3R Home and Barn Project

[whodat90]

Hughesnet may have the fap issue, but the latency issue will be there with any satellite provider. Download speeds can vary, and upload speeds are related most closely to groundside dish size and price of the plan.

 

[Spiveyman]

Hey Rob, I'm just catching up on your thread here, just saw "broken camp" too. Wow. Pretty much everything's already been said about that one, but it is awesome how you all pulled together and fixed it.

The pictures of the home are amazing. The view might be best from the north side, but they all look pretty daggone awesome to me.

I liked the comment about how the "fence broke" with respect to having to herd the longhorns back with your tractor. It's funny how many times my fences have broken since we moved our horns out there.

I don't have anything to offer on the internet connection stuff, I live close enough to get cable internet that is amazingly fast, but I sure hope you get a heck-uv-a connection so those posts don't slow down. I do enjoy reading your stuff and seeing that amazing home go up. It really is inspirational in a number of ways, not just the stuff you build but the way you post with pics. That's the hard part of a one man show, I'm so busy working I hardly have time for pics. Have to work on the wife for that one.

Later.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Rob,

Its just an amazing home and view. I check your thread daily and look forward to Mondays when I know you will be posting pics from the weekend.

By the way...tomorrow is Monday!!

David

 

[bones1]

Seven hours and ten minutes from where I am.

 

[3RRL]

Hahaha, you guys are a hoot!
Sorry about missing the Monday deadline.

Well, it's time for an update and more pictures. Progress has slowed down now but there are some significant changes to show. Most of these photos are from similar angles as the others so you can see the difference. I'll probably make fewer updates in the future unless there is significant progress so as not to bore you too much.

The progress we noted was mainly how they have the roof prepared to put the metal on. They also framed several of the rooms on the main floor so we can see what they are like. We also saw some evidence of them running electrical lines in a few (very few) places. The second story is going slow now.

This set of photos shows what the home looks like from our drive below and getting up to the homesite.



You can see some of the roof has plywood covered with tar paper. On top of that there are 2 x 6's over the front porch, but 2 x 12's over the rest of the home for added insulation in the living quarters. Those spaces will be insulated and they separate the interior roof from the exterior roof. They will put plywood again on top of the 2 x 6's and 2 x 12's. Then they will put the metal roof on top of that plywood. So it is a suspended roof with lots of insulation.

 

[3RRL]

This next set of pictures are taken from the decks to the inside of the home and also around it. Loretta is just loving this new place. She can't wait for the day we move in. Wesley and his step brother were so excited that they spent the night on the second floor!

In the last photo you can see what the underside of the deck roof looks like. We decided to go with the Bronze Pine stain. It is still light but has a hint of red in it. That will be applied in the coming weeks.

 

[3RRL]

In these pictures you can see how the ceiling is framed in the second story. They certainly did not skimp on the amount of lumber used! I found the various peaks and valleys very interesting. I figure they will sheet rock these areas.

You can see the first layer of plywood (or OSB) in some of these shots. They will put tar paper on top and then the 2 x 12's on top of that and then the 2nd layer of plywood and finally the metal roof on top of that. The 4th picture shows the log beams and tongue and groove boards in the exposed ceiling. The last picture is the wood floor on the second floor.

 

[3RRL]

Ok, that's it for a while then.
Here's some photos of the home from a couple different views showing what it looks like now. The last photo is zoomed in a bit as we come up our drive. It looks pretty cool perched up behind those massive rocks. It looks pretty natural up there and I don't think we could have found a better location to frame the house like that.



Like I said, I'll probably make fewer posts in the future until there is some substantial progress being made. Perhaps the electrical and plumbing work? We did make a couple changes to the master bath, but they were minor. The metal barn package is supposed to arrive the first week in December, so that might be interesting to see it going up too. I know there are a lot of barn threads going on right now so it will be interesting to compare how they do mine.
Hope you are enjoying the thread.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

In these pictures you can see how the ceiling is framed in the second story. They certainly did not skimp on the amount of lumber used! I found the various peaks and valleys very interesting. I figure they will sheet rock these areas.

You can see the first layer of plywood (or OSB) in some of these shots. They will put tar paper on top and then the 2 x 12's on top of that and then the 2nd layer of plywood and finally the metal roof on top of that. The 4th picture shows the log beams and tongue and groove boards in the exposed ceiling. The last picture is the wood floor on the second floor.

Rob,

Looks great. Will they put insulation between the 2x12, sandwiched between the tongue an groove and the plywood?

David

 

[WBWI]

Rob,

I've enjoyed the updates and narrative. You have an awesome home and location. We'll look forward to further updates. My home was just being started last year at this time so it seems like I'm re-living the experience and excitement watching these (yours, karolinakubota's and hunterridgefarms's) homes being built.

 

[3RRL]

Thank you David and Jon,
We are very excited as you said. I get just as excited reading the other home projects too. It's fun to see each thread evolve like that.

Yes, they will be putting insulation between the two layers of plywood or tongue and groove separated by the 2 x 12's. This not only gives adequate insulation, but makes the metal roof much quieter during rain or hail. I was worried about that when they first said we were getting a metal roof. I love the sound of rain but didn't want it to sound like an indoor thunder storm.

 

[weldingisfun]

Wow!
It gets better every day. You are definitely using a lot of our renewable resource. Keep it up.
The craftsmanship of your builders is evidenced by the precise joints throughout the house. Your trim guy will have a lot to live up to.
Great job of documenting the build. The pictures are something you will enjoy for many years to come. We like going back periodically to look at the pictures we took when our dream home was being built.

 

[bones1]

Wow!
It gets better every day. You are definitely using a lot of our renewable resource. Keep it up.
The craftsmanship of your builders is evidenced by the precise joints throughout the house. Your trim guy will have a lot to live up to.
Great job of documenting the build. The pictures are something you will enjoy for many years to come. We like going back periodically to look at the pictures we took when our dream home was being built.

I agree with Weldingisfun about the trim guy.He better be darn good to match the quality up till now. Fantastic home you have there.When do we all get invited to the house warming party?. Next Thursday's good for me.

 

[stumpfield]

Hope you are enjoying the thread.

WOW! that's an amazing picture of the house and where it sits on your land. You did pick the perfect spot and your builder really did a great job. I have no idea that's how they build log homes. I'm amazed with the all that woodwork. I hope you will have an open house when it's done...........

Tom

 

[3RRL]

You all are great man.
Sure makes it fun for me to post those photos. I've been passing along the information you guys have said about the builder, so he is keenly aware of work being viewed across the Nation. I have told him that he is getting 2 thumbs up for his craftsmanship from you guys. Before hiring him, Loretta and I checked out his work, including one he was in the middle of. We got to see how they did things on that home.

Log home build is a little different than what I expected. He is doing excellent work as far as I'm concerned. Another thing is that he included all top notch stuff in his fixed quotation, so there is very little "wanting" on our behalf. Makes life easier for us in that respect.

Open house huh?
Well, my place is not as big as Eddie's place nor is it set up like his, but there are plenty of places to pitch a tent or pull a trailer/motor home on. Maybe next year when the World Ag Fair is in Tulare County, CA. some of you guys will go to that? My place is only about 45 minutes from there. We could have a giant cook out or something. Plus there are many things nearby besides the Fair like the Giant Sequoia Forest, Rivers and Lakes.
Sequoia and Kings Canyon Nation Parks

 

[EdC]

Gee Rob

I spend half the day in front of a computer and when I come home you and Harv both make me want to look a computer screen some more. Fantastic project, and I am looking forward to seeing the barn go up.

 

[3RRL]

Gee Rob

I spend half the day in front of a computer and when I come home you and Harv both make me want to look a computer screen some more. Fantastic project, and I am looking forward to seeing the barn go up.

lol Ed, I know, I do the same thing.
Speaking of the barn, my contractor called and said the steel hit the floor last Monday and they have started working on it now. It's supposed to rain this weekend (starting Friday), but means we might go up to see what's happening? So I might have some different pics after all.

 

[3RRL]

We did go back up this weekend since it was supposed to pour up there and I wanted to check on the new camp tarps. Unfortunately, I had checked the Rancho weather (where it poured) thinking it was the 3R weather.
It was good anyway since there was a little more progress. They started to erect the steel barn and I took several photos of that. Bad news is I left my camera at camp, so I will post those when I get it back.

Here are some pictures of us hiking to the home from the South/West corner of our property. A different route through the woods instead of taking the road up there. You can see it through the trees as we get closer to it. It also gives you and idea of the sloping terrain and where it's located from a different perspective.



As we approach the home, you can see the clearing we had to do around it. This Spring all the natural flowers and grasses will grow back. In order to keep it fire safe, we plan on irrigating the surrounding area to keep it green year round. Otherwise it will all die and turn into a tinder box.

 

[3RRL]

You can see that they now have the roof done with the second layer and the tar paper on it.
It's ready for the metal roof to go on now.

This set of pictures shows more interior framing and a couple views. Looks like they got the floor down on the 2nd story and some of that framed too, but those pictures ar on my camera (at camp), so here is the main floor again. I found out it's quite a hike to get up there from the corner of the property.
A couple views out our bedroom are to the South. You can see clearly see the canopies at South Camp from up here now. Also is a photo of our meadow in front of South Camp. It's starting to green up already.

 

[3RRL]

We ended up driving up Saturday morning instead of the usual Friday night. I had to attend a funeral for my dear friend of 38 years and did not get home until late.
When we drove up, a couple workers were staining the front of the home. We choose Bronze Pine and it comes out warm, rich and colorful. We really struggled between two stains and decided on this one. The other was a shade lighter but it was more of a yellow tint, and we didn't like that as much. We wanted it to look a little more rustic than the light colored ones we've seen.

Here are some daytime photos showing the natural color where he has not finished yet verses the stained color. The stain we choose has a hint of red in it. It is not as noticeable during the day, but the night time photo shows up much darker red in the headlights. During the day, however, it is a lot lighter, but still very pleasing. I'm glad we went with it. It was my favorite after all.



It is supposed to rain up there next weekend (yes I got the right area this time), so we will probably go up again to get my camera and do some work on my busted ATV. I also have a hydraulic winch project I'm working on. I'll share that in another thread soon. Last weekend I ended up mounting the backhoe and doing several hours of digging, repairing some clogged culverts and making the gutters better. I'll see how they hold up with the coming rains now. It also got down to 26F (-3.3C) on Saturday night. Cold!!!