Plumbing & Electrical

Today was a VERY big day at the lake!  The plumbing and electrical final inspections were completed and they both passed with minor changes.  The mechanical final passed earlier this spring, so that means all of the state inspections are done.  Since there are no stickers or markings for the final inspections, I figured I would include a picture of the lake. :)

Bedroom Furnature

Sometime last year we bought a bedroom set from a friend of a friend and its been sitting in the garage waiting for the cabin to be finished.  Today, I finally got it all put together.  It's a bit of a tight fit, but it should work well.  It doesn't really go with the floor very well, so we may take it apart and spray it white when we do the girls bed this spring.

Flooring

The vinyl flooring in the girls bedroom is done.  That means all the vinyl floor is complete!  The only thing left to do on the floor is to paint/stain the piece under the water heater. 

Today I'll work on the minor changes required for the electrical final.  The electrical and plumbing finals should be this week.

Kitchen

The kitchen is now totally functional.  The plumbing under the sink is complete and the dishwasher is all hooked up.  In fact, the dishes have all been washed and put in the cupboards.  I'm sure Kelly will move them around, but we don't have to eat off paper plates and drink out of plastic cups any more!

Granite Counter Tops

The granite counter tops were installed today!  We went with a place called Crafted Stone and they did a great job for a good price.  They were very professional and easy to work with.  We also had them do matching counters in the utility room and the bathroom.  Next up is to get the sinks and drains finished so we can have the plumbing final inspection done.

Bookshelves

After work I stopped at Home Depot and picked up a couple sheets of 1/2" paint grade plywood and built the cabinets for the bookshelves.  I took my pancake compressor up there only to find out the hose was rotten, so I was not able to nail the boards in yet.  That actually turned out to be a good thing.  Now I can take it all back out and paint everything before nailing it in.

Kitchen

The dishwasher is now installed and the electrical is hooked up.  The supply and drain lines are also run into the sink base, but I can't hook them up until the counter tops are on and the sink is set for real.  With any luck that will be this week.

All the electrical in the house is done and ready for final inspection, Tuesday!

Flooring

I went up to the cabin and got some more work done on the floor.  I started with getting the screws in the underlayment finished and then put down the floor covering.  The only place left now is the girls bedroom, but we have to move all the junk out of there first.  There are not many screws left to do in there, so it should not take long to finish their room.

Flooring

The flooring in the bathroom is done and the toilet is set.  We have a granite counter for the bathroom, but we have to wait until the final plumbing inspection is finished before installing it.  We don't have enough clearance between the toilet and the vanity to have an overhang.  So after the inspection, I'll take this top off and put the granite top on.

Doors

After work I got the floor through the doorways and installed the three prehung doors to the bathroom and bedrooms.  I used EZ-Hang door hangers for the first time.  WOW those make hanging doors easy!  I still need to finish the floor in each of the 3 rooms and I plan to start with the bathroom next.

Flooring

I went up to the lake after work and got a little bit more work done on the flooring.  I only had a couple hours, but I managed to get from the middle of the fireplace over to the doors to the bedrooms.  The floor goes into each bedroom a couple feet then stops.  So I will pick up from there after we get the rest of the screws in the underlayment.

Flooring

This weekend was very productive.  I started working on the new floor while Kelly did a second coat of paint the all the interior walls of the cabin.  I managed to get the kitchen, dining room, utility room and 1/2 of the living room done.  I'll head up after work a couple nights this week and see if I can finish the living room and bathroom so we can get the toilet back in.

I have the sink just sitting on top of the cabinet for now to get it out of the way.  I still have to make the top of the sink base that goes right under the apron of the sink.  But we are really happy with how everything in the kitchen is fitting.  We have picked the granite that will be used for the counter tops, so hopefully that will be done in about 3 weeks.

One Cold Night

This is the first time we have had snow in Spokane in September since 1926!  The snow level was about 100 feet above the lake surface which made for a really good picture. Because of that, our property had very little snow that stuck, but the neighbor up the driveway and across the street had about 3 inches on Sunday morning.

When we were done working on Saturday, we jumped in the car to head for home.  The snow was coming down so hard that we could barely see!  By the time we got to the highway, we decided we better stay.  So we blew up the leaky air mattress and borrowed some blankets from Kathy next door.  It was miserable!

Microwave

After work yesterday I got quite a bit done on the cabin.  For starters, I mounted the microwave.  Doing that by yourself is fun.  I hung the bracket on the wall then used the stand I built for mounting the upper cabinets to hold the microwave while I put the screws in to hold it up.  Of course, the holes were not drilled exactly right...  What a PITA.

I also got the upper cabinets in the utility room set.  The shorter cabinet on the left has the cable modem, wifi router and security camera DVR in it and a monitor will be mounted on the wall below the cabinet to monitor and configure the cameras.  It's nice having our Internet connection hooked back up.

Cabinets

I went up to the lake after work and got the upper cabinets in the kitchen set.  I also got the wood strip that goes over the front of the dishwasher cut, but I didn't have any glue to install it.  Next up is to install the microwave and built the front section that goes under the sink.  Then I can move on to the uppers in the utility room.  Hopefully we'll start the floor this weekend.

Cabinets

The base cabinets are all set in both the kitchen and utility room.  It's not shown in this picture but the sink base is set and the supports for the apron front sink have been built.

We also picked up the floor and piled it in the girls bedroom and Kelly loaded all the garbage into the trailer, so the pile on the driveway is totally cleaned up!

Paint

The outside has been painted!  It took the whole weekend to get it done, but it turned out very well.  We have a little bit of touch up to get done here and there, but we have it all covered and water tight now.  Next year we have a few spots we want to go back and add some finish details as well, but none of them will need to be taken care of before winter.

Paint

The inside has been textured and painted!  We decided to go with a skip trowel texture and it turned out great.  There are some issues with the paint, so we need go get the crew to come back and fix them, but overall we're pretty happy with it.

We got a good portion of the masking done on the outside as well, so tomorrow we paint that!

Drywall

The guys have finished hanging all the drywall, all the inside and outside corners are installed and all the seams are taped.  They are still hoping to have everything finished and painted either Friday night or Saturday mid-day.  We are planning to try and get the outside painted Saturday before the party at the neighbors house.  Keep your fingers crossed.

Drywall

The drywall is almost all hung.  There are a couple pieces left in the utility room, on the cabinet side of the 1/2 wall and the peak on the gable end kitchen wall.  They should have it all done before they go home tonight and taping starts in the morning.  They are still hoping to have it all done Saturday, but I have my doubts.  It is looking really good though!

Drywall

The guys started hanging the drywall today.  When I was there later afternoon they had the entire ceiling almost complete.  There was only a little bit left in the utility room then they could move on to the walls.  They plan to have it all hung tomorrow and start on the taping.

Underlayment

Over the weekend we managed to get all the underlayment in the rest of the cabin completed.  Lowes delivered the drywall and the crew got it  loaded down the stairs and stacked up in the living room.  I ran a coax cable to the TV so we have options for a TV signal.  Kelly and the girls primed the bathroom so it can be skim coated and textured it to match the rest of the house.

Underlayment

Since we have a little time before the crew is ready to start hanging drywall, we decided to put down the underlayment.  Since we already have 3/4" material on top of the joists, we are just putting down 1/2" CDX but we are using 2-1/2" screws into the joists and 1-1/4" everywhere else.  This is making the floor so much stiffer!

Drywall Prep

After looking at what was left to be done and how little time we have left, we decided we need to hire out the drywall work.  We found a good drywall crew and met with the owner yesterday.  He gave us a good price and he comes very highly recommended by a friend of a friend.  So we spent today knocking out the remainder of the punch list before they get started.

As you can see, we have also moved everything out of the cabin.  Everything at this point is either piled on the deck, under the house, in the shed or in the trailer to be parked in the shop at home until the floor is done.  The drywall crew will start late this coming week and they should be done in 9 to 10 days.  We'll work on the outside while they do the inside.

Insulation

The insulation in the walls is finished and all the vapor barrier is hung.  We will be doing the ceiling when we take the roof off in a couple years.  It will be much easier to do it from above and we can air seal around all the light cans and penetrations that way, since we have no attic access.  Here you can see what will be the pantry shelves in the utility room.

Underlayment

We are almost done ripping out the old underlayment.  The only 2 spots left are in the master bedroom and under the toilet.  We will have to remove the toilet to get that piece out, so we have just left it for now.  Here you can see where the previous owners nearly doubled the size of the cabin right after they bought it.  Rumor has it they paid $5,000 in the late 60s, but we don't know what the addition cost.

Insulation

After spending all day running around yesterday, we finally got back to work on the cabin.  We got the framing on the gable end finished and  installed the insulation on the west wall.  Everything is air sealed as well as we could for a cabin of this age.  This picture was taken before the vapor barrier was put up, but that is done too.

Kitchen Floor

Today we finished ripping the underlayment out of the kitchen, living room and dining room.  Under the floor is the original tongue and grove floor that was laid down before the walls of the cabin were constructed.  This stuff is really cool, but very flexible and leaks air like crazy.  I hate to cover it up, but we don't have much choice.

Kitchen Floor

We started ripping the old underlayment out to start getting ready for drywall.  Under the 80s or 90s linoleum was a layer of plywood.  Under that was a layer of linoleum that was very old, probably 40s or 50s.  Someone had painted it at some point in the past.  We really want to talk to the previous owners to see if they know anything about it.

Siding

All the siding on the cabin has been cut and hung!  We could not be happier with how it has turned out.  We have started to do some of the caulking the corners and around the windows, but it will take some time to finish before we can start painting.

Siding

The siding on the lake side of the cabin is all installed!  We took a break and went to the Twin Lakes Schoolhouse Ice Cream Social which meant we were only 2 boards short of finishing even the street side.  I'll get it done first thing in the morning.

Siding

Tonight after work we got the siding on the long wall of the deck finished,  So now we only have the front of the shed, the south wall of our bedroom and the street side wall to finish.  We should be able finish it tomorrow or Sunday.

Siding

After work we finished the siding on the west wall of our bedroom.  It was so nice working on the deck where we didn't have to deal with sloping ground.  Next up is to work on the long wall on the deck.  It will take some work with all those windows to cut around.

Siding

After work tonight we managed to get the siding on the east wall of the cabin finished.  What is left is the street side, the 2 walls on the deck and the wall facing the lake.  Most of that is made up of some fairly short pieces until we get to the tops of the windows.  We're still on track to finish this weekend though.

Siding

We had to take the whole weekend off from working on the cabin due to some horrendous weather up there.  But we have started back to work and the siding on the west end of the cabin is all cut and hung.  Because of the slope of the ground on this side, this was one of the hardest walls to complete.  The east wall has some slope but nothing like this side, so it think it will be next.

Siding

It was hot this weekend, but we managed to hang the rest of the siding we had on hand.  That got us up to the top of the windows most of the way around the house.  I'll pick up the rest of the siding on my way home today so we can finish, hopefully this weekend.  I'm also going to get some siding caulk so Kelly can start caulking the seams while I'm at work.

Siding

We have finally started to hang the siding.  We have up to the bottom of the windows done all the way around the house.  This is Hardie Plank fiber cement siding and the primer on the boards is very close to the color of the paint we are going to put on the house.  So we are getting a pretty good idea of what the house will look like when it is done.

Eves

The eves are all painted!  We washed everything down with TSP yesterday and started masking it all this morning.  It was a little windy, so it was probably rather entertaining to watch us work with the plastic as it was blowing around but we managed to git all in place.  This means we now have all the painting done short of the green on the siding once it is hung.

Gable Peaks

We finally got the gable peak above the girls bedroom caulked and painted.  This side of the cabin gets almost no weather so the boards and battens were in good shape.  We also installed a second gable fan behind the upper vent and hooked both fans up to a switch in the utility room.  That seems to help keep things much cooler.  We have barely used the A/C so far this year.

Shed Doors and Windows

This has been a long time coming, but we finally have doors and windows on the shed.  They are made of solid cedar 1x6 boards painted on all 6 sides to help protect them from the weather.  Kelly painted these boards 6 weeks ago and we've been tripping over them ever since.  They spent some time in the girls room, the living room and the shed.  It's nice to finally have them built and hung!

Board and Batten

It took until dark last night, but the battens on the west wall are installed and ready for their final coat of paint.  All that is left now before siding is the battens on the lake wall, the 1x6 on the east wall and the paint under the eves all the way around.  We have decided to paint the eves in the off white trim color but flat rather than semi-gloss.

Exterior Trim

We have put in some very long days and most of what we have worked on does not show up in pictures very well, but here goes...  We have the blocks around the lights built, painted and installed, same for the ones around the outlets.  All the trim that has been installed has at least 2 coats of paint and the gable peaks are nearly done.  Won't be long before the siding starts going up.

Exterior Trim

Today was a VERY long day, but we are down to only a few pieces of trim left to hang.  We have the 1x6 that separates the beveled siding from the board and batten on the east wall and the 1x4s that go under the the roof line on the west wall.  All corners, drip edges, doors, windows and top rails are done.  The final step before siding will be to make blocks to surround the lights and outlets.

Exterior Paint

After being in Raleigh for a week, we finally got to work on the cabin again today.  It took a while to get packed and up to the lake, so today was really only a 1/2 day of work.  But in that time we got the gables and skirts painted.  We need to put a second coat on the top, but the skirt has 2 coats already.

Board and Batten

At this point the boards are up and the battens are primed an ready to be hung.  You can see the belly band with the Z flash and the skirting below that.  Kelly has done the final coat of paint on the trim around nearly all the windows and both doors as well.  I cleaned up the septic system wiring and I even painted the gas line where it enters the house.  It was pretty rusty.

Board and Batten

We had to replace the board and batten on 2 of the 3 gable peaks.  We started by removing the old rotten material on both peaks.  While I had it off the one over our bedroom, I took the chance to fix the gable fan.  The temperature switch does not work so it is now hard wired to a switch in the utility room.  We're going to add another fan over the bathroom as well.