Sam is in the haus

Sam's first day in his new haus. 

The screen porch door installation completes the building and keeps him from escaping.

Testing the strength of the sill.  Chipmunks and chickadees taunt.

Not too fat to hide?

Finally, a Sam-sized litter box.

Beached and at ease in his new digs.

Powered up

Most of the electrical wiring has been installed.  The meter is on a post 30 feet from the road.  The power lines run 100 feet underground to the cottage.  This avoids overhead lines and a mast on the roof.

Plugs and switches in the library and bedroom.  Every bedroom gets a hard wired smoke detector, seen here near the ceiling.

Looking down to the crawlspace through a trapdoor located in the laundry room floor.  The sump cover is seen here.  We have not needed a sump pump because the overflow pipe trenched 60 feet outside has been carrying away all of the rain water.  During several recent cloud bursts we watched rivers of water run down the drive-way that swirled against the foundation and dumped into the weeping tile.  None of it came into the crawlspace because the overflow pipe effectively drained it all away.

The crawlspace will be a useful storage area.  The raised wood platform is 20 x 8 feet.  The little white box to the left is a dehumidifier.  It is working hard to get rid of the moisture in the sand that remains from the snow in winter and the rain that seeped in before the roof was finished.  It is winning the battle as you can see from the dry white peaks in the sand.

Water pump that will draw water from the cistern in winter.

The northeast deck between the main cottage and the guest cottage is finished.  These white oak planks are a full inch thick and 5 1/2 inches wide.

Carefully cut around the oak tree post.  The deck is fastened using screws designed for composite decking.  When they are driven in they bore small holes eliminating the need to pre-drill pilot holes.  The torx heads are also very small and diminutive in appearance.

Windows

Windows and doors arrived from Kolbe in Wisconsin.  They were supplied and installed by GNT Distributors of Winnipeg.  The glass is opaque because they are covered with a protective plastic film inside and out.

Livingroom.  Each pane is approximately 5x6 feet.  We hope the decals of hawk silhouettes will keep birds from barnstorming.

Master bedroom.

Guest bedroom,

Door on the deck.

Guest cottage door and workshop solid door.  Blueskin completes the seal to the house wrap.

The dining room window is the largest unit.

Closeup of the white oak frame of the dining room window.

Same window, now finished with a clear penetrating oil.

July building progress

Worked steadily through July.

The roof on the main cottage and guest cottage/workshop is complete.  The cedar fascia is capped by a heavy metal flashing. The roof is an 8 inch thick sandwich:  on the rafters is white oak decking, wiring, poly vapour barrier, 3 inches of ridgid foam insulation, 1/2 inch plywood layer, another 3 inches of insulation, 5/8 t/g plywood painted primer, and a self-adhesive 2 ply system of roofing designed for low slope roofs (waterproof membrane covered with a black capsheet).

Most of the exterior is clad with house wrap and all of the openings are waterproofed in preparation for the windows and doors.  The outdoor decking will be completed when the doors are installed next week. The woodstove stack is also installed.

The lumber for the screen porch was planed.  These are the 2 by 7 white oaks plates and studs.

 22 foot 2 by 10 white oak rafters are installed carefully cut with birdmouths to fit the 3 by 12 beam.

View from the living room window.

All of the wiring was installed in the ceiling before the roof was insulated, sheathed and shingled.  These two boxes are for the lights over the kitchen island.

View from the guest cottage bedroom.

Exposed framing in the overhang above the deck and door.

The overhang above the workshop door.

This is how to lift a beam weighing 400 pounds onto posts 16 feet tall.  Attached temporary steps (the triangular plywood shown) on the posts so that is could be lifted a manageable sixteen inches at a time.  The beam carries 18 screen porch rafters.  The porch walls will be infilled after the roof is sufficiently installed.

Plumbing is roughed in with running water and a functioning toilet.

Very locally sourced materials

A small section of roof that joins the main building to the guest cottage is supported by a post that sits on the deck.

The post is a locally sourced burr oak tree.  It was cut from a field in the city where a new highway is being built.

A start on the outdoor deck.

Deal the deck

Roof decking installed on the rafters

More than a dozen courses of the decking installed.

The decking is 1x6 tongue and groove white oak boards seen here from above.

Same boards seen from below, inside the main cottage where the beam is in the living room.

View of the cottage from the beach.

Going onto the rails with a crazy crane

First rafter lifted onto the storage building.

All the rafters are the same:  red pine, 3"x12" and 28' long.  They weigh approximately 300 pounds.

First rafter guided in for a landing.  Side walls of the guest cottage/storage building will be filled in under the roof.

Most of the rafters could be lowered exactly where they were intended to be placed.  Some had to be slid on the walls to locations where the crane boom could not reach.

Four hours later...

... Houston, the last rafter has landed.

Overhang on the south side will provide plenty of summer shade.

View through the screen porch door.  Roof slopes 1:12.  There are 17 rafters in the main cottage and nine in the guest cottage/storage building, visible here through the dining room window.