awnings

If one noticed in my last post they saw that I'd cut a pallet at an angle. This was to give it a slope to become an awning. One above the door and the other above the window. I bought a ten foot roll of aluminum and cut it to fit, for the rear window some left over roofing material was used.

covered

I've neglected blogging for over a month, shame on me. That doesn't mean I haven't been hard at it, we've had a lot of good weather for sure.

In the last post there was still some uncovered plywood, I managed to paper that and also the other side. After that I completed all the siding front and back.

With a bit of help from Nick I've widened the cross bracing inside to make it a foot wide shelf. 

 Above he is breaking away ice that built up and kept the wall from opening.

Here's a shot of me after I completed the backside planking a week later, you can see how the cedar color changed already, above the window is fresh red wood. It was a bit chilly and you can see snow in the lower right

Next up I've cut a pallet to become awnings over the window and door. They were mounted using six inch screws and a lot of patience.

sideline

With all the roofing done, or so I thought, it was time to begin covering the walls. When I first started this project I was going to cut pallet decks down to shingles and do the walls with that. I did cut some down and will use them somewhere but it would take far more pallet shingles to cover a 12' x 13' triangle than I have time to scrounge up on this project.

Nearby is a cedar mill and while the half inch siding there will cost more than pallet wood it has the wonderful benefit of being insect resistant. And the smell is very nice too. Eight foot planks are only three dollars for B grade so I'll be able to cover both walls for less than $200. Below I am getting started and you can see the flip-up roof open.

scaffold ladder is so handy!

There was a little oopsie with the Tuftex panels and that is my fault. Running out of daylight last time I had screwed down the ends but not had time to fasten across the top and it seems the wind must have gotten strong and popped the middle one out. Only a tiny piece tore off the corner that overlaps the next panel so I was able to salvage it. If it doesn't work out I can unscrew the panel and replace it with a fresh one any time. In fact the whole cabin has been screwed except for the roof, I went with the nails recommended by Ondura for their roof.

Flooring, my friend has some left overs from work and it it'll cover the whole 120 square feet then I'm all set!

I started totaling up receipts last week and if I have all of them it looks like I've topped $1000 now. Not too bad in my opinion and I'm about 90% done building, maybe $200 away from completion.

Sunday poured rain all day so until the next good weather - cheers.

An Epoch

Dry-in, stage two is complete wahoo!

It has been a few weeks since posting, some rough ones in the middle where weather was decent but health was not.

First some catch-up -
Dec 26
Seems I've been a bit lazy in my posts and so I should mention that my good friend Rod came out post Christmas and helped me install the door, make some skilled cuts and also get plywood started on the roof. Following the New Years Day post weather for the weekend cooperated and I got 30# felt installed on all the roof albeit with light rain going on so I had to do this under the blowing tarp ending the day with a tar-paper shack.

Jan  11
A few weeks later on the 11th my father-in-law helped me get the front and rear walls sheathed and frame in the flip up roof. Big feature of that day was installing the pipe through the wall which acts as a hinge for the flip up!

Scooter supervising cuts

3/4 pipe gets inserted

and a leg is installed for the flip

And here is how it looks with the tarp on the convertible side

Back to the present -
Saturday there was snow but the temp was heading toward 50 so I was eager to get out after being cooped up and ill. I was able to get most all the Ondura roofing on. It meant tromping in constant mud on the uphill side but a couple of cold toes couldn't slow things down.

My figures left me one sheet shy of completion where I'd needed to have one cut into 24" pieces to complete the last gap. Sunday was promising to be another fine day but I was tapped out on funds until my lovely bride came up with some extra and away I went!

Happy to report that all roofing is done and all the building needs is cedar siding on the front and back walls. Everything else will be the basic interior.

Tuftex panels complete the shell just as light rain comes in, the wall is
halfway lifted up here so I can screw in the bottom of each panel.

At this point it was good to feel like a complete structure. No more worries about weather ruining things means not being pressed for time even though every hour has been a joy. The wall is easy to raise and takes a couple of steps to ease it back down into closed position.

Transition from upper roof to flip-up wall	Just beyond tar paper shack
	Above Left: Rubber shelf liner will bend in the gap Above: Finishing roof panels Left: Convenient built in hangers all around The weather was nice on this day but in the summer a mosquito net will go around the  open deck.

This is how Sunday started. No more tarp after this!

Buddy decided it was warmer if he hung out in this corner.

For the next step I should be visiting the cedar mill for planks which will complete the outside shell, stay tuned for that.

Happy 2015

Waiting to be unwrapped for a days work

I got  up early and made some progress. Also the A-frame had it's first visitors today, Nicole and Mark dropped by to check it out on their way into town. It was nice to have a bit of a break.

Report for today is that all plywood has been attached to the roof so things are looking pretty solid! On the backside I sawed  the roof so it tapers in from the top and there is little overhang at the bottom. Just an odd aesthetic thing I went with.

Here I am at the top looking down as I fasten the ply to the ridge beam. Try not to get vertigo LOL

 

Not much to really show in pictures just more plywood, besides it was too dark to get pictures when I called it quits for the day. After dark set in I plugged a light into the generator and was able to install the window then clean up a bit.

After all that I spent the next day looking at roofing options. Metal barn roofing seems like an obvious choice but there is a newer product that appeals to me; Ondura.

I  think cutting the vinyl-like Ondura will be better than snipping or sawing metal. The tapered roofline on the back would make for 14 noisy feet of sawing on metal and it would leave the edge to fix up some way so sharp edges wont cut people or snag things.

One additional benefit is that Ondura comes in six foot lengths so it will be easy to carry to the site and it won't bend leaving creases like tin does. Cost-wise it came in a few cents cheaper per square foot than metal roofing.

Also picked up were spray foam insulation and 30 weight roof felt.