Building a cabin in the mountains (Qweaver Memorium)

[scgargoyle]

That Stalker kit is quite affordable! My brother had a real Super 7 back in the 60's- I always loved that car.

[Qweaver]

Well other than the ceiling paneling and some trim work the cabin interior is done.  lot's of land scaping to do this summer and more guttering to get more rain water into the cisterns but we WILL have a IT'S Done Party this spring.
I agreed to furnish the house with new appliances and that has been a nightmare.  I am absolutely sick of buying new stuff that does not work properly or that breaks down.
My List:
1. GE convection oven.  Plastic cover over control panel buttons came unglued.  The replacement is showing signs of doing the same
2. Frigidair Washing machine.  Improper fractory assembly caused the tub to slip down and distroy the seals. Clearly a factory defect but not covered by warranty.  We did not put the washer in service for a year.
3. Expensive Corner Shower. Door Leaks.  Just bad design.
4. Breckwell Pellet stove.  Multible noise and burning problems.
5. WM bandsaw.  Saw chain sprocket fell off.  Bad weld design.
6. Glass top stove broken.  Our fault but it cost almost as much to buy a new glass top as to buy a whole new stove.  This ended up being covered by extended warranty.
7. Dewalt router, quit working at high rpm.
8. Several circular saws just quit working.
and the list goes on and on.

All of these things were bought new.

[stonebroke]

Q

How are you feeling? How did the doc's visit go? Hope everything healed right.

Stonebroke

[Raider Bill]

Well other than the ceiling paneling and some trim work the cabin interior is done.  lot's of land scaping to do this summer and more guttering to get more rain water into the cisterns but we WILL have a IT'S Done Party this spring.
I agreed to furnish the house with new appliances and that has been a nightmare.  I am absolutely sick of buying new stuff that does not work properly or that breaks down.
My List:
1. GE convection oven.  Plastic cover over control panel buttons came unglued.  The replacement is showing signs of doing the same
2. Frigidair Washing machine.  Improper fractory assembly caused the tub to slip down and distroy the seals. Clearly a factory defect but not covered by warranty.  We did not put the washer in service for a year.
3. Expensive Corner Shower. Door Leaks.  Just bad design.
4. Breckwell Pellet stove.  Multible noise and burning problems.
5. WM bandsaw.  Saw chain sprocket fell off.  Bad weld design.
6. Glass top stove broken.  Our fault but it cost almost as much to buy a new glass top as to buy a whole new stove.  This ended up being covered by extended warranty.
7. Dewalt router, quit working at high rpm.
8. Several circular saws just quit working.
and the list goes on and on.

All of these things were bought new.

I feel your pain! Stuff just doesn't seem to last and or bad right from the start.

My stove, refrig, microwave all brand new all bad. A window or wall a/c unit lasts about 3 years anymore. I've had 3 of them go out in rentals with in a month all bought same time all puked within a month of each other.

It's discourging.

How you feeling other wise?

[Qweaver]

The doctor turned me lose to go back to normal activities.  My hip is still a little sore and I have a pretty good limp but this will go away with exercise and use.  I'm planning to fire up the L15 during this warmup next week.  I love this little cabin but it is time to get outta here for awhile.  Yehaw!
Quinton

[metalspinner]

Glad you're feeling better!

One burner went out on our glass top stove.  The replacement cost nearly the amount of a new stove. We bought a new one and set the old one aside for spare parts. :

[Qweaver]

Now that Cabin is nearly done I've added up the costs:
These numbers do not include the worth or the cost of producing the lumber on my sawmill.  I did not have to purchase any logs so the cost could only be based on the price of blades, fuel, and consumables.  I may take the time to estimate the worth of the lumber if I had bought it. Any suggestions on how to figure lumber worth??

I did add in the actual labor costs that I paid to various workers

I may also estimate the cost of using the dozer, backhoe, and truck and trailer based on hours used.  I could not have prepared the site and handled heavy lifting without them so their cost must be considered to obtain a true construction cost.  There may be a few more minor costs but the majority of the spending is done.
I will sell the Kubota TLB and some of the tools in the spring so that large cost will decrease a lot.
The Motor Home shed was built before I had the LT15 and I had to buy all of the lumber for it.



Categories:
Cabin= All building materials and hardware bought to build and outfit.
Appliances= Oven, cooktop, dishwasher, washer/dryer, microwave, freezer.
Garage= all items paid for to build the garage and driveway but not the framing & siding made on the WM.
Saw Shed= Roofing,  hardware, treated Posts and concrete.
MH Shed.  This shed was build before the Sawmill arrived so all materials were bought.
Machines &Tools= Planers, shaper, Bandsaw, table saws, jointer, WM lt15 and many hand and power tools.
Heavy equip.= TLBs, Dozer, costly implements, trailers.  I did not include the 3/4 ton truck but I could have because I only bought it to handle moving machinery and logs.

These costs do not include furniture, beds, TVs, Audio Equipment, and other electronics & furnishings

[Qweaver]

Hi everyone
Here are the figures for lumber produced on our LT15 for the cabin and garage.

Total used: 18,600 BdFt.  This is the finished size so probably 10% more sawn and ended as waste.

Cost @ $2800 to produce at 15c per BdFt production cost.

Would have cost about $14,000 to buy.

So that's $11,200 in savings that just cost me my own labor and gave me the ability to cut what I needed when I needed it.

These figures do not include a 24'x32' storage/workshop, a 14'x30' camper shed and a 8'x16' kiln all built with sawn lumber.
Quinton

[jdtuttle]

Nice break down on construction cost. Any pictures of the finished cabin & accessory buildings?
jim

[tstex]

Quinton,

As everyone stated, nice job all the way around...it is a great feeling to stand in/around/near something you built from scratch and just look at it,, especially when you also made many of the boards as well.

I too live on Tx, in West Hou.  Used to fish with some buddies where we would put in @ the TX City Dike, so I know right where you are.

My place in the country is in NW Colorado Cty, TX, about 8 miles east of Columbus, 10 milles N of I-10.  If you and the Ms are ever coming up or down I-10, let me know and you are welcome to hook-up at my place...could always use another good opinion on projects that are in the queue...always something cooking on the grill or in the smoker too.

Thanks for posting your cabin project.  It was great seeing it unfold and I am sure everyone enjoyed the progression of its' unveiling.

Best of luck,
tstex

[Qweaver]

Well the interior is DONE!  All of the pictures now are of completed work.  I'm sure we will make changes and add things but the work is done.  If I would have done the step rails last November, I would not be walking with a limp now.  It's great to have all of the scaffold boards out of the way.  I am adding another underground water tank and moving the washroom upstairs and I may make one of the downstairs rooms into a handloading and airplane building shop...but the building is done.   Sarah is making noises about another built-in closet and chest of drawers in the bedroom...but I am resisting that...I will probably lose. More pictures to come when we get the outside cleaned up of all the building clutter.  8)

[Raider Bill]

OUTSTANDING JOB!

[Magicman]

VERY NICE !!!

[Radar67]

Nice work. Is that a Goldberg Eagle 63 in the rafters? Or maybe the Eaglet 50?

[Qweaver]

Nice work. Is that a Goldberg Eagle 63 in the rafters? Or maybe the Eaglet 50?

I built that several years ago and it is just a generic trainer of some kind.  All of my "good" planes were distroyed in hurricane Ike the summer of 2009.  I'm planning to spend a lot of time this winter rebuilding my "fleet".  I haven't tried battery powered planes but I'm going to.  It'll be nice to get away from glow plug fuel.

[Radar67]

Well it looks really close to my Eagle 63. My dream plane is a quarter scale F4U Corsair. It is tough trying to find a 36 inch 3 or 4 blade prop that you can fly. I also have my eye on a very large B25 Mitchell.

I want to try an electric as well, but I'm thinking a Zeppelin or something similar.

[Larry]

 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

I bet it even looks more impressive in real life.

You did good Quinton.

[WDH]

Quinton,

That takes the cake!

[pasbuild]

End results are awesome 8) 8) 8) really enjoyed following the build thanks for sharing it with us.

[old joe]

Absolutely beautiful!!  Really like the window trim.

Joe

[Ray Bell]

I bet it even looks more impressive in real life.

You did good Quinton.

It's an old and dead thread now, but I have to post that I agree with this suggestion...
And the reason I can agree is that in October, 2012, I visited Quinton and Sonya along with my wife, Janet, who had never met him. Sarah was, unfortunately, away for a few days at the time.
Quinton's legendary hospitality (which we saw when we lived in Australia) was well and truly alive and it was nice that Janet, who was quite a bit younger than me, hit it off really well with Sonya.
I can vouch for some of the things Quinton has said, like the efficiency of the pellet heater and the beauty of the spot in which he lives. It was only our fourth or fifth day in America and all new to us so we enjoyed it thoroughly.

We drove that blue Dodge pickup 9,600 miles through 28 states in six weeks, but one of the most memorable times was catching up with Quinton again after 36 years. We slept soundly in that loft he built up top there and learned a lot about America just being there for one day.
And I learned a bit about this timber milling business, too:

Sonya and Quinton showing me one of his machines. And then the other:

It just showed me that Quinton hadn't changed, always ready to have a go at doing anything himself. We had to move along on our trip, so much more to see, but that time we spent with Quinton and Sonya certainly helped settle Janet into enjoying the trip more. When I first proposed the trip to her she didn't want to go, but with events like this she decided when it was over she wanted to go back and see all the other states.
All farewells are sad, leaving Quinton's place that Monday morning back in 2012 was too, even if I was excited about all the other places I wanted to go. Here's how the 'cabin' looked as we left:

I do hope that Quinton doesn't mind that I've dredged all this up out of the deep...
And I hope that he and his family are doing well despite the difficult times of mid-2020.

[samandothers]

Great way to bring back an old thread.  I can feel the friendship and sincerity from your words.

[rjwoelk]

I did a tour through this thread
 Great work. Beautiful cabin

[coreyjames]

Hello, this is my first time posting on the forum.  I own a Woodland Mills HM122.  I'm gathering research on cabin building.  I intend to build a 12X15 cabin in the woods.  There is a cabin located on the campus of St. Marys of The Woods college in Indiana that I will be trying to replicate.  I have had trouble finding any good material on how to build the stone fireplace.  Can anyone point me to a book, article or video of how to build a stone fireplace?  I'm curious to know how the fireplace will affect the design of the cabin so I'd like to have a good understanding of how to build one before designing and milling my logs. 

I've attached an image of the cabin I wish to replicate.


 

 

[ReggieT]

I did a tour through this thread
Great work. Beautiful cabin

Yes, me too. A stunning journey indeed!