. These doors had a broken pane of glass as did the window beside it, so I had to spend a little time fixing them.

Week Four, (much delayed)

Working class dog

The only north facing window, as per my wife.

Here's a new step onto the front porch, built only after my third near-death experience with the former dry-stone step.

Our new (old) wood-burning stove. This came to us all the way from Oregon and California before that. In California it was reputed to warm the derrieres of prostitutes in a small brothel.

The cabin as the sun sets.


The cedar shakes, all in place.


Putting up the cedar shakes.

The view from the loft.

Windows up and the framing on the south gable end begun.

Here are the three windows in, kind of ramshackle, but I think it adds to the cabin's character.
The two west windows.

Beginning to put in the windows- a little nerve-wracking to cut a hole in the wall you went to all that trouble trying to make solid.

The following pictures are from my trip upstate as autumn approaches. I have been away all summer, working and doing a gut-renovation on our Brooklyn apartment's kitchen, (new floors, cabinets, countertops, appliances, backsplashes, sink, light fixtures, painting and some demo work). I fear this will be my last time up for awhile, a boy on the way and in only a month. Still, my pace is less urgent, and I am more inclined to work a little more slowly and take Ricky for walks a little more often. I'll keep updating the pictures, but I may not do it day-by-day.

Week Three

My family.

Time to go home.

Here's the roof, finally done.

Here I am putting up the ridge cap. It's nice to have someone around to take pictures while I'm working. Two notes about sitting up there: 1. For a person as scared of heights as I am, not restful. 2. The edge: sharp.

Putting the metal roof up.

Putting up the felt.

"The Contraption"

I built this so I could go up on the roof which is way too steep to stand on.

Ricky enjoying his newly smoothed meadow.

I started out putting a coat of primer on the cabin. Ultimately, our little place will be yellow, but I didn't have time to finish it up this trip. This primer should offer some protection by itself.

After two days of hard work, I insisted she take a break. She did, sort of. Here she is doing some reinforcing nailing on the front porch.

Lauren did a lot of work. These hay stacks are all thistle bushes she pulled.

It was great getting to show Lauren our place in person. She hasn't seen the property since we bought it last summer. Besides being present in case I fell off the roof and reminding me to take a few minutes every day to go down by the creek to rest, Lauren worked tirelessly. She couldn't help paint and I wasn't letting my pregnant wife on top of the roof so for two straight days she pulled thistle bushes from the big meadow. Our cottage sits at edge of this meadow and clearing it out really opened it up.

Went up this weekend for the last big push. Twelve straight days of work that pays and a kitchen remodel await at home, so this is the last chance I'll have for awhile to do anything major. I wanted to paint our little cottage and put the roof on so I can leave it knowing it will be protected against the elements. As usual, I underestimated the time these projects would take. The thing that made this weekend different than others is that this time I had a helper.

Week Two

Here we are enjoying our new porch.

And that's it for this weekend. Hopefully we'll be up next week to do more.

Here's what lock-up looks like.

Here's the simple way to set the roof in place.

But this porch roof is special too.

The roof goes up!

But it makes a heck of a racket. I probably should have worn these all along.

You can cut a metal roof with a regular circular saw blade as long as you reverse the blade.

Next I had to start working on the porch roof. Metal roofing to match the cabin roof.

Here's a little drystone step I built to get up on the porch.

This front porch can be put away. I have kept this little structure purposefully small so that it fits within the guidelines of the local building code. Some inspectors count porches as part of the square footage. As you'll see, the porch will also serve as part of the cabin's security.

Here's a hint.

And here it is all done. But this porch is a little different. How?

I made no Day Ten post because I didn't get in until after midnight that night and had to be at work the next morning. I sheathed the front of the cabin that day, cleaned up around the site, and tried to prepare the structure for a week alone. Sounds like about two hours work, but I somehow left in the failing light after 8:00 pm.


If you would like to have a laugh, you should compare the list of things I think I should get done in an aloted amount of time to the list of things I do get done. I arrived to the country to see the cabin still standing and the tarp I put over the roof still in place. I decided to go back and reinforce the nailing I did on all the siding, making sure I didn't cut any corners. Next, I started on the front porch.

Day Nine

Here's the cabin at the end of the day. The overhangs will be a foot

and a half beyond the walls once the metal roof is put up.

Here I am, very wet, very muddy. Behind me you can see

the window I got for the gable ends. There's one for the

front (south) side too.

I bought these folding chairs for the cabin when I got

the windows.

I made these temporary catwalks to help me put up the plywood sheathing. The loft really helped too.

Here you can see the roof sheathing going up.

P.M.: It rained all day long, but I couldn't bear to watch the cabin getting soaked so I went back and finishrd the loft, checked the rafters' connection, and began the roof sheathing. This turned out to be a very difficult job alone.

A.M.: Rick and I have to go home tomorrow, a long drive with traffic. We may be able to do some work, but today is our last chance at a full day. I need to start being a realist and get the cabin ready for several days without me. I made a mistake last night working all the way into the dark and din't leave myself enough time for clean-up and making sure the cabin would stay dry in case of rain. I gambled and lost. It rained most of the night. I'd like to secure some sort of covering for the roof, even if it's just a tarp, do something about the gables, and finish siding the south side, while leaving myself access for my next visit. I don't think I'll have time to install the doors and even if I did, I certainly wouldn't have time to install the shutters to secure it. More later- hopefully a success story.