Subfloor!

November 6-7 ~ Our builder (rough carpenter), Steve Keysor (Keysor Builders, Harrison, MI) and a crew of 3 other men travelled down to the property to attach our subfloor system to the foundation for 2 days. They worked on placement of the sill seal, sill plates (attached with metal anchor strapping instead of anchor bolts) , LSL (laminated strand lumber) rim boards, LVL (laminated veneer lumber) support beams, engineered I joists (iLevel Trus Joist Silent Floor System) and 6 steel jackposts (3" and 4" diameter) required in our basement to support and evenly distribute the weight bearing load of the home. They attached all of the plywood sheathing the next day. Pretty exciting stuff.

Nails vs. "Nail Runs"

Going out for a "Nail Run" is a welcome respite occasionally . . . we use fancy bottle openers too . . .

Pooped Out Dogs

November 3-13th ~ "This property stuff is hard work, lots of ground to cover, scents to track, things to discover, people and trucks coming and going and running around chasing each other in the sand".

~Ms. Gretta and Mr. Cody

Septic System

Novmber 3rd ~ Our excavators (RPM Excavating) completed our septic system. They trenched the spot for our 1500 gallon septic tank and 1200 square foot drain field.

Garage Concrete Pour

Willbee Concrete arrived at our property at 10:30 this morning, ready to pour the first 9 yards of #3500 PSI concrete mix (26' x 34' x 4" deep). The second truck delivered 5 yards about an hour after we started. We had the garage divided up into 3 pouring "bays". We all took turns raking the mix and Robert and I were the designated skreeders. Brian helped Ade do most of the raking as well as "floating" of the steel mesh reinforcement. Ade removed all of the forms and then did all of the "bull floating". He and his dad also worked on all of the trowel finishing. The concrete pour work took about 2 and a half hours. The concrete sat for 2 or so hours, and then the finish work took another 2 and a half hours. Ade carved 11-3-07 into the wet concrete, using a nail, in between the 2 front center posts. The day went very smoothly and was a lot less cumbersome than anticipated (also thanks to the excellent drivers who new what they were doing). I thought that the floor looked like a giant cake being frosted. No dogs were allowed out on the property today . . . for obvious reason I suppose . . . like potential paw prints in the concrete.

Cedar Jungle!

We pulled up to our property at 7:45 am with the Rapid River Rustic truck waiting for us on Wolf Lake Road. It was loaded to the hilt with pallets of our home logs as well as half log siding for the garage and dormers for the house. We also received a ton of our cedar tongue and groove decking for the soffits, rough sawn cedar for the fascia, and other miscellaneous cedar for window and door trim. We will most likely receive one more truck load from them towards the end of the "rough in" which will include all of the cedar stairs, balcony, deck material and other fun stuff I'm sure I am missing by not looking at our materials list. The rest of our building materials (internal framing, support beams, etc.) will come from Carter lumber in Jackson whom Rapid River Rustic has contracted through for the rest of our log home package (aside from all of our windows, French patio doors and fixed glass, which will come from their local Anderson Window distributor). The unloading went beautifully thanks to our excavator (RPM excavating) Mike and his dad Ron. They were done in 2 hours flat, and made everything look like cake! Our builder, Steve Keysor will begin the subfloor this up coming Wednesday! We'll see how much he can get done before the crew heads back north for hunting season!

Further Garage Work

On Sunday 10/28 (Ade's and my 7-year wedding anniversary), Mom Chauvin and I dug 5+ yards of dirt out of the house basement to prepare for the radiant floor underlayment while Dad Forbes and Chauvin put OSB sheathing up on the garage roof with Robert and Ade (big thanks to Roberto for helping us, yet again!). The garage floor was also starting to be prepared for a concrete pour from Willbee's of Jackson.