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Gulf Island Building.

1M views 8K replies 149 participants last post by  Katie Cabana 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi all:
Since the summer of 1997, I have been building a cabin and house on our 1/2 acre lot here. Before I dive into that part, I am going to show a few photos to set the stage a bit. We are remote here. No services of any kind, except that which we provide for ourselves. So don't expect to see any paved roads with big trucks delivering any materials.
We live at the head of a small bay, which is both a blessing and a curse.
When the tide goes out, we have to clamber over hundreds of yards of rocks to get to our boat. When it is in, I can float logs right up to my little railway to move them onto the log deck. Well, not any more, but more about that later.
This is the bay in front of us.
 

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#5,620 ·
Yep, that's what happens here in the fall every year without fail. I went to take a pic of that morning cloud, then noticed that long, low fog bank right on the water.

Thetis island had already disappeared (about 5 miles south of us) so I watched the fog move and estimated it would be over us about an hour later. I was finally able to get away just after 10 am, which was OK. Usually the fog sticks around until slightly after noon when it's here.

Here's one end of the floor when it didn't look so good.
 

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#5,621 ·
Keith, your floor turned out beautiful, I know you will be glad to get up off your knees.

I agree with Barb, the sunsets are stunning. That fog is just spooky, there is now way under the sun I would be out on the water without a GPS in the fog. I have done that before and it is no fun.
 
#5,622 ·
Morning Jim...I hope to have the floor done by tonight. Then tomorrow I will put one more coat of sealer on it (two on the grout lines) and that will be it.

This morning I was out checking the water and this guy was over on Vancouver Island. I didn't see any rain, so maybe this is called a cloud bow.
 

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#5,623 ·
I thought I would finish up the grouting in the nook, same process as usual.

So I put a couple of batches of grout in...and then went down to the dock to get the second float started. Forgot all about the grout, and by the time the grey matter between my ears sorted itself out, the grout was getting - shall we say - very firm!

This was the source of my aggravation.
 

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#5,624 ·
Grout sponges get torn apart rapidly if you are silly enough to think you can clean very firm grout with them.

Bud...HELP! If I make this dumb mistake again, what's the best way to try and get the grout to look passably fair?

I ended up using a scraper to get the worst of it off, then scrubbed hard with the sponge. I may have just caught it in time, but it wasn't fun.
 

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#5,627 ·
Bud...HELP! If I make this dumb mistake again, what's the best way to try and get the grout to look passably fair?
Even tho I never make mistakes and I am totally precise and accurate in everything I do.......... Never mind, I suppose you have heard all of that bullschit before.:)


Actually I learned years ago to always have a couple of those little scrubbie things on the truck for just such an oversight and misjudgment in time lapse. I think 3M makes them but they are usually available at any hardware store. I use the white ones with the handle made on to them.:) They come white, green, blue, black, red, etc. The color has to do with how aggressive they are.:)
 
#5,629 ·
Bud, as you well know, I never make mistakes either.

This, I believe, is called a technological inexactitude, certainly not a common mistake. Good heavens, perish the thought.

Yes, I know the scrubbies you mean. I will pick up a few next time in town, or at least before the next grouting gets done.

Thanks for the help.
 
#5,628 ·
Good gravy, I think I would have been a little more than distracted, I would have been beside myself (I'm big enough to be on both sides of myself):laughing:
I would have forgotten also, does the tide go out that far often?

I like the Sunset, it is pretty, thanks for the picture Keith.
 
#5,630 ·
Jim, see the rocks on the right side of the pic? OK, well, at low tide, the water goes right out to there. It's about 500 feet away, give or take a bit.
 
#5,631 ·
As some of you know, I have had to pull myself out of retirement and do some outside work.

Here's the cabin I will be working on. The corner shot shows you how a top notch log cabin should be built. This one was constructed by Norse Log Homes from Lantzville, about 25 miles north of here.
 

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#5,636 ·
what kind of work do you have to do there if you don't mind me asking?
Not at all.

First thing we need to do is to move an 800 gallon (imperial) water tank. I drained that today by siphon, so it should be ready to go tomorrow if the owner arrives to help.

Then there was a small matter of 28 sheets of wet plywood stacked very conveniently in the way, so they needed to be moved.

Nobody has done a lick of site cleanup since day one, so I had a nice big bonfire going all day to burn all the crap that has accumulated over the past 6 years.

Then I had to do some leveling of the ground that the tank has to be dragged over, that is not quite finished yet. But none of that stuff is what I was meant to be doing, no sir.

I will be building a deck which wraps around two sides of the cabin, and an attached woodshed which will also serve as kayak storage and tractor and trailer parking. There's talk of me doing something along the lines of a fire pit but nothing decided yet.

Inside I will have to do the ceiling out in 1 x 6 T & G pine. Rebuild the stairs which some well meaning soul screwed up royally, make a built-in bookcase to separate the lower bedroom from the living area. Put in a glass filled railing at the front of the loft. There's a bunch more niggley little stuff like taping and mudding, wood trim all over the place, that sort of thing.

I will get pics from time to time.

There will also be a replacement railing at the sea deck, also glass filled to try and keep their rambunctious Labs from falling into the chuck. Outside the front (water side) of the cabin needs soffit on the 8' overhang and the end wall needs to be done out in cedar shingles.

I noticed this nice little detail on the ends of all the logs today. Nice touch.
 

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#5,640 ·
Marbledust: walk along with me on my afternoon "commute" from the work site to home.

The log cabin is about 100 yards up from Otter Bay...first pic is looking there.

Next is the pond trail sign carved by the late Ted Long, there is one at each end of the pond trail.

Next is the brand spanking new RWCS (Ruxton Water Conservation Society) sign which gives information about the pond area.

The remaining three are taken at various points along the trail.
 

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#5,641 ·
At the end of the pond trail I turn right and head up the main highway. (first pic.)

Next is looking through the trees out over Nayler Bay. I know it's hard to see, but if you look carefully towards the right side of the pic you might be able to pick out a set of steps. These go up to Boulton's cabin.

Next is looking toward the North West corner of Thetis Island, about 5 miles distant.

Then I caught some sunlight through the trees above Sand Dollar Cove.

The last one is close to home arriving at Herring Bay at the end of the main trail.

Not a Starbucks or McDonalds in sight anywhere.
 

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#5,642 ·
Today we had to remove two heavy poured footings. I forgot to get pics when we started, so this is the second one coming out.

I dug a ramp behind the footing, set a couple of 2 x 6's against the bottom of the footing, and we used a winch to pull the footing over and then out.

This is the boss working the winch.
 

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#5,643 ·
Since these little $10 special winches don't have much cable, we could only move the footing a few feet at a time. In order that it didn't come crashing back down into the hole, I drove a couple of stakes into the ground like so.
 

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#5,644 ·
The boss isn't used to doing much in the way of manual labour, and he was pooped at this point.

I offered to finish the winching and he took the opportunity to say yes very quickly.
 

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#5,645 ·
The superintendent in the pic above is Maggie, the boss's 10 year old Lab. She's just a sweetheart.

Here we have both of these footings out...something over 4 cubic feet of concrete and rebar in each one. About 600 lbs. each. Completely insane to hold up the edge of an 8' wide deck. The boss thinks we might set them both up again, tie a 6 x 6 between the two and put a humming bird feeder on. That should be just about strong enough for that!
 

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#5,649 ·
I don't know who did that sign. It might have been either John Couchman or Nick Bateman.

The iris's are going to be a long lived problem. They are trying to clean out a small area each year but it will be practically impossible to physically remove them all. Keeping the seed heads cut off every year is supposed to help.
 
#5,650 ·
Played hooky from the job today, and did some work at home instead.

The last seal coat is on the tiles in the breakfast nook, and maybe...just maybe we will have breakfast in there tomorrow morning! That will be a surprise for the missus.

She has been getting around much better for the last two days, so things are looking up. :)

Next I cleared all the woodpile off the solarium floor, gave it a good clean and got the first seal coat on that as well. It never did get grouted because it became a repository for all that wood right away as soon as the tiles were set. Once the sealing is done then on to the dreaded grouting! But I'm ready for it this time with some bright orange scrubbies. :shifty:
 
#5,653 ·
Hey sbmfi, that is the one, I really do appreciate your offer but I have seen that one about 6 times now but still love it. That is a dream but I am not so sure I could handle it by myself that long.

I wonder why some of coco's posts don't show up on my PC for a few days. Either that or I am having a bad case of old timers. By the way Keith fwy stands for freeway.
 
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