The Girl's Bedroom

We got the last 2 trusses finished and the rest of the load bearing wall torn down.  That allowed us to start framing the entry into the girls bedroom.  We still need to carry the framing to the ceiling in the living room, but up to the 8' mark is done.  The closet in their room is also done, but it does not show in this picture very well.  Next up is the utility room walls.

Gangway

We got the concrete pored around the steal frame.  It took 25 bags of 80 lb concrete mix as well as a bunch of rocks we picked out of the dirt while digging the trenches.  With the weight of the steal there is roughly 3,000 lbs on the shore side.  That will hold against wind and waves, but we will have to pull the dock and gangway out of the water to prevent the shifting ice from crushing them.

Gangway

While Kelly was out picking up concrete for the landing on the shore side of the gangway, I built new pivots on the lake side.  When this was originally built, the pivot was too low so the gangway sat about 6 inches higher than the approach on the dock.  I also built some spacers to keep the gangway from walking side to side on the approach like it did last year.

Gangway

We decided its time to get the gangway in the water.  The problem is the water is still so high that we have no beach.  So we had to build the landing on top of the retaining wall to hold the shore side of the gangway.  This is the steal frame that will allow the gangway to pivot up and down but prevent it from moving side to side.

New Trusses

After a year and a half of planning and a solid weeks worth of measuring, cutting and driving nearly 2000 structural screws, all but 2 trusses are complete and most of the blue wall has been taken down!  We have 2 more trusses to do over the girl's bedroom and entry to the bathroom.  Once those are done, we can take down the rest of the wall.

After we finish the last 2 trusses we will frame in the utility room which will be on the left when you walk in the front door.  We will also change the entry into the girl's bedroom and frame in their new closet as well as a couple new windows.  The big challenge we are facing right now is where do we put all the light switches.  There is not much wall space available.

Sandpaper Ceiling

Yes, you read that correctly.  Keep in mind this place was originally built during the depression.  The ceiling consisted of picture frame material that was nailed up to form 2' x 4' rectangles.  Then large sheets of sand paper were nailed up from the bottom, grit side towards the roof.  The paper side was then painted.  Later on a drop ceiling was added but the old sandpaper ceiling was left in place.

More Demolition

In order to get the ceiling down in the kitchen and utility room, the wall separating the two had to come down because the wall was put up after the ceiling.  Most of the wall was going to come out anyway, so it was not the end of the world.  We did run into another mouse nest though.  I can't wait until the demolition is done and we don't have to worry about that any more.

More Demolition

Today started another week of vacation working on the cabin.  This is finally the week we start on the trusses.  The first step is to get the ceiling torn down.  The living room and dining room were first.  Like everything else in the cabin, there were at least 2 layers.  Luckily there was not much evidence of any rodents up there.

French Drain

We spent Sunday morning filling in the trench with the rest of the gravel and then grading the dirt a bit.  We're going to let it settle for a while before we remove the whole pile of dirt surrounding the garbage can.  We also got the bottom piece of siding back up just to fill in the giant holes in the wall.  We are just about ready to start working on the trusses now!

French Drain

In order to keep the water from washing the dirt out from under the new foundation, we put a French drain along the street side wall.  We used the old dry well to collect the water and disperse it into the ground.  On Saturday we got the gravel base and the pipe in place.  You can just barely see the T under the far left window where the drain connects to the dry well.