building this house; oy...

2010-11-14T23:14:00.001-05:00

still here

2010-09-07T09:53:00.001-04:00

yep I'm still here

2010-01-30T17:17:00.002-05:00

Well I am working on getting the front deck done. I have a "guy" who is putting down the poles and the joist so all I will have to do is put down the decking, railing and steps. #2 son where are you????

2009-10-25T07:15:00.001-04:00

I did this!!

New storm door with doggy door

Coat closet. Almost done.

2009-10-12T22:01:00.002-04:00

I needed a coat closet so I built one. Its not finished, I need to put the door in and finish with the dry wall mud, paint and trim but.......

2009-08-21T19:49:00.003-04:00

The gutters went up to day. It took the guys at K&W construction around 2 hours to put them up. It has not rained today so I dont know how well they are going to do but the price was right. It was $7 more than just the materials were going to cost me and they came when they said they would and they did not leave a mess!

K&W Construction
Riner, VA
540-382-2126

2009-08-04T21:07:00.004-04:00

I have been in the cabin a few weeks now there is a lot I have to get done. #2 son came up this weekend to help me get the stair up. He was a great help, not only did he get the stair up but he also framed in the railing for the loft. I have to get someone in to finish off the drywall before the last railing on the stair is placed but he did a lot in a weekend.

I got my spiral stair from The Iron Shop and I will say that is was relatively easy to install. You have to read the instructions and watch the video but with a little “home work” it is a very doable project. I would recommend any one to get at least the 4 foot stair. The 3 ½ foot one that I have is a little tight. I had to go with the 3 ½ foot because of space but I would have loved the 4 footer!!

The bug guy also came by, seems I have a “little” problem with carpenter ants. I saw some the day I moved in, freaked out, sprayed my “bug be gone” and called pest control. I haven’t seen any since I sprayed but I know those little buggers can be bad and I don’t want to take any chances. So I called in the big guns, The contractor had bug stuff added to the stain to keep carpenter bees out but I guess it does not work that well with ants. Any way I guess I’m not living all that “natural”, gotta keep pest at bay!!

2009-07-02T21:27:00.002-04:00

This guy can dress up a hill. Damn good job!!

There is this scene in “National Lampoons Christmas Vacation” where the Chevy Chase character, Clark, after many attempts, finally gets the Christmas lights on his house to light. When he connects those two extension cords a chorus singing halleluiah starts up, his face lights up as bright as the lights on his house and you could see in his face how happy he was. I had that same look and could hear in my mind the choir singing when I rounded that corner and saw a truck and excavator in my drive way. The power company’s contractor was there to hook my cabin up. I now have power to the cabin, all I need is for the electrician to come back and finish his work and I will have lights!! Halleluiah! Halleluiah!

2009-06-11T19:35:00.001-04:00

Deck and appliances!!

2009-06-09T11:09:00.002-04:00

We have cabinets!!

These cabinets are custom built out of knotty pine. They were built by Randy Lambe of Lambe’s Custom Cabinets. The workmanship is very good and the price was unbelievable to me but all I have are beach prices to compare to. Anyway I really like the work so I’m gonna post his phone number. He said he is willing to travel outside southwest Virginia

Lambe’s Custom Cabinets
276-728-5638

2009-05-30T15:45:00.001-04:00

we have flooring

2009-05-27T11:30:00.002-04:00

A lot has been done both inside and out. that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter!!

2009-05-20T19:36:00.001-04:00

front windows are in

2009-05-05T16:44:00.000-04:00

A view from the loft

2009-04-29T21:43:00.005-04:00

The cabin has been stained and I am happy with the color. I am thinking of painting the doors in a green that matches the roof....

They have started the tongue and grove ceiling, I'm liking it....

2009-03-20T21:16:00.002-04:00

moving along......

2009-03-14T09:07:00.003-04:00

I haven’t posted much on this site. Things have not been moving along as I have hoped and I have not been happy, but Xavier’s g-mom said he was disappointed that I have not been up dating the site and that he wanted more roof shots so here you are Xavier I will try to do better. In the next few weeks I will have tractor shots (hopefully)

day one of the shingles going up was on March 7th

They finished March 11th

Interior shot with the windows and doors in place (except the ones in the front cathedral)
I know that they will be back because they left their tools ;-)

2009-02-17T08:23:00.002-05:00

This is a bad shot. I took some video of the work that had been done on Valentines day and took this off of that. Its been over 2 months since anything has been done on the cabin but my builder assures me his crew will be knocking it out and it should be done in 3 weeks, not gonna happen but but hopefully thing s will get moving.

2009-01-04T23:55:00.002-05:00

Nothings been done in a while. We will see if now that I will not be going out of town the work picks up.

2008-12-06T17:39:00.003-05:00

Just a few house shots

"view" from the loft

2008-12-03T20:46:00.002-05:00

I was out of town town for Thanksgiving and nothing was done while I was away, of courses that can be explained by the holiday and bad weather on Monday. the builders have gotten much of the roof up these past few days and it should be compleat this week weather permitting. Weather channel says rain for tomorrow... go figure. =-)

2008-11-25T20:51:00.001-05:00

We had snow today so things are kinda wet but we are moving along.

2008-11-21T20:27:00.003-05:00

Its been a very productive week. I'm real happy with the work thats been done. I hope next week is as good!!

View from my bedroom to be =-)

2008-11-20T18:00:00.002-05:00

Things keep moving along. If all goes well the roof should be up next week...

2008-11-19T21:04:00.000-05:00

Progressing.........

2008-11-18T23:23:00.001-05:00

moving along.....

2008-11-17T20:06:00.003-05:00

Today there was PROGRESS........

With a log home you get the "feel" of how the house is going to look when its done. The log is the insulation and the wall so there is very little finish work to do. My builder says the walls should be up (weather permitted) by the end of the week. I'm not holding my breath but.......

2008-11-14T20:17:00.002-05:00

This photo was taken on October 29th nothing more has been done since then. I talked with the builder yesterday he says he will be on the property Monday. We shall see......

2008-11-13T07:42:00.001-05:00

It looks like no one will be working on my cabin again this week. I got a call last Friday and was told they were going to be here Monday. Got a call Monday and was told half the crew did not show up, they all went hunting. Tuesday the builder had and appointment I don’t know what happened Wednesday and today it’s raining. Maybe Monday?

2008-10-29T14:04:00.002-04:00

Things are moving along.......

These photos were taken 10-23-08

2008-10-15T20:16:00.001-04:00

The footers were pored on Tuesday and with all that concrete

I just could not resist

2008-10-10T21:03:00.001-04:00

Nothing more has been done this week.... Bummer

2008-10-06T20:38:00.000-04:00

Amerlink delivered the logs today!! Now its up to Mike.

2008-10-01T19:56:00.000-04:00

Today the inspector came by and he approved the foundation work done so far. Inspection #1 done!

2008-09-30T20:31:00.000-04:00

The guys were here today putting in the rebar for the footers. If all goes well the building inspector will be by tomorrow and we will get the OK to pour the footers. If he comes early we can pour concrete tomorrow afternoon if not then Thursday.

I got a call from Allen Rhoads of Amerlink log homes. He told me according to his boss the president of the company John Barth my logs are to ship out on Friday and will be here Monday morning. I am cautiously optimistic.

2008-09-29T21:11:00.000-04:00

Well I’ll be darned! My contractor started on the cabin today. I am soo happy about that. Unfortunately Amerlink Log Homes, the folks we bought the logs from, for the second time have told me that my logs will not be coming as scheduled. A message was left on my phone answer that said my order has been postponed and they don’t know when they will get my logs in. I take that as being postponed indefinitely. All I can do is sigh and accept that I may have to go in a different direction to build this house. I have heard many good things about Amerlink so this is very disappointing.

2008-09-21T15:59:00.001-04:00

Welp another week as gone by and still no starting on the house. Last Monday Amerlink, the folks I’m buying the logs for my cabin from called and told me that they were delaying the delivery of my logs “indefinitely”. Well when they said that my left eyebrow shot up and I replied “what does that mean?”. The next three days were spent on the phone talking with Allen Rhodes a customer service rep and playing phone tag with John Barth, supposedly the president of Amerlink Log Homes. By Thursday “indefinitely” became Friday October 3 at 8am. We shall see.

2008-09-15T20:33:00.000-04:00

I am starting this blog to keep track of the progress of the building progress of my new home. More to follow