Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Where'd This Log Cabin Come From?!

Finished getting the first floor and one gable end wall all buttoned up with 7" tongue and groove yellow pine on Monday and suddenly my vision of an 18th century style cabinet shoppe has turned into a 20th century Aspen ski lodge. I believe it's just too much raw wood, but I think with a coat of white paint on all the walls, I'll get back to the look I want. And it should help brighten things up a bit. The floor I will leave with a natural look, but I think I'll put something on it to protect it a little bit. Something that won't cause it to be slick, but yet give it protection against wet feet and the like. Have to do some research on that.

 Before any of this can be done however, I need more wood. I went through 560 board feet in no time and just ordered another 600. Hopefully I'll have it in another week or two and can get thing a little closer to finished. I gotta say, it's a little different using a pneumatic flooring nailer on a wall. Not often that you need to use a flooring nailer in conjunction with a ladder. :)





Monday, May 14, 2012

Shop Update: Getting Closer

Well, it's been a month since I last updated my progress on the shop. Gotten quite a bit done since then. The exterior is done save for front and rear steps. I need to find time to lay a brick pad to bring the steps down onto first though. A brick sidewalk to the front door will come later.

 As much as I'd like to say that the siding is pit-sawn cedar clapboards, time and money constraints, along with me wanting the exterior to be fairly maintenance free (I'm not getting any younger after all) dictated that I used............vinyl siding. Not very 18th century, I know; but neither is the ductless, spit unit heating and cooling system I'll be putting in at a later date. Sometimes practicality trumps authenticity. I'm happy with the look though. From a distance it looks fairly authentic.

What I'm working on now is the flooring. I'm laying down 7" wide pine tongue and groove that I purchased from an Amish mill back in March. I've got about 80% of the first floor done and I like the look but as for installing it, it's definitely not Pergo. Lot's of wedging and pounding to try to get as tight a fit as possible. I'll post some pictures of the floor once it's finished.