Super Ek-sided!

For those of you wondering why I'm not in Minnesota finishing the cabin myself, essentially it's because I'm poor. Not poor like can't eat or party like a rockstar, but poor like don't have thousands lying around to drill a well, yet. I saved a lot of money to begin the project and spent all that and then some to get as far as I did in 2010. The plan when I left was to save up a bunch of money real quick and return to finish. Well, I'm in a pay-off-the-debt-and-then-borrow-for-the-next-critical-building-step cycle. It turns out saving up to finish is more time consuming than originally projected. That's OK, I work toward progress on this house every minute I'm at my job and the dream of the cabin really keeps me motivated to carry on.

Before I left Minnesota, back in Oh-Ten, I wrapped the exterior walls in a vapor barrier similar to Tyvek, as seen above. It's basically a plastic sheeting that would (hopefully) keep moisture from damaging the wooden parts of the house. I think it did it's job, but eventually the material will break down with exposure to sunlight, so it's important to eventually cover the walls with siding. I opted for a vinyl siding material which is not my ideal choice, but is really excellent in certain ways. One, it is the cheapest option so I love it already. Two, it is colored in manufacturing so paint is never required which is a great saving of energy and cost over the years.

What does a fella do when he needs help building his house? He calls a Pemberton! Matthias sent me pictures and his work looks really excellent. Below, he is pictured getting it done, Minnesota style. Truly, I am on pins and needles awaiting my chance to see this progress in person! Matthias reports my house is very tall...

With a little luck, I'll have some pictures from my own camera to add here before the year passes...

Hello Again!

Hi friends, I hope you've been wondering about my progress! And sorry it took me so long to update you. In a sense, not much has happened because I have not been to Minnesota in over two years and have only hired out two steps of the building process since. On the other hand, I'm reeeally excited about what has been done and the progress has been very important and substantial! Though I have a roof sitting on the rafters, I neglected to cover the spaces between the rafters which left holes through which critters could (and did) enter the cabin. Birds came and nested all over the place. Here is the mess they made. Thank you birds for providing me with an opportunity to make some really wonderful improvements on my house spending virtually no money...

Photographs are art. I call this piece, Poop By the Stairwell. I think it says a lot about the duality of humans. Just kidding, it's only a pile of feces.

Don't think about how I will one day prepare you a delicious meal on this counter. Better yet, don't remember this photo when we eat.

This perch is where I will clean myself. In addition to birds moving in, some hornets established residence as well. You probably want to click the following picture to enlarge it so you can see the hive up under the gable eave.

To keep the house from descending further into squalor, I hired a local Becida neighbor, Don Walters, to install soffit and fascia. The soffit is the material which covers the underside of the eave and the fascia covers the boards all along the edge of the roof. I decided to go with a sheet metal material because it requires no painting or maintenance to speak of AND Uncle Ronnie gave me enough for the whole house for free!! Don did a most excellent job sealing up the holes and making it all look beautiful. He even did bee removal and weed reduction. Here are photos Don took of his work.

I wish I could have been there for this, yet I'm also really glad I didn't have to do this part. Invariably, when I hire people to help me, they remark about the height of my house. From soil to peak, the height is about 24 feet and I'm glad I didn't have to strain to do this work that far up a ladder!