Chinking is a fancy word for filling in the gaps inbetween logs using a cement like stuff from a caulking gun. It is grey and makes a nice contrast with the wood color. On this picture, the bottom gap was chinked after staining and satin gloss finishing. One line done, 89 to go… And that’s just the outside.
Just caught up with Dutch news and saw long traffic jams due to wet snow and hail…
As you can see I don’t have that problem. My only problem is that it’s a bit hot to work on the house. (Tempearure is in Celcius, in fahrenheit it’s 90 and feels like 100)
But for those of you reading this thinking “ah man, he’s got it made” my car won’t start; battery only 8 V
Today I managed to stain the top of the east wall, not using a ladder but from the inside
The back wall consists of three sections, separated by 7″ cedar beams. The framing wasn’t hard, no windows or doors in these walls as they face the hill.
The septic has been installed a long time ago, but there still is no pipe going from the house to the septic. Using a shovel is really no option; after 4 inches of soil it is mostly rock. Fortunately it is’nt the hardest rock, so with a pick axe I was able to hack out this trench;
The roof has been covered with plates and felt and is now drying in.
Although most of the floor joists were up, the 1/4 area on the westside, which will have the stairway to the first floor, is still open. Luckily today Hippie Dave showed up to work on that.
The beam shown here was made today and will carry the final 2 joists. For extra strength a pole will be placed where this beam and the other joists meet up
Usually stains are not a good thing, but this time it is. Staining the logs means coloring them and coating them with a protective layer against sun and rain.
It’s not hard, but takes a lot of time, especially when moving the ladder all the time. Today I’ve done the west side, and 1/3 rd of the north and east side. I started out with just a brush, but that takes forever. Using a airless paint sprayer it’s faster, but back brushing is needed so it’s awkward having to hold a brush, a paint sprayer and hold on to the ladder.
Today had the first Visitors; Arnoud and Elyse came over from DC.
Really fun and we will do some sightseeing
Today Five men from Battalion Roofing arrived to start the roofing job. Paulette was very helpful in finding this Afghanistan veteran run roofing Company. Although they are super busy after the downpoors of 18″ of rain in Houston,San Antonio and Austin, she persuaded him to come over and do a bid. Unlike Holland, where many houses have a 12/12 pitch (meaning they go up 12 inch every 10 length) or even higher, here pitches are usually lower or even flat. For obvious reasons; why build up if you can go sideways? For me that was simple; logs come in maximum lengths; 24 ft is about as large as Texas cedar gets. So building bigger can only be done by going up, and with a higher pitched roof, less log wall is needed. Anyway, here’s the progress;
On the 8×2″ boards roofing plates will be mounted, with an aluminum foil to reflect heat. On top of that will be standing seam metal roofing;
As you can see this is not flat inbetween the seams but angled, to make it more durable and resistant to hail.
The color will indeed be grey, matching the chink lines inbetween the logs. This should make a nice mix between rustic and modern. The add on 2×6 boards are in place too;
