The MVP of the project....

With a tear in my eye I bid farewell to the MVP of the project - the telehandler. This past weekend the telehandler went back to NationsRent. I don't know how we could have done this project as safely and quickly as we did.... farewell my friend - job well done!

Hey - it's my Dad in the door way!

Another big step was to cut in the front door.... it sure seems like a cabin now. The door way is smaller than the size we will need for the actual door.

Joists are 2' on center....

Ok - it's a bit of over kill....

Many of you are wondering - why is he using 4x10's for floor joists and those heavy duty joist hangers?

Well - I don't have a good answer except it seems like a good idea. :)

The joist hangers are made from 1/2" steel and have a total of 10 - 3" lag screws.... ya - even by my standards this way over kill!

Now comes the floor

Now that we have all - yes I mean ALL - the logs in place we move on to the floor. The floor is supported by a 4' wall in the crawl space. After the 4' wall was in place we started placing the floor joists in place.

The domer ridge pole

As you can see from the image at the top of this page - the domer is supported by another ridge pole. This one was a bit of bugger to get into place - but Ron, Dad and I got her in place after a few tries and bit of cussin'.

It's a cabin!

The ridge pole was a lot easier than we thought to get in place. After the ridge pole we started placing the rafters - we got 4 pairs up before calling it a day.

RPSL's! Can you believe it!

After row 16 we moved promptly on to the ridge pole support logs - RPSL's. They where a bit tricky to get over the wall logs (20 feet high) - but we managed.

My Dad's buddy Ron - "Uuurah"

My Dad's buddy Ron - a Marine (there is no ex-Marine's) is also pounding on row 16....

Richard "The Beer Man" lends a hand...

My lovely bride and our good friend Richard Lyman pound away on row 16 - yes - row 16 the very last row!

Ahhh - fall in Michigan

Leaves are falling and there is a chill in the air - WINTER IS COMING AND I GOT TO GET THE ROOF ON THIS THING!!!!

Oinkel Toad! aka my brother Todd

On Sunday we had the whole Heger clan there - my Dad drove the tractor and my little brother Todd came out to pound on the logs with us. Ol' Toad is an Engineer by trade but don't hold that against him. He did a pretty good job hitting the rebar - but did smack is ankle a good one.

If you see Toadly on the street today - don't wave to to him - his arms are going to be so sore that he won't be able to lift them up without whimpering......

Row 14 is up!

Row 14 went on this weekend - only 2 more to go. On row 15 I will place the second cross beam that the 3rd floor will rest upon.