Greenbay and Joe finish up the framing on the first floor joists. Joe has put together another order for lumber for delivery on Friday. I am really pleased with the way Joe handles and schedules things as well as keeps us all on track, organized and simplified.
Fabian and Dylan are back today with more gravel and this large bucket used for distributing gravel into hard to get to places. What a time saver; they have installed the French drain around the perimeter of the house. A neighbor, Dean, stopped by yesterday and will schedule his tiny backhoe for digging a trench for the new electrical service line and French drain along the south side of the old cabin.The Warm Board delivery arrives in the afternoon; 3 large heavy pallets that are difficult to get out of the truck. One of the pallets that the sheets are stacked on is missing and unloading isn’t easy, but with Fabian's backhoe and nylon strap, they pull thru for us again.
GreenBay and I have gone to my old lumber yard down off the highway and I have shown him what beams go in what areas of the house. It’s difficult enough for me, but with his extensive experience, he picks up easily on how things will be constructed.
During lunch I have had to make a list for the window manufacturers to bid on. We have to get the windows ordered soon. Joe suggests changing the bay window to a square bay instead of the angled bay. I agree. We think it will look better this way and more fitting with the style of the building and really simplify construction. It will also make the window order much simpler too.
After lunch, Greenbay and I are back down on the highway and we disassemble the dutch oven. Joe has an old metal frame of a 40’ house trailer nearby and Greenbay suggests we disassemble the stacks of the old aspen log structure and lay them out on the frame of the trailer. A great idea and by the end of the day we have both the north and south walls of the old cabin laid out on the trailer and have a much clearer idea of what we need to do.
As I mentioned before, this old cabin, built in the 1880s, has some problems with powder post beetles. The old trailer frame is the perfect place for being able to spray the logs with Bora Seal. Small piles of fine sawdust are evidence of these little critter's activity. The Bora Seal should take care of 'em. Some of the lower logs have sserious rot problems and will have to be replaced. Luckily we have some extra logs that we will have to reshape and cut new dovetails.
Earlier this morning, Doyle, from Dolores stopped by. He specializes in making new replacement lower logs for old cabins. He knows his stuff too. I’ve shown him the old aspen log cabin and he gives me some tips on repair and replacement as well as a good contact for chinking the logs once we get them up. His schedule won’t allow him to help us out without having to wait for several weeks. So we will make the replacement logs ourselves.
This old cabin was disassembled from its original location somewhere up on the Canadian/Minnesota border about 15 years ago. I found it stacked hap-hazardly in a barn in Fairfield, Iowa. Luckily someone had the foresight to mark the log ends with small pieces of aluminum numbered tags. Without these it would be nearly impossible to erect it like it originally was found. After so many years the old cabin will finally find its new home in Rico.
Doyle has given me the name of a log chinking lady named Barbara Walker. I’ve called her tonite and turns out she is currently working in Rico. She will stop by tomorrow to look at the job.
technorati tags:Rico, Colorado, log+cabin, log+chinking
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