Paint and Flooring

This past week or two has seen a lot of progress on the finish work inside the cabin.  Once the drywall joints had been taped and mudded, I sanded lightly and wiped the walls down to try and remove any dust.  Most walls these days are textured in some way, but I elected to go with smooth surface, for two main reasons.  First, I didn't want the extra time and cost associated with texturing.  Second, smooth walls are generally easier to patch than textured walls if you get holes in them, as you don't have to try to find a way to match whatever texture was used at the time of construction.  The drawback to smooth surface is you have to be more precise in your plastering/sanding, and you have to live with the inevitable little defects you won't see until painting is done.

We went with a very light yellow color for paint and are pretty happy with how it looks.  We wanted a color that was fairly light, but didn't want an off white or gray color.  We'll see how it holds up to traffic and wood heat.

One other project I did once the walls were plastered was to put the box around the chimney.  I have to keep at least a 2 inch clearance from the sides of my chimney (clearances are determined by manufacturer, and because we went with a triple wall chimney, the clearances were quite low), so measured and build the pieces and screwed them in to place.  Once the paint was done, I began adding car siding to the exterior.  I decided to go with car siding over sheetrock because 1. I was sick of hanging sheetrock and plastering, 2. I thought the wall could use a little more wood, and 3. I thought wood would be more durable than sheetrock with the kids.

Once the painting was done, I rented a commercial floor sander after work one day and sanded until well in to the morning, starting with 20 grit and moving up to 100 grit.  The floor for the loft (and what is the ceiling from the first floor) is spruce, as it is a more dense grain and harder than other pines.  The flooring is 1 1/2 (closer to 1 1/4" after milling) tongue and groove and is not designed to ever be entirely smooth like most hardwood floors.  My purpose in sanding was to get down all the dirt and dust that had been accumulated during construction, and to try to soften down some of the joints so you don't stub your toes on it.  Because I heat with wood, my floors will shrink and move quite a bit in the winter as compared to the summer, when the humidity rises again.  It's important to understand the strengths and limitations of your material.

I also had to decide what to do with floors for the main level, which was simply OSB decking.  The original hope was to put down hardwood flooring, such as hickory, but decided not to for a few reasons.  First, though I can get the flooring for $2.00 to $2.50 /sq. ft. from the local Amish, there are still quite a few additional costs to get the sander (probably a $150-200 investment for the size of my floors), the sealer (another $150-200), and the time associated with getting the floor acclimated, sanded, and sealed.  Once I knew I wasn't going to put in the hardwoods right away, I had to decide whether to try and paint the floors for now, or put down something like laminate.  I went with laminate for 3 main reasons.  First, I quickly realized that the subfloor was not going to work for painting, as it pieces would flake too much from having gotten rained on in the construction phase.  Second, I was concerned the appraiser would raise a fuss when it came time for the final bank appraisal to convert from a building loan to the a traditional mortgage.  Third, I found the laminate I liked for about $1.00/ft. square, and it goes down quickly and looks very nice when it's done.

This week we'll start putting up the trim and finishing the floors.  I'm hoping to get all the inside work done so I can get the final inspection and then, once we start to move in, I can finish some of the outside work, such as deck spindles and insulation underneath the cabin.

Electric Panel

Rented floor sander

Finished floors

Framing around chimney

Card siding started around chimney

Lower Level before flooring

Laminate flooring on first floor

East side deck and ramp

West side deck and ramp

Plaster and Paint

We're working on the two least favorite phases of construction--plastering and painting.  I decided to hire someone to plaster the seams, but I still had to do all the sanding.  Now that that is done, we have started the painting--which I hate even worse.  Fortunately, my mom and sister came to get started on that, so maybe I'll be able to avoid that task somehow.  

The wiring is now done and one of the remaining things that must be done from a safety standpoint so as to get the final inspection is to finish the decks and railings.  Yesterday I purchased the deck boards for the two decks and cut the posts down for the railings.  I went with heavier that usual floors (2x10s spaced 16" apart and 6x6 posts), but I did it with the expectation that there's a good chance I'll eventually frame them in and add living space, so it pays to think ahead.  I also decided to go with ramps rather than steps for two big reasons.  One, I think ramps are much safer for kids, especially toddlers just learning to walk.  Second, it will make it much easier hauling firewood and water in to the cabin, especially until we get the septic and indoor plumbing installed someday.

The jury is still out on the wisdom of putting sheetrock inside the cabin.  I used sheetrock for the ceilings upstairs and the interior walls for two main reasons.  First, I thought it would be cheaper than wood.  Second, I thought it would make the inside much brighter than if there was more wood (such as car siding) on all the surfaces.  I'm not sure, in the long run, after you install the sheetrock, hire someone to plaster, do the sanding, and apply the paint, that it's really much of a savings in the long run.  If I were to do this again, I would look more closely at some low grade pine boards and then paint them white.  

One of the issues with drywall that I was concerned about and am already experiencing is cracks.  No matter how solid your foundation is, and no matter how well your cabin is constructed, logs are just going to move as they dry out and change with the humidity throughout the year.  I'm quite certain that if I ever move the cabin on a truck someday, some of the joints will crack.  I have one joint already that continues to crack, no matter how much we continue to plaster it, so I'm just going to have to leave it and hope it doesn't get worse.

This week I hope to finish painting, start installing the trim, and begin sanding and sealing the loft floor.  then it will be time to paint the floor on the first level, seal the logs, and do the last minute odds and ends like a couple doors before it's time to move in.  Here are some recents pics.