Pond Boss Forums POND CONSTRUCTION Creating habitat Building a garage-apartment with a pond view

We are using 3 day weekends to attack the framing. With the travel time to and from, combined with the time to set up and tear down, we are probably gettin in a good 2 days of production. Maybe 2.25 days....and they are very long. Both Dski and I have been reminded that the 10 years since we took on a project like this have ushered in significant and noticeable differences in our physical abilities. It's hell gettin' old(er).
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This is a feel for the downstairs shop area. The wall that will separate the garage area from the shop area will go along the control joint in the concrete that runs just behind the plastic bagged Pex tubing bundle and controls. This zone is 15' x 28' wide; 6 windows. Ewest's simple logic to put alot of glass on the pond side landed 4 windows 36" x 60" on that wall. We broke construction tradition by pushing the tops of these taller windows above the normal exterior sight line. This will put the bottoms just above a comfortable workbench height.

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At the end of the day (weekend #2 of framing), one part of me is disappointed by the progress and another part is digging the results. Since we are moving slowly, we take great pains to thwart water damage to the work already completed. We also install panels into the window cutouts on the prevailing wind side. I have to juggle the schedule a bit before we can get serious about installing windows. In the meantime, the house wrap is a good protector.

That is one incredible job you guys are doing. I love that 7-20 pic of the pond from the shop. Windows and light really help.

When its all done and you can sit and watch put a mineral block about half way between the house and the pond and enjoy watching the deer.

We are nearly overrun with deer. Funny you mention it, but when I awoke on Mon am in our tiny 120 sq ft home/shed, I stepped out the door into the crisp early morning forest air, rubbed my eyes, and took 2 steps to the corner of the building. I came eye-to-eye with a doe, maybe 35 feet away. I was still sleepy and this caught both of us a little off guard. 1/2 step more to see around the corner and 2 junior bucks were right behind her. We all went into a stare down until she snorted like a freight train and they bounded off into the woods.

Thinking along those lines, very impressive so far, Bski.

Quit whinning Bski this is only the garage, you still have a house to build in the next 10 years. Looking good...........

Looking great. Considering the plans that you have for the place, you better start hitting the gym on the 4 days that you are home to get ready for the big project! You're only as old as you feel, and I'll bet you are feeling older after every weekend!

Very nice Brettski! Looks like you build things the right way.

I would expect nothing less.
Great job!!!

Why do all my progress estimates come up short? Is it just me, or that another "guy thing"? Dski has it down to a science; she takes my time estimate and doubles it.
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End of long weekend #3. All the 1st floor framing is complete and wrapped. The last production day was a perfect example of another Bski lousy production time estimate. Started at 7:30, took 30 mins for lunch, and finally took our pond bath at 8:30 pm......then drove back home. Even my toes are tired.
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just ended the long day....finally

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Brettski:

Looking good! It's not a guy thing, it's more of a 2 person job thing. Don't feel bad, it's even worse when it's a one person thing!

Personally, I think you've accomplished a hellofalot for the time that you've spent on the project.

...oh yeah and BTW
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I've always used the plain roll of foam for sill sealer. It's a pain since it is nothing more that closed cell foam with very little backbone to hold it in place. Now, there's a new sherrif in (my) town.
I am sold on this stuff. It's a sill sealer made by Protecto Wrap. You experienced construction guys are likely well aware of it.

Since I had alot to do with finishing the top of our concrete stem walls, and the surface may have been less than perfectly consistent, I wanted to make sure I used the best sill sealer product available. That's when I discovered Protecto Wrap. For the record, I will likely be using their window seal tape, also.
Anyway, this stuff is in a roll 5-1/2" x 25' long. The closed cell foam is 3/8" thick and it has this thick, flexible, rubbery, sticky black adhesive coating on one side with a wax paper protector. Man, does it stick. When it's a little warm from the sun, keep your fingers away or you'll be pulling hard. The beauty is two fold: The seal at the top of the foundation stem wall is complete AND it stays where you put it as you roll it out. When it comes time to stand up and set the wall, and you have to pound it this way or that for alignment, the sill sealer will not move....period.
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what did you decide to use for your flooring? I have put the vinyl that looks like wood in several rooms and really do like it. It looks like wood but wears like iron and is impervious to water. The really good vinyl that comes in planks is not cheap but does not have all of the problems associated with wood.

Hey James...
The first floor will remain concrete since it is planned as a garage and workshop. We will pretty up the shop area with an epoxy paint or something similar. The jury is still out on the garage floor; TBD.
The second floor is all living space, and that is where most of my attention (and whatever remaining budget) is focused. You and I PM'd this subject a bit when you were building your castle, so you already know that I am a Woodie. Wherever possible, I prefer the real McCoy. I am right now in the midst of laying in some 800 sq ft of prefinished natural Ash Bellawood hardwood flooring at our primary residence. It is absolutely gorgeous, and at $3 per sq ft, is pretty hard to say "no" to. In my heart of hearts, I would love to have something similar in my pond garage/apt. To tell ya the truth, my ultimate goal would likely be natural hickory. Whoa!

Here is my take on the subject. We put wood on the first floor and have already had to replace one of the boards due to water damage. I still think a cabin should be as low maintenance as possible. Here is the wood floor it does look good. Here is the vinyl. The vinyl is almost indestructable. Can I change my mind later?

They have some really nice stains for concrete these days that might be a good option for your shop area sense I recall it will also be guest bed rooms for a while before it is a work shop area unless you have changed that idea. I'm not sure how well the impregnated stains hold up in a shop area compared to the thick epoxy coatings but it sure looks nice in residenial sittings. A close friend just had a 40x50 shop done in stain and had bowties cut in the main garage door openings and stained them a darker color than the rest and it looks awesome. He has a stable of classic show cars that he likes to display and doesn't do much as far as shop work so as I say not sure of the durability of the stain in a real life shop environment oils, grease, dirt etc........ The stain is easy to apply for a DIY guy like yourself might be worth considering. The color he selected is very similar to the vinyl flooring James posted above.

I think a stain would hold up if you were able to coat it with a clear sealant. Something like Kure-n-Seal maybe?

WARNING If you have installed foam insulation around the perimeter of your slab (typical for a Pex radiant heat installation), Kure-n-seal will melt it down like ice cream on a 98 degree day.

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Fortunately, we performed this test moments before we used a sprayer to apply KnS to our newly poured slab with the foam perimeter. Just as fortunate, I was mindful enough to prepare another contingent application method by bringing a paint roller to the jobsite....Justin Case. Whew!!!
Even the roller requires great care during application. Stay at least 2" + from the insulation and don't lay it on dripping wet when this close. The KnS can easily run over to the melt zone.

We used the Rust-Oleum Epoxy Shield garage coating on our shop floor. It is a two part epoxy that you mix together and then roll it onto your concrete. We put it on fairly thick and then used the "paint speckles" to liven it up. It was easy to apply and looks great. We used the grey epoxy with the blue, dark grey and white paint speckles. With new concrete you don't have any of the surface prep problems associated with old concrete. The product can be purchased at Home Depot.

Am I the only one concerned about the fact that James Holt is performing some strange medical proceedures at his cabin?

Jeff,
We used the same stuff when preparing our first (and current) living quarters. We also used the little plasic chips, but now regret it cuz it makes it difficult to spot creepy crawlies like ticks, spiders, and ants.

True Bski, but what you don't see, you don't know is there.

Well that leaves out stain as an option if it has already been sealed.

Brettski:

That's good to know! Thanks. To be honest, I think I would have found out after it melted. I like the look of the KnS rolled on vs. sprayed.

Yeah, I thought it was kinda weird that my generic 1/2" nap roller core withstood the K & S solvent just fine. I expected it to collapse, also.

We gettin' 2nd floor serious...
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I call my truss guy and lay out a plan to deliver the framing stuff for the 2nd floor. This weekend is going to be opressive heat and humidity, so I'm thinkin' it won't be conducive to high productivity. We do have a limit. With that in mind, I don't want to burn up vacation time, so I wanna keep my plans confined to Sat & Sun. My truss guy says Friday is good, but Sat is gonna be a dely premium. We work out a fair price and I tell him as early as possible on Sat so we can beat the heat. He tells me that the driver should be there about 7:45 or so. Dski and I leave Fri night and stay overnite in our spartan 10 x 12 cabin.
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I wake up with the daylight, or somewhere shortly thereafter. Because we are so deep into the woods, daylight is more like ambiant morning light. Anyway, I pop outta bed at 6:00, drag on my canvas work drawers, and step out into the humid and somewhat cool morning forest air. I'm still half asleep as I saunter over to the building site and my mind slowly shifts into think mode as I start talking to myself to decide where to have the truck roll off the 28' long I-joists and other floor framing stuff. The only sounds are me mumbling and Mother nature's bird and BF chorus. Then, way off in the distance, I hear a faint "beep, beep, beep, beep"...the kind that heavy equipment sounds when backing up. Huh? I wipe the sleep from my eyes and stand there, listening, as it stops and things get quiet....for about 1 minute. Then I can hear the unmistakeable sound of a truck coming thru the woods to our place. Jeesh; it's 6:15 and I haven't even combed my hair or brushed my teeth. Then, this full sized truck and trailer comes winding around the last turn into view. I mean this is a full sized tractor trailer. I had no idea that they would send a rig this big. My mind is doing flip flops trying to figure out how I'm going to not only get him in, but turn him back around to get out. He pulls up and stops and I look at the load on this long truck. He's got everything, including the roof trusses that I did not want yet. Crikeys; only me. I share all my concerns with him as he looks around for travel options. I ask him if that's a 40' trailer. Nope....50'. (rolleyes!) Anyway, he made this rig twist, turn, and jackknife into unbelieveable configurations and flipped it around and backed it into the last 100 feet of driveway. Incredible job of driving....absolutely incredible. To top that off, he was able to split the load and drop the roof trusses in a different area to keep me calmed down that they arrived unannounced.
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It took 1 hour and he was gone at 7:15. I woke up Dski and we started moving the stuff to storage inside the structure. We won't get into it for a few days and rain is forecasted for the next few days. Then, it will be a little bit easier to work with staged on the concrete slab. Dski tore it up. The I-joists weigh 140# each. The LVL's are 240# and 210#. I brought all kinds of contingency equipment to move the stuff, 1 pc at a time. The wheel barrow, a 2 wheeled hand cart, anything to give Donna a chance to handle the load. She shunned it all, put on her leather gloves, and told me to get my ass in gear as she hand carried each and every pc, each of us at each end. Absolutely awesome show of power. That's my girl.