Creating my "Over the Top" Deer Blind

[EddieWalker]

I'm done with the shingles, flashing and putting the Hardi on the cupola. The roof is now water proof and ready for some rain. This was the hardest part of building the blind for me, and I'm very happy to have it over with!!!

Steph came out to check on me and with my ear plugs in, I didn't even know she was there for the first few pictures that she took. When I looked down, there she was.

Eddie

 

[groundcover]

Wow! Wonder what the deer are thinking? I know the many threads about using the loader as a work platform but I think I would rather be on that than most ladders.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

It is looking good Eddie. Don't worry about the safety police. We do these things knowing the risks and we have to weight the risk to the cost to do things in a different manner that is safer. As long as you don't get cocky up on a roof like I did you will be fine. Its when you believe you won't fall is when you make a mistake. I have been on ladders 36' in the air as recently as this fall and while I can't do roofing anymore because of physical limitations I am not scared of heights. I just am careful now and take more precautions when working on ladders and up on roofs.

 

[CurlyDave]

Eddie:

I think your loader and pallet is safer than a ladder.

A few weeks ago the guy who put tile on my balcony came back to fix the job because the original tile all started coming loose. The balcony is 16 feet above a concrete driveway. The ladder broke and he fell when he was about half way up.

I was standing right next to the ladder and just froze when it happened instead of doing something to help. Fortunately he landed on his feet and sprained one for a few days, but nothing serious.

Anyway, if he had been in my loader this would not have happened.

 

[jinman]

I hate ladders, but I'm fond of scissor lifts and manlifts. They can also fail, but they do have lock valves. Eddie, your tractor's hydraulics must be very tight to not leak down and the platform sag. Most of our CUTs don't have the quality hydraulics of your tractor. The only issue I have is you working by yourself at those heights. That's the scariest part to me. I'm glad Steph showed up to check on you.

 

[txdon]

Eddie, don't worry steel hydraulic lines don't rupture.

 

[Captinjack]

Here's a tip for those who will build a hunting shack in the mountains.

I see that your hunting area is level. For those of us in the mountains, locate the downhill window lower and the uphill windows higher than normal making it convenient to shoot/view out of. DO NOT make them the same height as you will regret it for the life of the stand.

I bought a commercial box stand that I placed on the side of a mountain and I have to put my nose up against the downhill window to see all the way down and it's uncomfortable. Ditto for the uphill side only opposite, I have to get my head down low to see all the way up.

I bought the stand already made as I wanted to make my own stand, but didn't for at least 6 yrs. The cost was only $250 more than I budgeted to build my own and was a no brainer. I planned on putting it 12 ft. up in the air, but after locating on the mountainside, I saw that this didn't yield any advantage so I just set it on the ground. No problems with slipping down a set of snow covered stairs and busting my butt - a big advantage as we are all getting on in years and we don't heal as well.

 

[EddieWalker]

Yesterday I put two layers of insulation into the attic. I have some R13 wall insulation laying around, so I put one layer in one direction and then another layer in the opposite direction so it overlaps. I thought about making a basket when I was doing this.

Then I put in the OSB ceiling. Just doing this gave the building a totally different feel. Then I started to do the interior walls, but ran out of battery power on my cordless tools. My cordless sawzall eats up the batteries. Normally it's not a problem since I have two chargers and four batteries, but working out in the woods without any power for the chargers makes it impossible to keep them charged.

Today I finished off the interior walls and did some small things to the exterior siding that I had put off until now. Then Steph came out just as I was cleaning up the mess from cutting out the windows.

Then we both put on the house wrap. It was windy today and one time we had too much unwound, which took off like a parachute!!!! Funny how quickly that happens.

It was getting late in the day, and I hadn't bought the windows yet. That's the next step, but while there is still an opening in the walls, I decided to take advantage of Steph's help and put in the soffits. I wanted the house wrap on first so that I could tuck it up and over the soffts and add one more little level of water proofing.

Eddie

 

[wushaw]

I think if y'all look real close at the L/H cylinder there looks to be a "U" block so as to lock the loader in the up position as the hyd leaks down.

At least that's what it looks like to me......

 

[EddieWalker]

Yes, there's a block there, but it's for safety while working on the engine with the loader in the up position. I have it locked while on the platform, but it's not touching. The cylinders don't leak down while I've been using it. No movement at all. If it did, I would be to afraid to be up there.

Don't CUT's have this for safety?

Eddie