Plans

Latest set of plans are in the documents section of the web site.

Packing

It takes awhile to get all loaded up, and I live in terror I will arrive having left something important 400 miles due south. Darn near forgot my rotary hammer and that would have been very, very bad. Hoping snow does not stop me (note the one non-Virginia tool in the pile), and likely staying in Lowville this time at the invitation of Tim Buckingham, or TimBuck2 as Gerry says. Do list this time might be:

1) Drill holes in rock (with rotary hammer) for batter boards
2) Set Batter boards and cross pieces
3) Set string and layout foundation - square it up
4) Use pressure washer to clear dirt from area of 24" diameter foundation piers.
5) Measure spot for each pier per structural plans
6) Use drill and chisels to level rock in area of each pier per structural plan (max slope of 3 in 12).

Might see if I can pick up my green lumber from the O'Brien sawmill made from our trees. Needs to be stacked up and covered with a tarp. And there is always more clearing to do, this time down towards the lake.

Batter boards - 4 per corner

Made batter boards Sunday from 2x4's and rebar. Cut 24" rebar into 8" pieces, drilled 5" deep holes (1/2" round) into ends of 2x4's and then hammered the rebar into the 2x4's. On site, I will drill 4" deep holes in bedrock and drop rebar'd boards into hole.

Not very straight despite actually trying to be straight, but in theory that is ok since I will use builder's level to identify point to level the crosspiece and attach string. Think I will use the 4 boards per corner pattern (see image from www.cedarshed.com below), not the 3 board pattern shown in a prior post.

Adirondack Lake Survey

Anyone know if lake pH is checked regularly by a scientists (not that I don't trust my pool strips - guess I could try those!)? I found a 1986 survey of fish, shoreline, geography, etc: http://www.adirondacklakessurvey.org/alscrpt.php?alscpond=040617. Chasing links, I see USGS has some 1955 photos from 12,000 feet, but quality is about the same as they used for bombing German factories ten years prior to that, so hard to read any details.

Logs into boards

The logs we cut and trimmed are scheduled to be piled into Bill Lee's trailer tomorrow by Tim Buckingham. From there, they head to Bill O'Brien's sawmill near Port Leyden to be cut into 1" rough sawn boards, which need to be stacked back here on site and covered with a tarp so they dry out slowly over the next year. Tim B is on site this week ripping out stumps and digging out dirt at foundation and a few other heavy duty tasks that require a skid steer.

Not sure what the boards are for, but maybe a pump house, or a shed, or a little camp, or a platform, or fencing, or closing in the crawl space, or steps to the lake. They need to be primed and stained to last outside of course, or sanded to be useful as shelving or paneling inside.

Batter boards

Hope to set batter boards at my next visit. This image from shedsusa.com gives you some idea of what they look like. Batter boards are needed to square up the foundation, yielding a rectangle instead of the dreaded parallelogram. Of course, our land is not flat, and this technique will not work unless the strings are horizontal, so I got a builder's level to set string height accurately.

And (of course) we have no dirt to hold up the vertical batter boards, just rock. So, I am drilling a 4" deep hole in the bottom of the 2x4 batter boards with a 1/2" drill bit and pounding an 8" rebar into the 2x4. On site, I will drill a 5" deep hole into rock for each vertical board and drop the rebar'ed 2x4 into the hole. Nothing to it. I hope.

Big rocks

Evan suggested that if these are going to be moved with a skid steer, that perhaps they could be moved to become an entrance feature.

From Halloween 09 at Stony

E: "I love the boulders! they are not easy to move, but you are talking about that...and I wondered what it would be like to have a few of them as part of the way into the cabin, perhaps forming the base for the entry platform, or, with that big one you can't get going to the lake...it might be high enough to form part of the base to the DR doors..or even have the deck post come down on it.. some of the flatter ones could be part (a landing) of the walk up to the cabin from the pkg lot ....I also liked the tree close to the house....it is amazing when trees and boulders are a part of the way the cabin hits the ground because they give an immediate sense of authority, of place, like the cabin has been there awhile......so finding ways for the boulders to be integrated into the site, into the walks and decks and maybe holding up dirt here and there where it is needed."

Halloween - work notes Part 2/2

After a minute to listen to the geese (some procastinators on their way south?), I finish comments on what is done/not done.

Work Notes - Halloween - 1/2

Walk up driveway and through site explaining what was done and what is needed.

Camp - walk from car to porch

Tried to post a movie yesterday using vimeo, but did not have much luck. Hopefully, this one is ok. Short walk from car to site.

Halloween vacation

1) Stopped on Friday morning at 9A to see building official, Paul Gyore and pulled a permit, even though no construction yet.

2) Met Bill Lee who put in the driveway. Ended up using 108 tons of driveway mix, on top of geotech fabric. He leveled out the dip, so grade is better. It seemed a bit soft, but several people swear it will gets rock hard eventually.

3) Dropped a dead 75 foot pine at top of driveway, cut into 2 logs that seemed pretty good, and chopped up the rest.

4) Trimmed and moved other logs into accessible spots (hard to move by myself), either for Ross Phelps (from Chases Lake) with his portable band saw or for someone to bring to the local sawmill. I would like 1x6 boards or 1x8 boards for use as shelving, fencing (probably want some short pieces at top where very steep), board and batten sheds, closing in crawl space, etc.

5) Met Steve Snyder and his son Tyler who moved some log piles, stacked logs on the ground in piles, and hauled brush down past septic towards road. Maybe someday rent Ace Hardware commercial chipper (has a ball type hitch) and turn it into mulch.

6) Cleared a staging area towards lake at top of driveway to store LokNLogs kit logs. Need to build platforms to store logs up out of mud. Same spot can be future grass parking area for a car or two as well.

7) Put up some 2x4’s sticking in air where future cabin corner should be. I shifted it a bit more trying to make it easier to build, and trying to see lake.

8) Cut a few dead trees down towards lake near future paths. Found 2 winding paths from either side of the lot, and one steeper direct route from middle. All 3 intersect in middle below and could angle left or right to dock.

9) Tried to push the apparently teetering rock in picnic area over the side, but it was stubborn. Maybe pull it back (skid steer) and put with other rocks in better spot.

JDIII, Joan, & Beth came up Sun morning with Ella and James, and they all fed me dinner Sunday night.

Hope to drive up again after Thanksgiving for a few days. That may be my last chance prior to snow.

Halloween at Stony

This is what it looked like when I left on Monday morning after a weekend's work (with help)...



or if you prefer a simple contact sheet of snaps (click on each photo to enlarge it)

Halloween 09 at Stony

Permission to proceed

PERMIT! - good for one year (and $5/yr to extend). I just noticed the inspect before pour. I guess when sonotubes ready? I wonder if inspections are M/F only, similar to office hours, or if they are T/W/R only. I will have to call and check.