September 5th, 2014 Built stairway from main floor to basement

I had to support the ceiling joists above the pictured platform before I cut the complete hole in the main floor, including the joists for the stairway installation. This was totally new to me so I had no idea how long to cut the hole in the floor. As you can also see in the picture, the two sets of stairs (Two treads each) coming off both sides of the platform are offset. Next year I will install a different system to support the ceiling joists so these stairs will be centered on the platform. I will be going back to Montana next month and I will help a friend, Nick Daley cut the beams I will use. We will cut them on his homemade portable bandsaw mill. All screws on these stairs were also countersunk and plugged. I will probably seal these using a clearcoat. Both sets of steps will then be finished with a step quality poly sealer.

I will also have to install a header above the platform, and install TGI rails on each side of the floor opening. Then I will be able to install the finish trim around the entire opening to the basement. The hand rails for these steps and the steps to the loft will be completed at a later date.

August 30, 2014 Built stairway to house loft

On August 30th, I finished the stairway to the loft as far as I could go. The last four steps (Log stringers and treads) have been completed. They will not be installed until the hardwood floor is installed on the main floor. All the screws on the platform, stringers and treads were countersunk and sealed with wooden plus, then sanded smooth. All of these steps will be stained a true cedar to match the rest of the logs on the main floor. The two lowest steps you see are temporary steps made from 2 X 12's that will be removed when the permanent ones are installed.

June 23, 2014 Close to finishing loft framing

I started framing the loft last Monday. There is a bedroom with a walk-in closet at each end of the loft and a bathroom between them. I have four short 2 X 4's left to install on the north bedroom, then I can begin wiring the loft. I will install a 100 Amp load center in the loft and feed all the loft electrical, the lights over the deck on both sides of the house, and the light fixture on the main floor over the family room from this box. This way I can run just one set of large cables from the loft to the main panel in the basement. It will save a lot of wire.

Once I have the wiring in the loft completed, I will insulate the entire roof system, then I can install the blue pine tongue and groove boards on the ceiling. I  will fully insulate all three rooms in the loft, and install baseboard heaters in each room controlled by a thermostat mounted on each heater. I will sleep in one of these rooms when they are completed while I work on the main floor. Tomorrow I begin building the log stairway from the main floor to the loft.

June 17, 2014 Built workbench

On the June 17, I took all the scrap 2 inch lumber I had in the garage loft and built a workbench, Some of it was very twisted from sitting for the last few years. From now on, any lumber I buy that I don't use will be returned to the lumber yard at the end of the building season. I also installed a light over the bench.

June 8, 2014 Garage electrical completed today

Today I finished wiring the garage. It's a 100 amp service with 7 circuits. I installed a 220 outlet below the panel in case I ever need to use a welder. There are 12 outlets on two different circuits mounted just below the sill logs on three sides of the garage.

I installed six florescent light fixtures in the ceiling, and 8 outlets around the perimeter of the loft.

I wired in outlets in the ceiling of the main floor, One side of each outlet powers the garage door lights, the other half are controlled by the switch that turns on the two lights just outside the small walk-in door. I will install two 8 ft hanging florescent lights and plug them into these outlets.

I also installed motion detector lights on the front of the garage. I only had one problem when I hit the seven breakers in the panel. One call to New Hampshire talking to Jerry Duprey, and the problem was solved. Now I have to get busy on the stairways and the chimney in the house.

May 29, 2014 Finished garage end gables.

Earlier this week, Jerry and I installed the last upstairs window and trimmed out the rear of the garage. We installed the siding I had that was leftover from the house end gables. When we went to Butte to get the rest of the siding I found that they did not carry it in Butte anymore so I had to order it from Billings, MT. It came in yesterday and we finished installing it today.

May 28, 2014 Built stairs in garage

   A friend from Tennessee, Jerry Finley is spending the week with me. Yesterday we finished building the stairs in the garage, We started doing research on the internet early in the week to learn how to build them. Neither of us had ever done stairs before. I still have to install hand rails. I'm thinking they should be made out of lodgepole pine poles and spindles. We made a few mistakes, but I am now ready to tackle the stairs in the house.

April, 2014 It's getting close

   It's time to start planning for the 2014 building season in Montana. What has to get done in 2014?
I need to install the last window in the garage so I can finish the siding on the end gables to make the garage more weather resistant. Trim out the windows in the log walls of the house and the garage to make both buildings totally weather resistant. Repair or replace the electrical wiring going to the garage so the garage doors will work without the use of an extension cord. I will wire in the garage electrical panel and hook up some lights. With these jobs completed, I can begin working on the inside of the house.

   I would like to get stairways installed in the house from the basement to the main floor, and from the main floor to the loft. The basement stairway will be built with conventional lumber, the stairway to the loft will be built out of logs. I would also like to get the stairway to the loft in the garage completed. I will start looking at what I want to do about getting the stone chimney built so I will have heat in the house.

  I still have three doors to install in the house. The headers have to be cut out with a chainsaw once I have decided what doors would look the best.

   When the exterior of the garage is completed, I will hire my cousin, Jim to install a cement slab in front of the garage with a walkway to the side door. I will have fill brought in to grade the area between the house and the garage sloping it away from both, and put a cement walkway coming off the sidewalk at the back of the house towards the garage. The north and west sides of the garage will be graded and graveled, sloping away from the garage. The graveled area  by the garage will be used for parking our trailers and as a fire break.

   Until I get to Montana and start building again........