Gonna Be a Bright Sunshiny Day!

Then it will cloud up, get really windy, then clear up again, then cloudy like it might rain, then clear down low, with big firey clouds above. While I was in town yesterday, I got myself some fleece-lined jeans that are so comfy, so of course it was very warm when I wore them today. It was great though, I got to work in short sleeves and made good progress. I finished setting all the lookout rafters in place today and was treated afterward to a very pretty sunset.

Here's a look at my cabin with all the lookouts in place. I'm feeling pretty pleased about it. My body got a bit tired of chiseling from awkward positions.

This is the view looking to the hayfield east of my place, from where I've been working lately up by the ridge. It looked striking today, so I had to snap some photos.

In the warm weather, lots of bugs came out today. There were spiders, flies, mosquitoes, and this little guy, among others. I got to see some bats fluttering about, presumably dining, around dusk as well.


Here is the view from my loft, looking westward in the evening today.

This is looking out my bedroom window (and through the wall) in the loft. I can't wait to be able to see a view like this from a comfy chair someday!



Tomorrow I hope to get a bunch more rafters in place. Then I've got to attach the sub fascia boards and hopefully it won't be too long before I'm sheeting the roof.

Why Construction Takes So Long

Or, a step-by-step lesson in setting lookout rafters.

Today I was noticing the tedium involved in the particular job on which I was working, and I thought it would be interesting to share it in detail. Usually, the small details are not given attention as I tell the building tale. I don't mind the slow tasks at all; in fact, I rather enjoy doing work meticulously (that's why I quilt). It just takes a long time is all.

I'll assume all my readers know what rafters are to begin. Lookout (aka outrigger) rafters lay perpendicular to the rafter on the edge of the building. Their purpose is to hold up the rafter in the gable end that over hangs the edge of the wall. Additionally, they support the roof sheeting and shingles. You can see the first of my lookout rafters here, hanging over the last rafter.


Step 1: get up early to take advantage of the fine weather and daylight.

I usually skip this first step because skipping steps would save time, right? Riiiight... If I had a picture of me sleeping in the afternoon, I'd put it here. I seem to never think to take pictures while I'm sleeping...

Step 2: measure, layout, and cut the lookout rafters.

I don't know how often you're supposed to place these things, but I decided to go every two lineal feet along the rafters. That is way more than the book suggests, but I want to be able to use them as ladders while I work, and want plenty of support for the roof overhang. Anyway, that comes out to eight lookouts on each corner rafter for a total of 32. So I moved boards to the saw, marked and cut them, then moved them all up to the loft, shown in this picture.

Step 3: measure and mark location for lookout rafter

This step is often done while standing on a ladder, or when I'm working on the end with no loft, while standing on top of the 5 1/2 inch wide wall, or a window frame, or the lookout rafters below.


Step 4: Layout the notch in the gable end rafter to position the lookout rafter correctly.

Step 5: Cut the notch where the lookout rafter will lay.

It should be noted here that cutting these notches takes a lot of time, and is not necessary, depending on the construction method used. It is necessary however, that the lookout rafter be flush (level, coplanar) with the rest of the main rafters. The alternative to cutting notches is to set the gable end rafters lower than the main rafters to accommodate the thickness of the lookout rafters. I opted to do the notching because I thought it would be simpler than doing the Pythagorean and other calculations. At the time I made the decision, I didn't know I was going to end up with 32 notches to cut so I'm not sure which way is better. I like this way, because I know what I'm doing.

Once the outside cuts at the edge of the notch are made, then I run the skill saw across the notch area several times with the blade set to the correct depth of 1.5 inches.

Step 6: Chisel out the chunks of wood to create the notch.

You may be wondering if there is an easier way to do this task. The answer is maybe, but I haven't heard of it yet. I learned this cut and chisel trick years ago and my book suggests it as well. It's very slow, but equally effective.





Step 7: Set lookout rafter in place.

Step 8: Square Lookout rafter to main rafter to position correctly.


Step 9: Nail lookout rafter to main rafter.

This step gets a little tricky when I'm working high up because I have to hold the lookout rafter in the correct position with one hand, lift a heavy nail gun with the other, press the tip of the nail gun in the right place to release the safety, then pull the trigger, all without shooting myself, losing my balance, or moving the lookout rafter. Sometimes it takes a few tries. I haven't shot myself or lost my balance yet, but I purchased a full body harness and started using it today because I imagine the first time I shoot myself, I'll lose my balance. The second time probably won't be so surprising...

Step 10: Nail the lookout rafter to the gable end rafter.

This step is a little easier than the previous because the board is secure and the nail gun is pointing downward so the weight of it rests on the board.

Step 11: repeat steps 2 through 10 thirty-one times and call it a day's work! Or two days, or three...
Things are looking up! :-)

I'm Featured on The Magpie List

I just found out a list I made up of my favorite books and movies was featured September 11th on a blog-like "blist" (web list) called the Magpie List.

I don't know how to create a hyperlink yet, so copy and paste to your browser. Check it out here:
http://themagpielist.com/page/3/

It's a neat website just dedicated to inspiring people through the things that inspire others!

And wouldn't you know it, my entry is featured right after my friend Aly's :-)

Totally Unofficially Autumn

The leaves have turned to cold colors of fire, revealing the region's burning desire to freeze and snow, and my roof is still not on... But I'm pluggin' away and making good progress nevertheless. Lynea was out for a five day visit and my house is looking much different than the last time (aka the first time) she was here.

Here is a reminder of what she saw at the first viewing in late July


And here is what it looks like now in late September, fall colors and all.

I feel like it's going slowly, but then I think that's pretty good progress for less than two month's work. While she was here, Lynea helped me frame up the east gable wall so now both gable walls are done. I swear with her help we got a full day's work done in two hours. I joke the reason it goes 3 times faster when one person helps me is because I don't spend half my time spacing out/dreaming about the next 27 steps. Who cares what kind of stove pipe I need??! Get a roof on already...

Current progress on the west end



While Lynea was here, we took in some sights. This was a sighting of neighbors helping neighbors; rather commonplace in these parts. Pictured here is Constable Bob in the foreground and Tony Pemberton behind putting the ridge beam in place on Sid's cabin. He just got his gable wall built up as well. The current weather-induced neighborhood theme: "Help, I need a roof!"


Lookin' good, Sid


One of the highlights of my week, and maybe of the northern Minnesota experience in general, was a fall tour of Itasca State Park. I was really glad Lynea was along to see such beauty even though she suffered a little in the chilly weather. I lent her an extra sweater and we tossed a softball back and forth to take the edge off the cool air.

Bundled up on the way to the park


Being cute/silly at the very very super dooper beginning of the mighty Mississippi River.


Someone spilled some paint on these leaves. It was God. What a klutz. (photo cred. to Lynea on this one and a few of the following)

I'm freaked out about not being done yet


This is the largest white pine in Itasca State Park. Apparently, if you got a group of people with really short arms, it would take over two individuals holding hands to completely encircle the trunk. Sorry Minnesota, California has deeply jaded my ability to be impressed by the diameter of a pine.

What you lack in tree size, you redeem in heavenly color.


I highly recommend you click to view enlarged details of this, my favorite photo I took all week.


I like this one too


The above photos at the pond were taken along the walk to this fire tower. I was really surprised and pleased it was open. It rose 100 feet above the ground and was all windy and sway-ey at the top. What a splendid place from which to view the brightly colored forest flora!


Somewhere around this level, we were amused to see one of those plastic parachute men entangled in the upper branches of the canopy. I see I'm not the first big kid to enter this park.

Ahhh, beauty


Till next time

Setting Rafters

Tony Came by and helped me get the first four rafters in place the other day.


I did my best to cut all the rafters the same which was difficult because they are made of 9 1/2 inch I joists, which are actually boards shaped like an I. When you cut across them, the middle of the board is at a different height than the edges so it's really hard to lay out and cut correctly. Anyway, one of the rafters didn't fit quite right and Tony thought probably my walls were uneven or maybe the height was off one end to the other. So we measured it and everything was spot on! Yay! He said I did a really good job building it which was a great compliment since he's a very experienced carpenter. When he first arrived I told him I really needed to hire a professional to help me. He looked up at my house and all the work I've done and said, "No you don't, you need to hire a laborer."

Once the first four rafters were in place, two near each end of the house, I spent a lot of time cutting rafters and cutting boards to stiffen the thin middle part (called the web) of the I-joist rafters where I had cut them. Tony let me come use his Table saw which made the job about a million times easier than trying to cut all the web stiffeners with a skill saw.

Yesterday, Paul and I got up before dawn and headed to my cabin to work on rafters. We saw the most beautiful pink sunrise sky along the way. I've also been seeing lots of bald eagles lately. We put up four rafters in the morning and then went home so I could take a break and he could work at the DNA lab. Then I went back and cut a bunch more rafters and he returned in the afternoon and helped me set six more. We had a lot of fun joking around and laughed a lot about whether two rafters are two rafters or just one pair of rafters. I worked almost till dark, and then went into town and had dinner with Paul and some of his kids. By the end of yesterday, I had up 14 rafters (or seven pairs, ahem)!

Today I put up rafters on one gable end. I was thinking it would be easy to do alone as the rafters on the ends are made of 2x6s as opposed to 9 1/2 in I-joists. Well, I was wrong, it was really hard to do alone. I had to stand up on the window right on the edge of the big drop and somehow pick up the 18 foot long rafter and hold it with one hand while I picked up the nail gun with the other hand, leaving zero hands to hold on with. By the time I had fastened one pair, my leg muscles were all achy and shaky so I didn't end up doing the other gable end on the same day; too dangerous. I think I'll try to hoist the others using a rope (or maybe I can find a partner...).

Anyway, I was really pleased to get started on a gable end wall and I got a few studs in before I pooped out for the day around 6. Now all my rafters are cut, I just have to get them set. It was incredible how long all the layout and cutting took!


Paul and I being silly


Eight rafters up


Look Ma, no brains!


Fourteen rafters and counting...


If you look closely, you can see the gable end rafters here made of 2x6s which are different than all the rest of the rafters.


This shows my latest progress with the first gable end wall studs in place. I hope to get the rest of this wall framed tomorrow. Looks like the weather will be sunny like today. Yesterday I got a lot done, but it rained lightly most of the day.


Close up on the gable wall studs

My new friend Norman, who is having the pioneer burial sign installed in my yard, came by today and we had a nice chat. He told me he likes Bemidji because it has good shopping and good food. I was like, "Good food! Where?!?" I have had some great Mexican at one place and good ribs at another, but he told me there is a nice Italian place too and he invited me to try it out on his dime sometime soon. He was impressed with my cabin and said it looks a lot bigger up close than when you're driving by. He built a cabin in the area too so he has appreciation for the work that goes into it. Also, I had a really valuable experience during our conversation which I won't soon forget. If someone you're conversing with ever begins a sentence with, "This may be too much information, but...." that is a really great time to cut them off! I hesitated one moment too long, but learned my lesson well.

A Ceiling Feeling

As usual, things are going great, if a little slow. I arrived at a couple steps I simply couldn't do alone and was so fortunate to find help nearby. I'm not so great at asking for help, I don't enjoy doing it, but come to find out it's a really excellent way to get help!

My ridge beam is in place and I spent a good portion of today cutting rafters. What an exciting step this is; I couldn't keep a giant smile off my face each time I looked up to the sky and saw that big ol' board spanning the entire twenty four foot length of my roof, plus four feet.

Tony Pemberton, good neighbor and carpenter extraordinaire, came over this morning and acted like it was no big deal to just throw it up there. I think part of the reason it's so gratifying to have the ridge beam up is because it's such a challenging step to consider until it's done. I wasn't even sure the two of us would be able to do it and I was considering the different ways we could rig a ladder on top of scaffolding so we could both climb up while holding this board that must weigh a couple hundred pounds. Then Tony said, "No, we'll just set it on top of the window there and then climb up there and set it in place."

And that's exactly what we did. I got up there on top of the window, my feet about 20 feet from the ground below, shaky with nervousness, keenly aware that I was just one badly nailed board from death. My breath rate and heart rate increased proportionally to the loss of strength in my legs as I edged toward anxiety. Knowing well this was no time to be like, "Um, I'm scared. Can we take a wimp-out break?" I found the inner voice to say instead, "OK Jon Wheeler. Don't think; DO!" So I wrapped my leg around the post as Tony suggested, squatted down with the other leg, grabbed the board, and lifted with all my might. Tony, facing me, did the same and we heaved it, a little at a time, into place. None of my boards turned out to be badly nailed, and no one died. With the end in place, we were all done... except that we had to go to the other end and do it all again. We got it done though, and once I got down and shook out all the heeby-jeebies, I felt very accomplished.

Tony spent a good deal of time helping me get one rafter cut properly so I could use it as a pattern to cut the rest. I spent the rest of the day working on that project and now I have eight rafters (about half what I need total) ready to nail in. Tony said he'd come by tomorrow and help me get some set in place.

Nathan Harper, another good neighbor who is married to Tony's daughter Sharayah, helped me get the beam up to the top of my walls a couple days ago on Saturday. After framing in the window and erecting the ridge post by myself on the east end of the house, it was really wonderful to have help. In this first photo, I'm using a level to plumb the window on the west end of the house on the gable end. Nathan helped me frame this window, put it in place on top of the wall, and put the post up after that. He was also a handy photographer! After we got it in place, I seriously couldn't remember how I'd done the other one alone.

Here's looking up toward the west peak from the main floor below.

Yesterday I was working alone again so I cut out the OSB from my windows. This was where I got the ceiling feeling. Cutting the windows really changed the atmosphere inside the house. I remember when I added the loft, I was a little disappointed to not have the view of the sky directly overhead anymore and didn't like how dark it made everything. At the time, I didn't even consider how much brighter windows would make the place! Somehow, having the light pour in made it feel like a room for the first time and suddenly this floor above me felt like a ceiling as I stood in the middle of my imaginary kitchen cooking future bacon.

This is the south side of my house. Lots of big windows to let the sunshine in. I think of this as the front of my house so you may find it odd that there is no door. The main entrance will be on the east side under the gable because in winter, the roof will shed a nice big pile of snow on this side.

This is the west end of the house and these two windows are in the kitchen. The sink will be near the window on the left and there will be counter space under the one on the right. The left side of this wall is where my bathroom will be.

Here is the shady north side; fewer and smaller windows on this "colder side" of the house. The window on the right is the bathroom window because we all know I dream to see an eagle from the throne one day. And for the record, I did see a bald eagle circling while I was working at the cabin on Saturday! So it is now a very real possibility that my greatest dream will come true. In the middle is my back door which will open into a hallway with the bathroom on the right and the stairwell on the left. So the window on the left is at the base of the stairs which will climb to the east (right, in this view) and then turn left to head south up into the loft. The stairs to the basement take the exact same route so if you went in the back door, you'd walk down the hall, do a u-turn to the left, and head down to the basement.

This is the east end, and the main entrance. I have a really neat door to go in the big space on the right. It's got a nice little crescent shaped window at the top and on the right side there is a rectangular side light window. This door will open up right to where the wood stove is and the stairs up to the loft will begin on the right and wrap around the stove pipe. The window on the left is in the living room area.

Here is Nathan Harper harvesting honey yesterday. This barrel has a spinning device in it that uses centrifugal force to get the honey out of the combs. Then you open the spout at the base and just lay there on the floor and let it ooze right down your gullet. At least that's what I wanted to do.


Here Sharayah is using electric power to cut the waxy caps off the cells in the comb so the honey will come out. She warned me, "Careful, the knife is hot; don't touch it."

Without missing a beat, Nathan added, "Also, the wife is hot; don't touch her either." I assured them I didn't want to get burned...




They harvested a total of 7 gallons of this delicious golden goo. They gave me a jar which I didn't even wait to take home before I stuck my finger in for a taste. It was heavenly and was a fine compliment to the grilled chicken they fed me for dinner.

(Ridge) beam me up! Yay, there is a party in my heart and everyone's invited!!!!!

Here you can see the window on top of the wall where we stood to place the ridge. To give perspective, the ridge is 14 and 1/2 inches tall and is ten feet up in the air above the wall.


The roof will have a steep pitch of 12 in 12 which means for every 12 inches of horizontal run, it will rise 12 inches vertically. This means the angle if the roof will be 45 degrees so that the peak of the roof will make a perfect (I hope!) 90 degree angle.

One last item, regarding the graveyard. I spoke on the phone today with a relative of the people buried on my lot. I was rather miffed that they were putting a sign up on my lot without including me in the process. My plan was to do my very best to be polite and tell him I really didn't want a brown highway sign in my yard. I'd much rather have a couple headstones and maybe a nice little picket fence around the graves. Also, when I spoke to the engineer at the highway department, he told me the family had told him I was in agreement with the idea, and I was kind of mad they would tell a lie like that. So I called Norman who turned out to be so stinkin' nice I couldn't even pretend to be mad. He told me that his brother and sister (who run the bar and grill) and cousin told him I was such a nice guy that surely I wouldn't mind a sign to honor their deceased ancestors. He also assured me it would be greatly appreciated by the community who are so interested in the story. When I expressed concern about it affecting my property value, he assured me he would remove it in the event that I had trouble selling the place. So I relented and in so doing, probably just made about 250 new friends, the first of whom is Norman himself. He invited me to see his cabin, I invited him to see mine, and he told me to stop by his garden and pick up a pumpkin. Don't think I won't spruce up that ugly brown highway sign with a bunch of flowers. I'm thinking lots of tulips and daffodil bulbs, for a start.