Finishing the Addition

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We spent 2 weeks up in Tennessee finishing the addition. We also put in a fence around the garden.

The grass when we pulled up was over 2 feet high. We had to mow over and over the same rows to bring our yard back.

Some of the grass clippings I use to mulch around the fruiting shrubs and trees. I also begin sheet mulching some bare spots in the garden beds:

We lay down newspaper and later cardboard and pile on the grass. In April I'd leveled the beds, so the former high sides had lost much of their topsoil and some were down to bare clay. These are the spots I start mulching first.

Sheathing the walls takes a while as I have to put in a lot of blocking at the seams. And the only fasteners I have are the leftover galvanized 8d ringshank nails. The second I hit them slightly off they lay right over. I'm going to have to get a compressor and light-duty framing gun at some point for putting in sheathing. Especially for when I move on to the barn and its much bigger scale. Banging in all those nails by hand every 6" takes forever:

Our humanure compost that is aging this year is full of growth. On the right is a weed that pops up everywhere around where I plant. On the left are potato sprouts that have come up from old rotten potatoes we dumped here:

The left bin we're presently using is full of huge volunteer tomato plants. In fact I find tomato coming up where I'd fertilized the young shrubs and trees. But it doesn't get big and I pull it out.

The sheathing takes about a day:

Here's where I am at evening:

Rachael and Brooke have brought their gerbils along - Ricky and Jasper:

They're very intelligent and sociable and fun to watch. Gerbils are a species of Mongolian desert rat. They often stop and stand to look around. We let them run free in the addition once the sheathing's up. The girls set up a few obstacles and things to check out.

Mishka is separated by closing the french doors. He just stands at the door and watches them intently.

Mishka is basically an 'inside dog' while we're here. He gets to go out occasionally for supervised play. He's starting to realize there are some rules up here outside, and if we yell his name he runs to the door to be let back inside in self-punishment. Maybe gradually he'll learn to not leave the property - especially not head towards those chickens.

The metal for the roof is delivered on Thursday - our forth day here. It goes in easy, as I've done it before. But it's unbelievably hot standing out on the roof in the afternoon. I guzzle water and use a spray bottle to mist my face. After I install each piece of metal, I get down and soak my head in water and dunk my hat and wear it soaking wet.

I screw up a little in that I run the roofing in line with the cabin wall instead of the outer rafters - I wasn't sure which to trust for square. If it wasn't so hot I would have been more rational and measured the roof length at both the cabin abutment and eaves to get everything perfect. Instead I ran the sheets a hair cock-eye . . . it's not that noticeable and easily hid with the soffits - but it's still annoying.

The 'transition' flashing piece that comes with the roof for a shed-roof addition is a pain to put in. It's hard to shove it up against the wall and hold it there and fasten it at the same time:

It's pre-bent for a much steeper roof.

I'm not sure whether to run the flashing out beyond the wall with the roof overhang or not. Ultimately I decide not to. I'll have to figure out another way to flash my barge rafter overhang.

Here the roof is on, the addition walls are up and wrapped:

Someday there'll be a wraparound deck to hide the piers.

Here's a shot of the inside:

We've decided to do Mexican tile [or something similar] for the cabin floors, drywall for the walls, and lacquered tongue and groove boards for the high ceilings, with ceiling fans. I'll leave exposed and lacquer some of the post and beam frame - such as the center posts and beam and loft beams and joists.

The blueberry we planted two years ago is doing very well. Some have a lot of ripe berries:

The flavor is as sweet and rich as wild blueberries. I've had some cultivated blueberries before on huge shrubs that were weak in color and not that sweet. But these varieties . . . half a hardy species I got at Hidden Springs Nursery, and half from a local nursery, have excellent berries, no different from the ones we gathered up at Graveyard Fields in the Appalachians.

Some of the plants are almost waist-high. All have new growth. We've had a wet spring this year, which I'm sure helps.

But I notice once we've mowed and weed-whacked the high grass some of that new growth on the blueberries begins to wilt. I guess the high grass was keeping them in partial shade and conserving their moisture.

All I can think to do at this point is to begin mulching and surrounding the plants with pine boughs. I have many unwanted pines, especially up above the swales, and the needles should help keep the soil acid which is what blueberries like:

I bend and cut the pine boughs with my camp saw - it's a great cheap tool.

Literally the day after I begin to mulch the blueberries the new growth perks right back up.

We also get a full day of rain which helps.

Here I've mulched the blueberry up on the swales with pine boughs:

Some of these clayey berms not shaded by high grass were very barren and dry.

The barn floor has grayed but is still in good condition. I pour a little water on it to see how absorbent it is and whether it needs sealed again. The water instantly scatters into many droplets that sit on top of the surface. The kids play with the bubbles and split them and move them around, like little molecules. The wind wicks them away before they ever sink into the floor - so I guess it doesn't need sealed yet.

Here are two shots from the top of the barn:

Patty comes up for the second week. She brings the windows. I immediately start putting them in:

They're easy to install - new construction with nailing fins. We've bought seven 32" x 54" windows at Builder's Surplus here in Atlanta for $129 a piece. They're standard modern efficient windows:

I kind of realize how nice the original cabin is with its custom windows. It makes a place feel more unique. But these windows I think are fine here for the addition. This 12' x 25' room [really 2 rooms, dining and living room] gives us a lot more space. I'll eventually remove the exterior french doors to the addition and use them somewhere else, so there's a nice open space throughout the building.

We next put up a garden fence - a low-cost easy project in the heat that everybody can help with:

We buy 28 5' metal stakes from Lowe's and 200' of fencing. In all it costs about $300.

This fence will serve a lot of purposes. For one it will shield drying winds from the garden - it gets very, very dry in the intense sun on this south-facing slope up here.

The fence will also help keep animals out. And we'll plant vines and bushes all around it. I'll put in more grape, try some kiwi, and plant one 80' stretch completely with blue honeysuckle - a plant that is all the rage now, hardy, productive, evergreen, with good abundant fruit. Vines and bushes grown all around the fence will further shield the garden and make the fence itself more attractive. We leave three 4' openings for bringing a wheelbarrow in and out - they'll eventually have gates.

Here's a shot inside the addition with windows in as well as some castoff furniture:

It's actually nice and cool, with the large roof overhang, rather than a sunroom. This is good because what we really needed was more living space.

In order to run the fence along the back of the garden we have to move the huge rusted lawnmower that burned in the fire. I'd tried to move it and take it apart 2 years ago and gave up. But with Patty's help we're able to roll it out of the way and back by the juneberries:

I think I'll leave it here, as a memento from the fire. I wish I'd kept the bowling ball also - it had shrunken to half its size and become misshapen and lost all color like something out of the Flintstones.

After a heavy rain Rachael sweeps water off the upper barn floor where it's puddled up:

Someday [hopefully soon] this will be a large enclosed barn for animals/workshop/storage/studio/living space, etc.

Here's a shot of the garden fence in:

Even though we're not watering, the mint has gone crazy in the garden and sprouted up everywhere. There's both basil and peppermint:

We buy some topsoil and Patty begins transplanting it out of the garden and around our fruit trees. The stuff's so hardy it barely wilts from the transplant, even in the extreme heat, and begins to look like it was always there.

She surrounds one flowering peach with basil, and the other with peppermint.

We try to think of more low to zero-cost projects while we're altogether up here. That one lone sickly red oak standing right on the south-facing slope where one day our passive solar home will go is still in the way. I wonder if I can take it down with an axe. We don't have a chainsaw. It's about a foot in diameter, and 60 feet tall:

I happen to have a comprehensive book on cabins which illustrates how best to cut down a tree. New science, the author says, shows that the old 30 to 60 degree notch is incorrect. A 90 degree notch is best - then there's no risk of the tree pivoting and falling to one side.

It's an incredible workout whaling away with the axe. It starts to drizzle. After 30 minutes I've cut out my notch and am working on the back side. Patty sees lightening and sends Rachael out to bring me in - Patty's worried I'm going to get struck by lightning. I'm drenched in sweat, and rain, and exhausted, but I'd like to finish the job. I go inside for a while to take a break.

I joke to Patty that it's 'Man vs. Tree' out there. She can see the notch from the cabin.

After a short break I go back out and take it down. Only 5 more minutes and it creaks and goes down. They all run to the window but miss it fall:

She says I was supposed to yell "Timber!" Instead I just yelled, "Woah! Hey!"

Here's a closeup of the stump:

The tree fell exactly where I wanted it to. I have complete awe for guys that did this on a daily basis for a living. People were a whole different breed just a hundred years ago.

I think of Laura's husband in 'Little House on the Prarie', just after they'd moved from the Dakotas back east to Missouri to homestead on an apple orchard. To make a living he chopped trees down on the property and split them into firewood and sold it in town. He worked all day, and did this for months. In one book they'd said it was embarrassing to a man to have any difficulty hauling a 150 pound sack of wheat over his shoulder. They were in incredible shape, and lived in to their nineties.

We need a table so I throw one together one evening out of scrap boards and a small piece of flooring - it's about 4' x 4', 20" high - flat and sturdy:

We find a wonderful swimming hole two and half miles up the Obed River from where the rope swing was cut down. We hike the Cumberland Trail out to Alley Ford. The place is a Garden of Eden - the river's beautiful, clear, warm, there are huge sandstone cliffs, and a bottomless pool of water we can dive into over and over off a sandstone boulder. It's very lush on the other side of the river with moss and ferns and springs running across the rocks. The water's hot as it runs off the rocks - almost like a hot spring.

We'll definitely come back here. Maybe next time we'll bring intertubes and tube back down to our car. I don't know though . . . Patty hates rapids.

We paddle 4 to 5 miles up the Emory River:

The water's still here - backed up by the lake. We paddle upstream until we hit current. We forge up one set of rapids. But Patty gets upset as we're near the top and losing ground and drifting towards the rocks - we ferry to the near shore and ride back down.

It's exhausting paddling up just one set of rapids. How did Patty and I once do this for 500 miles up the Susquehanna River? We must have been machines. We did mix it up a lot though . . . with lining, portages, chasing eddies, and periods of dead water.

I love canoeing, and feel like I could paddle all day. I tell Patty we could take the Emory down to the Tennessee and all the way to Montana. She isn't interested.

We eat some of the mulberries from the tree leaning out over the river we ate from last year. But we're sort of in a hurry as it's thundering and we need to get back to the launch and off the water.

Here's a shot of the cabin from the driveway through the trees:

The next step is the Hardiplank siding - colorwise we're thinking of birch white for the trim and a tea-gray for the siding . . . but we're not sure yet.

I draw up a list of all that needs done on the property and cabin siding is not the next priority. It's getting a roof on the barn:

I've drawn out architecturally what I'm doing and made a materials list. We're going to head back to Tennessee the first week of August to put in the frame. There'll be one more set of posts and beams to support the rafters midway. The lower rafters will be straight rafters. The upper will be in a king post truss.

The reason we didn't stay longer and invest more in Tennessee is that we've bought a HUD house here in Atlanta, so that when we're here working we're not stuck in a shitty apartment.

There are some great deals out there on HUD's - homes way below market value. We're trying to close in a few weeks, then I've got to put in hardwood floors and paint and fix a toilet valve and it's ready to go. Patty's convinced an investment in a HUD here while the market's down will help us pay off our Tennessee place and retire.

I'll make another post on the HUD once we've closed and I've got some photos and begun the work.
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Runaway

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Runaway is finished. It's the story of our 6 month experience in a traveling carnival, working with drunks, thieves, and ex-cons. Patty and I were in our teens and just out of school - it was a great bonding and maturation experience for us.

I took the photo of this carnival at the old Kmart parking lot here in Atlanta on Sunday. I walked through it for a moment, having just finished my book. The smell of cheap generic cigarettes instantly took me back to our life there.

There were mostly rides and ride jocks with very few games. There were a few joints . . . but it was afternoon, the guys weren't ready to start calling and applying the pressure. They were still setting up their joints and drinking coffee.

Patty and I and the girls are all going up to Tennessee for the entire month of June - it's very exciting. We'll finish the addition, side the building, and either get a roof on the barn or begin plumbing and electrical for the cabin. We have to drive two cars, because I've got 7 huge windows for the addition I need to haul.

Mishka isn't going. He'll be watched by a friend. He's kind of blown it for himself up there for now.

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The Addition

. The kids and I spent the last 9 days up in Tennessee building the addition for the cabin.

We had perfect weather and it was a highly productive week. I got it semi-dried in with rafters and sheathing and tarpaper on the roof. The only thing left to do is put in the metal, sheathe and wrap the walls, and pop in windows - 4 day's work. I've already bought the windows at Builder's Surplus. 7 windows at $129 a piece - they're large, new, modern . . . 32" x 54". The addition's a combination sunroom/living room, with maybe some greenhouse space.

The first thing we noticed when we pulled up to the property at night were the flowering peach trees covered in large pink flowers. These are the first things we ever planted on the property, 2 years ago. It's nice to see them thriving, even if the fruit is small.

The next day I finished putting in the joists for the cabin floor:

No problems . . . went well. The boards are 2x10's @ 12 feet.

The girls fertilized the apple trees and a few garden beds with the last of the aged humanure compost:

Once the joists were in I put in 2x10 blocking down the middle - this supports and straightens the joists:

The joists tie directly in to the cabin girder. I needed a nailing surface for the edge of the flooring so I run blocking along this side:

At the end of the first day I've finished the frame and put in the first few sheets of flooring with adhesive and 2 1/4" screws:

Here's a shot of one of the flowering peach trees in front of the barn:

On Day 2 I get the rest of the flooring in - Advantech, $20 a 3/4" sheet, heavy-duty, with a 50 year warranty:

Here are some interior shots of the cabin, a lot more comfortable than the early days of sleeping in the tent, gazebo, and the back of the car:



I can't order lumber for the addition till Monday. So I spend Sunday putting up the rest of the posts in the upper story of the barn - these outside walls are the bearing walls for the roof:

Each morning I grade and level a garden bed. There are 9 altogether. It's tough physical work, so I do one a day in the early morning when it's cold. The strawberry and mint had spread everywhere. There's still some debris from the fire, like broken crockery and rusted pieces of metal.

Here a couple of beds are done:

I order lumber Monday morning and it gets delivered around noon.

I build conventional stud walls for the addition. They're not nearly as heavy as I thought they'd be to stand up alone - even the 12' walls with 2x6 studs are no big deal:

The long 25' wall I do in three sections, two at 8', one at 9'. Here's what I've got accomplished as of Monday evening:

Tuesday I stand up the rest of the walls. The 9' section fits perfectly in between the 2 8' outer sections, both at the top and sole plate - a good sign of a square layout and plumb walls:

The rough openings for windows are next. Since it's only one story with a 3' span 2x4 headers are sufficient - I however box them in with an additional horizontal 2x6 to shim against:

I fill the header box with fiberglass insulation before I seal it. Remember the mice that nested in the insulation 2 years ago, and the photo of the baby mice? This is what I used. No mice now - I guess they've moved on.

One of the most amazing sights on the property are the 2 huge autumn olives covered in flowers. They're full of bees and butterflies coming and going. I wish I could order more, but they're now illegal to sell in Tennessee because they're considered invasive. I'll have to order them from outside the state.

Brooke took several photos of the swallowtails in the flowers. Here's one:

One March we went up to camp on Pigeon Mountain, and the autumn olives there were flowering and fragrant and full of butterflies. In fact that photo of me with the butterfly on my hand was taken that trip. It was a beautiful thing to see, and to create that on our own property is pretty awesome.

Once the rough openings are done, I move on to the rafters:

I first run a 25' stretch of 2x6's along the cabin as a cleat to hang them on. This works great and the cleat's screwed in to the studs. This way I don't need to buy hangers for the rafters:

I put in 2x6 blocking between the rafters. I have to shave a 1/2" off the width to keep them from projecting beyond the top of the rafters.

For the rafters I make a seat cut at both ends, as well as a plumb cut where they tie in to the cabin. To make life easy I clamp one 2x6 rafter @14' against the edge of the cleat and cap plates where they'll run. I draw my lines of where it needs cut, and once the rafter fits just right I use it as a template to cut all the rest. It works great and saves a lot of time. For each later rafter I watch how it fits - I fine tune it as a go, modify a seat cut a hair where necessary, and am happy with the results. Also it's expedient. It takes me no more than a day to cut and install all the rafters - much different from the hell I went through with the rafters on the cabin, and each one's custom cut.

Where the rafter ties in to the cabin, I predrill and screw it into the cleat, the blocking, and the cabin for a secure hold.

I use 2x4 blocking at the cap plate, to allow ventilation out the soffit vents:

Here's where I am at the end of the day:

After several days of morning labor the garden beds are leveled and ready to go. Removing the blackberry was much easier than I thought - most of the roots are shallow. But I'm sure there's a taproot somewhere which will keep sending up shoots.

I'd like to buy a tiller and till peat moss into the clayey soil. But the cost of both a tiller and the moss is high. I can get a truckload of topsoil delivered for about $200. We may do that this year.

I'd love to get a fence around the garden - even a cheapo metal one and grow fruiting vines and shrubs all over it. It would help establish and protect the space, as well as shield it from drying winds. It's the intense sun and dryness that we struggle with most in the garden:

Once I have the 20 common rafters in, I put in barge rafters at either end for the 1' roof overhang. I assemble them on my saw table, then hoist them up with the kids.

It's difficult as my ladders are worthless and the girls don't have much muscle. I end up going back to the old methods I used in the barn to hoist joists - rope and bungee cords, then once it's there, clamp and tap it into position:

I use plenty of screws and nails to sister it to the outer rafter, but I think knee braces are necessary if I really want it to be secure. I'll install them after the wall sheathing's up.

Here the frame is finished:
I cut the rafter tails after the rafters are already in. I run a string along the top, mark the tails, then draw plumb lines and make the cuts with a circular saw from the ladder. I end up with a very nice line for my fascia and gutter:

The only hitch is this awful 3 in 1 ladder that no longer works. The locking mechanism is busted, and I can't lock the ladder in any position. So every time I go to move it it buckles. I need to get a regular extension ladder. As usual, the more sophisticated something is, the more likely it is to break down - and soon. We've only had it a year.

Here's another shot of the frame:

Next is the sheathing for the roof. Here's a view out the french doors once I have the first few sheets in:

After the sheathing, I lay down 30lb roofing felt and secure it with button cap nails. I secure it well, as this felt will be left exposed 2 weeks until I can get up there again and put in the metal:

Here's a shot of where it is at the end of the week:

I think it looks good. It's no architectural wonder, but for having no prior construction experience and Patty and I just making it up as we go along I think we've done okay. We plan on ultimately adding on a master bedroom wing on the left side - I've only put in one window on this wall of the addition, as it's north-facing, never gets direct sunlight, and the window is interior door-sized so when the time comes I can pop it out and put in a door. This master bedroom will have it's own stove, bathroom, and patio. Then the girls will have the loft all to themselves, and can divide it up. There's also a large screened-in porch going in on the opposite side of the building from the addition.

Overall it was a great week. I lost 5 lbs working dawn to dusk and eating small meals the girls prepared, like potatoes and oatmeal or spaghetti. I got very tan, my hair bleached blonde in the fierce sun and cloudless sky day after day. We had one short episode of rain Saturday morning.

We took a couple of trips down to the creek to jump in and cool off and bathe. The girls took a few bike rides. They also helped me with mowing and mulching. Our neighbors from Knoxville brought us ice cold lemonade one afternoon, and fresh-baked bread one evening when we were running out of food. It was much appreciated. There may be even some work prospects for me building french drains for a neighbor - something I've done when I built the patio for my parents.

The only big downer was Mishka. He went next door and killed 2 more chickens. They said if he goes over there again they'll shoot him. So we had to tie Mishka up the whole week and he sat beneath the building. We're not going to be able to take him up there for a while, at least the rest of the year.

I'm going back to the property the first week of May to finish the addition. Patty and the girls and I are spending the entire month of June up there. We'll plant the garden, put up the siding, maybe plant some fruit trees, go canoeing and hiking, and have a great time. We've never all spent so much time up there together - only 2 weeks 2 years before, and that was sleeping in the gazebo.
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