The Cabin.........A carpenters nightmare.

Yea looks like it needed some serious help , Good on you and son (Mark) to bee fixing her up . I had a dream at one time to make a block building back on the 7 acres where we and the boys use to do some camping and drinking , Fun times !
The one year we decided to make a date every time for the next outing and stick to it for a year no wining weather good, bad, indifferent ... Well started out with about 10 snowing RAIN hotter than a hammer strike we did it at the end there were only 3 of us!!! If you miss one you don't get to come back LOL We had GOOD EATS too even had tacos one time just to break the steak trend  Sadly several of the friends are dead and gone to the master now ..
I can see you and Mark and some them kids staying in the cabin for some over nite fun !!

getback wrote:Yea looks like it needed some serious help , Good on you and son (Mark) to bee fixing her up .  

I agree with Eric... and you're definitely right; better to do it now, before the weather/season turns. It looks as though the roof isn't in too bad a shape though.

"Time Passes" (thread-link)

My youngest Brother "Jeff" built a cabin 10 or 12 years ago; just over the state-line (in Millville, MA) not too far from where Lynne and I live. It's an "EX-friend's" property... so he hasn't been there in probably 6 or 7 years now.





Check-out the snow-blown trail.. (my old Simplicity machine did the job)

Awesome little project for you and Mark. Looking forward to the finished product.

Beautiful cabin(s) in the woods….. Looks peaceful and inviting….. Hopefully it’s cooling off a little to make the project more comfortable….

I have used the Poly pro with good results down here. Lined my metal shed with it and keeps 85 inside on 99 days. Otherwise you can cook inside in the summer. Might want to put foil side towards inside heated area.

Used to call the siding like that board and batten, larger boards nailed up with a smaller batten nailed on the joint. Old western buildings show this often.  




Not familiar with the strand board siding, been out of it too long. Is it water resistant and covered with a finish venire?


As a side note whoever drew these plans needs his ass whopped. Convoluted cut up roofs with multiple Gable ends are ugly, harder to build and add numerious more leak areas. My Ive worked on houses on Miami Beach built in the 30s with original roof, doors and windows.




PS ladder is too short, danger, danger!!

Ah CB, you are a tough observer.  

Correct Poly Pro insulation is for the reflective side to be positioned out as I have it, but I also was afraid of rain before I finished and thought the reflective side to be more water proof.  

The manufacturer of the Zip System board says the green finish is water resistant.  It was put to the test as shortly after we finished as it just poured and poured.  Not complaining as we need the rain.  But it caught my Black & Decker Workmate outside and it got soaked expanding the plywood deck to the point where it must be replaced.

Yes -  crazy house picture taken from the Zip Systems web site.  

The ladder, yup.  Cut if off three times and it's still too short. (Old carpenters joke) I have a history with ladders.  My 10 footer (in the garage) gave way and I caught my ankle inbetween the rungs on the way down snapping it in half.  Got three plates and 13 screws in there holding it together.  

Bob






Definately came off a red barn somewhere in West Virginia back in the '50's.  Removed over a hundred nails, a no fun job.

Now that's quite a little restoration job! Looking great!

Pretty big project for the two of you But you get some time together Looking Good Bob and Mark!!

Is that a Honda carting a 4x8 sheet?? Impressive!

Honda Ridgeline CB.  Mark bought it used.  100,000++ miles on it.  He does his own maintenance.  Say's he going to get a Toyota truck next.  

Hard work on the cabin about done.  A mixture of old and new.  Untreated pine should weather to match over time.  I wanted to burn it down and start from new.  They get this place when I kick and they like the vintage cabin effect.  Been there for the last 74+ years, one of the first buildings in this area.  They (Mark and wife) say new siding would make it look like a shed not a cabin. Got a point there.

Mark taped all the seams with weather proof tape.



Window trim to go, roof trim paint to match.  Header and footer boards too.



I had to get out the eight foot ladder, same one I snapped my ankle on between the rungs when I fell some 45 years ago.  Getting run over by a Cadillac as a kid didn't hurt as bad.  

Can't let a good ladder go to waste.  I repaired the folded leg with a 1X4 and some bolts.  

So.... that stove's not going to have to work so hard now.. It should get roasty-toasty in there!!



Got any leftover wood; enough to build a farwood crib?





I see a chiminea too.. but no farwood..

So, they can't spell "Firewood" correctly in Rhode Island...........  Either that, or maybe a southern transplant.....

But..............did you catch the Jackson leaning up against the outdoor fireplace.  

Lot's of firewood has gone up in smoke in that indoor furance.  It has a dial in heat regulator.  Mark uses one of those commercial firelogs to get the oak started.  The wood crib is a great idea.  Used to be a staple in rural NH when I was growing up.  You don't see them so much anymore but a neighbor has a big one, used to feed his outdoor wood burning furnace that heats hot water piped into his house.

Inside not so neat anymore. I think we have all our tools in there.

Second window roughed in today, starting on exterior trim.  Used the air broom to blowout the cabin, shed and four car garage.  I was tracking sawdust everywhere.  Joan Baez pumping out protest songs on the stereo..................Gotta change that cassette...............





I could stain the new wood walnut to match, or old barn off silver, or..........maybe just leave it alone.  Trim paint is Walmart Guacamole, sort of a sick green, I like it but Son doesn't.  One gallon, it stays.  Mark blended in the old wood and new, wife likes the old cabin look.  We could have just as well had the sawmill cut us enough new wood to do the whole thing.  

I'm still looking for anything plumb or a square corner in this cabin.

rsv1cox wrote:

I'm still looking for anything plumb or a square corner in this cabin.

That's OK Robert.. it's got charm..

When I was very young, our family used to rent a little cabin on U.S. Rt.6 in Buzzard's Bay, MA (Cape Cod). There was a gravel horseshoe-shaped drive with 6 or 7 little cabins there. A Mutual Petrol Station was where the office was. We called it "The Bedroom House". There's a petrol station still there.. but the lot is crumbled asphalt and empty now; where the cabins used to be. I've got a photo somewhere. It's the only photo of the 67 Buick LeSabre that we had. It was around 1971 and I was around 11 years old. My two younger brothers were 3 and 5. Probably cost $9 a night. I vividly remember the glass-globe fire extinguisher that hung high on a metal rack inside the front door. What I really looked forward to when we stayed there; was the go-cart track a little ways down the highway. The track "Cartland" was still there and operating when I passed through earlier this Summer. It had been 30 years since I drove that stretch of road. It used to be the gateway to Cape Cod.. until I-495 extended further South; down to the Bourne Bridge at the Cape Cod Canal. It took away the charm.

I miss the old gas stations. We saw many on our trip on old route 66 when we travelled fron New Hampshire to California back in 1953.

My '67 Buick LeSabre, a gift from my father-in-law. Big old four door that floated on wheels.

rsv1cox wrote:I miss the old gas stations.  We saw many on our trip on old route 66 when we travelled fron New Hampshire to California back in 1953.  

My '67 Buick LeSabre, a gift from my father-in-law.  Big old four door that floated on wheels.  

I found a scan/copy of that old photo. Our Buick was the same color.. but I think it was a 2-door? That's me and my two brothers standing in front of the "Bedroom House"..

Two door or four door roddie the thing was a barge. By the time I got it the kids were all grown up, we used to stuff them in things like an English Ford, Fiat, Volkswagon, and Mercury Comet.

Early 1960's, my father had an English Ford when I was in elementary school, maybe age 6 or 7, it was a model from the 1950's. It was black with white trim. I remember him grinding valves manually on the kitchen table, to improve its running. Our trailer house felt more like the house in Jackey Gleason's Honeymooner TV series. Even had a small black and white TV set, maybe 13 inch on top of the refrigerator.

Funny how all 6 of us, 4 kids ages 2,3,4,6 fit in that small car. Travelled in it all the way from a small rural town near Petersburgh, VA to Altoona, PA for an extended weekend at grandma's.

Great grandma owned a small grocery store. I'd get free balsa gliders and cap bombs to play with. How I got started into planes. Nowadays all those "mom and pop" stores plentiful then are gone. The neighborhoods then all had character, kind of neat.

Kids over today, we cleaned the cabin up enough to shoot a little pool.



Then after Tacos they went out on the pond and drowned some worms.



Smores later tonight by the firepit.

rsv1cox wrote:Kids over today, we cleaned the cabin up enough to shoot a little pool.



Then after Tacos they went out on the pond and drowned some worms.



Smores later tonight by the firepit.

Very Nice Robert , Looks Like You Really Are Living The Dream . Good For You

Great thread, thanks for posting!

Mark Boesen wrote:Great thread, thanks for posting!

Thanks Mark, it continues with my Mark on the ladder.  

Trim notched for the fake loft door.  Test fit.  Has to come down for painting.  75+ years since construction with barn lumber cut who knows when. Gray boards are what the PO replaced some 25 years ago.

I thought it better to post this here.



Had you thought of using end-cutting pliers to cut those nails off?



Amazon link

If you use power-tools.. it's gonna make a mess.. and leave that foam torn-up...