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  10-19-09

With the basement floor finished, we can move on to the next projects. The windows will be coming soon, but in the meantime, the basement logs need to be pressure-washed. Tonight, Jeff got the front third finished.

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  10-23-09

Today, Jeff got the middle third of the basement logs washed. With little ventilation, the bleach water mist hung in the air for quite a while, so Jeff wore a mask while washing.

     
  10-24-09

Jeff finished up the pressure-washing in the basement today, then moved outside to finish washing the outside of the back wall.

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  10-30-09

The focus for today was prepping the patio area for concrete tomorrow. Bob came out to help Jeff attach expansion board around the perimeter and clean off all the dirt on the plastic.

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  10-31-09

Jillena helped Jeff complete a lot more of the pressure-washing on the outside of the house today. They had a little fun working together, even though it was rainy and cold. Due to the inclement weather, we had to cancel the concrete delivery for the patio slab.

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  11-1-09

We finished the last of the pressure-washing today. Now we can install windows at any time and work on cleaning the fuzz off the logs to prepare for staining.

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  11-6-09

Our windows arrived early this morning! The late morning hours were spent doing some last-minute cleanup of the patio area. After canceling twice due to rainy weather, we finally got the patio poured this afternoon.

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  11-7-09

With the concrete patio cured enough to walk on, we got right to unpacking, disassembling, and staining our new windows. We purchased all-wood windows and will need to at least stain the outside surfaces before installing them. Paul, Issac, and Allison came up to help for the weekend.

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  11-8-09

Jeff worked on disassembling a few more windows and staining them before filling up the floor space. Now we need to wait for everything to dry so they can be reassembled.

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  11-9-09

Bob helped today with the prepping of the windows while Jeff carried on with the staining.

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  11-13-09

A week after staining the first window (for the Utility Room), the stain was finally dry enough to handle. It was time to frame in the window casings in the basement wall and try our hand at installing a window. Good thing Bob was there to help.

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  11-14-09

Jillena and Jeff installed the first of two casement windows in the basement wall. Seeing Bob set the double-hung the day before made this a whole lot easier.

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  11-15-09

Jeff used a router and a table saw to make some drip caps for the windows out of pressure-treated stock.

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  11-27-09

Jillena and Jeff tackled the second casement window today, and sprayed expandable foam between some of the first course logs and sill plate. We plan on using a lot of spray foam around the log walls exposed in the basement and around the 1st floor perimeter, since it will all be covered up in the end. We're doing everything we can to keep as much heat in the basement as possible.

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  11-28-09

With the three basement windows in, we turned to preparing our two single doors for mounting as a double entry door. This proved to be more work than we expected.

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  11-29-09

The formed-out opening in the concrete wall is larger than the two doors, so we had to frame it smaller. We created a new door casing with rough-cut boards from unused logs, and thinner material like leftover roof sheathing and plywood.

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  11-30-09

Today we added the hardware to the doors. We now have working entry doors to the basement!

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  12-04-09

Jeff went out today to attach sweeps to the bottoms of the doors and weatherstripping to the door stops. He also insulated the door casing and siliconed the casing joints.

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  12-05-09

Jeff cut the first rough window opening in a log wall today. We decided it was best to start with the 1st floor bathroom window since we had already cut a smaller hole in the same area. Each window opening will need to be cut wider to accommodate the buck material, which will be more rough-cut boards from our unused logs.

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  12-11-09

This first window in the log wall took a lot longer to install than it should have - not because of any trial-and-error we had to do on the cuts and measurements, but because the header board was not put in before the vertical side boards were bolted in place. Jeff admittedly didn't remember this until it was too late. At this point, getting the header board installed meant carving out 2 inches over each side board so the header would slide in above them. We eventually got everything to fit, and our first log wall window is now installed.

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  12-12-09

The next window to tackle was the kitchen slider. Jeff got the hole cut and the header and sill leveled.

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  12-13-09

We realized that the vertical height of the opening was not quite tall enough, so we lowered the sill level a bit. Jeff used the chainsaw to grind most of the material down, while Jillena broke some of the chunks out with a chisel.

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  12-18-09

Jeff got the kitchen window framed in and the window installed today, then moved on to "bigger fish" - a twin double-hung in the dining room area.

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12-19-09

Today was a cold one. Jeff spent all day just carving out the header and sill logs, and grinding down any pins that might be in the way. Jillena had her hands full moving much of the tools and gear we had been storing on the first floor back to the basement.

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12-20-09

After a little additional plumbing of the log edges along the sides of the opening, we set the first twin double-hung in the dining room.

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12-21-09

Tonight was just a matter of insulating the window frame.

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12-26-09

On to the other twin double-hung in the dining room. Getting even more proficient, Jeff got the opening cut, header and sill logs cut and leveled, and the header pins cut back.

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12-27-09

After a dealing with a few problems getting the side casing boards plumb, we got the window in.

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12-28-09

Jeff went out tonight to insulate the window we set yesterday. Nothing much to see here.

   

 

 

1-01-10

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Today might have been a day off of the 9-5 job, but Jeff and Jillena were out at the house, working on the Laundry Room window. It was bitter cold and windy today, but we set a record today, cutting the rough opening and installing a window in one day!

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1-03-10

As we wait to get more rough-cut lumber milled, we worked in the basement, disassembling more windows and prepping them for staining. The rear wall of the first floor has all three windows in now. Inside on the first floor, we discovered about 3" of snow! The walls seem to be acting like a snow fence as the lake-effect snow blows through the walls.

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1-08-10

We have been waiting for the mill to give us the "OK" to bring over a few logs to cut into lumber for our window casings. Today, we were told to bring them over and drop them off. Hopefully we'll have some boards soon. In the meantime, Jeff stained two more twin windows. Knowing how long it took the first windows to dry, we wanted to get the stain on the next ones ASAP.

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1-10-10

Still waiting for more casing boards, and with the stain drying on two windows in the basement, Jeff decided to start on a 2nd floor window opening yesterday. This meant building a scaffold tower with two decks. Today was spent on the header and sill logs. These upper windows will take longer, having to work off the scaffold decks at roughly fixed heights which are not ideal.

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1-15-10

Two major deliveries arrived today: most of the 1st floor radiant heat materials, the basement staircase, 1x6 T&G for the ceiling, and some framing lumber. Bob was out today to take measurements and plan the agenda for next Friday when we plan to get some framing done in the basement.

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1-16-10

While we continue to wait on the casing boards from the mill, Jeff finished up the second rough opening.

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1-17-10

Though not much work got done today, it was still one of the most exciting days we've had. A fellow LHBA (Log Home Builders Association) drove out to visit and talk "Log Homes". He's from the east side of the city and recently took the same class we took. We'll be seeing more of him in the coming months as he's looking forward to getting some experience on our project before starting his own log home this Spring.

     
 

1-18-10

The major task today was planing part of the underside of one of the girders in the basement that will get a header plate attached to it. The framing for half of the stairwell will come up under this girder.

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1-22-10

Early this morning, our insulation arrived. Yet another project to keep us busy this winter. Later, Jeff helped Bob lay out the partition walls and stairwell in the basement. The goal was to get the bottom plates glued to the floor so we could give them a good week to dry. We're gluing them to the floor instead of nailing them so we don't risk puncturing our radiant tubing.

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1-23-10

it was back to installing windows today. We got a twin installed in the living room area, and a single installed in the 2nd floor area.

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1-24-10

The focus today was getting the last few installed windows caulked. Jeff worked on that while Jillena was inside cleaning up the sawdust mess that had accumulated from Jeff cutting window openings.

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