First pole for 2012

I am back in Montana for a summer of building. The first thing I did was apply for a building permit for the garage. It is under review by the planning committee. I should hear back by next week.
I applied for an extension on my electrical wiring permit. I probably won't finish the wiring for a couple of years. I visited the USDA Forest Service in Butte and applied for a pole permit to cut poles for the deck railing. They told me a couple of places to look, and when I find what I want, to come back and get the permit. I went in the mountains today an cut all the poles I should need for the deck. Here I am below dragging the first log out. Three elk ran in front of us as we were coming out of the mountains today.

I also bought electrical supplies to wire in lights in the basement interior and on the outside of the basement. 

Tomorrow I will start peeling logs for the rails and the posts. I found a place up by Helena, MT that makes peeled and shaped spindles out of the same poles (Just smaller diameter) I cut for the rails and posts. I will just have to hand peel the spindles so they match the look of the rails and posts. This will save me a lot of time this year. 

Some of the poles I cut today were dead so I can stain them before installing them. The ones that were still alive will have to dry until August or so before they will take the stain.  

It appears there are 11 antelope who think they own the property now. The snort at me every morning when I walk outside. Monday morning I woke up and saw one walk right past my car and around to the north side of the house.

Practicing in New Hampshire

It was time to start limbering up for the summer. On Saturday, my wife Betsy and I stripped two layers of shingles, a layer of 5/8" plywood and most of a layer of 3/4" shiplap boards off the roof of our screened porch in New Hampshire. We stripped off all of the screen around the porch and the boards that held the screens in place.  It came to 2760 pounds of debris when we took it to the dump in the afternoon. When we finished unloading it I thought I was going to die. I've been living way to easy this winter!!! We thought the roof was leaking around the two skylights which we removed, but it turns out there were leaks in the shingles in quite a few places as well. (Not anymore!)

 On Sunday, I hired a friend, Andrew, to help put the roof back on. We replaced all of the weak and rotten boards and all but two of the 4 X 8 sheets of plywood, then put down ice dam, 30 pound tar paper, and drip edge. The actual shingling, except for lifting the plywood sheets and shingles onto the roof, was the easy part. I have a couple of pieces of siding over the flashing, and some upright siding in the corner of the roof to replace, which I will do this week. We'll replace the screening this weekend. The house painters should start pressure washing and painting the house in the next week or so.

I gave my two month's notice about 6 weeks ago at the company where I have been working this winter. It is about time to for me to get all my gear together and get ready to head to Montana in two weeks. Betsy and I have been walking a couple of miles every day this winter, but the activities this weekend let me know I need to get more serious about exercise before I resume building in Montana!


My next posting will be around the 1st of June when I have been able to accomplish something wothwhile in the Big Sky Country. If anyone reading this Blog would like to to hear more about any Log Home Building topic that I may not be covering in as much detail as you like, please let me know. If there are comments addressed to me about these topics, I will gladly respond.

Thank you,
Doug A

Looking forward to 2012

It's December 30th, one more day and we will be into 2012. The time just seems to fly by! I am starting to get the urge to build again. Yesterday I ordered a log tenoning tool from Amazon.com to make spindles for the deck railing on the house. I have never done this before. I have asked several people who build log houses and nobody has any good suggestions on what tools to use.

I Googled forums and chat rooms for information and there is not a lot out there. Several people recommend the type of tool I just ordered that can be used on a hand drill to shave the end of the spindles down. Some people recommend using a router. There are several types of router setups on the market. They seem to have a very rough looking finish.

I ordered a tool right now so I can practice on some Hew Hampshire pine and hardwood to see what works best. I may have to borrow a drill (I left my big drills in Montana) or use my drill press. The drill press would probably be the best bet. I will have to build some kind of a jig to hold the spindles so they don't spin while I cut the tenons. They make an air operated clamp that looks like a great idea. My only problem with that is my air compressor is also in Montana!

In the next few months, Betsy and I will be doing a lot of interior work (Painting, removing wallpaper, replacing bathroom fans and fixtures, sanding and painting bathroom cabinets, and installing a second sink in the master bathroom) in our NH house. At some point we will be ready to sell our house and downsize.

Before I go to Montana this spring I want to have detailed plans on how I want to build and secure the deck railing around the house. I also want to plan out the windows and the loft floor plan for the garage. I will probably have one window on the south side of the garage and two on the west side. They will make for great lighting and will allow the sunlight to heat the garage interior in the colder months. I am thinking I don't need a window on the north side, and the east side will be taken up with two 9 foot garage doors. They will probably have windows on the upper panels.

I will frame in two windows on each of the gable ends of the garage to allow a lot of light in the second story. I would like enough room above the garage to put in a workshop or a guest bedroom. A couple extra rounds of logs above the loft logs will make if very usable.

If anyone reading this blog has ideas they have used or heard of, I would like to hear from you in the comments section of this Blog. If you have used tools that you have found to work well, I would like to hear about those as well. Building this log house has exposed me to many aspects of building I had never even thought about in the past; now I'm doing them!

This is my last blog posting for 2011. I appreciate all of you that have been following this Blog and I wish you all a very Happy New Year. Let's hear it for 2012!

Building completed for 2011, September 18, 2011

Today I finished building for the 2011 season. Time to head home to my beautiful wife, Betsy.

I insulated the mechanical room and I am heating it with a small ceramic heater set at 60 degrees for the winter as a test for future winters to see if freezable items can be stored safely. I drained all water from the water heater, pressure tank and water lines, blew everything out with compressed air, then winterized everything in case the heater fails.

Next year my plans are to install the railings on the deck and build permanent steps up to the deck on both sides of the house. I will also get help to install the interior stairs from the basement to the main floor at some point next summer. I also plan to begin building the log garage. I would like to get as much of the log work completed next year as I can.

My sincere thanks to all of you who have been following this Blog. Until next year.......

East side drain system completed September 13, 2011

The top picture shows the drain/culvert on the east side of the house. Before we installed the drain system on the west side of the house, all water from the west side traveled across the front of the basement and went down the east drain. I put a 90 degree elbow on the end of the pipe you see here, and I cut a hole in the bottom of the drain box for the other end of the elbow to go through. The top is a 20 inch round grate that is rated for 1,000 pounds.

It took about 12 wheel barrow's full of dirt to fill the hole. I then put plastic over the box and cut out a hole in the center, then raked the rock over everything. No more tripping hazard and there should be a lot less soil erosion.

Here is what it now looks like from the edge of the basement apron. I wish we would get a huge rain so I can see the system at work.

All siding completed September 12, 2011

Today I finished siding the basement. I had help from Tony putting up the 16 foot boards. Tomorrow I will caulk the seams on the siding I installed today.

I also installed blinds on the 4 gable windows. I am still looking for blinds for the dormer windows. Butte doesn't seem to have any in stock!

Tomorrow I will go pick up the pipe I need to complete the drain system on the east side of the house. I will take before and after pictures to show what I do.

I also plan to install an outdoor outlet by the basement door tomorrow.

basement bathroom completed, September 8, 2011

The basement shower and bathroom are now completed. I finished grouting the tile around the shower door and installed the trim around the entry door to the bathroom and the mechanical room on Thursday. It was my first time installing trim around a door. Two pieces of trim later, I now know how to install it properly.

I turned on the shower yesterday to see how it worked. Some water splashes out onto the bathroom floor. I will look at getting a shower stall door next year. I checked the temperature of the shower and it did not get real hot. The water heater was set very low. I set it to 135 degrees.
I purchased blinds for all the windows on the main floor and the two windows and the double doors in the basement. I finished installing them today. I will look into getting blinds for the 5 loft windows.

I had to change our insurance carrier this year as you can only carry construction insurance for two years. (Guess I need to pick up the pace!) The new carrier wants me to get all the siding installed within 30 days of the policy taking effect. I will be getting the material to side the basement wall on Monday. With the amount of windows and doors, it should not take much material; I will probably finish it in one day.