Update

We got a software package that lets you play around with your design and with furniture placement. Here is what we are planning on doing. We had a heck of a time arranging the living room, but finally decided that if we moved a window and the back door we could make it work.

Upstairs we will have a pull-out sofa bed and a pull-out love seat bed. So we will have plenty of sleeping space if you want to come visit.





I got a new camera for Christmas, so next year I'll be able to post videos along with better photos.

We are going to Lok-n-Logs open house on January 5, so we might have more modifications after we see that. Plus we are planning on going to several home shows this winter. That way, come spring, we (hopefully) will know what we want to do.

Work - Weekend 3

We are hoping to finish everything this weekend. We have to finish putting in the floor trusses, install the metal cross-braces, then lay all of the sheathing for the sub floor. Fortunately, we have some help, our friends John and Pete came up from MA to give us a hand.

This is John:
Here's Pete "adjusting" a panel into place:Here's Rick:
And me measuring for the trusses.

It was really cold again this weekend. But we were working hard enough that we kept pretty warm. John just about froze his hands off when he was installing the cross-braces, his gloves got in his way so he wasn't wearing them! BRRR!!

John brought up his small "pancake" compressor and it was a good thing he did! It was so cold, the oil in our big compressor got too thick and the compressor was making funny noises, so we put it back in the garage. But once we got going, the little compressor couldn't keep up. So we just started tacking down the corners with the intention that Rick and I would finish the job on Sunday when it was supposed to be warmer.

It all worked out great, John & Pete needed to leave at 3:30 to make it back to MA by 6:00 and we finished at around that time.

On Sunday Rick and I finished nailing down all the sheathing and covered the whole thing with a huge (40'x60') tarp. As we were finishing up, our neighbor, Tim Mummers, dropped by to see how we were doing and to let us know it was supposed to snow that evening. So we really did finish up in the nick of time.


So we are all done until next spring. Our scheduled delivery date is May 1 and Tim Wood expects it will take about 3 weeks for them to finish a weather tight shell. Rick and I will take over at that time and do all of the interior work. So, next summer, if you feel the urge to swing a hammer or do any sort of construction work, just let us know and we will put you to work!

Work - Weekend 2

We had a nice Thanksgiving, our friends Jenifer and Doug and his parents Louise and Phil came over to our house. Then on Friday morning we headed up to Maine. This weekend was even colder that the last one. We didn't do any outside work on Friday, we had some errands to run. But on Saturday, I don't think it got above 20 degrees - BRRR!!

But we got a lot done. We finished the sill and box. Rick did the blocking on the gable ends of the house. We put in the difficult floor joists, the ones to frame the stairwell. The weather didn't cooperate and Jack didn't the floor of the basement poured, so we had to leave some openings so he could get the cement chute in.


I don't know much about construction, but I really like the way Tim Wood told us to install the floor joists. The boards are 2x10x16 and instead of cutting them and hanging them from the main beam, you place them on top and set them side by side.

Work - Weekend 1

This was the first weekend we had to do some outside work. It was cold! On Saturday I don't think it got above 30 degrees and Sunday was even colder.

Jack put in a pocket for the main support beam, but it wasn't wide enough. So Rick had to enlarge it. I ran to the local hardware store to buy a cutting blade for his circular saw. After a while, he was having trouble completing the cut. He realized he had worn off all but 1" of the blade, so back to Trumbull's Hardware for me.Because of the way the main support beam was installed, we had to cut about 8" off the lolly columns. That's me in my coveralls and two pair of long johns! Once we got working we warmed up and unzipped our coveralls.
Here are the fruits of our weekend labor! We got 1/2 of the sill and box installed and the main support beam. It doesn't seem like much, but putting in that beam was a pain! We built it along the foundation by the 3-season room. It is made of several 2x12 boards sandwiched together 3 wide. Then we pulled it along the side foundations. It was kind of scary, there was only 4 or 5 inches on each end overlapping the foundations and if it had dropped into the basement, we probably couldn't have gotten it back out. Once we got it next to the beam pockets, we had to stand it upright. The first time we tried, it started wobbling along the whole length and kept going to land on it's other side, right on my wrist! It wasn't that heavy, but I couldn't lift it with just one hand. As you can see from these picture, we succeeded and installed enough floor joists to hold it stable.

That is our garage in the background. Rick and I built it about 6 years ago.
If the weather is okay, Jack is going to pour the floor of the basement this week.

Footings & Foundation

Here are pictures of the footings and the foundation.

This is looking at the front of the house, this picture was taken November 3. That is Rick and Keith, he works for Jack and was there to remove the framing around the footings.

This is looking at the back door. Jack poured the foundation on October 29.

Driveway Repair

Actually before Jack could do anything he had to make the driveway safe for his big vehicles. We always had to be very careful driving down because of the big rocks mostly buried at the bottom.
The first picture is looking up the driveway. He has already done some work, all of the dirt on the left is the dirt he scraped off. The next picture is later, looking down. Notice the rocks on the left, those are the ones he removed from the driveway.

Excavation - Phase 1

The next phase was excavation, we hired Jack Kostka of JK Maintenance from Bridgton, ME.
As expected he hit ledge after only a few feet. We weren't there when he was blasting, but this shows what it looked like after he was done.


This is where the dining room and the back door of the house will be.

Site Preparation

Here is a picture of the future site of our new home, the trees with the red markers on them were removed by Paul Prouty, a tree removal guy from Brownfield.


He removed the trunks, some of the hardwood and the larger pine trees went to a lumber mill, the smaller pine trees went a pulp mill and the smaller hardwood was sold to someone who cut it up for firewood. But he left all of the branches behind. We decided the best way to get rid of it was to burn it.


The flames were about 30 feet high. Once it really got going, it was so hot, you couldn't get within 20 yards without feeling it. Plus we did it on one of the hottest, muggiest days of the summer!

Floor Plans

These are the floor plans for the cabin.


The 3-season porch will be screened in, but otherwise completely open. We decided to put a fireplace in the screen porch and a wood stove on the inside. Just think of the crisp fall days we will be able to sit out on the porch with a fire to keep the chill off!

Architectural Drawings

Here are the architectural drawings for the exterior of the cabin.

This is what the front of the cabin will look like.

This is the side that you will see when you walk up to the house.

Our contractor is Tim Wood of Woodridge Log Homes. February 2007 we went to a Log Home show in Manchester NH. We hit it off right away, he used to be an engineer for a defense contractor here in the Boston area, so we had a lot in common. Plus, we really liked the log home company he works with, Lok-n-Logs. We started with the Fraser and added the the 3-season porch on the front of the house.

Welcome

Welcome to the blog for the construction of our log cabin on Seavey Field Lane in Brownfield, ME.

We will be posting pictures as the construction goes along.