One more peak to go...

In a slight change of pace, I chose to sleep at home and make my trek up to camp in the cover of darkness in the early morning hours of Wednesday.  And, since we're doing something different, I did most of my driving on route 6 east into camp.  It took about 25 minutes longer, but I figured "What the heck?!"   The wheels stopped turning around 8:45 and I methodically unloaded the SUV.  Let's face it, I've done this enough times that I should have a doctorate.  After putting the stolen sleeping bag back into Pedro's cabin, sometimes you've got to keep an eye on your friends and their sticky fingers, I strung the power to the Shed Mahal and got to work.  In just a few hours, I had attached the final sheet of T1-11 for the first level, filled in the two areas with 3-4" scabs where the width of the cabin was wider than 12', router the door openings for both the roll door and 36" entrance door and filled in the South side peak with T1-11 cut to fit.  A big thank you to Shawn's Dad Ray for providing the router bit that made the creation of the door openings match perfectly to the stud framing that was in place behind the exterior panels.

What's left?

• Install the roll door
• Install the entrance door / screen door
• Paint
• Install the metal roof
• Frame & install the (3) small windows
• Trim frame the exterior corners, doors and wall seams
• Install the trim panels for the ridge rake and eaves
• Install the faux board and batten look every 16" across all walls.
• Caulk where needed
• Repaint the trim

Many of the things on the list can't be done until spring or at least until much warmer temperatures.  So, one more trip to complete the North wall's peak panels and we're done until spring.  This will free up time for me to bring the solid wood floor I acquired up to installation ready condition.  I can do this at home where it is much more convenient.

Sweet!

Siding The Shed-Mahal

This past Saturday evening Matt and I hit the road in a vehicle packed full of tools on our way toward TC.  We pulled into town around 9:30 and hit the not-so-local pub for some grub.  Prime rib was the special and we quickly placed an order for two of them before the kitchen closed.  We were delighted to see two 12-16 ounce slabs of meat nestled in a steaming puddle of au jus flanked by a baked potato, side salad and a bowling ball sized sour dough baked bread.  Add a total of 4 Yuengling drafts to the total and the best surprise of the night was a tab of $33!  Yes, THIRTY THREE AMERICAN DOLLARS for all that.  Have I mentioned that I love Pennsylvania?!

The biggest fear of the night at this point was whether the SUV was going to be able to make it up the bad part of our private road with are overstuffed fat rears loaded within it!  The road had not been used since the last snow fall and there was a fresh foot of it sitting waiting to be trudged through.  I hit the gas hard and as the Mountaineer rounded the corner and slide up the narrow turn I felt all four wheels ripping away toward some lower level of traction hidden under the snow.  We whipped from one side of the road to the other sliding like a luge from right to left (which was kind of fun).  In 2 seconds flat I was backing up to my neighbor's cabin to facilitate the unloading of sleeping bags and pillows.   That wasn't so bad, but the 10 degree temperatures was another subject.

We tried desperately to warm the cabin, but even a decent fire and a space heater couldn't fight the fierce cold.  After an hour or so of building up a fire and adding logs, we called it a night and slide into our sleeping bags.  We awoke at 8:30AM, I called the decision to head down to the local diner for some warm breakfast and coffee.  It was a wise choice.

Fully fulled we worked as a team and prepped the Shed-Mahal for walls.  There was some minor, time killing,  preparation work to be done on the one side facing the elements, but after installing a ledger board of cut 2X4" spacing pieces for a upper edge nailing surface, we started to nail the T1-11 in place.  Three hours later, we had skinned the structure over 90% of the first floor.  The last sheet was saved for my next trip as boarding it in place would have prevented entrance into it completely.

Here's a video recap that begins with a panning of the Allegheny River.  This time, no endless babbling and repetition...(for those that turn off the volume, you won't need to this time!).

Video Montage...22 Months of Trout Camp

I've posted information regarding the roof lines of the "Shed Mahal" since its unique look has raised inquiries.  I hope you find it as interesting as I did.  I knew the look I was after, but I didn't realize the history behind it.

The saltbox roof is one of the oldest roof styles used in home construction in the United States. The saltbox roof is part of a traditional architectural home design in New England that dates back to the Colonial era.


The History of the Saltbox Roof
The saltbox roof is a gable roof that was originally developed as a way to add usable living space to a single-family home. Typically a small one-story shed would be built at the rear of the two-story home as an addition. Although it was common practice to change the roof line over the extension to allow for more usable internal space, in some cases the original roof line would merely be extended. In either case, the resulting home has an asymmetrical appearance with the roof being higher at the front of the house then in the back.


Advantages of the Saltbox Roof

• Appearance. The distinctive asymmetrical lines of the saltbox roof add visual interest to the home. A home with a saltbox roof has a traditional look unlike any other roof style.
• Ease of construction. This is a traditional advantage of the saltbox design. The new roof can be built off of the existing roof structure in a logical progression. The biggest decision is whether the existing roof slope needs to be modified at the join or if it can be continued at the same angle.
• Weather resistance. The saltbox roof sheds water well. Because the pitch of most saltbox roofs makes it difficult for standing water to collect, leaky roofs tend to be less of a problem.
• Energy savings. Saltbox roofs are typically easy to insulate. This reduces thermal transfer and can help lower heating and cooling bills.

Saltbox houses were a variation of the early Colonial or Cape Cod style and were particularly popular during the late 1600's and into the early 1800's. The name saltbox was taken from the building's similarity in shape to wooden lidded boxes commonly used to hold salt at the time.
John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States was born in a saltbox house that remains standing to this day. (See bottom picture at the right.)

January's Blanket of Snow @ TC

It was Saturday, 01.14.2012 and the new "off-road" tires installed on the Mountaineer only a few months ago where now getting their first test against Winter's fury.  Instead of treading along against asphalt and concrete, they were perched high on top of a densely packed layer of snow and ice.  What began as a careful and leisurely drive on Route 90 Eastbound in Willoughby quickly turned into a "Where's the road and the vehicle in front of me?" ride through a blizzard.  From 306 to Route 11, it was a complete white out and such limited visibility that grabbing a glimpse of red tail lights a car length a head of me was a welcome relief!  With that said, the traffic seem to cruise along at a manageable pace most of the time and the bad weather only added about 35 minutes to the freeway driving leg of the trip.

I arrived at Erie's Home Depot with about 4 minutes to spare before closing time at 9pm.  The employees seemed extremely eager to assist me because it was time for them to go home.  I know the feeling!  I was literally in and out of the place in 10 minutes.  In that time frame, I made a return, loaded up 7 more sheets of T1-11 and used the restroom.  I'd call that amazing!  From there, I zipped down the road and picked up a case of Iron City Lager for Pedro and Joe as a thank you for how accommodating he's been with the use of his cabin while the "Shed-Mahal" has progressed through the various stages of construction.

The final leg of the trip, until the turn off onto the second to the last road into camp, was uneventful.  Maintaining the posted speed limit had me arriving at the time the GPS had predicted.  As the tires slowed to a stop after taking the turn left, I placed a call to Jennifer to let her know that I had arrived safely and was parked at the base of the mountain.  After saying our "I love you's" and "goodbyes" the fun began.  I started in reverse and edge the trailer closer to the main road which was at a higher grade figuring a running start wasn't a bad thing.  This was the first attempt at ascending the switchback road with this much snow, ice and underlying mud.  The transmission was placed into 2nd gear and the roll down and then way up the road began.  The long ascent up the mountain went well, a little bit of slipping at one point, but for the most part...manageable.  It was at the point that I traversed the switch back, a sharp turn to the right, that my palms began to sweat and my hands wrapped around the perimeter of the steering wheel in a death grip.  Did I mention that I was towing a 650# utility trailer loaded with 200#'s of t1-11 and tools?  I don't believe I did!  It was at this point in the journey that I understood the extent of my SUV's capabilities and began to test to upper limits of AWD traction control.  3/4 of the way through the right turn, the SUV and trailer began to slide off the crown of the road to the left.  I had purposely swung wide toward the left because the alternative to the slide would have been "RIGHT" down the crown and down the mountain.  Being stuck in the trench nearest the upside of the mountain is a much safer place to lament one's bad luck over treacherous roads.  In a response to the left slide down the ravine and upside of the mountain, I turned the wheel sharp to right.  In the side view mirror, my eye caught the yellow and red running lights of the trailer swing wide as if it they were a water skier being towed by a jet boat.  Knowing that if the tires hit the soft piled snow on the very edge of the road, I'd be doomed...I hit the gas hard and turned the wheel even more sharply.  This caused me to drift a bit, which I corrected and before you know it I was safely out of the woods (no pun intended) and pointed straight down the road.  The next challenge was coming just ahead.  The private drive that is our road into camp is not maintained and if you've watched some of my earlier videos you might have caught a glimpse of the eroded portion that gives us a little trouble even during the summer when it is bone dry.  Add in a little moisture, blanket it with 8-12" of snow and you'll understand the hurdle I was up against.  To make it short and sweet, I made it; I left behind two dredged pathways from tires spinning at full throttle, but I made it!

Pedro's cabin was brightly lit and welcoming.  As I unloaded the SUV, the contrast between the 80 degree warmth of the fireplace and the 12 degree blowing snow of the front yard was alarming.  The distance between my luggage in the hatch and just inside the door to the front room of the cabin was a mere 30 feet, but it still didn't take long to really start to freeze!  I'll sum it up like this, I was glad to be inside, beer in hand, chomping on fresh food, warmed by a roaring fireplace and enjoying the remainder of the NFL football game on the TV.

After warming up a bit, I got a thought in my head which started out like, "Wouldn't it be cool..."  I had never had a chance to film in the evening.  Now would be a great time to see how the LED equipped camcorder illuminated things and to discover the quality of the filming given the lack of light pollution at camp.  Trudging through the snow, filming along the way, was an eye opener to just how cold the "real feel" temperature was.  Within minutes my gloveless hands started to feel numb and experience reduced mobility.  But, the sacrifice was worth it!  The first half of the attached video shows a split screen between what I captured at 11:45PM Saturday evening and 11:45AM on Sunday morning.  I hope you enjoy!

Dj

Arrived at camp Tuesday evening around 11:40pm.  It was cool 22 degree night.  The deep black sky was wide open and unobstructed.  The moon did its best to shine as bright as the sun, but could only manage enough reflection to cast a blue glow upon the light dusting of snow that had remained on the mountain.  As I walked the pathway into camp, the ground remain steadfast held together tightly by water frozen solid into bonded ice.  My eyes were tired and I was looking forward to sleeping as the drive into camp had zapped the last remnants of what little energy I had left.  Before my head could hit the pillow, I decided to save some time and run the electrical extension cords from my neighbor's camp to mine.  I had expected to wake early, accept a delivery and get a few tasks completed before heading back home.  Slipping into a sleeping bag inside of another sleeping bag was the perfect arrangement for a very comfortable night sleep in spite of the chill in the air.  I had chosen to keep the furnace off and experience how well the dual sleeping bag would keep me warm.  I'm happy to report that I'm ready for 10-20 degree snoozing and that I slept quite well.

The next morning work began at 8:00.  I awoke earlier, but the sun had yet to even peak up enough to pull the bare forest out of its restful slumber.  As soon as I saw the glow of yellow on the horizon, I new it was time to get started.  The first video I included reviews the work I completed on the Shed-Mahal.  This included shop-vacuuming the first and loft floors, framing out the eave under hang so that a fascia board (eventual gutters as well) could then be installed and delivering 7 of the 20 T1-11 exterior sheathing panels in preparation for the next  work trip up to camp.  The highlight was the arrival of the metal roofing.  The forest green color was exactly what I wanted.  My supplier brought them within feet of Pedro's door and helped load them into his place until my installer found time (and weather) to do the installation.  I can't wait!  This stuff is extremely well built and will last us a lifetime and likely our children's as well.  I didn't get a chance to take any photos of the roofing material, but I will next time I'm up to camp.

The second video is Tetyana of Oil City Metal Roofing shooting my new Ruger sr9c 9mm pistol.  I invited her and Greg over to camp to see the structure that they were supplying the roofing for.  In the course of meeting, Tetyana immediately notice the holster pistol on my side.  I asked if she'd like to fire off a couple clips and without hesitation, she said "Sure!"  She asked for me to video tape the event so that she could send it back to her friends / family in the Ukraine.  I gladly accepted the responsibility and I believe (short of the jams, misfires, and failure to feeds of a gun needed to be broken in properly) she had a great time hacking away at the wood that is our target backstop.

That's all for this time around...more progress coming soon!

Dj

A Cool, Crisp December Day @ Trout Camp

It was decided that the family would head out early Sunday morning and spend the day at TC. The weather looked good, cold-but good! We pulled into the local diner and enjoyed breakfast around 11:00 and made it up to camp close to noon.

I believe the daytime temperatures were forecast to achieve 40 degrees, but I don't believe we made it past 35. The Sun was bright, although it slumbered through its winter path just above the tree line. I commented to my daughter that its position in the sky at 1:30 would have been 4:30 during the summer. It sat at least 3-4 fist widths lower in its orbit as well. The sun rays we did get, for some of us, was enough to keep us warm enough to enjoy ourselves.

I was able to take some very accurate measurements of the roof deck that'll be sent to the metal roofing manufacturer. I was also able to do some internal support fortifying inside the shed-mahal as well. Combined, they didn't take all that long (maybe a couple hours). I battened down the plastic exterior walls and installed some support boards in the middle of them to assist with wind whipping. Seems the staples aren't quite enough to hold the plastic on the 2X4's when the pressure inside changes during windy conditions and the staples keep pulling out.

The video that I've included shows what camp looks like as I take a tour of the perimeter of our property. I've done this once before (earlier in the year) but it is a huge difference without leaves and greenery to obstruct the camera view.

Enjoy. I did!

December Day Dreaming...

We haven't been hit with the first heavy snowfall, but the outside temperatures are indicating that it can't be much longer. When it is this cold here, my mind wonders how camp is fairing. It has been almost a month since my last visit to camp and I'm beginning to think that it may be my last until February/March of 2012...I hope not!

The quote has arrived from our "local" metal roofing manufacturer for the "Shed-Mahal" and it looks good. 29 gauge, forest green metal sheeting, drip edges, and fasteners came in at just under what I had estimated. We had hoped that they would have come through with providing us a reputable person to install it at a reasonable price. We had lucked out with Steve (our excavator and gravel delivery pro) and figured that we'd be able to find a handyman looking for a little side work that would be willing to do our small job on the side or something. It is strike one, but I'm still searching and putting out feelers in the hopes that we can get professional help on scene and play the role of helper/laborer rather than foreman and crew. The initial quote for installation was high. I'll put it this way, the estimate we received combined with the metal roofing would have been more than we've spent on the entire structure thus far! What this ultimately means, if I can't locate another option, is Matt and I will be up at camp the first chance we get to put the roof in place and finish the walls. Maybe not necessarily in that order, but both are considered equally important to finalizing this addition to camp. Sure, there's more...painting, installation of the entry doors, trim work, flooring inside, windows, insulation, etc...but those tasks seem small and manageable in comparison.

When the weather turns warmer (next spring), I'll be adding a new project to the blog. This one will be videotaped from my driveway. The 22' camper needs a new roof and I plan to do it correctly beginning with a tear off of the three old layers that are up there now. I'll remove the material that will relent, but I'm not concerned with an entire roof deconstruction because... I receive some samples of a membrane that is a sandwich of multiple layers. It begins with sticky asphalt based base followed by aluminum, followed by a vinyl top layer. The material is highly regarded and used commonly when re-roofing mobile homes. The only hitch is it needs to be applied to a roof that has a 1/4" run off for every foot spanned. The Banner camper is just under 8' wide, so I'll need to have a middle rib that peaks at 1" and tapers toward the sides for proper rain water drainage. I figured that I could build a skeleton similar to a shallow boat frame inverted and fasten it to the roof. Using 1/4" luan as the wood roof and then skin it with the vinyl membrane. I'd likely trim the border with 4" wide epmd tape (I think that is what its called) to make it water tight. Then it would just be a matter of having the two tires mounted and finding a day that Dave would haul it up to camp for us.

Well, that's all for now. Things are extremely busy for me and the rodbuilding business which helps pay for all these projects and increasing work responsibilities at my full time job have me a bit frazzled, but I'll adjust...I always do.

Happy Holidays. May the true meaning of the season find its way into your hearts: spending time with loved ones, family and friends!

Dj