We have quite the diverse collection of pondmeisters, with an equally diverse collection of private waters. The contributions come in from all across North America. Heck, ol' Rad checks in with his magnificent project in Thailand.
So, as I grow through the challenges and rewards of becoming a pondmeister, I continue to look forward. Yes, the vision of a pristine pond setting is coming into focus, but the dream reaches further to the next major goal; human habitat.
Make no mistake, I am definitely not financially equipped to take this substantial step right now, but when the time does come to pull the trigger, I want to have spent countless hours fine-tuning my dream. I've said it before, and I doubt that I'm alone when I say "God willing and my loan officer willing, we will continue to chase this dream". For us, this dream is the pond and woods with a comfortable, somewhat modest weekend retreat that will ultimately serve us as a retirement crib.
OK, so why the ramble? I want to share the current version of Brettski and Donna-ski's dream. It is barely in it's infancy, and I expect it will change over time, but it's a start. Perhaps more important, I want the rest of my comrades on the PB forum to share not only their dream, but even their reality. Those of you in the dream state, show me what YOU think works great with your pond. Throw me a few other opinions from which to draw another point of view. Those of you that have awakened and realized the dream has come true already, show me those magical human habitat charms. I want to see the big stuff and the little stuff. I want to see all the ideas. I recall a thread or two that kind of morph'd to human habitat, but they were focused more on "show me your pond". Yep, I wanna see your pond, but this thread is meant to show me your "human structure" as it relates to your pond.
Tree houses, gazebos, cabins, vacation homes, and magnificent estate homes...go ahead, let us all enjoy your creativity in dreaming and your accomplishments as they exist. Share some cool ideas and help to stimulate the rest of us just entering the REM state.
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This is a stock Garlinghouse plan. Although it needs a tweak and a stretch, I like the simplicity of construction and awesome presentation overlooking a pond.
(dump the playhouse and the greenhouse)

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Nice house and good size. What does it come out to 1600+ sqft? I really like the decks and the loft with the scenic view windows.

I bought my first house this year and had it built by one of my friends. I ended up getting the plans off http://houseplans.com/. It has a great filter that allows you to pull up just the plans that fit your specs. It really helped us weed through the plans.

My Dream was to get a lot with water running through it or on it. Since I could not find that lot I bought a lot and dug a pond this summer.

Now my dream is get a bigger pond and maybe put in a secret escape tunnel so I can convertly escape to the pond.

nice brettski....i like.
we have a what i guess you'd just call a farmhouse. we overlook the ranch pond, not our pond, but can see our pond through the woods. in truth, nobody can see our house except critters in the woods, the cattle, and via direct fly over. we are hidden in the trees sittin on a ledge, so its even hard to get a pic of the house. these are some i've collected over the years.

these 3 taken from downstream ranch pond looking back up at our house and property:







taken behind our house looking back at ranch pond:



winter shots around house:







i miss havin a lot of flat space around house, but on the other hand, you see a lot things down in a steep gulley with water.......like deer, coyote, mountain lions, buzzards and hawks passing by at eye level, you name it. wouldnt change a thing now, when i'm 80, i might feel different :rolleyes:

Brettski, it looks like you are on to another saga. I hope you incorporate this into your pond book. I will get some stuff together and post a little later, great idea.

Mine is a ratty 14 by 70 trailer house with patches on the side where the tree rats have dug holes to nest. Not much to look at but we have electricity (AC!!!) and a well(flush toilets!!!) with a propane tank for cooking. Hey, it's a weekend place and like my Grandma said "It's mine and I like it this way. Go get your own.".

Dave, you have a place to be envied.

Brettski, nice looking plans. However, in the hot climates we have to thing differently. We can't have the glass and 2 stories. Well, some people can. But the point is that it just isn't very energy efficient in a hot climate. The upstairs glassy area would kill the electric bill.

Brettski - That's not a playhouse, it's your shed. A man needs a shed to have a place for the pursuits his better half doesn't share (a man with only a basement does have at least half a chance). A space to leave the half rebuilt lawn mower engines, incomplete sniper rifles, and Great Horned Owl watching magazines laying around without offending the sensibilities of a loving spouse.

DD - I've always felt cathedral ceilinged areas were kind of hard to heat up here.

HEY! ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL! - AATW has what I feel to be a gorgeous house perched above his pond. Post pictures, Scott, or I will be forced to use some of my own diminishing photo space to do so.

Brettski,

The major focal point in the planning of my retirement home is accessibility. This comes by way of seeing the limitations/problems that are evident in my parent's home. When confined to a wheelchair or walker, one quickly sees the hurdles that standard hallways/doorways and stairs present. There is a book entitled, "Building for a Lifetime" by Margaret Wylde. I don't have a copy but check ebay on a regular basis. Also check with the ADA for recommendations.

Just an opinion.

I already live in house that is walking distance of various ponds, but my mind wonders into fantasy land. I don't won't no mansion, but simply a hut on an island. Not necessarily to sit or live in; more for the artful aspect of things.

Something like this........

Russ, I couldn't have said it better. My wife and I are in the process of planning our next (hopefully last) home. A couple of years ago my wife had a knee replaced we are very aware of handicapped accessibility. This means wide hallways and doorways as Russ said. If you think that this may be your retirement home I think that you would be wise to plan for it. Your plan does have the master bedroom and kitchen downstairs this is a plus. I'm not discouraging your plans, like Russ I'm just saying think in terms of 20 years ahead.

It's got a full bath downstairs, too. That's something my wife and I will have to add if we live in our house long enough.

Theo, you see the pic of the hut I posted, Under the hut the pig could root the wet soil and make a mud bath at groundlevel. It would feel like you were at a resort.

Lance, if it weren't for the thatched roof and being up on poles, I'd say that hut came from 1 county South of me. :rolleyes:

Brettski,

Nice house! I really like the rustic looks of it.

My long-term plans were exactly as yours: Build a weekend cabin on the pond and retire to it "some day".

Well, my pond took so long to build that I'm ready to accelerate the process, sell my house, and live on my pond. I long for a simpler life, and don't need a big house any more. I've always loved log cabins, so maybe I'll buy a kit and roll my own. It couldn't be any worse than digging my own pond.

I would want mine real close to the pond, with a full-length porch facing it. The bullfrogs Could sing me to sleep every night.

Good luck with your plans!

Brettski,

Unfortunately you can never think of everything and even if you do, you probably can't incorporate all of it. I enjoy looking at the pond, so I built my house with the front facing the water and the back facing the road. I have lots of windows and a big patio downstairs and a narrow balcony running across the front that also serves as the front porch. I have an inside and an outside kitchen, the outside being downstairs; the close proximity of the pond to the house promotes a lot of outdoor activity. It gets extremely hot here so I tried to take that inconsideration as much as possible by building the house so that the monsoon winds hit the house broadside instead of head on; this also lets me catch more of the breeze. With two yearly monsoons it rains a great deal so I have an open and a glass enclosed patio, both have kitchens and access to a full bath on the ground floor. My house is 2 stories and as close as I am to the pond’s edge, about 10’, affords a great view not only of the pond but the surrounding area as well.
The biggest challenge for me has always been trying to install all of the underground things, water, electric, sewer, etc. before I installed all of the hardscape, before I installed all of the landscape. I do ok with the immediate stuff but, often forget to plan ahead. This time I ran conduit for water and electric all the way around the pond, but forgot outside lighting for the front of the house, I am going to have to tear up something to install a couple of flood lights to shine out over the pond from the house.
Put in plenty of hose bibs, 3 way switches between house and outbuildings, hot water at the outdoor kitchen, foot bath between your beach and house, water and electricity at the dock and other outdoor gathering places. Outdoor shower? Accent and walkway lighting, make sure you can reach the windows for cleaning, is there plenty of air flow around the house, shade, enough, too much?
Your property is more than just a pond like mine so you will have the opportunity to have views of animal activity at places other than the water. I am sure as you and Donna-ski walk the property you will locate the best site for a house pad, I was lucky in that I owned the property for almost a year before I started building and was able to see the changing patterns of the sun and wind.

D.I.E.D....stunning, what a great crib. Thanks for sharing the pics. That is what I want to see...more pics!
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DD1...we sold a 14' x 70' trailer on riverfront property to start this project. Donna-ski called it the mouse house . I know from whence you come. I still miss it, tho. :rolleyes:
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Theo....thanks for providing the cattle-call to AATW. WE NEED PICS!
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Russ and Jeff...one of my best friends, Scott, has been diabetic since the 2nd grade. He knew middle age would become an early battle; triple by-pass and forced retirement from the Carpenter's union at age 47. He just finished his retirement home and spent alot of time doing exactly what you speak of. Thanks for reminding me. Now, SHOW ME SOME COOL PICS OF HOUSES, DECKS, DOCKS, GAZEBOS, OR TREE-FORTS THAT LOOK OVER THE POND!
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Lance...I want your real estate tax bill.
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Bobad...thanks for the props. Expand a little on the log cabin dream. Post a couple of pics of what you're talkin' about. I don't really know dittle about log cabins except I think that they can be a maintenance headache...?
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Rad, Rad, Rad...cough up da pics.
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Hey, Trialsguy....slap up a couple of pics of the cool treehouse. I'm tryin' to get a collection goin' here. If Jeff Gaines and Ahvatsa don't respond, I'll be forced to post pics of their inspirational pond decks. Hey, whatever happened to that guy with the gazebo on the water? Isn't Chip's crib right on the edge of pond, too?

Brettski,
Not much that I have done will fit in your scheme of things. As you know, because it's one of those things that you seem to do so well, it's in the planning. Where you put the house may be all about location, but how you build it is all about planning.
House before glassed in patio
Entry including glassed in patio,there is a kitchen in this room similar to the outdoor one.
Called a sal la, this was where we sat and dreamed before the house, can't count the number of mosquito bites suffered here.
Outdoor kitchen
Partial view from breakfast bar in kitchen
Sort of a green house and staging area for the plants that will be used once the undergrounding and hardscape is installed.
This is still a work in progress, we hope to be finished by mid May.

Rad, you have one very beautiful place to live. Maybe "almost indescribable" is the wording I'm thinking of.

WOW !! Thanks Rad for the pics. Tell us about the flowers in #3 and the bottle and melon in #5 also the distant Mountain in #5. Is the dirt volcanic as it sure looks fertile.

Brettski,

I hear ya on the maintenance. My dream hasn't advanced to the research phase yet, but from what I've heard, the logs can be bought in various states of preservation. Most are treated with borax or borate salts, which prevents fungus and makes them distasteful to insects. A side benefit is that it adds a little bit of fire retardancy. I understand there are other preservatives that work very well, but aren't usually needed except in extreme conditions. (deep in the shade in a rainy climate)

Cypress and cedar logs need less preservative, pine a little more, and hardwood the most. The logs must be kept from constant dampness. A wide roof overhang is fairly important here in the land of 57" annual rainfall. A nice high foundation or short chain wall can help keep the logs up and away from the humid ground area and insects. Of course keeping overhanging branches away is important. That's all I know for now, but if I ever go into full "research mode", I'll be a log cabin encyclopedia.

Brettski, A friend of mine had a log house built for him a couple of years ago. The logs were cut and the house was assembled at the factory then dismantaled and shipped to his plot where it was reassembled. Every part was numbered and the plans specified where each number went. Here is a sample site, they even have laminated logs! http://www.countrylogcabins.com/default.shtm
DD1, thanks.
ewest, bougainvillea, it goes crazy when the rain stops, the 26 oz. bottle is a Thai beer "Archa" $3.50 for a case. That is a watermelon. The dirt is mostly sandy clay, the fertility comes from forty years of rice and water buffalo. Once the rice was harvested, buffalo ate what was left. It is a couple of feet deep. The hill like structure is an outcropping, they are found all around Thailand, the more spectacular are in the sea.

We have been looking at house plans and hope to build soon. Enjoying seeing ideas and pics.
I like the looks of log cabins, but here the exterior has to be treated about every 2 years. Might have to do with all the freezing thawing cycles we go through, lots of time daily. I've noticed that further north where it stays frozen through the winter structures don't appear to age quite as fast.
I'm leaning towards the foam blocks that you fill with concrete. A friend and his dad have them and the ks breeze doesn't seem to penetrate them like a stick house.
Nice places DIED and Rad.

Yes, whole-heartedly agree with zhkent...really enjoying the design ideas and final results. Rad...thanks. I knew it was gorgeous, but you were holdin' back. It's a paradise! You note that there may not be much of what you did that would play for me, but I disagree. It's the subtle details that make me think...stuff like use of native timber for stair railings and balusters. The obvious one is the super-charged beauty of the entire package...inspirational!
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I hope that others will offer the same pictorial input. I remember some pics that Mudcat Joe's ol' pal, Heronblu, offered of a magnificent pond and home package. I would absolutely love to see more of that one, too. Hey, what about Poseiden? Didn't he develop a beautiful crib on a big 'ol pond? C'mon...send me pics and ideas!

Awesome pics, Rad. I'm jealous.

We built our house a year ago. After searching thru thousands of plans and not finding one we liked, we decided to design our own. Borderbund makes some very nice design software. You can stop at any time and get a virtual 3d walkthru of the design. We saved alot of money designing our own vs buying plans and have the satisfaction of a truly custom home we designed.

Great thread Brettski!
I've got hundreds of pics of our land, but there isn't that much interesting to see yet. We do have a plan in mind, with most of the work being done within 3 years.

In 2 years we are going to build the new house. A plan that's around 4000 sq ft is already drawn out, including a sound proof music room in the basement. (I play the banjo as a hobby) In a month I'm going to be building a tree fort in the woods and finishing the dock. The tree fort will be free standing and have a roof. The tree fort is mostly for our kids but we will use it for other things too. I've finally finished repairing the old barn on the property and will be painting it as soon as the weather warms up. It's an old wooden barn and I'm keeping my tractor, implements, lumber, etc in it. We plan to build a concrete floored 50x30 barn sometime between now and the house being built ... it will be used for yard/landscaping equipment, tool storage, a place to work on stuff and a nice guy retreat.

I'm planting 175 trees in a few days and will probably plant a couple hundred more before the weather warms up. We planted 675 trees last year and are in the process of reforesting a few acres with native trees. Last fall I cut out a road in the woods and plan to eventually cut out a walking/jogging trail. I'm planting native edibles (pawpaw, wild plum, persimmon, red mulberry, chokecherry, blackberry & raspberry, pecan, etc.) all along the edge of the woods. My wife wants to do a little orchard so sometime soon we are going to plant peach, apple, and pear trees and several grape trellises. In a month I'll post pics of the finished tree fort and dock. Not much new to show, but here is a pic of the now repaired barn that I need to paint before long.

I think it's time for Bob Lusk to give it up. Come on we want to see more of your masterpiece. Or at least I sure want to see more of your genius. Especially all the rough cedar work and stair case. please please please

RT did you see these earlier pics of Bob's ?

Yes I did, that only makes my mouth water. more more more please Bob.

B-ski you ask for it. Here it is the Rockytoppers personal Dream Home with plans. The house is a 3 story with porches on three sides and a wall of glass facing the pond. The entire inside is open from top to bottom. The inside is one big great room. My website has additional views of the interior and some of my other creations you might get some ideas from there.



First Level


Second Level


Third level


section cut



The following plan is similar to your taste. I just finished this one for a customer a few weeks back. it has a second story loft not shown here.





My current project " the ramblin ranch" as you call it" is also design for a pond site in this case the new 4.5 acre lake I completed last year. It can be seen at this post if any one is interested.
http://www.pondboss.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=20;t=003771;p=2

It is for sale if anyone wants a dream home and wants to become a pond boss in the DFW area. Come and get it It's still fresh on the drawing board.

I PM'd Rocky-T, knowing that he had an impressive arsenal. Thanks, R-T...another jewel on the water.
So, I am real interested in your opinion about living with the large cathedral great room. It is much taller than my dream, but the fundamental design is similar. How do you handle not only hot, but cold weather when controlling interior temps? Also, tell me about those windows; thermal pane, I presume. Who makes 'em? Are the frames aluminum, wood, or hybrid? Do any of them open?

B-ski our house his heated by the sun. We have no heating problems only cooling problems. The walls of windows are at a 90 deg angle to each other. One wall faces due east the other due south. In the summer months the sun is up high in the ski and tracts over the roof line. We get only about 30 minutes of direct sun in the early morning thru the windows. In the winter months the sun drops down on the horizon and we get direct sun almost all day. We open windows to control the heat build up. The entire bottom row of windows open. They are sash frame AL ALY double pain thermal. The Brand is HR they are cheap builder grade double pain thermal clear glass. If you can afford Anderson or Pella go for it. My budget didn't allow it. The biggest mistake was not buying low E tinted windows but again my budget wouldn't let me. The price doubled from plain clear glass. When we first built this wasn't and issue because there were 2 very large trees in front of all this glass that kept the sun in check. They were tall enough not to block the view of the pond. Three years latter they both died, the pond was too close and to much fill dirt. We use a wood stove to heat at night and on cloudy days. The secret to keeping heat at the floor level in this big area is ceiling fans. We have 2 in the living area and 1 on the third floor to keep circulating the heat back down, otherwise it goes to the top and hangs there. Our cooling bills spike in the summer but all and all sense we have little or no heating bills it averages out ok. My monthly average electric bill was 130$. In recent years the price of electricity in Texas has doubled and still going up. We started tinting the windows with film during the last holiday. Only got about half way up so far but it has really control the heat spike and fading issues. Below is a pic I took this morning you can see the difference in the tint and clear glass above. I have researched several options, remote solar screens, remote retract awnings etc. Film was the most affordable and least obstructive to the view which is why I built all the glass to begin with. If the price of electric keeps rising I might be forced to spend the 6 to 10k on one of the other options. Hopefully the trees I’ve planted will grow big enough soon enough to relieve the problem.

When I first joined the message board I received an e-mail from some one in Canada or near there who saw my website. They were building a similar home on a large 20 or 30 acre private lake. We discussed briefly about Thermal Mass energy storage. He was apparently building a basement that would be filled with large stone which would absorb the heat during the day and be released slowly at night to have a more constant temp. It sounds like very interesting technology if you thank you might want to consider it in your project. Here is a link I found that discusses it and other ways to use the suns energy. http://www.epsea.org/mass.html
Perhaps he still lurks here and can chime in and explain more or comment on how it is working out.


Here is my vision or input on your new Dream place. I’m envisioning a fusion of design, a cross breeding between my style home(your style) and Rad’s. Note how Rad’s Home has separate units tied together. Bob Lusk has done the same thing tying his garage to the main house via the breeze way. I plan to do this to mine in the future. When you tie small structures together the over all appearance of size of the structure is magnified. I’m talking curb appeal. It is also very functional. I also recommend porches as many as you can dream in and afford, this really controls heating issues. That’s why all the old homes before the days of central air had them. Older homes were also designed to ventilate thus the windows that open above the door ways and attic fans.

Another interesting design to consider is the dog run or dog trot cabin with the breeze way thru the middle. This acts like an air foil because as air flows thru the middle opening it is faster than on the sides where the air is forced over the roof line it creates a pressure differential that draws air thru the windows of the structure.

I can only assume that you have a work shop in your plans at LNP. If not your fooling your self you need one with that much land and face it your journey has just began. The projects they will never end and the power tools will increase in quantity on hand. If a shop is in the works you might plan it into the overall dream palace. Sense it will be a while before you build the big house you might start with the shop first and use it as living quarters until you decide to build.

Remember start the dream small it will grow. My house started as the detached shop it was to be a garage apartment 24 x 32 until we built the main house. I laid it out and begin to thank If I had porches on here that’s all the room me and the boss really need. Then If I had glass on this wall wow what a view. Then wow if I pitch the roof up I can fit in 3 stories. Well you get the point. The shop turned into the main house so be careful the dreams are endless. Last ramblin tip, consider spaces that have multiple usage i.e the rambling ranch has a carpot that will also serve as a covered patio for entertainment with a view of the pond. Dream on my friend....

Bravo, Rockytopper...BRAVO!!
You da man, Rocky-T. What a great architecture-101 and 102 class, PB style. You have given me many facets to consider. Some have already crossed my mind, but even these have just been re-introduced with a different point of view. Thank you, sir.
This last pic is spectacular. What did you use as the roof framing members and at what centers? They must be 30 feet long. Is the interior super-insulated...I presume so. Is that cedar or pine T & G gracing the interior cathedral?

2x6, 16" oc, 20 ft long,effective span 7',12x12 pitch,max width of structure using 20' rafter each side(biggest standard lumber (cheaper) 28' wide.

The Ship is 28ft wide, 30 ft high at the mask and 34 ft long excluding porches and point. She's 1750 sq ft living on the tax roll. Shell will accomindate more than 3500 sq ft if one desires it. I have several ideas, and spin offs with in this egg shell..

Western Red cedar there is no substitute.

masonary will cut the insurance almost 1/2.

The Breeding has begun....

May I present The RAD..ical LNP Headquaters



SECOND LEVEL


FIRST LEVEL




Add the Breezeway to the back connect the shop (DOG TROT)....

B-ski Enjoy I found this old concept in the closet.

i really like the extended roof line forming the all around porch.....i'm sure the wasps will like it too.....do you have such issues rockytopper?

That's purty slick, Rocky-T. I'll tell ya what jumps out as meeting critical needs. A simple gable roof design and plenty of covered outdoor space. Donna-ski and I are major league sun-avoiders whenever practicable. The roof slope is strong enough, but not too steep so that it could be walked on during construction...I like that too.
I really like the fundamentals. That's one cool closet you got yourself. I definitely plan on a 9' deep basement, too. That might be a problem if we want windows/wells in the concrete walls...?

Died I have wasp, redhornets, awesome dirt dopper nest, but most of all spiders love the rough cedar, I name them and feed grasshoppers too..em.

Brettski, Mr. lusk was kind enough to put me in contact with his ecoblock builder, I picked his brain abit,very nice guy. Sounds like the way to go for me.

yup, us too....lots o critters....

i really like that covered second story deck too, what a great place to watch thunderstorms.

My daughter has Sims walking around inside a house just like that one. She never let's them sleep or go to the bathroom.

ok, i'll be the straight man....help me out on that one theo .....

The Sims are a series of PC games where you can simulate people and their houses, personalities, pets, love lives, and more. Some of the cutaway house visuals look similar to RT's CAD plans.

Hey, I don't wanna forget about the ever-so-important smaller human habitat structures that allow enjoyment of other areas of the pond. I shouted out for a couple of the brethren to share their dock structure accomplishments to no avail. I publicly request permission to post:
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Jeff Gaines' private home of reflection:

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Ahvatsa's pond outlook:

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...both above projects providing the inspiration for our own future home of pond-contemplation :

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Hey Ahvatsa...ya got any updated pics?
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Again, the request...any other ideas that can be collected here? Where are those gazebos and treehouses?

Never thought of a dock as a patio. I just thought it was a place to fish and jump in the boat.

I Know, I know it needs some work



ok this one is complete

The dock is on the right next to boat launch .

I want to use what you're using to clear up your water.

It's good stuff

here is a view of the lake from the porch

Whoa, Rockytopper...If Donna-ski sees this stuff, I'm gonna have to give up my last 2 nickels. Although a bit OTT-blue, it does look kinda slick. Dontcha think the red is a bit much, tho? Maybe it's me...?

Brettski,
My next house on a pond, ho ho, will be at least on a peninsula, but hopefully an island. Had I enough room this time I would have done it. I can't tell you how much pleasure is derived from being able to sit and watch what is happening, morning, noon and night. The closer the better. Try one of those ranch style, then wrap it around the edge of the pond with every room having a view. There is so much going on that it can be almost debilitating. If I didn't have to get up to get another cold beer I could waste my whole day sitting and watching.

Love the designs RockyTopper. We bought our house 'used and abused' and have worked on it every day since. This summer we did some exterior work. We added the front covered porch, new siding, all new windows. There are still a couple of things outside to do (a little painting, a little staining, some stone work), but it is coming along.











Brettski: We went with Anderson windows, Low-E Glass (not tinted) to replace the existing Anderson windows that were about 25 years old. We have noticed a difference and are pretty happy. Heating and cooling isn't too bad. We are not happy with our Anderson Doors, but that has more to do with the locking mechanisms.

We heat with an oil hot water system that I have connected to a hot water boiler. We burn wood all winter and it keeps the house very warm. You'll have firewood with all of that property, but don't know how you will feel about all of the work. It is rewarding for me to burn wood and 'stick it to the Man' by saving some cabbage. Our roof is very steep, and as such I added a permanent ladder to access the chimney. I would seriously consider an outside boiler if you are interested in wood heat. Use a heat pump along with the central air unit to use when the weather is chilly enough for heat but not hot enough for the wood or oil. Perhaps you may go with Propane.

Our house used to be covered in T-111 siding. The woodpeckers, carpenter bees, and flying squirrels all love T-111 and had torn it up. We replaced it with Cement Board Siding (Certainteed) that we stained in our barn and applied over Tyvek wrap over the T-111 siding. This Cement Siding can be applied over masonry (I think). I know someone who is building concrete, cast in place homes and I was pretty sure he told me they were using this board.

If I was building a house from new, I would make sure to run extra drains around the basement to protect from water infiltration, pipe all of that along with all of the roof drains to a footer drain and run it well away from the house.

I like RockyToppers design and would be sure to add ceiling fans on that porch for those summer evenings.

Our new front porch was put up by some local Amish folks who are just a blast to work with. This particular family builds mortice and tenon homes and buildings. The buildings are built in their barn (shop) and trucked to the site. They travel during summer months to Maine where they have built some amazing island homes in a few days to a week. Just stunning.

I would have chosen a metal roof if the cost was a little closer to the comp shingle. With our steep roof, though, the shingles should outlast a typical 30 year shingle.

I would avoild any type of Drive-It over wood or masonry. Some woodpeckers love it.

I hope this helps in some way or another. I have read every one of your posts and just love tracking the progress.

Victor, Very nice place congrats.
I'm a fan of natural Red cedar. You have stained the concrete Board and in the photo's it looks very natural & close to the real thing.It will probably out last cedar and be less of a fire hazard. It's much cheaper too. Again you have a very nice place.

I'm envious of you guys that live in the part of the USA and have access to larger timber beams like the Amish use for construction. They are hard to come by and very expensive to ship down in these parts. I have to use lam beams and wrap them, not near as nice as the real thing.

and B-ski you thought my roof was steep.

Nice woodland castle, Victor...very nice, indeed.
I have Andersen low-E windows throughout our principal residence. They are alum-clad exterior and stained/polyurethane pine interior. The home is a modular cape cod, so it's real "tight". Donna-ski and I converted the upstairs to living space, so I did my standard over-engineer job on pretty much everything....including the insulation and vapor barrier. We installed the vapor barrier between the heated living space and the insulation so tight that it's like a submarine. The entire area is extremely energy efficient, but it has a drawback. Now, any humidity during extreme cold vaporizes on the windows as sweat. The sweat eventually gets into the stiles and rails of sash frame and compromise my perfect finish; likely the integrity to a degree, also. My point: next crib may very likely be windows constructed from plastic. In fact, I seem to remember seeing a TOH episode where they went to a name brand window factory for a TV tour. I remember a plastic window that is now manufactured to faux wood finishes....this makes real good sense to me. The additional expense could easily be worth it. We had a 72" Andersen sliding patio door, same compostion. It was unacceptably drafty. The factory gave me credit to buy up to the hinged french door units. Absolutely airtight, but the plastic coated exterior failed in a few places after about 4 years, so a new n/c set is setting in the basement, waitin' for me to find the time.
I must have a maintenance-free exterior on a pond house, or at least a very large portion of it. That, and yes, we have plenty of WP's. I foresee 1/2" OSB sheathing + caulk at the seams (modular home trick) + Tyvek. I really think that a custom color vinyl siding will take a priority in design. I even looked at the new vinyl siding that looks like logs, but it's expensive and might look even cheesier after they age. log siding link
We used to be houseboaters on a large lake in central Illinois, Lake Shelbyville. Also set in Amish country. A local Amish family did some pretty intricate canvas work for us. The same thing; they come out and take a bunch of measurements, go home to the gas fired equipment shop, crank it out, and return to install. It fits like a glove...amazing quality and craftsmanship.
Metal roof is gonna be a must. I learned with the last weekend crib that we cashed in to move on this new project. Asphalt shingles along a river. The humidity laughs at zinc roof strips.
I'm not sure I understand please expand.
Thanks for the kudos on our project. You deserve the same rite bakatcha for the restoration job ya did with your crib. Thanks for sharing. Any cool pics of the interior?

Thanks for the nice comments, guys. It has taken us twelve years to get to this point and has been anything but easy. Our proposed pond project is lining up to be just as daunting, but it wouldn't be nearly as rewarding if it was easy.

I will work on some interior photos. Hopefully they will help you as you plan your next step.

As for the exterior finish. The Certainteed siding is supposed to have a twelve year finish guarantee. Even when you are right up on it you struggle to determine if it is wood or not. The Amish fellas were stunned. I will try to get a close-up photo.

Anyway, the Dryvit and other EIFS have been notorious for causing wood rot on frame structures. There are several causes, most of which are improper installation of flashing or improper maintenance that allows water to get behind the finish. Over masonry, it is still susceptible to woodpecker damage. For some reason, some woodpeckers will start to peck at the finish and just go to town.

It is funny how you 'flatlanders' say how much you like the woods, big lumber and the mountains and us 'mountain folk' wish we had some flat open areas with clay to put a pond.

Victor,

Your home is amazing!!

I'm loving the exterior siding and trying to understand what it is and how you did it.

At first, I just thought it was freshly stained real wood. But you said it wasn't. You mentioned cement siding, so now I'm thinking it's Hardi boards that are used in lap siding. Am I close?

If so, how did you get that color?

Again, congratulations on a beautiful home!!

Eddie

Hey guys. Thanks for all of the good words. We are very proud of the place. (Hope to be proud of our pond some day soon, too.)

We are very happy so far with the cement siding. It arrived chalky white and we used the same stain that the factory uses. We stained every board with an airless sprayer, two coats. Here are some close-ups of the material. It is then applied just like lap siding. You can buy it in different sizes depending on how much reveal you want. Check out Certainteed.com and go to the Homeowner section, then cement siding.





Hopefully you can see the texture. For giggles I wanted to post our house Circa 1994 when we bought it.

Here are some inside pics, Brettski:

Downstairs looking up from living room:





Looking into dining room:





Kitchen and breakfast area:





Upstairs looking down on living room:



And upstairs looking back toward the rear of the house:


We added the living area on the second floor where the TV is during the remodeling before we moved in. It was a good use of the open space that existed and still left us with an open ceiling. It is a great place to hang out. We stoned the chiney inside and added a ventless fireplace with propane logs.

Hard-wired smoke and heat detectors are a must. If I was building new it would have a residential sprinkler system.

The big vent at the top of the ceiling is great for re-circulating hot air back through the air conditioning vents.

I hope they can help you with some ideas for the Nature Preserve Lodge.

Victor, I am impressed all to be damned. What a major exterior transition from Circa 1994. I trust that the interior went thru similar changes. You should be very proud.
Now, a few more questions:
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I am very interested in the siding. I am pretty familiar with the cementitious products. Is it your expectations that this should be pretty much maint-free for the presumed life of 10-12 years on the stain? What then? Power wash and re-stain?
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How did you handle building corners? The same product in 1-by stock, then butt the ends of the siding against it and caulk?
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How did you handle the windows? They appear to be the method I describe in above question.
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What type of caulk?
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The exterior stone work....real or faux?
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Now, the interior. Is the re-brick of the stone fireplace done with real or faux? It looks great.
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Ceiling looks like t&g pine, stained and poly'd...correct?
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The name of the handsome four-legged beast? She (?) is PB famous!
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I gotta know...how much of this is YOUR sweat equity? It's amazing.

My dogs are PB Famous? I better get them agents and maybe they can make back some of the money they have cost me over the years...Ugh. There are 4 - Eskimo, Nala (red one), Shadow, and Mara. Thanks for asking. They are all anxiously awaiting a pond and tired of all of the planning.

We were told that the siding is maintenance-free for at least 12 years when stained by the factory. We used the same stain and put on two coats, so it should be the same. We were also told that it would not need to be pressure washed, just re-stained. We'll find out. The most attractive feature was that the flying squirrels and carpenter bees cannot chew through it. Hopefully the finish outlasts 12 years. The product itself could go fifty or more, although not necessarily guaranteed. Again, time will tell.

The facia and soffitt are the same material as the siding boards, just trimmed to fit. The vented soffitt is actually a Hardy product since the Certainteed vented soffitt was not available on the East Coast last year. We looked at both James Hardy and Certainteed and preferred the Certainteed finish.

The corners and window trim are a composite product that seems to be more fibrous than concrete. You are correct. They were trimmed out with these boards and then caulked. All nails are stainless steel. The caulking is a standard color purchased from a specialty building supply lumber yard. In fact it is a standard color. We looked at another home done with the same material and that person used a custom blended caulk. Ours actually matched OK. I am anxious to see how it lasts.

Here is a picture of the back where we used the same product but in cedar shakes. It is just another finish option.



The interior stone work is real. It was only patially finished when we bought the home, so we removed the existing stone and hired a stone mason to build it from the ground up. They were thrilled to have inside work and gave us a good break on the price. They used stone off the property which was great. We picked it and stacked it and they used it.

The exterior stone is faux. We couldn't be more disappointed in that project. That is an entire story, but suffice to say you should look at more than just one job that a prospective contractor has done. I learned a lot from this process.

The ceiling was stained, we put on the polyurethane. It is just t&g pine.

We (me, wife, family and friends) did everything except the interior stone and re-finishing of the wood floors. It was almost two years before we could move in, MUCH sweat, some blood, a couple of tears (not me of course).

As for the most recent outside work...we decided to use the pen and the bank for much of it. It was tough at first, but in retrospect it would have taken me too much time, been too stressful on us, etc. We were blessed to have two workers who were consistent, trustworthy, qualified, and concientious. They played with the dogs during days where we were gone. They were just great. I have learned that the cheapest is not always the best.

Hi Victor,

You said, "It arrived chalky white and we used the same stain that the factory uses. We stained every board with an airless sprayer, two coats."

What was the stain that you used, and where did you get it?

I can't find it on the Certanteed website and you don't mention it in your posts? I'm very interested in trying to do this myself and would like to get the same stain you used.

Your home is very impressive and the way you did the exterior is the best I've ever seen. My wife and I like it ALLOT!!!!

Thanks,
Eddie

The stain is Mason's Select Wood Perfect Series Semi-Transparent Coating, 6703 Redwood. Our first shipment was from a local lumber yard. They needed eight weeks to get it. Then we ran out, so I had to get it quick. I went on line to an internet paint store and bought another 5-gallons. Then I needed one more gallon and found that Sherwin Willilams could get it, but only four cans at a time.

It is expensive. I think we used six or seven, five-gallon buckets. We chose to stain it ourselves because our builder said it was almost twice as expensive with a factory finish. I didn't ask for proof but wanted to after we started the project. It takes a while to get into a rhythm. We would spray four at a time, then lay them out on the barn floor, then repeat until the entire first and second floors of the barn were covered. Then we would give it a day to dry and put the second coat on.

I would check the price of pre-finished first, calculate how much stain you will need to buy, and then decide. If you do calculate it, don't tell me I wasted my time, OK? It really sucked and my wife will kill me.

We have three one-gallon cans left if you are interested. The one-gallon cans were $30 each, but I can make some sort of PB deal.

The caulking is OSI ProSeries VOC window, siding, and roof sealant. Color: Rustic Red

Victor,

Thank you for the information. It's a little overwhelming. Especially the $30 a gallon part. YIKES!!!!!

Did you try to experiment with any wood or concrete stains?

I have quite a colection of wood stains and oils that I'm gonna play with this weekend. It's just for fun right now, but I'm also very curious.

Thank you,
Eddie

Brettski,
This pic was taken today. The house is about 2 months from being finished. Obviously, this is a full-time residence. Hopefully, it will make me feel like I'm on vacation, but right now, it's killin' me.

That looks like quite a substantial abode.

Whoever lives there must be excited to the core about the pond filling up.

...another stunning pond scene. That is absolutely palacial, Jersey! Wow, what a crib...thanks for sharing. The hill you're on is perfect for the setting. How did you come upon this entire project?

Dang Jersey, that is absolutely beautiful!

Very nice Jersey, very nice indeed!

In reference to your last photo, where, in relation to the "dock", will full pool level of the pond be?

Sunil, you're a regular riot.

We were actually looking for 5 acres somewhere outside of town. My wife came across this 67 acres for $10k/ac, so 3 of us went in thirds, agreeing on the lake up front. I knew it was going to be a great pond site, but I figured it to have more fall across the property than it did. So we had to dig more dirt out.

My budget on the house is $360k. I'll go over by a bit.

Well Jersey, I didn't want to "out" you before you were ready.

Your place is beautiful. I would say that the house itself does look like more that what you budgeted....maybe even doubled.

I have often wondered why I couldn't afford a place like that...then I remembered; wine, women and song. The rest I just squandered.

Now that's funny right there.

** THIS IS A LIMITED TIME OFFER **
I'll kill this post after it expires.
Buy.com has a deal that is pretty tuff to beat. I have never used any of the architectural design software, so I have no idea what to really expect. I'll bet Rockytopper can ching in some advice. Anyway, I'm willing to give it a try for $0.
Floor Plan 3D planning software

Victor,

I had a scrap piece of Hardi Board that I wanted to experiment on. I took six differnt cans of Minwax wood stain that I have on my shelf and put it on the Hardi Board. I put on one coat and then a stip of green paint. The green matches my metal roof and should give me an idea of how it will look with trim paint and a metal roof.

It's only one coat, so I expect some fading. The next time I have to stain something, I'll put a second coat on half of it to compare the difference.

It's been sitting outside on the roof of a parts car that I'm playing around with. It's been exposed to the elements for a month now with no noticible change. I've got a year or two until I build my cabin, so there is plenty of time to see how this works out.

Thanks for the idea, I love the way your home turned out and I'm exited about the possiblities of using Hardi Boards that will look like real wood.

Eddie

Eddie, I like your testing idea. My neighbor is trying this, too, but in addition to the light exposure he is walking on it every day in and out of their home! It is still holding up. I hate to get too excited about it, but would LOVE to find out that this color and product will last a long, long time.

We took a little different approach in choosing a home to build. We searched for plans from the inside out, looking at floorplans before looking at the outside since you spend most of your time looking out rather than looking in. We loosely based our house off of these plans.
http://www.dreamhomesource.com/Plan.asp?...=10&RecordN= 18 The floorplan had several things we desired: 2 story home, 1st floor master sweet, floorplan allowing easy circulation, 2 story family room w/loft, lots of windows, and energy efficient. My wife wanted formal living and dining rooms and I wanted a beakfast nook just off the kitchen. It was also important that the downstairs half bath was located so you couldn't hear someone doing their business while in the dining or family room. I also wanted covered porches because of many fond memories of sitting in the swing with my grandparents on their old porch. We live in a farming community so the farmhouse exterior seemed logical. I wanted low maintenance so everything is concrete, vinyl and aluminum. My wife took a risk with the red siding but it seemed to fit in nicely.

We're pretty happy with how it turned out and our utilities only run about $120/month on average even with 6 exterior doors and 32 windows. The cost to build the house and pond including some minimal landscaping came in under our budget of $300K. My only regret is not building a bigger pond!

BTW We love our hardwood and tile floors, about 1500sqft worth. They are tough and super easy to clean. Our oak floors have an aluminum oxide finish, this stuff is as tough as nails and a must if you have dogs.

B-ski, sorry for the late response I just ran across your post. Have you had a chance to use the floor plan software yet? I purchased Punch professional Home design suite about 5 years ago. I see they have more upgraded packages these days. They appear to be the same as the one you have mentioned. The one I have has landscape design included. I didn't find much use for it because of it's limitations but it is defiantly a good tool to start your basic floor plan. If you have enough time you can create the entire interior and then render a 3d photo of it. The landscape package allows you to lay out a plan view and pick out the species of plants and pick the age of plants you want. You can actually see what it would look like when planted, then 10 years down the road.

http://www.punchsoftware.com/full_store.html

I don't use it for doing real jobs but its fun to play with. I'm a mechanical guy so even the cad programs I use want compare to the architectural programs that Architects use for residential design. Another words I have to do extra hand work that is automated in the architectural programs.
Have fun with it.

B-ski here is a picture of our house during construction with the large trees still alive. It really was heart breakeing when we lost them. The second picture is current with the trees we planted in a effort to replace them.




It should also be noted that the house is now 10 years old. The cedar has started to weather. We haven't decided if we are going to let it grayout naturally or restain. If you can live with weathered look of cedar it is basically maintainance free.

Rocky-T,
Man, learning to use new programs can be daunting. It is a very cool program for design, but I am taking it slow; the learning curve will take some time. They have an on-line forum and I have already posted a question about creating a window that is not in their database. I'ts been a week and no response yet (this would never happen on the PB forum!). It does have the ability to create the landscaping; not sure about projecting maturity. It does have all the 3-D stuff and it can convert views to "photo-realistic". Anyway, I'm gonna try to stick with it and learn a little at a time. Lord knows I won't be breaking ground for another house before I can master the program to design it. At this moment, time is definitely on my side.
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Both pics above are exceptional, but #2 wins for the total package. I love cedar too, but the maintenance to keep the "look" is a killer. Did you find that the sheltered areas under the roof overhang weathered much better and are less faded?

The porch areas have little if any weathering. They still look as good as the day we stained them. We used a transparent stain with cedar color when we did it to keep the natural look as much as we could.
We learned when we built the storage house the easiest way to appy the stain was to use a pump sprayer and follow with a brush to catch the runs. It covers a lot of area very fast.

Good luck with the design tool I couldn't ever make mine draw a Rap around porch, I lost interest and gave up on it.

Wow, I almost forgot.....
Go back to the previous page and head down to the country beauty at the page bottom.
Ryan...that is one beautiful crib. I know I have seen some of the other pics from the backside when you illustrated some of your pond stuff. The front is, indeed, an impressive country palace. Thanks for adding it to this thread!

...time to wake this thread back up and try to add some new players. Jim's Place, Tim Sanders, Theo, & Eric in TN have added some very creative human habitat to their ponds and sites...I sure hope I can entice them to post pics & summaries here, along with links to the thread details. I'm still waitin' & hopin' for all the other HH projects goin' on out there...big, small, and creative.
I'll kick it back off with the completion of our pondsite viewing platform; a 14' x 16' deck with 4' x 30' access dock. The entire over-detailed thread (yeah, another B-ski specialty) resides here . The cliff note pics are here:
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Bski quite putting salt in my wounds. Your mean.

Brettski asked me to link our treehouse project to this thread. The treehouse thread has more info on this project.

My children and I decided to build a treehouse in a huge beech tree that is situated in the middle of our pond site. We hated to see the tree just pushed over and burned, so before the pond is built we cut the top out of the tree (to keep the wind from blowing the dead trunk over) and built a 12'x12' platform supported solely by the trunk of the tree. We have a plywood floor, trapdoor to a ladder, and a railing around the edge. We want to add some type of shade/roof but haven't decided on this yet. We also plan to have some kind of floating platform at the bottom of the trapdoor ladder so that you can step out of boat onto a landing before climbing the ladder.


We are waiting now on the pond construction and look forward to seeing our treehouse sitting in the middle of a 2-3 acre pond nestled down in a valley surrounded by hills and trees (at least that's our vision). We hope to see it being used for picnics, swimming, fishing, mock battles, early morning quiet times, sunset watching, and meaningful conversations. We're trying not to get too attached to it since we know someday it will likely be fish structure, but we're hoping for several years of enjoyment.

Okay, Brettski. The things we'll do for our Man of Steel.

I built a 6'x8' storage shed, weatherproof and (mouse-sized & up) vermin proof, on the bank of my pond to hold fishing stuff and my pond-side electrical system (circuit breaker panel, air pump, refrigerator, etc.). The shed utilizes basic pole-barn contruction methods, with minor modifications (tonque & groove flooring) and simplifications (no soffet or gutters/downspouts).

A 10'by20' deck, attached to the pond-side of the shed, is planned but not scheduled. I will post info on it when I build it.

I have a complete set of construction photos, taken at 1/2 day or less intervals, and material price summary available. If anyone is interested, let me know and I can E-Mail the stuff to you. See I built an Oarhouse ...

BSKI it's all your fault I can't stop. Here is the final ramblin ranch design(I think) for the pond property. I couldn't get the Radical LNP off my mind. It breed with the ramlin ranch and a new creature was born.

This is a pic looking from the drive across the lake from the dam.


Here is closeup view of the structure


It features a 16 x 48 porch lake side with a 16x16 deck above. I have incorporated 2 sets of these bad boys http://www.jeld-wen.com/exteriordoors/wood/iwp/index.cfm/collection_id/99 leading from the living area to the huge porch. I may also change the fire place to double as an exterior unit as well. Enjoy.

Hoky smokes, Rocky-T...are you serious about this one?
Have you toyed with enlarging the roof dormers just a wee bit? I'm just curious what it would look like bringing them out of that expansive roof mass a little more.
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man...you've been busy.

I did that once, had five dormers and extended all from the out side wall to the ridge, it was amazing how much extra room the small addition provided.

like this?

BAM!

I like the bigger dormers, but it kinda takes away from the granduer of the entry, I'll need to ponder for a while on this one.

Better yet I'll let the proud new owners decide what they want.

Pull the entrance roof out about 6 - 8' directly away from the house and support the end on larger verts (cedar logs?)...kind of an entrance canopy.

Rockytopper,
What program are you using to build your home and then add them to a picture. Very nice job!

opps, nevermind I started over on the thread and found my answer.

Trail, I'm using a 3d cad program for the design. Unless your in the business believe me you can't afford it, As for adding to a picture I'm using powerpoint & paint both microsoft office products. If you look above brettski & I discuss some DIY software you can purchase for less than 100$ it will allow you to design the house and render landcape around it in a 3D pic also. It has limits that's why I don't use it even thou I have it.

Bski stop it, quite pushing me over board, I've got to stop somewhere.

I'll run with your idea after I finsh the zero edge pool I'm adding to the front between house and pond. For now I have to go weld on my entrance.....

I am happy with google sketch up but havent figured out how to post it as a picture. I bet I can post it in paint or even photo shop so I can show my room add on that I have just started

trail any thing you have on your screen "any program doesn't matter" you can hit the screen print key on your pc and then open power point and right click and paste. You can then crop the picture how you like and right click on it and do a picture save as. Jpg or other formats. good luck

...here we go again
I am so tired of hauling tools (and pretty much everything) that I need for a day of productivity at the project. Make a list of what I need a few days before, load it all up the night before, b**ch and moan when I get there and I forgot that one stupid little tool that would make all the difference. Oh yeah, then unload it all when I get back home. D-ski got tired of my remark "dang, I need that pry bar...would you go to the shed and..." Ooops, no shed...yet.
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#3 rebar at 12" o.c. ea way. 2 x 6 forms, slab varies 6" - 8" I thought about Eric in New York. He's the pondmeister that digs his ponds with a shovel and wheelbarrow, right? A little shovel work, cutting back the grade. I kneel and praise the guy that can do that stuff all day, let alone a pond.
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10' x 12' slab. This pic is right after I sprinkled it with water in preparation for the plastic cover to cure.
I actually took out a permit about 2 months ago for a 16' x 20' shed , but figgered I needed to start small to prepare for those bigger jobs down the road. This is the first time I have actually done flat work that required a decent finish. Boy, I learned alot. Boy, I ache alot. Turned out OK. We located it, tucked into a notch in the woods, about 100 feet from the new dock/deck. A good place to store some nicer chairs and stuff for R & R.

Watcha gonna put up?

2 x 4 frame construction; 8' high walls; 7' wide metal-panel overhead (garage style)door; 32" wide steel service door with window; single or double hung vinyl window on opposite wall from service door; vinyl siding; 6-12 sheathed roof finished with snap-lock metal roofing panels. Oh yeah...insulated w/drywall and a porta potti before we get poison ivy you-know-where.

b'ski, nice job.

dont know if you have this in yer thoughts, but if you put a row of cinder block around perimeter and build yer shed walls off those you significantly raise the level of wood from ground level helping to keep bugs, moisture etc. from messing with siding. extend those bolts through the cinder blocks, mortar in the cinder blocks, and away you go. thats what i did on my shed (w/ neighbors help), and really glad i did it.

No bidet?

Nice looking spot. What you going to keep in it?

i hope nothin too valuable......now you'll have somethin for yocals to mess with when yer not there.....

I need a place for Dwight to stay when he visits.
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Do badgers need a bidet? Do badgers know how to use a bidet?

Badgers don't need no steenkin' bidet!

Is that a picture of Dwight?

Whoa, now. I thought Bremer was a Golden Gopher. The Big Ten always confuciouses me.

In the woods?

Bski ever time you whine about being broke a new structure pops up. What gives?

I feel your pain, I think all of us that have property away from town and have built something have experienced the O CRAP I forgot that weve got to go back to town. It got so bad when I was building our house that I started buying 2 of everything just in case I didn't count right or missed one. The extras are still in the shop.

There's gonna be a whole bunch of disappointed D-ski nieces and nephews when she goes to fetch up her Christmas club savings for gifts.
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(kidding...mostly)
Actually, we are operating hand-to-mouth. We haven't taken a vacation in some 5 years, but we count our blessings to be able to do this kinda stuff as our reward.

Where'd you get that picture of Sam Kinneson?

I have never seen the guv in that kind of hat !!

Just tell the youngsters that this year you are going to give them a gift that will enable them to feed themselves for their entire lifetime. Then set up a training day at your pond in which you teach them to fish.

Reflections

Eric, it can't be me. It's snowing there.

Rocky-T
You DO know how blessed you are....right?
awesome...gorgeous.

...because Mr Lusk is too humble.
Please allow me to link Lusk Lodge, two

Well, the exterior of the new shed is complete...finally. The first pics of the slab pour are on the previous page of this thread, near the bottom. Hopefully, this will be our last project that relies on my middle-aged memory to remember each and every tool I'm gonna need to pack for that day-trip to work on it. This should give me a base to start from and gimme a place to store some stuff.
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BEFORE

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AFTER

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Next step is to wire it for power and pipe it for LPG. Then insulation and drywall. We already coated the floor with Epoxy paint.
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Here is a link to the boring construction details

Looks real nice, Bski. As we have come to expect from you, based on previous performance.

Be sure and get the bidet in before Bruce comes to visit.

That is a nice building B'ski. Very well done. This winter when it snows get a pic with a candle in the window . What about the inside? Shelving , tool peg boards or other storage systems?

Bruce is welcome to use the porta-bidet with manual pump. For those really tuff jobs, he can use the same 5 acre bidet that I have been using all summer. Watch out for Gigantor, the curious crayfish.
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Ewest asks:

This tiny cabin is planned for both tool and human habitation. I hope to be able to use it (on occassion) for over-nighters. I have to be very careful in planning the most efficient use of every cubic foot. More importantly, I have to work in some creative installation of human comforts to woo my hard-workin' wifey into staying also.

Another typical outstanding project from B'ski. Thanks for the construction detail link. I am curious as to the type/brand of siding and roofing material. I have been disappointed while looking at the local big box stores, HD and Lowes.
Please tell where you ordered the factory cut roofing and details of the vinyl siding.

Thanks again for the prop's, guys.
Burger,
I don't know what kind of exposure Menards has in your 'hood, but they are my home improvement store of choice. Yeah, we have Homey and Lowes, but Menards almost always has the price and their service blows the rest of 'em away.
I don't know the exact history (and not going to google it), but I believe John Menard started making metal buildings out of Eau Claire WI. Then he started expanding to the point that their larger mega home-centers have appliances and a food section (?!?) I think they also own a green treating plant for their treated lumber.
Their metal roofing and trusses that I use get shipped to the store from Midwest Manufacturing. WRT vinyl siding, I think that choosing that stuff ranks right up there with picking out the right bed mattress. The stuff I used is branded Timber Ridge . It's .046" thick and has a heavier hem at the nailing point. I like it; not too flimsy. They also have some strking premium colors; a few choices above the standard variations of tan, clay, gray, and white. All the soffit stuff is generic; not sure the name or brand (might be Abtco...?).

No Menards' down south. It they were, they would run the others out of biz. Sad business models, they are.

Brettski, you have drive & determination far, far beyond that of mere mortal man!

I look forward to your first posting of an overnighter at your sanctuary.

QUOTE "I look forward to your first posting of an overnighter at your sanctuary"

He don't camp. He's afraid of the woods & critters getten him. God only knows why a fellow that is afraid of the woods and critters wood build a nature perserve.

rt, Brettski has told me why he does not do the overnight gigs at his sanctuary.

It has something to do with a real bad chipmunk experience that he is hesitant to talk about. You know...brings up too many bad memories.

Actually, it was snipe. I held that bag in the darkness of the nort woods of Wisconsin for over 4 hours. Finally, when it became evident that nothing was going to come out of the hole, I grabbed my trenching shovel and went in after them. I got about 10 scoops of sand out when when all hell broke loose and this came flying out!

crikees, got me again!!!

Where is Dwight when you need him ? Badger , Badger ....

There is nothing wrong with a healthy respect for wild critters. I have a Mountain Hare that patrols my property that has a serious attitude problem. I have learned to show respect for this menacing bunny and therefore give him a wide berth...

JHAP i bet yer house is a fun stop for the kids on halloween.

I would be if it wasn't for the unfortunate Halloween incident of 1998. Because of circumstances that I was blamed for the town council has banned me from displaying any and all Halloween decorations. Apparently causing a third grade class to exhibit symptoms of "mass hesteria" and causing many students to "soil their Halloween costumes" is looked down upon by our townsfolk. Sheesh, some people have no sense of humor.

Victor,

I've found that Minwax makes a product called Gelstain that you can buy just about anywhere. It's designed for fiberglass and metal doors to make them look like wood. Then you put a finish clear coat over it to protect it.

My tests looked really good on the Hardi siding.

I built a gazebo for our hottub over the summer and put the Hardi lap siding on it. Then my wife stained it with the Minwax Gelstain and sealed it.

Thanks for sharing your pictures and tips on staining the siding. It's only been a few months, but so far, it's amazing. Everyone who's seen it thinks it's real wood. Even after touching it!!!!

Eddie

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

[img][/img]

Nice. Real nice.

Wow Eddie!

That's really sharp. Turned out great. Now you've got me thinking. That's never good for my wallet when I "think".

Good point. "Thinking" is a dangerous thing for those who are good at self-rationalization.

...especially when you are in the planning phases of building your dream home. It's only money right? (gulp)

I'm almost under roof on a home we're building. I thought everything was cool until someone told me that you build your dream house twice.

That upset me.

Right now I'm trying to convince my wife that we don't need landscaping and that we should go with the "au natural" look. Eventually, I'm going to have to use a method that I use on my 3-year old daughter which is called the choices method.

"Honey, we can either have a driveway or landscaping. Which do you prefer?"

Landscaping can always be added later as an ongoing project.

I bet every week you throw away stuff that could be used for fill and beautification - tin cans, banana peels, dirty diapers, etc.

I've already started to leave 12oz. glass bottles around the site.

EDDIE!!!! That looks fantastic. Got some questions for you.

Is this the same Hardi Board siding that is made out of fire resistant materials?

I noticed that the stain has color variations (light and dark areas, etc) just like real wood, is that the way the stain applies or is your wife real artistic and added those touches?

My wife and I are gonna use Hardi board in our new house for resistance to fire but we wanted to have more of a hunter lodge look - what you have created looks perfect. Any information related to what you did (type of siding, specific stain information, etc) would be greatly appreciated. You can PM or email me if you prefer. Thanks!

I can't believe how much like wood that looks!

Sunil, I didn't realize that you were in the process of building a house. How did I miss this. Did you have a thread on this somewhere? Am I truly that unobservant? Is this gonna be the new international corporate headquarters for BISA?

JHAP, this will be my residence and more importantnly, not located at my pond, so I have not posted any details.

We are using HardiBoard for our siding as we are also going for the Craftsman, Lodge-Type look. It will look like cedar shake.

Well I'm glad to know I just didn't totally miss this (which would have been entirely possible). Even though it won't be at your pond I'd love to see photos of the siding with the cedar shake look.

Now the two of you (Eddie and Sunil) have got me wondering. My wife and I drove up to Tahoe last year and saw a bunch of lake side houses that appeared to be wood. I though at the time if this is wood siding it this must be (1) an extreme fire danger and (2) a real maintenance issue. I'll bet that they used this process above.

Dang this bean counter is learning new tricks.

JHAP...
to be sure your haven't missed a trick, there are some oxcellent posts by Victor earlier on within this thread that sparked Eddie's (and others, including me) interest in the cementitious fibre siding with killer faux finish. Victor offered substantial detail and more pics of a truly woodsy look.

Jeff,

Yes, this is the same Hardi lap siding that you buy at Home Depot, Lowes or just about any other home improvement store. It's real easy to install and like you mentioned, it's fire resistant, bug proof and it will not rot. I've put scrap pieces into my burn piles and found them still intact a week later!!! That's a full week of burning hundreds of trees type of burning.

The stain is like jello in the can. You paint it on with a brush and just paint it on. The painting of the brush gives you the random colorations. One thing that I learned the hard way is to never go up and down the wall. It is very important to stain the length of each Hardi board one at a time. If you go up and down the wall, you will end up with a very ugly, unatural looking line. Left or right is good, up or down is bad. hahaha

It takes a full day to dry. Don't rush it.

You can stain right over the caulking and anything else. It will make it all blend together. It's not really a stain, but just looks like one. It's really some sort of weird paint that makes whatever you put it on look like wood. There are at least a dozen different colors, but none were what we liked except for the oak. Walmart has small samples that you can buy for around $5 each.

I used cheap chip brushes that I throw away after each use. It's not about a nice finish with this stuff, just total coverage.

I don't know how long it will last, but since it's designed for exterior doors, I'm hopeful that it's a permanent. If and when it fails, I'll update the thread with pics. My ultimate goal is to build some rental cabins with this as the siding. If it doesn't hold up, then this is a failure and I go to plan B.

As of right now, I don't know if I'd risk trying it on a house. I know that if it fails, you can always paint over it, but I don't think you can try a different stain or wood looking technique.

As for the cabins in Taho, I think they are all real wood. At least the ones I've seen have been either full logs, or log siding vineer to look like log homes. I've never seen the Hardi done like this in person, just the pics that Victor shared. His home looks amazing and it might be the way to go. I'm trying this as an alternative with off the shelf products that I can buy any day of the week right here.

Hope this helps,
Eddie

Eddie, thanks for the great response. Thanks to B'ski's prompting I have reread this entire post and Victor's comments about his process. I am just stunned at how real this all looks. I think I will probably go for the guaranteed finish as I dislike with extreme intensity (my momma taught me not to say hate) painting.

The cabins in Tahoe are probably real wood. If you have enough moola to by a water front cabin in Tahoe, ya probably have enough dough to pay to have it refinished every couple of years.

Thanks for all the great info.

Check this out - perfect for this thread. -

From Jim K. with Ray Scott Outdoors - FYI

FLOATING GAZEBO




I was going to build the Gazebo on the edge of my dock down by the lake but I thought ....I might just as well build the deck with floats on it and I can then take it out fishing too. Has 15,000# capacity.


The deck is 18ft x 18ft with 12 plastic foam filled dock floats that are 4ft x 4ft by 18 inch. high.and the Gazebo is 10 ft. Hexagon with a table and chairs inside.


Under the table is my trolling motor so I can take it out to my favorite fishing hole. The trolling motor is remote controled wireless so I can be fishing outside and operate the motor. On the top of the table I have a LOWRANCE Fish-Finder with depth sounding sonars and temp gauge.



I have 2 electric winchs with 40# anchors. I have also built in a water pump so I can clean the fish right on the spot.


Now I can relax and fish while my wife can sit and relax.

Ewest nails it!
I had to call Donna-ski over to look at that one. "Cool!...I want one...does it have air conditioning?"

Now dat dare is cool I don't kare who ya R.

Bravo!

My oldest daughter's exact quote was

"We SO need one of those!"

I was just reviving an old fav' thread that Ewest started, FALL COLORS, when I caught myself daydreamin' thru the pics. I stumbled upon a couple sets of pics that surely belong within this thread collection.
-
Heronblu (PB pondmeister extraordinaire Lou) posted these pics of his unbelieveably lovely home and pond (err, lake).

Lou was in the midst of the heart-wrenching process of selling his Garden of Eden to move on to the next phase of his life. He reminisces:
Lou adds:
-
We miss you, Lou. Check in, would ya?

Hey there everyone. JHAP, Eddie, Brettski and everyone else. I am sorry that I was not around to participate in the most recent 'cement board' discussions here. I enrolled in college to get a Master of Science degree and have been swamped. Couple that with digging a VERY unsuccussful test hole where we wanted to put a pond and viola!, you have a guy with a busted dream of having a cool pond who finds himself spending less time on his favorite PondBoss forum. I try to check in but there are many threads to keep up with. I keep waiting to see the pics of water going out Brettski's spillway pipe, though. Perhaps with this most recent rain?

Anyhow, Eddie, your gazebo looks too cool! I love it! The question is, though, how did you get your lovely wife to smile as she was PAINTING? The last time my wife smiled when we were painting (sort of) was when we were sealing our driveway. We were using this extra large pan and it was full. A huge branch (I am not making this up) breaks off of a tree and falls. It just misses both of us, but hits the edge of the pan. It catapoulted the ENTIRE contents at me. I literally had driveway sealer running down my arse crack. Well, she was smiling then.

I digress. Sorry. Your gazebo looks GREAT. We too learned to paint with the grain. We sprayed ours, and it looks very bad to spray against the grain. No way to fix it either. We have actually found a couple of areas where the finish has worn off. I am going to touch it up this Spring and see how it lasts. If I were to do it again, I think I would go with the factory finish to be honest, that way there is a bit of a guarantee. Those things are often pro-rated anyway, though. At this point the jury is still out.

Miss you guys. If anyone wants to donate clay, I will trade sandy loam and tons of sandstone boulders in return...

Hey Victor, thanks for checking it. Your driveway sealer story was classic.

The only clay that I have is some Play-Doh that I'm not currently using but I better hang on to it. You never know when you might need a Play-Doh fix.

Hey guys,

I already posted a little tidbit on this project in the "Marine biologist..." thread. And Brettski suggested I post more here for you human habitat nutz.

Well, the "little" structure is on a new, 1 acre excavated fish pond in northeastern North Carolina (i.e., flatland). The lighthouse is a 1/2 scale replica of the Roanoke River lighthouse located (historically) off Black Walnut point in Albemarle Sound. Now the replica is located off "pond" point. Features include a real light house tower to climb in, a draw bridge to keep out the creeps and critters, and a bay to park your paddleboat underneath. It was my folks idea to build the house, and they hang out there alot. My contribution was setting up the pond ecosystem.

It's been exciting to see an this one-time "air castle" come to fruition. Hope yall enjoy the pics.

View from dad's plane.


Lighthouse view (incomplete)


Another lighthouse view (incomplete)


Light house complete


Dad's contraption to raise the drawbridge... or is that a troll

...extraordinary, awesome, way cool, (man, there's a wholebuncha adjectives for this one).
-
MORE PICS AND CONSTRUCTIONS DETAILS!
(inside pics, too)

Very cool! Would really like to hear more about this project if you have the time Mesocosm.

You can't just leave it at that!!! I gotta see some pics of the drawbridge in action. Up, down, how it works. Deatails and lots of pics.

Thanks,
Eddie

Hey Victor,

Good hearing from you. Congrats on your future education!!!

Thanks for the update on your siding. I'm keeping an eye on mine, but don't expect anything to happen for a few years. It's what and when that I'm the most curious about. If I get five years out of it, then I'm doing better then real wood!!

Eddie

Unfortunately, I don't have any more drawbridge pictures with me. But I'll be sure to take some when I go home again. Either that or get some from the folks. They practically live out there.

Now I could tell you basically how it works. First off, there's a garage door opener mounted under the house that raises and lowers the bridge. So an elaborate system of pulleys was necessary to achieve the leverage. And the springs are there to assist with the initial upward motion. But the contraption only raises the bridge to a 45 degree angle. So it's mainly there to keep critters (i.e., ants, mice, racoons, bears) off and not mischevious people.

Cheers,
SC

Thanks, Eddie. I appreciate something that you said at the end of your post and it helps to put things in perspective for me. If I get five years out of it I am still ahead of where I would be with wood because I should not have any material degradation. The flying squirrels and woodpeckers have been unsuccessful in digging through the material. That was not the case with the wood siding. Thanks again.

More pics for your viewing enjoyment

Lighthouse drawbridge raised.


View from the porch/fishing pier


Looking up into lighthouse tower


Looking out through raised front panel (screened)


Another from inside house

JUST AWESOME!!!!

Nothing better then a project that somebody spent allot of time working out every little detail. It's just too cool!!!!!

Thanks for the additional pictures, it's even better then I'd hoped for.

Eddie

Beautiful houses you guys and great thread! :-)

My wife and I are planning to build a new house very soon. I bought Better Homes Home Designer Suite today. It looks like it can do a lot; but it could sure use some improvement too. At this point, I'm pretty frustrated and not sure I want to spend the time to learn it well enough to get full benefit of it. It'd be nice if you could tell it room sizes and then type of room and what specific appliances and it would let you cycle through different popular layouts and then suggest arrangements. For example, tell room dimensions label as kitchen and it pops up a check list of popular kitchen appliances,and options, you check the ones you want included, and it suggests arrangements which you can change. Same thing with bathroom. Also, you can specify if you want house to be ADA compliant and it ensures correct distances. You build a rectangle, label it as a garage, and it asks how many vehicles and suggests sizing and etc. (which you can adjust) and plugs images of your vehicles in it so you can see how much room is left along with doors in the logical places and etc.. Been messing with it a couple hours. Probably need to take a shower and go to bed. May be ahead to use an architect...

Anyone have experience with ICF construction?

Actually, going through the training video this morning, it is a LOT easier and nicer than I thought. I should have done that to start with...

Meso - That is truly a work of art. Well done!

Just wanted to post an update that Chief Architect (Better Homes and Garden software) treated me very well on an upgrade to V8 and the software is very good once you spend some time learning to use it.

Here is my latest project coming to life. I like it when a plan comes together. I posted the plans for this last year. It's now almost dried in. Thought you guys might enjoy this one. I designed this for some relatives for their river ranch property. It is sitting on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River in Stephens county Tx. This is were the big buck eats in their front yard regularly. It's a nature perserve now.

Rockytopper - Looks like the project is turning out really nice. The covered porch with the lodge style entry works really well with this one. The dormers add a lot of character too.

Well, ol' Rocky-T never fails to deliver. Whoa! V nice!
-
When you say that you design a house, how much of the entire plan do you produce? I mean, I've seen your plan views and some basic interior divisions, but do you actually produce the architectural blue-lines that detail all the mechanicals and construction details? Do you have the engineering credentials and the stamp that so many states want to see?
-
I think your work is very well done.

"credentials"
I'm no architect but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Yeah and he can really do a number on Mexican food.

Cool lighthouse.. Have an update on a much smaller pavillion project with some pictures. The wood for the project came from tha pond site. It's post oak(white oak)& is very heavy, even after it drys.



The concrete slab was textured & stained to give it a "rock like" appearance



Had some 3/8" plate bent to use as brackets for the corners, rafters, & posts




Decked the roof with 1" oak planks, then used stick n peal underlayment, and finished with Mueller standing seam roof




Did the construction ourselves with the help of neighbors & family. It was fun.. Still have some lighting to do after electricity is brought in.

What did you use to rough cut the trees into lumber? I am about to clear 2 acres of post oaks, pecans, and walnut. I hate to burn it.

Very nice & solid structure. Are you doing any kind of fire pit?

It is, indeed, one stout structure...and built like a pro, just like david u's entire pond project.
-
Thanks for bringin' us this feature, d-u.

thanks for the kind words Brettski @ the pavillion. The lumber was rough sawn to my specs by a nearby sawmill. Will say from my conversations with them that Pecan is a great wood for smoking meat, but it's the pits for using as lumber. The oak takes many months to a year to air-dry, and even then will move quite a bit after it's up. A fire pit/ Bar-B-Que type structure is in the plans..when you start a project like these habitat things there is really no end to what a person can do (rock walls, rock walk ways, firepits, etc......) as long as the money holds out..lol

Wow, that looks great Mesocosm. It absolutely has the coolness factor associated with it. With the second set of photos you have of it inside and out, it is breathtaking, like you could spend a night or two in that thing and be in heaven. Now, the wife wants one when we finally get a pond going. I might tap your knowledge on that project in the future, if you don't mind sharing the lighthouse idea.

Thanks Ceadmin. I have spent the night before, but it was cold and before the tiny bathroom addition. But I'm looking forward to hanging out there during the warmer months. I even took a week off work recently to just work on the pond ecosystem. Unfortunately though, I live about 3 hours away from the pond.

Later
SC

Just a few close up's of the finished rock work of my last design seen in this thread. Enjoy
http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=864&Number=110393#Post110393

(originally posted in http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=122728#Post122728)

Haven't posted in a while but couldn't help but show pictures of my Bridge. I have talked about doing this for years and finally decided to do it 2 weeks before my daughters open house. Got it done and 8:30am on the day of her open house.
BEFORE


AFTER



Its all treated lumber. I will probably stain or thompsonize in about a month. We started the footings on Saturday morning the 14th, three guys total, and finished the whole thing on Saturday Morning the 21st. The footings took all day saturday. 42 80# bags of quikcrete. The arches (3) of the bridge were done by tuesday night and moved into place. The first arch took almost all day sunday just trying to figure out how it all went together. The next two took about 2 hours each. Wednesday I was on my own and leveled and shimmed, Thursday I decked it, and Friday it was the railing with the spindles being done Saturday morning. Total cost just a tad over $1000.00 for a span of 28 feet. No real problems encountered other than someone not reading the plans correctly on the joists. Also we had a swim raft the we had under the arches so they could be intalled. If we didn't have the raft, I dont think this could of been done unless it was winter.

Footings 63" wide with two 6" steps. Main part of footing is about 2 feet deep with two post holes going deeper. Soil this is built on is really mostly fill so the back of both footings were bunkered with approx. 6 bags of concrete and 6 basketball to beachball sized boulders. Most of the load is lateral and this was sufficent to make it really stiff. Here are some photos of footings and arches. We used re-bar we had laying around put in vertically (about 6 pieces 4 feet long driven into ground) and 1 layer of wire mesh in upper 3" of each step. Arches are NOT actually attached to the footings, just sitting on them with 16 ga. galv straps to isolate the wood from the concrete.





The plans area available from rainbow bridge. Do a google search for it. I don't know if I could direct link so I didn't. He has varying different arch lengths and wood sizes to choose from and answers all your questions without any hassle. (trust me I asked alot) Some of the plans have a higher arch than others depending on personal preference and soil conditions. Mine is 2' 7" of vertical arch rise in the center measured from the base of arch)

Fozzy...

Awesome job. Looks great.

That first "AFTER" pic is awesome, ain't it? I want one....bad.

Bski do you even have a place to put a bridge like this or are you going to have to dig a creek channel from the pond edge outward so that you will have a reason to have one?

...there goes more of that Kook engineering. I like it!
-
Actually, we do have a draw with water in it in the zone of flooded timber. It's begging for a bridge and connecting walking trails thru the woods. I haven't taken a measurement of the span where a bridge would be placed, but I fear it's gonna be in the 40 ft range. That's a bit more than I care to take on right now....unless....we can assemble the supporting kooks for a brainstorming session.

Rocky-T,
Tell me about that stone work on the crib you designed (above). Is there a special foundation ledge required to support the weight? How does that work?

Bski I too really like these wooden bridges. But in my case I want to build a bridge across the creek in my wooded area. The span would be about 36 feet. I'm concerned that wood would not last long in my case because the trees are so thick that light does not penitrate and things tend not to dry out. Rout sets in rather quickly. If I ever get around too it I'm planning on using steel.

All of the foundations I layout have 12"W X 24"D beams. This is kook engineering in our area most builders use 9"w x18"D. The ones I layout are normally used in commerical foundations. As you know the largest load in this case is the fireplace. There is a 8ft square 4ft deep slap underneath it. This foundation was also piered for extra kooking. A 51/2" brick ledge 1-1/2 inch drop is standard for rock and brick work. With 12 inches of beam you can have 2x4 or 2x6 walls.

We're talking poured concrete grade beams with reinforcing...right? No footer.
So, basically, the piers are your footers. How many piers (on center), how large, and how deep? I assume the piers are also reinforced, including dowels at the top to tie into the grade beam...?
Did you perform soil borings to determine if the site required the additional support of the piers...or...just went ahead and added the piers, knowing the load above from the rock facade?

Brettski...

I am still new to all of the concrete work, but here is my understanding. If the soil has a high enough density to support the weight of the slab and structure, piers are not necessary. If the soil test finds that they are needed, piers and footers are used. here in Texas, most of the structures I have seen that have slabs have had the monolithic pour and the beams that go around the perimeter of the slab with no footer. We don't have to deal with frost heave down here, so it isn't part of the building code. They also often have beams that go underneath load bearing walls or some other heavy part of the structure. The rest of the slab for a house is usually 4 inches of reinforced concrete and 6 inches for a garage.

Yea what he said

Man does that look great.
Keeping the pictures and diary will be lots of fun for the next generation.

James Holt you need to send some pictures or your handy work.
Otto

DIY small projects for around the pond: picnic table & benches
Used this website plan for table and found it to be excellent-

http://members.shaw.ca/bomr/ptabl.htm

The finished project below was made from local cedar finished with spar urethane



I also wanted some park style benches using the cedar slabs I had, but the bench frames cost $185.00 ea +ship. So, I drew up some simple plans,bought the metal, bolts, paint & wood finish and made four of them for $57.00 each.






You need a chop saw and welder(or a friend with one) to do this project. I used true 2" wood, so if you use typical one and half inch thick wood the bolts can be 4" long. I tried the plastic 2x2" end caps, but they fall off, so used 2"strap & made my own 2x2" caps. The angle of the back is important, but by cutting one piece at 35 degrees, the remaining piece when turned over will get the correct 110-115 degrees for the back board. Found the benches to be comfortable and light enough(60lbs) to move easily..

Now...tell me THAT ain't what we're talkin' about!
I knew it was nice pond gear when I first saw it on the david u pond creation thread.
If you wanna see where this stuff will likely wind up, check out this post by david.

Folks Brettski ask me to post some pic of our pond project. Here goes.
http://www.myspace.com/judy5056

This is the beginning, My parents bought this property many many years ago. It was a low spot and my mother added ducks.

My parents had the pond dug out and put a levee around the back side. We had a nutria rat that dug a hole in the levee. It was repaired after my husband killed it. This pic was taken years ago when the pond was in it's heyday after the repair work.

We had a leak in the pond and for the last 4 to 5 years it was covered by FA. As you can see from the video it was completely redone. Here is a pic just days before it was filled up. We had a severe thunderstorm that filled it up in about 4 hrs.

Here are some pictures after it filled up.

This is our new runaround fence built the day before we put in our FH.

Hope I'm not boring ya'll. My husband built these while I worked the evening shift as a RN.

Not boring at all....

In fact, I'd like to know where your husband got the plans for the boats? Very nice... boats and pond.

GaryTexas

He stated he got the plans from a magazine. The magazine had a picture and a drawing of the blue print. He's looking for the magazine now. Will let you know if he finds it.

Gary
We can't find the name of the magazine but the article was written by Gil Gilpatrick called Building A Strip Canoe. It was publish by DeLorme Publishing Co.in 1985. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the effort.

I'll do a google to see if I can find the article.

Thanks again. GaryTexas

j smith

One of the best projects yet!!!

Gary Texas
When you find the info let us know.

Otto

dream over. renovation time (before shots on page 1 of this rag.....)











after shots will follow...after..

will have a bluish asc panel metal roof to replace the old comp asphalt, and certainteed cement lap to replace the rotten weyerhauser hardboard siding. couple new decks, carport....guess we'll stay a while.

Honest, Dave...my first question was gonna be "cementitious siding and metal roof?"
Outstanding project. I wanna watch this one unfold...err...fold.

That's a big project DIED! Bet you can't wait to see it complete!
But then, IME they're never complete.

I found an intresting link where a guy documents with pic's how he built his conoe. http://www.aracnet.com/~ncglad/canoe/index.htm

And here's a link to Gil Gilpatrick's book: http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0899333494/ref=sib_dp_pt/105-0543176-4277211#reader-link

I'm glad you posted this Dave.

Forum members: Dave's place is gonna be beautiful when done. He only briefly mentioned that he is replacing the roof with a metal roof and going to cement lap siding - think fire resistant and long life to boot.

He is also going to be adding a large room addition that will be above a covered carport, decking around the house, etc. There is a laundry list of things that he is doing. His home is going to be drop dead gorgeous when done.

Also what you cannot see in the photos is that from his front porch area he has a view of his neighbors 5 acre pond. His property is surrounded on three sides by one of the largest ranches in El Dorado county (I think it's over 1,000 acres).

I'll be up next week Dave to see if you still have any of your sanity left (not that I'd be a very good judge of that but it's the thought that counts).

well thanks JHAP yer helpin me w/ the props. you must have rose colored glasses or something like that.

it's gonna be a much safer and more useable house, i wouldnt call it drop dead gorgeous. i actually like the dripping nail plywood ted kazinsky look, but my wife wont let me leave it like that.

looking forward to yer visit.

tar paper went on roof today as well as modified varge rafters, facia.....getting close to transformation. roofing probably next week, after the higher elevations are sided, trimmed out and painted.

so here's a question for you pondmeisters.

out of the 4 shown, which one do you like? it'l have white trim and the blue roof. have to tell the painter later tonight, not much time, but thought i'd throw it yer way.........





here's a couple shots of things to come.....i'm thinkin the certainteed siding and rough sawn spruce trim really looks nice.



[IMG]



perhaps a new motif?.....or when the guys get bored on break time........

I vote Flying Vee Sitar siding

...need a little more description on the color combos, where they start/stop in the pic samples above, where they will be applied

the siding was put up pre-primed. the background blue gray color is the prime coat. those first two pics show 4 color swatches the painter put on the pre-primed siding this afternoon. there are two tan colors on the left versus the pale yellow and super light gray brown on the right.....these 4 colors DWIED and DIED picked out from those paper samples you can get.

one of these 4 colors will be used to paint all the siding on the walls. all window and door trim, facia etc will be painted white...the roof will be blue.

some of the guys here today said they liked the color of the primer, but with the blue roof i think it'd be HOWDY DOODY....THIS IS A BLUE HOUSE...so we opted for something similar to the original color scheme of the house.

this is as close a pic i could readily find showing the original siding color:

...agreed; and we surely don't want Howdy Doody having breakfast at IHOP.

nobody wanted to commit huh? understood. gonna see if painter has time to throw up a couple more samples tomorrow a.m. otherwise the exec. decision is made.

FYI, i wanted the upper left, wife wanted lower right, hey, what are friends and family for.......a couple friends chimed in for mine, another couple friends chimed in for the wife's ......DIEDs mother chimed in for the prime coat color......so we absorb all the input and compromise.....we picked the upper right but maybe a shade or two darker......its all good,

i'd rather be fishin.....

I think he was more of a Denny's kind of guy.

well its done. painter managed a couple more test spots this morning, DWIED and DIED agreed to disagree (DWIED won) and it'l be the upper right color but a little darker........specifically pittsburgh paint manor house brand color "pony tail".....cute huh...

too dark for pics tonight, portions of house already painted today

thanks for yer support guys

That was the one I liked!! Tell DWIED that she made a good call.
-
-

Hey....who deleted my post? Theo???

I'se innocent.

brief update.....DWIED's always right.

i reckon it looks purty good.







that'l be that til the roof is on

i'll go back to my corner now.

Dave,
It looks great. I knew that WE picked out the right color combo.
Who's doing the work?

ok, in their defense......its a local contractor here running the carpentry, and he is doing a great job so far. not the cheapest guy in town, but he has a good journeyman crew who enjoy their work and they treat the project like their own homes. one good aspect is i'm able to go direct at his costs to suppliers and subs.

these are cool:



this is not cool:

I think you can replace the flag holder with a bottle opener and fix that.

Cant have too many bottle openers and the flag holder needs to be at the correct height. Plus the screw holes are not wasted that way.

I thought it was a bottle opener.

i like yer thinkin habitpro

Dave, As far as colors, I like the choice. At least your choices were pretty close. When we built our house, I wanted pale yellow, the Mrs. wanted barn red so the right choice was obviously red.

Those are some interesting gutter guards. What is the mesh made of?

and yer place looks great ryan, the envy of the hood

the gutter guards are a stainless mesh set in aluminum frame. variable mesh size is used depending on roof pitch (coarser for higher pitches) the only potential drawback is once the roof goes on you can never (easily) access the gutters again, but shouldnt need to. i have an "upsidedown" brush to help keep the guards cleaned off.

In Missouri, cabin decoration starts with coolers and locations of bottle openers.

Here is a picture of my cabin that was started a couple of months ago and should be finished by Christmas.

in a word...WOW

Freakin' off the charts! Holy smokes, James....how close is it to the pond?

This is the view from the front porch.

VERRRRRY Nice.

Anyone else look at James' cabin and wonder if he took a good look at LL2 before starting it?

I spent a day at ll2 and Bob and Debbie spent a day at the farm before we started the cabin. Ours is a much smaller version.

really nice james.....i expect to see blue bush lupines between the house and the pond next year

I could hardly call that a cabin. Very impressive!

Very nice Mr. Holt.. Is the grouping of trees on top of hill on the other side of where your "cabin" is being buit an old home site? Really impressive, would like to see it in person as I drive thru Gainesville to go to our place north of Muenster.. Below is our cabin that is about 200yds from yet -to-fill pond..du

David u you are welcome anytime. Dave I promise to make it happen I have your seeds on my desk. Thank you.

Whoa...a flurry of cool cribs. I...I...I can't take it....habitat overload!
-
David,
More pics...more spec's. Is that real logs and chinking?

Hey Brettski, the cabin is conventional framing & then rough-hewn 1" x 12" layed on inside & out, then chinking applied.



The cabin was already there when we purchased the land, but it was a real selling point for us. They built the cabin near a creek in a native Pecan grove



It has an upstairs open loft for sleeping, otherwise it is one room cabin. IMHO, if I were to do it myself, I would have separate, walled-off bedrooms cause you had better be pretty good friends with whomever sleeps-over..

Way to go James, Tell Mrs. Holt she did a good job.

Otto

It may be small compared to LL2, but it looks darn big for a pond side cabin.

well after spouting off how cheap i am on dwights fly rod question to george, here's the cadillac of roofs going on.....

HOWDY DOODY its BLUE!

i actually think it looks pretty cool (even though i wanted green)

i'll be worm food when this roof fails.

and airborne-spark proof too, no?

very perceptive, yes, reason #1 for metal roof and cement siding.

I think the word "cabin" does not quite work for james holt's new getaway.

laid some pipe today.

It does not matter how good the pictures look it, when you install a pipe it still spells work.

you got that right otto! my back (and wallet) is still sore this morning. but its gonna work great and last forever. in the second pic you can see a dark seam of rock in the cliff near the end of the pipe run. this seam gushes water out like an artesian well in the winter and spring so we needed to install something to handle that.

I can't wait to see your place Dave, it's looking great. You two are going to be so stoked when it's done!

I need a vote and some people to bounce an idea off of. I am wanting to build a deck or a patio. The question is would you build a deck that is made out of wood or pour a slab and place stone on top of it? I think the wood might look better but would be more maintance. The stone on concrete would not allow mice to get under it. The up front cost of the stone is more but no more bills to maintane it later.Here is where it would go in this corner.

What about pavers? Work in some of those slick, circular patterns.

I am currently finishing the building of my new residence.

We have gone with exposed aggregate for everything including patios and driveways.

This is the finish that looks like very little pebbles in mortar.

It is only slighty more than regular concrete.

It is easy on bare feet and can be done in many different colors.

With it being YOUR money, I would say slab. You can do a stained and stamped slab, porcelein tile (Don't use ceramic outside. It is much softer.), slate, travertine, etc.

Sunil, have you considered stained & stamped? Would not recommend tile outside as have to repair, regrout, etc..





These are of my back porch after 6 years.. Used the stamp & stain on the pavillion project & really do like it. There is an amazing number of different looks that you can get with it.

I'm gonna have to agree with this. We have stamped, stained concrete in the drive way and the court yard. You can have it stamped with any design and any color to fit your needs. They can seal it with either a glossy finish or a more flat finish. It is very durable and great looking.

Pictures please Jeff Ricki.

I'll echo the stamp and stain method as being best. Tile always seem to end up being a problem outside. Cracked tiles because something heavy was dropped on it. Grout wearing out quickly. Lots of problems.

Your wife and the girls will enjoy the CABIN more without mice.

James, I'll see if we can dig up some photos of the driveway. I'd endorse stamped concrete as well. They did a pattern and color on our driveway to emulate slate. Looks good. The only rub of it is that (here at least) you need to water seal it every couple of years to keep it looking in tip top shape. It's no big deal just buy the sealant and roller it on. Course I have't done it in 5 years so now the driveway doesn't look as good as it once did.

LOL, we have a travel trailer that we stay in when we visit our property. We've had a tough time keeping mice out of the dang thing. Everything goes into plastic containers to avoid pests, that has helped significantly, still occasionally we see evidence of a mouse. So a couple of trips ago we get to the property and open up the trailer and acorns are everywhere. In my boots, in a kleenex box, in a zip lock bag that was left on the table. It was hilarious. I'm thinking a squirrel got in the trailer and thought that he had found the perfect hiding spot for his winter stash.

Jeff we have had the same problem in our travel trailer at the farm. I have put out about ten bait boxes with bait in them around the trailer. It seems to have been working fairly well. The only gripe I have is that the bait all gets eaten every six weeks and has to be replenished at a cost of about thirty dollars worth of bait. Even so it is still better than having mice scurrying around when you are trying to sleep. When Pam and I first got married we had no money and stayed in a log cabin in Colorodo for 18 bucks a night. The first night when we turned the lights out I thought I heard a bear in our cabin. I turned on the lights to see about twenty mice getting into our food. The next day I bought about twenty mouse traps and set them in the room. As soon as the lights went out it sounded like all of the traps went off at once. I had to reset the traps a second and a third time before we quit hearing mice. It was one of my favorite trips to Colorodo but I hate mice.

We are loaded with mice. They eat the bait and I keep buying more. They also chew on tractor and 4 wheeler wires and I haven't figured out what to do about that.

Stop using Cheese-Whiz instead of Armor-All on the tires.

That's just crazy talk Theo. Have you seen the price of Armor-All lately?

I hate mice too James. Nothing worse than to hear something scurring in the dark around INSIDE your sleeping quarters.

OK, one thing is worse. A number of years ago, while on a fishing adventure to the East Cape in Mexico we were staying in one of those fishing lodges. Lodge is an optomistic description compared to the actual facilities. Basically the rooms were hollow stone brick walls a concrete floor and four old cots and a little alcove with a toilet. Still we were stoked to be there. So in the middle of the night one of the four guys in the room decides he needs to use the facilities. It's pitch dark in the room so he grabs his flashlight and heads toward the commode. Something on the wall catches his eye and he shines his flashlight on it. He then lets out a yell and wakes the rest of us up. He turns on the "cabin" light and there on the wall is a huge, very nasty looking spider. One of us gets up to smash it and it runs like crazy under one of the guys bunks. So we turn over the bunk and of course can't find it. Two guys were so freaked out they slept outside. Personally I didn't see the logic in that. I figured if that ugly spider made his way inside our place then lord knows what it prowling around outside. So I opted to stay inside. Of course every few minutes I was convinced something was crawling across me. I decided the second night that I was not going to have a sleepless repeat of the first night so I resorted to drastic measures. Tequila. Slept like a baby. Course I woke up feeling like a baby that had been hit with a 2X4 but still I figure a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

Ahhh, the Tequila anti-spider serum. They don't teach that in the Boy Scouts.

That's right Theo. The Boy Scouts would probably recommend that you build a cage out of twigs and spittle and use a cricket as bait. Problem is then you have this horrible spider that is really, really, angry. What if Mr. Spider gets out? He's gonna want revenge, he'll be out for blood. I say drink a few shots of tequila and pour a little on the floor for Mr. Spider. Let bygones be bygones. Unless of course spiders are angry drunks.

Due to countless PB'ers asking to see more details about my barn here are some pictures (actually maybe it was just Brettski who asked for details). Anyway, here you go....

My wife and younger daughter have horses (older daughter got smart several years ago and gave it up) and I always wanted a pond (I'd prefer a 1,000 acre lake but couldn't afford that). So, a few years ago we purchased some acreage. We plan to move there in about 2 more years. We're working on the house plans right now. Job 1 was to renovate the pond. That's done. Fish are in and growing fast. Of course, I had to have a tractor to take care of things and if you have a tractor you have to have a tractor barn, right? Oh yea, I also needed a place to store the ATV, canoe, fishing stuff, etc........

I hired an Amish barn builder to build a 24'x48' board and batten pole barn (eastern white pine). I should have done a 36'x48' barn but didn't want to spend that much. Just like any other contractor he was slow to start the project. No complaints afterwards though, he did a good job. Here are some pictures.

Poles, purlins, trusses, etc up; dormers started...


Metal roof started...


The Amish don't want their picture taken but I snuck this one in anyway....


I'm told the Amish don't want their picture taken since they believe each time they are photographed it steals a piece of their soul. It was interesting to see how the Amish worked without electricity. All of their tools were powered by a gasoline air compressor - table saws, circular saws, screw guns, nail guns. Of course they used a driver to get them to the job and tow their trailer. And, to get in touch I just called the driver's cell phone and he handed it to the Amish contractor. They do shun some modern conveniences but not all.

Aside from being functional I like the looks of a cupola. I found an Amish cupola builder to build what I wanted (right down the street from where the Nickel Mines Amish school shooting was 2 year ago). Cupola is made from PVC (no maintenance!) and has a copper roof and weathervane. I did a lot of research and trial and error to get the copper roof and weathervane to turn green. Here is the copper roof and weathervane....


2nd floor loft area...


Concrete floor poured...


Barn done, front view....


Barn done, back view....


I'll be putting some windows in the front and back but need to figure out how many and where to put them.

Thanks for letting me share.

That is an excellent barn but it is more than a barn. Was the concrete poured after the barn was built?

Yes, the barn floor and the floor under the porch overhang was poured after the construction was done.

Awesome product, RobA.
Excellent photo documentary, too....thanks!

Pre-fab roof trusses...right?

Yes. I think they are called attic trusses. The loft flooring was laid right on the trusses.

Looks great Rob. Interesting information as to what the Amish builders will and won't use for tools.

RobA,
Care to share with us the method used for the copper patina?

There are loads of "recipes" out there of which most don't really work. I searched on the internet and found a solution sold by Jax Chemical Co. that was supposed to make it easy ( link to Jax ). It wasn't so easy. Any green patina it formed was flaky and most of it washed off. I thought that scuffing the surface would help it bond to the copper so I sanded it. Didn't do much good. Besides, sanding the horse wetahervane wasn't easy. So I called my nephew who is a chemist. He suggested chemically etching the copper using acetic acid (same acid in vinegar). He got me 'glacial' acetic acid which is almost pure. He cautioned me that it is flammable, an eye/nose irritant and could be smelled 100+ yards away - literally. He was not kidding!!! This stuff stinks like hell, and the vapors can choke you. I brushed it on, choked, coughed and wipe the tears from my eyes then hose it off. It did work much better but some of the green still washed off when I rinsed the Jax solution off.

In my area it would take 20 years or more for the copper to turn green so I figure I got a 15 year jump on it.

DIED:

Here are some pics with stamped concrete. We have some out back that has been there for about eight years, and some out front for two. Two different patterns, two different colors, love them both. You can see what a difference it makes when you seal something that takes all of the sun abuse.

We just finished stripping and re-staining our deck. It is about 1000 square feet worth. That job took about three days of solid work. I guess both finishes require maintenance, but I would probably lean toward the concrete in your application. Your progress looks great!

very nice. What is involved in redoing the finish?

Is that flowing water in the picture? It should be dammed up immediatly. Where is Otto?

Excellent point, James.

I was thinking how amazing it is that stamped concrete can be made to so closely resemble Huskies.

Thanks Rob. I am going to need to do this for a some items on my next home, when we build it. By any chance, did you try to use muriatic acid? The reason I ask, is that I notice the copper ground wires in electrical boxes have massive amounts of patina within a couple weeks of the masonry guys power washing the brick on houses.

RobA, Nice job on the patina look..will file that one for our next house! The difference in construction techniques thru-out the country are amazing. You all have to bury pipe half way to China, whereas here in TX there is no frost line. We use construction workers from south of here, as there are no Amish that I know of.. and if we set posts like that on your barn in the ground, the termites would have them eaten off in 2 years.. It's fun seeing how folks from different areas build stuff!!

I did not try muriatic acid. If I recall there were 2 reasons my nephew suggested the acetic acid. One was to etch the copper. The other reason was that it is also a chemical used in a reaction to create copper acetate - 1 type of "green copper". He thought with a little luck it would etch the copper a well as assist in turning it green. I did notice a slight, barely noticable green haze on the copper but nothing like the end result.

I'm sure the muriatic acid would etch the copper but I'm not sure how much. I would test it out on a piece of scrap just to make sure it doesn't eat away too much.

James: The finish gets a coat of polyurethane (for lack of a better term) with a long napp roller and a brush. It takes about two hours to do the back patio. The front has not had to be re-finished yet. It gets a water-based finish.

That is water running without any dam. Give me time. I am still working on it. This mountain is not conducive to holding water. Not giving up yet, though.

Theo: If someone doesn't stop my wife, there will be more Huskies around here than stampin's.

Victor, have you noticed the stamped concrete being extremely slippery once sealed?

We used to have 10 Huskies living next door. They howled a lot, but their pen was 300 yards from our house (and our big horse barn is in between to help block the sound) so you couldn't hear them from inside it.

I will admit to sometimes howling first to get them all started.

Yes, once freshly sealed and wet it is more slippery than un-sealed or regular concrete.

As for the dogs, Theo, they rarely howl or bark. Probably because we don't have NEIGHBORS howling at them.

...ask Fish Wife how long it took to paper train him

Hey, Bski - she hasn't given up trying yet.

Ryan there is an anti-slip additive that you can add to sealant. Lowes sells one called Shark Bite. I highly recommend that you add an anti-slip additive to any area of sealed concrete that gets wet a lot. We didn't add any to ours and it gets very slippery.

we'll be doing a stamped concrete slab for a sunroom. i'll make sure and take some pics.

DIED, not sure what kind of heat you have for your place, but my uncle did a sunroom and placed hot water piping in the slab (he has hot water heat). It keeps that slab and room very nice in the winter.

People here in PondBoss sure can spend your money, can't we?

Are you sure those worker were Amish and not Mennonite? Because Amish normally shy away from all tech (power tools, cars, etc.) where Mennonites will embrace it.

ETA: Beautiful Barn/Cabin/Observation Post by the way!

They're Amish. As was the deck builder who built my dock and the cupola builder. They all used air compressors to power their tools. They all used drivers but don't own the cars/trucks. There are a lot more Amish near me than Mennonites. I believe they justify some use of technology if it helps them with their business which, in turn, helps the Amish community.

There are differing orders within the Amish community. Some sects are more leniant toward use of "modern" equipment and technologies. These communities will vary, often by regions in the US. In essence, some regions are stricter than others. Within those communities that have specific restrictions, allowances can be made when the modern function is vital to work and/or survival.

anybody ever done a waterproof deck over living space (aka roof top deck?) and what did you use, and how has it held up?

I'm curious about this, also. I'm planning an inverted dormer that will act as a balcony on our next home, and it will have living space below it. My thought was to flash completely around the perimeter of the area, put a concrete friendly panning above the joists, and then pour a layer of lightweight concrete on top of the panning. With the concrete sloping away at 1/4" a foot.

I have an uncle who has a beach house that had a 3nd floor deck. He put a deck on the 2nd floor below it and didn't want the water dripping down. I believe he waterproofed the upper deck by covering it with exterior plywood (?) and then had that fiberglassed. The fiberglass was then protected with an expoxy paint. This was about 7-8 years ago and has stood up to the harsh beach environment without any problems. Much lighter than concrete too.

Dave...

Here is how it is done. Get a solid sheet of membane that is around 1/8 of an inch thick. You will need to make sure that your deck slopes 1/4 inch per foot for drainage and install a scupper or drain or some kind. Lay it in the area and use contact cement to adhere it to the plywood base. You then put the membrane up the sides of the wall and have siding or something cover the top so that water can't get under it. You then construct a free floating deck to sit on top of the rubber membrane. It is important that you use a router and completely round over any edges that touch the membrane so that it doesn't get cut. If you have more questions, please let me know.

We have a water proof deck over our garage at our So Cal house. It is a system of galvanized metal lath, acrylic modified cements, fiberglass, and a pigmented sealer. It had to be applied by a deck coating company. It is UV resistant and has held up quite well so far (was applied about 6 years ago). It wasn't cheap though.

Google "waterproof deck coating" and you'll see several products.

thanks guys.

ezylman, by membrane do you mean a bitchethane type product?

JHAP, did you do something like this?:

http://www.rdenterprises.net/waterproof.htm

DIED, ours looks more like this product. In fact the photo of the grey sample in the lower right corner of the webpage looks exactly like our deck.

deck coating

Not sure on the type of membrane. I haven't had to do it myself, but it is how the contractor did it on my brother's beach house in Galveston. I would assume that any type of membrane that isn't dissolved by contact cement will suffice. You could probably find a suitable product somewhere on the web. I would think that a thick pond liner would be ideal. The wood decking will do a good job of blocking out virtually all of the UV rays. The nice thing about the system is that you can pull up the wood decking every year or so and rinse the membrane off with a hose to prevent buildup of leaves, dirt, etc.

amen victor.

here are some pics of the stamped concrete floor we put in for the enclosed porch.........no floor heating but the room will have a small wood stove for heat









on another note, check this out!!! the baddest carport in el dorado county, keep my my little aluminum baby dry (dont want the boat to get wet you know)........even the saw horses are feelin it

Nice wood.

the enclosed porch will have inside walls of this beautiful and cost effective wood lap called "v-rustic".



this pic shows the framing for the waterproof deck above the porch. we're gonna use the product in that link i provided above. i'm still skeptical as to whether or not it will hold up over time, our summers are pretty brutal.

its not roofed yet weissguy, it'l have the same sexy blue roof thats on the rest of the house.

or were you talking about the sawhorses?

Man Dave...you're really turnin' the place inside out. Tell me more about the V-rustic.

its a knotty pine board available in our area. the boards form a v-shaped groove when butted together. i forget exactly the cost right now, but it was on the order of cents per foot and it takes a light deck type stain real nice. can be used for exterior or interior. many folks install it on diaganols or herring bone patterns......guess i'm boring, i liked regular old horizontal pattern.

It's looking great Dave!

Has it snowed there yet?

thanks jhap. gutters and downspouts went on today and carport roof goes on tomrrow in between what little rain we're actually getting (0.6" friday-tuesday )

no snow here, about 500 ft to low, but did get some freezing rain last night, and some ice on roof.

Sawhorses of course.

i didnt do it on purpose

Freudian freak

DIED - Progress looks fantastic. Great job.

As for the sawhorses - I hope mine don't get the same idea. I have three pairs already and they are always in the way.

Suuuuure you didn't.

actually one of the carpenters did it wondering if i'd notice. i actually didnt notice until i worked those pics over for photobucket......these are the same guys who adorned my house w/ this:




i am blessed.

tom cruise gets to see all this for the first time on saturday.

"human habitat turned to fruition (and mas questiones)"

BTW, this is what that part of the house looks like now:



the new deck is not trex, its a product called Azek......expensive but really nice, should last forever. not supposed to delaminate or stain like trex does.

we used Azek tongue and groove for the front porch floor. its niche stuff...no maintenance other than a broom and once a year hose off.

To say that DIED and DWIED completely transformed the look of thier house is an understatement. The place is beautiful.

Should have left the Flying V on the wall though.

I have seen the use of Cedar trees as support posts both on porches and inside of homes and commercial businesses, but I have not been able to find out details of the best way to remove the bark and how to get the nice finish even though I have searched the web.

I remember that both Bob Lusk and Eddie Walker have used them in their construction, and they both do showcase work. I would appreciate hearing from Bob, Eddie or anyone else on the best way to do this. Any advice on how to best remove the bark, what type of treatment is used, is sanding recommended and should the trees be aged before this is done?

While you are at it, best recommendations for securing the base to the concrete floor. Thanks.

+1 on Larry's info request. I too would like to hear about this process for a future project.

...1/2 way down page 1

Here is what the deck ended up looking like. I chose stone instead of wood due to it is longer lasting and lacks most maintenance.The fire pit is still not completed.

James is the King of Human Habitat. This place continues to set new levels of OTT.
...new levels of awesome, too!
MORE PICS !!

(edit)
the cool stainless steel grill looks to be able to hold 2-wide CSBG's...maybe x 2 deep
that's a big grill

The cooler with the Diet Mountain Dew goes just to the right of the double doors into the kitchen.

Larry, I have used Cedar posts on my cabin project. The original cabin was put up 4 years ago and I did nothing to the posts to debark them. It took about 2 years in Missouri climate till it really came free and was easy to peel.

On the cbain addition I addes 4 more posts as I expanded the deck area. I have not peeled these either and will let mother nature do the work.

In my bathroom I built a bathroom vanity (no pics yet) out of a slab of 3 inch thick white cedar 36 inches by 24 inches and mounted that on a cleat on the wall and used two cedar logs for the front legs and a small cross bar of cedar for a towel rack. These I did peel. The legs are approx 28 inches long...thats 56 inches total of cedar log about 5 inch diameter. In my shop, with pliers, scrapers, a belt sander, a Random orbit sander, and chisels it only took....3 FREAKIN HOURS!!!! (Calming back down here)...

Let mother nature do the work...also note the cedar will have a lot of itty bitty weevils in the cambium that will be all over inside the house if you dont peel interior used cedar.

...speaking of which
Hey Habitatpro! How 'bout setting that outstanding project into the Pond Boss annals of cool construction projects. Please enter below.

IIRC have seen cedar logs stipped of bark with high pressure sprayers...du

Wow guys after looking at some of your places I have to ask...any daughters looking for a husband? haha atleast I'd have common interests with the father in-law! Seriously though nice setups guys, can't imagine growing peaches, pears and grapes on my own land. I was scraping windhield washer fluid off my car this morning that was rated to -40 C

eddie_walker -

I'm curious to know how the stained hardi board is holding up now little over a year later. I really like the look of cedar, but I would prefer something lower maintenance. We're planning to build our new home this spring, and I REALLY like the look of this stuff.

Weissguy,

It's been about a year and a half since I did the stain in the Hardi for my gazebo. I just did the same thing on my deer blind, but before doing the deer blind, I looked real close at the stain on the gazebo. I cannot find any sign of it fading or flaking off. From what I can tell, it looks as good today as it did the day I applied it.

The real question is how long will it last? I don't have a clue, I've gone to the Minwax website and there isn't anything on using the Gel Stain on Hardi. It is used for other outdoor applications, like doors, but this is a total experiment that I don't have anything to go on other then wait and see.

I'm going to build a storage shed this year and do the same on it too. As far as I'm concerned, it's how I will finish everything that I build. Eventually I'm pulling off the siding on my house and redoing it in Hardi Lap Siding with the stained finished and rock trim.

Good luck,
Eddie

Still in progress...I know I said Id do a post and all the appropriate pics...

soon...at a screen near you...

Back to lurking

As requested, I would like to add my cabin by my pond and a little back ground on how I ended up with it. I work for a rural water district and was out making a tap on the waterline and inspecting a customers tie into the system when I causally said to him that he had a really cool tree house which was about 200 feet from the road where we were at, That's when he asked me if I wanted it? I said sure do! And he says you better go look at it before you tell me you want it, I said I am telling you right now I want it! been like 2 other guys said the same thing but once they were up close they couldn't figure out how to get it down without disassemble of it. from the road it looks to be about 5 feet off the ground but once you get closer you notice that it is 10 foot in the air. SO I went and studied the lay out of how it was built, which it was built on a deck in the tree of 11' x 15' if I remember right. My modo has always been never pass up the opportunity to help somebody out, Well it was time to call in some favors. I called my wife's cousin John who happens to be a elevator man and had him come out and have a look at it. He says no problem we can get it down, I asked if it would be in one piece? he says oh you want it down intact not disassembled? I told him that I wanted to take it down whole which changed things up in his mind. He says I think we can but you will have to have a trailer wide enough to set it on and trailer it the 4.5 miles to the house. I said no problem and started fabricating a special deck on top of my brother 19' trailer. We got up a game plan in which we were going to use his very long chain host to lower it down using the trees that it was anchored too, only problem was the front of the tree house was set on poles which wouldn't allow us to lower it down safely. Key word being Safely. He was talking to a buddy of his that works at a heavy machinery place and he asked a few questions and said he had the perfect machine that he could demo for me out at the house for the weekend. I was contacted and told that the equipment was at the house already, I was expecting a forklift of sorts but was there was a huge sky lift all wheel drive auto leveling 45' boom 20k lift capacity machine. It would have handled the whole thing had I had long enough forks to reach all the way under. So we attached the chain hoist in the back and propped up the front with the boom lift and chained down the mast so it wouldn't slip off the forks and cut away the supports and lowered it down and backed the trailer underneath it and strapped it down, unfortunately I didn't get pictures of it strapped on the trailer. I had it all figured out for the road trip to the house in which we had 5 low utility lines being 1 power and a couple phone and cable lines that had to be lifted up as we passed underneath them with long 2x4's held up by my buddies on each side. You should have seen the look of people when we passed them on the road. I already had the post set in concrete and removed a couple of trees but I didn't want to take down too many as I wanted lots of cover, only through all this I thought I had it all figured out except that I didn't think about placement of the cabin on the trailer. My plan was to just back it down to the post and set it up, Oops that would put the front door facing away from the pond and that wouldn't work. So I had to drop a big oak tree. I was then able to snake my way down through the post and the tree with truck and trailer. I ended up getting the truck and trailer bound up to where I couldn't move forward or backwards without running into either the cabin or hitting trees with my truck, then one of the great work hands that had signed up for this project said unhook the trailer and use the boom lift and walah! I was out of a pinch slicker then snot, just scooped up the trailer and moved it enough to get out.Picture Time you probably seen most of the already Down on the ground finally! was a little nerve racking for a little while. Here it is after it was relocated to our place A winter shot I cant find the good indoor pictures so I will try to describe to you. first of all it is insulated and sheet rocked with hardwood floors, maple I think? with a loft with ladder on each side with light and ceiling fan in peaked ceiling with a small front and rear porch, I added a small roof over the back porch to keep the rain off the back door.Picture of the loft Front door We used the cabin for a Christmas cards the first couple years. As you can see from this picture of my family that I am truly a blessed man and thank the Lord everyday for what he has provided for me and my family.

Very nice looking cabin and family... Thanks for sharing the whole process. Very cool!

Great story!!!! Great pictures mainly of the family.
You have created some good memories.

The most fun I ever had was moving a bridge. I still think about it today and smile.

Thanks for the great story and pics, Tguy. That cabin is exactly what this thread is all about.

Thanks for the pics and the story! It's amazing what the correct heavy equipment can do. I can just picture it going down the road under the power lines. It looks like it's in the perfect setting.

The summer of 09 has been busy.

A few more











Using an open loop geothermal for heating and cooling.
This pipe is the discharge. I can flip it over to the other side where it's under water when it gets colder. (this pipe to elbow to gasket joint that hooks to outlet lets it rotate on outlet)

What a great looking project, ZHK!
I want more details WRT the construction. I see icynene insulation. I see foam block concrete forms.
Spill the beans.

Thanks I hope its an efficient house.
Apologies for not compressing pictures.
To say this happened rather fast would be an understatement.
On a monday my wife agreed the floor plan I had been working on would be good. So tuesday a friend introduced me to Dale Miller who builds houses and is expeirenced with foam block/concrete walls. He looks at my basic floor plan quizzes me, yes I have a road in, yes I have water and electric, yes I have the pad for the house built. So he came by for a look the next day, explains he's finishing up where there at, and that it's so muddy the people can't even get a road built in to there next project. He talked to the owner that was next in line, then on thursday told me they could start on monday!
Most of the true details I strategically approved.
Ok -- I just said yes to what the builder recommended.
He did the structure, doors windows and roof.
Logix block, 12" width, 6" of concrete inside.
2' wide footer, 1' deep. Then start up with the block.
Having the block start well below the floor keeps the frost from penetrating through a foundation and under the floor.
5-6" concrete floor.
My closet is the scaredy room, concrete walls and roof. Steel door.
Some drain tiles under floor, drain tiles all the way around foundation.
No windows over 3' wide, up to that can just be blocked out with plastic forms that become part of the structure to bolt windows and doors to.
They had a bracing system that they screwed to the floor then anchored to the wall. this system also supported a catwalk.
On windows, shingles, doors, and garage doors he recommended specific brands that "Have been in some of our houses about 25 years and haven't had any trouble".
Brettski I believe you know more about the roof insulation than I do. It was applied to the underside of the roof 6"+ thick. Where the walls and roof meet they were very careful to seal it well. The logic behind this is that its easier to insulate against the outdoor temperature than the heat build up inside a normal attic. Add to this that the house is sealed up like a cooler.
The outside is Nova brick.
2500 sq ft living plus roughly 200 sq ft of wall counted by the appraiser as living area because they measure the outside of the 12" thick walls.

Absolutely awesome. Living in the Coleman house and cooling it on the hottest summer days with a couple of blue ice packs. You can kiss the utility company bills goodbye.
Love the "scaredy room"....wish I had one.
The "envelope" theory. I am still considering the same for our little pond house; TBD. Greg Grimes (or should I say his General Contractor, Wendy) re-did their house with polyisoanurate (sp?) ie; icynene foam insulation. It's a go-er.
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I want more pics, man. This is really unique construction and we need to see more details on the facets that we don't often see.

Also, it looks like they used the Advantech roof sheathing with the seam tape. Correct?

The contractor paid for some of the material, so I don't have a receipt to look back on except his, and on his receipt he calls it Zip Roof.
It was supposed to be waterproof for 90 days after it was installed and taped. They used air to clean all the seams before taping. Contractor had seen some on a roof longer than the 90 days without any problems. Another advantage was they didn't have to use tar paper with it.


About all I really know about the foam insulation was that it's biodegradable and non toxic.
The insulating contractor worked around the outsides first without the ceiling sheetrocked. This gave him easy access to where the biggest loss of air was possible, where the ceiling and wall join. After working the edges up to where they were high enough to get to in the attic, the ceiling sheet rock went up. This was so he didn't have to worry as much about splatter and dripping.

The wall between the garage and house is fully insulated from floor to roof. Masonite was used as backing in the attic from the ceiling to the roof there and around the porch above the main walls.
Went ahead and fully insulated garage roof, especially since the walls all around it were the foam block. Unless we leave open a garage door they expect the garage to stay around 45 degrees. Hope so as I put a sink in the garage.
Did you notice the truss rafters were on 16" centers and hurricane strapped down?
I also had them use anchored porch posts. Figured the porch overhang would be where the wind would get under the roof at, so it's anchored with the posts also.

Well here is what my wife and I did, all we had done was concrete and roof, the rest is all sweat equity, the pond will be located at left of picture.

Nice! Is the fireplace chimney individual stones (real or imitation)?

Imitation, I started to use real but cutting them was realy taking alot of time,and I travel for work so just home on week ends so I had to go with imitation it is also on half the fron and the front of porch, It was labor intense since doing it by my self.

Thanks. I need to do the same for my fireplace on the house, and was hoping to find some on a sheet vs. individual pieces. Looks like it'll be a project for next year!

Zhkent, thanks for posting your home construction, this is great stuff.

lbrooks, beautiful house!

Essup-- I looked for some on sheets but really didnt like what i found. What i did find was very expensive, I did learn some tricks to help speed things up on installation.

lbrooks:

O.K., I gotta ask, what did you find out tip wise? I'll be putting it on tyvek wrapped OSB. My Dad said to start from top on down, that way any dropped mortar won't make a mess of the installed stones.

Essup,
It's called cultured stone, you will need to put up some 15# tar paper and some lath using roof nails, when you put up scratch coat if you just let it dry a couple hours before you start installing stone it seemed to stick alot better,and what really made the stones stick well was mixing in some thin set with the type n or s morter mix, using rubber gloves and spreading the scratch coat and the morter on the stones by hand and rubbing it in real good was twice or more faster, and stayed on well. Till I did this I would put up 5 stones and one would fall and knock 3 off.

Looks great lbrooks.

Sounds familiar. I was told to put a small spacer under the screening that is nailed over the 15# paper to give the scratch coat a bit more of a physical bond to the mesh.

My guess is that you were mixing the mud too dry. When doing brick work, you want the mix to be fairly dry, and I've seen allot of peopld do the same with cultured stone. Then the rock falls off and the mortar doesn't have any "stick" to it. If you mix it up wet, the rock sticks really well. There is a point of too much water, but that's pretty easy to figure out.

Eddie

Yessir, very nice. You should know by now that we need construction details. Give us some background on the project.

under the deck is a set of windows like the levels above, I will open up under the deck once the garage is built. it has a full basement. It has 1000 sq ft in basement and first floor and 800 sq ft in the loft. All outside walls are 2x6 rafters are 2 x 12 with blowed on cellulose insulation. The pond (mine will be a lake, as that what people around here call a valley damned up) will be located at left of house looking at picture. I will post me first drawing of it before we started so you can see what i am working toward. This where i started, I like the cedar siding but at my age I didnt want the maintance,and once the garage is built, under deck will open up like the picture. Not exact but getting close. I really dint want to post the dream picture but I did want to share where i got my start.

I think you are well on your way to being 100% completed. It's really close to the picture that you used for a guide.

Just an Observation
My pond is around 3 acres and over 20 feet deep in spots with probably a twelve feet or more deep average. A lot of water.
The winds here in Kansas kicked up before christmas. We kept getting 20 mph, 30 mph, and more winds with temperatures in the teens and below.
The pond hadn't frozen. The wind was hitting the pond directly from the north and west, it seemed to be circulating it even.
This went on for 5 days at least, 2 of those days we were in a blizzard warning and the pond also absorbed 6 inches plus of snow.
The new house I built uses geothermal with an open loop pulling about 12 feet deep in the pond (gravity feed) to a gravel bed around a 20 feet deep well casing, with the pump at 12-14 ft below pond level.
The temperature of the pond was pulled down to 43.3 degrees, measured at the furnace intake.
While this works I did screw up and let the air filter get dirty, which combined with the cold water and extreme outside conditions led to long cycle times in which the unit would freeze internally. It would automatically go to electric backup, I would reset it by turning electric off then back on.
The pond finally iced over and I got new air filter on. Also the outside conditions improved a bit and there haven't been any more freeze ups.
Tonight (jan 3 2010) will be single digits, but have not had a freeze up since the 29th.
The pond temperature has came up to 45.5 degrees at this time. It stayed at 43.3 for 5 or 6 days and has just risen in the last 3 days.
What a test right on the get go!

Here's some pics of our cabin. We used Superior Walls for the basement, wood stud walls, and log siding upstairs on the first floor and the loft. It is 24X24. We got a builder to frame it out, and dry it in. We contracted the finish work out, and worked on it over a 2 year period until finished. The builder sent some pics in with some other cabins he had built to Log Home Living magazine. It was featured in Country's Best Cabins 2011, and Cozy Cabins 2012. They did a story about a growing trend of smaller cabins being built, and folks downsizing. We hope to eventually add on to it and move there for retirement. It is great for weekends, but I would need it to be a little larger for permanent residence.
Chris

It looks way bigger then 24x24. Very very nice I might add.

That is flat out fantastic! I agree with Blair - it looks a lot bigger than 24x24!

You mentioned that you also had a basement.

OK, you say it would need to be a little larger for permanent residence? You have, excluding the basement, 576 sq. ft. plus whatever floor space you have upstairs. What would you add to make it really livable?

Well the loft BR is nice until you get up in the middle of the night for "nature call". I don't want to be going up and down stairs in the middle of the night when I retire. We would build another BR,and bath on the right side first floor level, then turn loft into an office. The basement is another BR. It is livable now, but not quite what I would need.

Extremely appealing. You can always tell when a female has been involved in a project.

Beautiful ! I agree with Dudley !

Sir, you have a beautiful home. Your stone work is outstanding also. Your floors appear to be hickory which is the only one that I haven't installed. I am going to pm you about your source for the log siding.

Thanks!
Yes, the queen was involved from the start, and did all the design. She is constantly decorating!

That is a good thing !

As if exquesite design isn't enough, there's a fresh loaf on the kitchen counter, another different one on the outside table, no dishes in the sink and nothing out of place anywhere in the house.
What a special girl!