Retaining Wall

I was finally able to make it up to the lake today to get the rip rap out of the trailer and placed at the base of the wall.  We still have about 10-15 feet of wall to cover just out of the frame on the right.  That is the strongest part of the wall with the most sand covering the base, so I will likely leave it until next summer. 

Retaining Wall

I went to the lake today in order to put the rip rap at the base of the new wall, but when I got there, the neighbor was working on backfilling the wall for us.  So rather than working on the rip rap, I helped with the backfill.  You can tell just how much grass we added at the base of the stairs, this will be huge!

Retaining Wall

We finished the retaining wall and stairs this weekend!  Next weekend we plan to finish some back fill, fix the sprinklers and put down some sod.  

Concrete: 4.5 pallets (7.5 tons)
3/4" rock: 4 yards (4.5 tons)
Wall blocks: 210 (7 tons)
Stair blocks: 64 (2.5 tons)
Total: 21.5 tons!

Retaining Wall

The main retaining wall is done!  Thanks to some help from Brian, we have moved 14,000 lbs of retaining wall blocks down 21 stairs and stacked them on the beach so far.  We have also hauled 10,000 lbs of concrete and 10,000 lbs of gravel down the stairs.  

We will start the "grand staircase" next weekend.

Retaining Wall

We started stacking blocks!  The first course is complete and filled in front.  The second course is started, but I can't go much further until I get fabric and gravel to put behind the wall.  

Many of the old blocks are stacked behind the new wall as fill where we added 3 feet to the grass strip below the deck.  That way we don't have to haul them up the hill!

Retaining Wall

The staircase will now be 12 feet wide and dead-end directly into the fin fall.  The bottom step will be poured concrete but every step above that will be 16 x 6 x 12 stair blocks stacked on a bed of gravel and dry concrete mix.  This footer is up to 16" thick and sitting on clay so the water will not undermine it.

Retaining Wall

Because the neighbor and I will have different block, we decided to pour a concrete wall on the property line that will allow us each to dead-end our walls into the concrete so there is a nice separation between them.  This will also prevent failure of one wall from causing failure on the other, which is what happened this year. 

Retaining Wall

1 Pallet full of concrete later, the footer for the retaining wall is done. We will let the cure for a couple days before stripping the forms, just so we don't brake any edges while we are walking around on the beach.  Next up, we will pour the fin wall and footer for the steps.

Retaining Wall

It took a couple days, but the ground has finally been prepped for the concrete footer that we will pour under the retaining well.  Before we could get to this point, we had to dig out a stump at the far end of the beach as well as one where the stairs will go.

The section between the gangway support and the stairs has been straightened out and pushed toward the lake 3 feet to give us more grass between the deck and the retaining wall.  This has been a complaint of ours since buying the place, it is just not usable in that area.  

The staircase will be much wider.  By making it 12 feet wide, we will be able to drag the boat lift up the staircase and park it on the grass for the winter.

Retaining Wall

Over the winter, our retaining wall which holds back the lake, fell over on one end.  We have been waiting all summer for the water to go down far enough to fix it and it finally has.  We got all the blocks unstacked so we could assess the damage, and it is not good.  The blocks are decayed badly and need replaced.   

Door Casing

We have finally started working on the trim in the cabin.  We decided on a Craftsman look with 1x3 verticals and 1x4 horizontals.  The casing on the living room side of the second bedroom and bathroom doors are both done and ready for a final coat of paint.  The closet in the second bedroom has the jams as well as the casing on the inside installed and ready for a final coat of paint as well.
 

Sink Base Trim

Above the doors, to the left and right of the sink has always bothered me.  It was a blank space that just looked unfinished.  I decided a while ago I wanted to make a piece that fit in this space to make the cabinets look much more finished.  Since I have trim and paint, today is the day.  I even cut a spacer to fit behind the new piece so it appears to float like the rest of doors and drawer fronts.
 

Sink Base Doors

The new sink base came with doors that did not match the old cabinets exactly.  The old doors were too tall, so I had to cut them down by about half an inch.  Of course, I had to cut off the top edge or the bottom styles would not match up correctly.  I finally got around to refinishing the top edge of the doors today.  We found a paint a Sherwin Williams that matches perfectly!
 

Dock

The new dock is done and in place.  I think we're going to switch the old dock and the new one next spring.  The old dock is more stable from side to side and we will need that more out at the end than we will in the middle of the dock.  I don't plan to put the edging, lights or cleats on until we get everything switched around.  I'm already going to have to replace a couple deck boards where we mounted the ladder.

Dock

Kelly found a free dock on Facebook Market Place earlier this summer.  It was rough, but completely worth saving.  One of the floats was 1/2 full of water and the decking was all rotten.  We pulled the decking off, pumped the water out of the float and just this weekend we started putting new framing on the top.  We have just a little bit more framing and then the new decking will go on.

Loft Ladder

We finally got the ladder for the loft built and installed.  The top of the ladder is held in place by some 3/4" pipe and flanges that are bolted into the floor joists.  It is allowed to slide up and down in some slots I cut in the 2x6s at the top.  The bottom swings out away from the wall when you want to use it and back in for storage so it is not in the way of the bathroom door.

Guest Bed

The painting on the guest bed is finally complete and it is all put back together.  It turns out though, this is a double, not a queen like we were told.  So, we took the mattress we bought at Costco back and got a memory foam double mattress instead.  It fits much better.  The other mattress was not only too long and wide, it was also too thick. Tomorrow we will get the drawer fronts installed.

Boat Lift

The boat lift is finally complete and in the water.  This thing works like a champ!  It took 4 of us to lift it off the retaining wall and into the water, but once it was in the water, 2 of us were able to move it into position and adjust it with out too much trouble.

Boat Lift

We finally took the boat lift up to the lake this week.  The new bunks are carpeted, all the final adjustments have been made, and it has been tested on shore.  There was a lot more to do than I had planned, so I'm glad I took the time to do this before putting it in the water.  Brian is going to come up and help get it in the water in the next day or 2!

Guest Bed

After nearly 2 years of being taken apart, we finally got around to finishing the paint on the bed for the guest room.  This used to be dark oak, so we had to prime it with Bin primer and sand it to get rid of the grain.  Then prime and paint it several times to get rid of the dark color.  I don't think I will ever get Kelly to paint furniture again. 

Boat & Gangway

The fuel injection on the boat is functional and it is running great.  It takes longer to start when cold then it should, so I need to tweak a few settings still, but we got to use it this weekend.

The boards have been put on the gangway and it works great! There are only 2 screws in each board, so we need to add the rest to keep the boards tight to the deck.

Gangway

We had a break in the weather yesterday, so Brian Whitman and I went up to the lake and got the new gangway in the water.  It went really smoothly, except for the fact that I welded the hinges on the shore side in the wrong spots.  Fortunately I had a grinder with a cutting wheel, so it was a pretty easy fix.  Next up is to get the decking from the old gangway cleaned up and installed on this one. 

Fireplace

The tape coat on the drywall around the fireplace is now done.  I still like the way I framed the fireplace better than what the contractor did, but once we get the stone up on the face, I think it will look really nice.  We have not picked the stone but we are leaning toward a stacked stone in either white or grey.  We have also talked about maybe doing barn wood, but that may clash with the floor, so we are not sure on that one.

Loft

The new mattresses for the loft came over the weekend, but we were already at the lake.  So I decided to make a run up today to un-box them and get them set in place.  Next time we stay up here, the girls will likely sleep in the loft for the first time!  I still need to build them a ladder to get up and down, but we can use a step ladder for now.
 

Fireplace

The other thing I was able to do this weekend was get the second wall build next to the fireplace.  The TV that is mounted on the wall now actually belongs in the loft.  We plan to replace the TV at the house and bring the old one up here.  When we do that, this small one will move up to to the loft for the girls to use.  I still have to tape, mud, texture and paint these wall, then we can do the stone on the face. 

Shower Doors

I finally got to install the shower doors this weekend!  We have had these sitting in the garage for almost a year now and I was really tired of walking around them to get out to the shop.  I still need to caulk around the edges of the tile on the outside of the shower, but I want to do another coat of paint before we do that.

After the plumbing final inspection, we will take off the counter top that is on the vanity and put the new one on.  It has a 1" over hang but we don't have room for that per code.  The new top has a nice under mount rectangular sink and oil rubbed bronze faucet.
 

Shower Walls

The tile is the shower is finally finished and the grout is done too.  While I don't have a picture of it, the glass doors are also installed and we got to use it this weekend!  We also have the toilet set, so we are more or less, back to where we were when the tree fell!  I have a few items on my punch list before I can call for the inspections, but it won't take long to wrap that stuff up.
 

Fireplace

I never did like the way the contractor framed around the fireplace.  It was very boring.  So, I decided to recess the TV into the wall and add bookends on the sides of the fireplace wall.  I have one end wall done, but I have to do the conduit so we can run cables between the TV, sound bar and shelving on the right side of the TV so we can put a DVD player over there, before I can do the other wall.

Shower Walls

The accent stripe and the nook in the shower are both done now.  I have 2 more rows of tile to do, but I need to get the drywall work done where the walls meet the ceiling before I can go too much farther.  The original plan was to tile to the ceiling, but I think I am going to stop 6" short so I don't have a sliver of tile at the ceiling.

Shower Walls

The first 6 rows of tile are done.  The next row will be a 4 inch tall stripe that matches the blue and green glass tile we used in the back of the nook.  In fact, that same tile will be used on the back splash and the outside of the curb.  Since the glass tile is thinner than the wall tiles, I applied a layer of thinset to build it out a bit before I set that next row of tiles.

Shower Walls

The first 3 rows of tile are done!  I started to cut these with an angle grinder and a diamond wheel, but there was no way I was going to do a full shower that way.  I wound up buying a new tile saw in order to get this done.  That will come in handy when we go to do the stacked stone on the fire place as well as all the backsplashes in the cabin.  This is going to take some time, but I really like the way it is turning out. 

Shower Floor

After letting the thinset cure for a couple days, it was time to apply the grout to the floor.  To help with the beach theme, we used a light tan/gray grout.  But, before I could apply it, there were several tiles I put in upside down and I had to get all the glue off.  There was also a bunch of thinset I had to pick out from between the tiles.  That took forever!  But I am super happy with how the floor turned out.

Shower Floor

With the waterproofing membrane applied to the floor, now it is time to install the finished floor.  Because this is a lake house, we decided to use a pebble tile to simulate the beach in the shower.  In order to avoid the possibility of seeing the pattern in the tile, I stripped every pebble off the backer mesh and hand applied them individually to the thinset.  It took a little longer, but I love the way it turned out.
 

Shower Floor

Now that the pre-sloped mortar bed is dry, it is time to apply the Schhluter Kerdi water proofing membrane to the floor.  The old foam pan had this membrane attached, but of course, it could not be saved.  The membrane curves up the walls on all 4 sides so I get my full 2" overlap.  It also goes over the top of the curb and down the outside all in a single piece!
 

Shower Floor

I decided to take the foam pan out of the shower and build a new pre-sloped pan out of dry pack mortar bed.  This will be a more solid floor and I can be sure the slope to the drain is adequate for the pebbles we intend to use on the floor.  Industry standard is 1/4" per foot, but the foam pan was only 1/8" per foot.  I did this with a method I learned from Stud Pack.  Thanks guys!
 

Gangway

Both 10' sections of the gangway are built as well as the brackets used to hold them together.  I have most of the materials to build the hinges for both ends of the gangway, so I will start on those this week.  I still need to get the steel to make the new bar for the retaining wall and add the hinges to that.  We have a couple months before we can put it in the water though, so we have plenty of time.
 

Barn Door Install

We found this sliding barn door at Costco last weekend.  For $217 it came pre-finished white, with all hardware and soft open/close rollers.  The handle matches the hardware in the kitchen and the install was easy.  I did have to cut the roller bar and backer board down, because they were longer than the wall we mounted it on, but even that was easy.
 

Living Room Chair

We finally found a chair for the living room.  I think we will wind up replacing the ottoman with a longer one or with a coffee table.  But this will work for now.  We also picked up so small tables at Costco.  They are supposed to be night stands, but the will work well as end-tables because the living room is so small.
 

Gangway

I finished the first half of the gangway frame this weekend.  We still need to re-stain the deck boards and attach them, but I don't want to do that until we have it assembled and on the dock.  I also need to fabricate the mounts that will hold it on the dock and the retaining wall.  I'll do that after I finish the second half.

Gangway

I now have the mounting hardware all done for the side rails on the gangway.  There are brackets that clamp over the top and under the bottom of the sides and bolts that go through the top and bottom rail to hold the 2 halves together.  Where the bolts run through, I drilled and welded in aluminum tube, so the bolts don't crush the side rails.  Next up is to make the deck and bracing on the under side.
 

Gangway

 About a year after we bought the cabin, we picked up a 20' long wood gangway.  It worked well, but it was really heavy and very difficult to get in and out of the water.  We've wanted one that was lighter and easier to handle for quite a while now.  I finally decided, this is the year I will build one out of aluminum.  I've built the 4 side rails already.  These will bolt together to make a pair of 20' long girders.