My Industrial Cabin Build

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I remember the first house I built in MA, nothing like the feeling of building, except when it is done and you are sitting in it and relaxing, you look up and think "I put this together"... GREAT FEELING !

I built a log cabin from scratch on my rural property a few years ago. I cut approximately 100 pine trees off the property and had them sawed into 6X7 logs by a local guy with a Woodmizer. It's amazing I actually finished the project given my inexperience at construction. The finished product turned out better than I would have ever expected. It is around 1000 sq.ft. My avatar is a picture of the cabin. It was a very gratifying experience, one of the highlights of my life to be honest.

WoodChuckDad, hope I'm not perceived as hijacking your thread. Good luck to you. Hope you have a satisfying experience like I did.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

No such thing as hijacking when you are giving good creative feedback. I learn a lit from the folks who comment like this.

 

[bullbreaker]

My avatar is a picture of the cabin. It was a very gratifying experience, one of the highlights of my life to be honest.

Beautiful !!! :thumbsup:


Also WoodChuckDad looking forward to your continued progress and the rest of your thread ! Thanks for sharin ........

 

[WoodChuckDad]

The weekend was disappointing. I appear to have lost my notebook that had all the measurements and notes for where laid the pex tubing. So I spent a fair amount of the weekend going thru photographs, marking the layout of the pipes on graph paper . Fortunately, the wire used was on a 6 inch grid, so it provides a lot of visual information as to the layout of the pipes.


We laid out some of the walls on one side of the hose and after double checking against the photo's last night and this morning, I went back out there intending to cut and nail up a few walls. I got my saw set up, had the generator, and compressor set up. I made one cut on the bottom plate for one of the walls and then I started the compressor while I measured out the 16 inch increments on the plate. within 2-3 minutes, my 20 gallon Husky compressor was on fire. I was trying to blow it out thru the vent in the plastic housing . I took the cover off and it just looked like it caught some of the wires on fire. From heat maybe. I have owned the compressor for about 18 months. I have used it once to inflate a tire and to charge the pex lines for inspection.My wife wants to call Husky. I think we are screwed. I have already resigned myself to finding another compressor. I have a pancake compressor that is 15 year old and will work, but is loud, and has more than exceeded it's expected lifespan so I think it is a ticking time bomb . My wife is still excited because laying out the wall lines made it seem more real to her and let her start imagining decorating and organization needs. I will use the week to get ready for next week and make sure I'm ready to start building walls.

 

[rScotty]

The weekend was disappointing. I appear to have lost my notebook that had all the measurements and notes for where laid the pex tubing. So I spent a fair amount of the weekend going thru photographs, marking the layout of the pipes on graph paper . Fortunately, the wire used was on a 6 inch grid, so it provides a lot of visual information as to the layout of the pipes.
View attachment 614907

I have Pex in concrete as well, and sometimes need to know where the lines are. So far I've been lucky, but always looking for some better way. One thing I've considered using is a thermal imaging camera or thermal imaging gun. That might now work so well until you heat the slab, but then again..... ??I haven't tried it. Seems like it might. Worth thinking about.

BTW, I gave up on the screaming pancake and loud compressors. Went to an old style slow RPM compressor. Rather old fashioned, but quiet. The kind with a compressor head, motor, and a fanbelt connecting them. All mounted on a largish air tank with wheels. The trick with those is that recharge time is longer so use a larger air tank. I like it.
rScotty

 

[dstig1]

I would highly recommend construction adhesive and as few fasteners as possible into the concrete. You are just asking for it otherwise. I too have PEX in my slab and I basically only drilled in for anchors at the ends of each wall, and maybe one in the middle on long walls. The construction adhesive will hold like grim death once it is cured in a day or so. I kept a lot of photos and measurements but it is soooo easy to screw it up that you want to do as few penetrations into the slab as you can. You just need to be a little careful that you don't smear it onto finished surfaces while setting the wall.

 

[EddieWalker]

As a contractor I've had quite a few smal compressors. Pretty much most.of all the name brands sold at Lowes and Home Depot. Against my better judgement I bought a Bostik pancake air compressor because it was the only one that would run on 12 amps, which is all.my little Honda genarator produces. 5 years later, dozens and dozens of jobs later, unknown miles bouncing around in the back of my truck, numerous thunder storms later, it's become my all time favorite compressor!!!!

 

[Handloader109]

Ha, I bought one about 10 or so years ago. About a year ago it started dancing around. The plastic cooling fan started to disintegrate. Gets hot, but it wont die. Way too loud in my shop, but too cheap to replace yet. Good luck getting new one. I've been looking at the California air or one of the knockoffs

 

[rScotty]

The weekend was disappointing. I appear to have lost my notebook that had all the measurements and notes for where laid the pex tubing. So I spent a fair amount of the weekend going thru photographs, marking the layout of the pipes on graph paper . Fortunately, the wire used was on a 6 inch grid, so it provides a lot of visual information as to the layout of the pipes.

There are probably books and books on the subject of valuable things to do when building a cabin.... but I didn't read them. When we built our most recent "retirement" cabin we had been living in one for 40 years and thought we knew everything. Some things I did right & some wrong, but here are some things that I would do again.

1. Take lots of still photos every single day of course. But what I use most for reference are the videos we took. When the walls were up and open and you could still see the electrical wires and plumbing my wife decided to walk through every room and take a video of every wall and ceiling. Each room is a separate video file. Whole job took less than an hour. Our goal was just to show the wiring so we didn't hit it when mounting pictures on walls,... but those videos also show framing and plumbing details that have been useful a thousand times since. We videoed just that once... but I wish we had done it every week or month during building.

2. Something I did really right was to build a walk-in master control room for all utilities - heat, water filtration, electrical panel, & well plumbing. It is only 6x8 feet but utilities are on two walls with tools & workbench on the other.

3. Trim. I bought knotty pine planks and let them age while I built the rest of the house so I had cured wood to do finish work with. Varnish is a whole other subject. It'sa subject I now know a lot about....

4. Things like chimney& roofing I wish I'd done differently.
rScotty

 

[BoFuller]

WoodChuck,

I just read your whole thread. You’re doing great. I had to smile again and again as I read about the delays and “opportunities” that pop up. It didn’t take me too long to realize the truth in the old saying “ it will take twice as long as you planned and cost twice as much”, especially when you build remote. My foundation also took 6 months, mainly because of rain delays and trouble accessing the site.
Hang in there, and enjoy the ride.