Log Garage, continued....

I've been waiting to add another post until I had a variety of pictures. It has been raining for 3 weeks now, which has slowed us down some. After Stewart finished the blocking for the roof, we went to working on the logs themselves, since they are covered. We washed the logs with a biowash product, which renews the wood and gets out any gray that is there. Then, we did our final log treatment with the U.S. Navy concoction. We are glad to have that part done. We are ready to start building again!
(Stewart finished all of the blocking for the roof, in between the sleeper rafters)

(A picture of the boxes built for the recessed lighting)

(The logs after we washed them with the Biowash. They are brighter now)

After we washed and treated the logs, we decided that before we finish the roof, we are going to go ahead and build the gables, 2nd floor, and the framing for interior walls. That way all of the electrical and insulation can be done in one fell swoop. We have put tarps on the roof to protect it and keep it dry, until we are ready to finish that portion. So, on to the gables we go!

(Stewart cutting out the windows with one fantastic chain saw! Thanks, Pat Burns. Stewart did a great job cutting them out perfectly straight)

(A picture of the front windows cut out)

(The kitchen window cut out)

(Stewart putting the studs in on the front gable)

(Building a window header on the front gable)

The Roof.....

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since the last post. We took an awesome vacation to the beach for a week for some R&R. It was perfect. We were able to let our bodies rest a little bit. Rachel's fingers are still stiff from all the pounding & sanding!

We are back at it again, chugging away on the roof portion of our garage apartment. We counted up about 8 steps of the roof building process. We are chipping away, every week.

Once all of the felt paper was in place, we were ready to begin measuring & cutting the sleeper rafters.

Once we got those all nailed in place, we began measuring & cutting the blocking that goes between the sleeper rafters. We also figured out where we want the recessed lights to go, and built boxes and began putting those up as well.

While all that was going on, Rachel sanded the entire cabin, inside & out, using an osborn brush. The osborn brush works great for buffing the logs and getting the hair off, making the logs really smooth.

We also got the piles of leftover logs picked up and cut into lumber. And, we moved the RV to a different part of the property, to make room for the house logs that we HOPE will be delivered soon. Those logs will be alot longer, so we'll need all the room we can get.

Pray that it doesn't rain, because our cypress house logs are still standing in a swamp right now. We would love for it to be dry enough to get them in the next month or so. Regardless of when we get them, we know it will be perfect timing! We've got plenty to do in the meantime...

(Sleeper rafters in place)

(Sleeper rafters from a different view)

(Stewart, Rachel, & Andy- another fellow LHBA member, who came to help us for a day)

(Rachel cutting the blocking to go in between the sleeper rafters)

(The RV moved to its new spot, & a much more cozy one at that)

(Stewart putting in the blocking. He's getting quite good on the 10/12 pitch roof)

Tongue & Groove Up, Roof here we come...

Well, last week it took us three days to get the tongue & groove (T&G) up on 1 half of the roof. We had Stewart & Taylor up on the roof laying T&G and nailing it in place. We had our friend John in the scissor lift passing them the boards and tools, and Rachel on the ground staining the T&G and passing the boards to John in the lift. With 4 of us, it took 3 days to get it all done. This week there were only 3 and they got it done in a day & a half! Pretty impressive. They figured it out and got some rhythm going...

(Check out our cathedral ceilings. Great acoustics in there!)

(A picture of the rafters & T&G cut and edged)

Once all the T&G was up, we spent some time making sure the roof was square, and marking the edges. Once all was square and marked, we cut the edges around the whole roof. We are doing what is called a "Turkey Tail," on the front and back of the roof.

(Nice clean edges. It's got a nice cottage feel)

Once all the edges were cut, we began the process of laying 15lb. felt paper over the T&G.

This will help to protect the T&G from the rain, but will also keep our spray-foam insulation from seeping through as well.

(Taylor in an awkward upside down position hanging from a rope on a 10/12 roof)

(Stewart & Taylor stapling the felt to the T&G)

(A picture of the garage from the back side)

(Not bad for a days work: Nice clean edges and felt in place)

Chugging Along!

We have been chipping away over the past two weeks, moving forward with great strides! Once Stewart had all the rafters in place, he notched them out and got them all level. Then the guys began drilling holes and pounding rebar in both ends of each rafter, at the ridge pole and the top wall log.

(Good-bye Forklift! It's been real.)

While the guys were finishing up the rafters, Rachel was staining every single piece of Tongue & Groove pine to go over the rafters. This will be our ceiling. We went with Golden Pecan.

Then, it was on to the bird blocks, which fit in between the rafters. Stewart, Taylor, & Adam took care of that.

(Stewart & Adam fitting the bird blocks)

Once the bird blocks were in place, Stew & Taylor got geared up to start putting up the tongue & groove (T&G). Taylor is a great climber, so he got all of the webbing set up and hooked in at the Ridge Pole. This is a very important step because we have a 10/12 roof (that's a pretty steep pitch).

(Day 2 of putting up T&G, starting to get a rhythm going)

(Roof crew shot: Stew, John, Taylor)

(Photo-shoot with the "Man-scouts")

(It may not look that steep, but with a 10/12 pitch, you slide right off that thing without being hooked in)

(Rachel staining T&G, and passing up boards to the guys)

(Day 3 putting up T&G. We had a hard rain that day, so the logs have a beautiful color to them!)

Day 3 we finished the T&G for the first side!! Yeah! We figured out too that you can hide the seams of the boards on the rafters, which looks better and actually makes the roof stronger too. One more reason we are glad we are doing the garage first...

Rafters Up & In Place!

We are so blessed and thankful for what an awesome time we have been having building our garage over the past month. It has been so much fun, even in the dead of summer, when the heat is ridiculous, it has been awesome. This past week was really low humidity, along with a nice breeze, so we took advantage of that.




We started the week by cutting all of the overdangles. Stewart cut them around 2 1/2 feet or so. Then he finished cutting out the side door and the garage doors.


We then got to work staining all of the rafters. We went with Sedona Red, which we think will go nicely with the red flecks that are naturally occuring in the logs. Once we put the clear polyurethane coat on the logs, it will bring the red out and will tie together nicely with the rafters. (At least we hope so!!)


Once the rafters were stained, we began setting them up on the wall with our toy (Forklift). I'm really sad we have to get rid of that thing this week, it has been so much fun, and has sure made everything thus far alot easier!



(Josh & Stewart pulling rafters over cap log)
Once all the rafters were up there, Stewart got up on the Ridge Pole and moved them all into place.


Short and sweet. I'm putting several pictures up of the rafters from different angles. It's really starting to feel like something in there.