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Our Dream House

909K views 558 replies 75 participants last post by  kkford10 
#1 ·
Husband and I have talked for years about building our dream home.
After 15 years of marriage and numerous things that have happened we started building last year.
We had always talked about a log house.
So after 5 years of really looking, 3 years of designing and 1 stressful year of finding the "right" log home manufactor we started.

Part way into this I thought we were crazy, but here is what had happened.

The digging of the foundation between rain storms




All Done with the dirt work


Cut the water line and sewer line, digging to find it


Pouring the footings


The guys doing the concrete were the second guys we hired. First guy called us 5 days before the builders were due at 7:30am and said he was overbooked too bad, bye. We just happened to catch these guys between jobs.

Wall forms going up


 
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#482 ·
Oh boy! 2 days off from my job and now trying to figure out which of the many projects I want to get done.
First prime one will be getting the kitchen clean!
Then do I stain the last 3 closet doors; do that paint sample on the basement hallway; continue to go through all the stuff in the basement; nag hubby into putting the rope trim up on the cabinet doors; or do I just be lazy today?
Well since being lazy is not me I guess I will just get as much done as I can!
 
#484 ·
Got the closet doors stained. Daughter asked to help so she was working on the bottom half of the closet doors in the entry and she accidently kicked over the can of stain. So now I have grout stained the same color as my doors. Yes I had paper down to catch the drips just did not plan on a full can!
Another project! Getting stain out of the grout; maybe; and cleaning the tiles.
 
#486 ·
If you had the grout sealed, there's a possibility that you can clean the stain off perhaps with some kind of bleach based cleaner. If it wasn't sealed, then I'm not so sure. A call to your local tile dealer may help if you haven't already done so.
 
#487 ·
The simple green suggested by the manufactor of the grout helped clean it up.

Had to send the new computer back it kept freezing up. A driver or something was bad. Bought a different one.

Have a new guy working with us and he did work on a log house. Showed me the neatest thing that was done on finishing the inside!
They used different sized rope; I mean real ropes; to put along the ceiling and the floor where the logs meet it. It looked great!
Talking to hubby about doing that ourselves. Going to find out if the ropes were stained and polyed and get as much info as I can on this.
 
#489 ·
Got to talking to hubby today. We are going to build a lean to over the basement doors this summer. Told him we needed to do that before I bought any more supplies for the basement floor. That should stop the water from coming in down there.

Have several plans for building stuff this summer just not sure if it is all going to turn out or not.

The biggest ones are going to be the lean to and the lean to's for our cattle to shelter under during bad storms.

So many projects so few hours to do them!
 
#492 ·
Suppose to be warmer tomorrow going to see if I can start putting the chinking up on the west side of the house. Got the power washer out last week and washed down the logs to get them ready. Might even wait til after the 24th even. Give the weather some time to settle down but got storms coming this next week.
Going to start on the west side and go from there.
 
#493 ·
Got hit with a big storm. Had about 3"-4" of snow on top of the rain. So that knocked down the chinking project until today. Much warmer and nicer out until some more clouds started to roll in.
Found a BIG problem on the pony wall. Right where our exhaust for the furnace comes out I found where water had gotten behind the house wrap and has caused the particle board to start getting soft and turning black.
I was taking down the areas that had been torn by the wind to replace them. Now we are going to have to do something there.

When we first had the house put up I was told I could use silicone between the logs and the pony wall. Well I started to remove the silicone today and use the energy seal that I have left over. Some of that silicone is just pulling away.

Did get some granite priced out for the counter tops and that was a much better price $4890.00 with installation.
 
#494 ·
I beat the rain! Got the south side chinked today. I did miss the east side of one window but I can get that later. Went through a few razor blade's to my box cutter cutting out all the silicone from around the doors and windows. Went through all 48 tubes of chinking! Need to get more to finish the rest of the house.







Going to have much more time at home. I got tired of the drama at work and quit my job. Daughter is happy and so is Hubby. Going to see which way this road is going to lead me now.:biggrin2:
 
#499 ·
I was trying to figure out how to smooth the chinking. The tools just never seemed to work well and just running your finger over it like you were applying silicone was not working as well either.
Then it hit me! It looks like a vein and something my paramedic friend showed me on finding a person's vein, tap it, don't slap it or rub it.
Well danged if that did not work out great! Sprayed water on my finger and just went along tapping the chinking then smoothing it out. Took longer but it looks great!
 
#501 ·
That's Ok Jim. You only stop learning the day you die and the only stupid question is the one you don't ask. :)

Got busy in my canning room. Hubby got the 2 shelves up that I bought. They are the steel framed 5 shelve units. BOY did that make a difference right away. All my canning supplies are off the floor. Got my milk jars aka pickle jars up too. Going to put a fridge at one end.
Daughter and I have been going through the jars of canned food and dumping the really old stuff.

My order for 4 more cases of chinking got here yesterday. Also got some check mate to seal some big checks in the logs. Really want to get going on it but it is overcast and the logs are still damp from all the rain and snow we have gotten for the last week.

Changing the color in the basement hallway. It is just too dark. Going with a much lighter color. Got a gallon yesterday.

Sat down and wrote out a list so I don't try to jump from project to project and end up in a big mess!
 
#502 ·
Got started chinking today. Have gone through 4 blades already cutting the silicone and other sealer off from the windows and door frame on the west side. Also been cutting out the energy seal from the checks on some logs and putting on the checkmate. Going to see how that goes.

Had to stop the sun came around to my side of the house. Cannot put up chinking in direct sunlight it skins over and I cannot get it smoothed out.
So going to get going again tomorrow morning with the chinking.
Sure hope it doesn't rain tonight! Have 2 windows and a door with no sealant around them! LOL!
 
#504 ·
I can not believe it. Ran out of chinking. Got 5 more tubes today.
On a good note though No Leaks!!!!!!:thumbup: Got hit by a heavy rain last night around midnight. I could hear the rain pounding on the west side of the house. I got up and checked but no water was coming in! Have had rains like that before and water was coming in.
I am so happy!!!!!!:biggrin2:
 
#507 ·
Had 4 leaks show up today. Pretty sure we got them figured out.
1 is coming in through the pony wall where the logs sit on the sub floor. No logs were wet above it.
1 is coming in under the west door right under the weather striping on the bottom of the door. I have replaced that twice.
The other 2 are either coming in through a check in the logs or where the logs butt together or in through the eves.
The other spots that were leaking before did not leak!
 
#509 ·
Got all of the tile up and got most of it grouted. Been busy running around doing different things! Every time I try to get it finished something else comes up.
Tempetures shot up here so trying to do things outside have not been fun.
Internet got slowed down because the satellite dish got knocked loose in the wind and all of our data got used up by it trying to download sites.
Finally got the speed back so will try to get pictures of the grout up soon.
 
#511 ·
Lot of changes since my last visit!

Be sure to add metal head flashing over the basement windows before the WRB/siding on the rim joists, don't rely on sticky tape for a long lasting seal against water. Moving right along.

Gary
 
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#513 ·
Things have been a bit crazy around here. With my new job at the hardware store been enjoying myself and learning a lot.

Seems like I have too many project plans for the moment so going to just take it easy and decide which ones are first.

Getting ready to start cutting our winter wheat and that will take over any projects I start.

My son bought a 1973 single wide trailer house for $500.00 and has set that up on the hill above our house and has been moving out of our house. Decided to repaint his room from dark blue to a light brown and a dark brown accent wall to match his carpet.
He has swiped one door knob out of my house when his broke and has swiped some of my metal siding to put on the roof of the trailer house where it is leaking. Hubby helped him run electricty to the house but the water line and sewer will have to wait.

I am really wanting to get the lean to put up around the basement double door. Picked up some concrete screws to put the 2x4's up on the outside. Going to dig the trench for the concrete for the base.
Been getting hit by numerous storms this year.
 
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