Last trip of the season.

In my last trip I finished framing the roof and framed the mezzanine. That means that the main framing of the cabin is almost completed. I still have some blocking to do and frame the front deck. I also installed 4 more panels of wall sheathing, and if we get a nice weekend we might go once again and try to install some more wall sheathing.

Since overnight temperatures are dropping and the water taxi company is not running scheduled weekday trips in the fall I've decided to put the project on hold until next year.

I did my best to prepare the structure for the winter with a tarp on top of the roof framing and the east gable wall which should be the one getting the most rain.

Here are the pictures (I did not take that many and the lens of my camera (iphone) was dusty so the pictures are not great, but you get the idea), enjoy...


Roof framing completed:


Mezzanine framing:


Structure with tarp:


Gable wall with tarp:


From the inside after putting the tarp on:


Ready for the winter:

Week 4: Gable Walls and Roof Framing.

This trip did not start the way I expected...
I had some materials and tools to take with me to the Island, and I asked my sister for a ride to Horseshoe Bay. The problems started when I got the island and found that the car battery was completely dead! ;o(.

Since it was Sunday and it had been a rainy weekend, there was not a lot of people in the island, and I was unable to get anyone to help me get the car going (A big thank you to Scott and Anna who offered me to remove the car battery from their truck!). I was able to get the car going only after Katrina - who was in Vancouver - came to my rescue, bought a new battery and dropped it at the Water Taxi terminal for them to bring over!!!
By the time I finally made it to the site it was 6:00 PM so Sunday was a wasted day.

Since it had been raining for a a couple of days everything was wet and I decided not to set up the tent. Instead I moved into the container; I set my bed on top of the plywood pile, I found spending the evening in the container much more comfortable than the tent as I can walk around and sit more comfortably.

Monday was a good day. I spent most of the morning setting up scaffolding to work on the roof. I used the materials that will be used for the sleeping loft to put together a platform that sits on top of the walls and can be moved across the cabin as I frame the roof.

The idea is to build one of the gable walls and start framing the roof from that side, then slide the platform to the other end and build the second gable wall and finish frame the roof from that end. Once the roof has been framed, I'll take the platform apart and frame the loft.

I built the gable walls in two sections that I lifted into place. Once both sections had been attached, I framed the opening for the gable window. Since I wont be able to slide the platform back to this side once the roof is in place, I sheathed this will and cut the opening for the window.

The ridge board is a 1x8 and is made out of three pieces. Once the first section was attached to the top of the gable wall I could start cutting and installing the roof rafters. This is hard work and goes slow... By the end of Tuesday I had installed two pairs of common rafters and started working on the third pair. Here I have to frame an opening for the chimney which took some extra time.

On Wednesday I switched over to the other side and framed the second gable wall. Since I will be able to get to this area from the loft once it is framed, I did not sheathed this wall and started working on the rafters from that side.

I only had enough time to cut and install two rafters before it was time for cleaning up, packing and driving down to catch the water taxi.

Just In Case, I disconnected the battery to avoid having problems on my next trip...

Here are the pictures, Enjoy!!!

Week # 3 - Trip 2: Wall Framing.

This was a good trip: I did not run into any problems with the car battery, and made considerable progress on the framing! It's hard to believe that only three weeks ago the contatiner was moved to the site...

This has been my longest trip so far (5 days and 4 nights). Days are getting shorter, nights are getting cooler, and rainy days are more frequent. I'm hoping ot get as many dry days as possible in september to complete the roof. The goal that I set for this year is to finish the framing (excluding interior partitions) and complete the sheathing (walls and roof). Then I should be able to put a tarp on top of the roof, and work on all the finishes (door, windows, interior partitions, etc) in the spring.

I was able to complete the framing of all walls and raised most of them on my own. There was one wall that had two openings and a long header which made it really heavy, so I asked a neighbour for a hand raising it.

On Thursday I run out of framing nails, so Friday I spent the morning cutting and laying out the remaining walls which we nailed and raised on Saturday with Katrina after she brought more nails.

The next logical step would be to start framing the roof, but I dont have a ladder yet, so we started installing the wall sheathing.

I made some errors in the materials estimating stage (I did not transfer some materials from the estimating sheets to the shopping list), so I dont believe I will have enough 2x4 to frame the interior partitions. Hopefully I'll have enough for framing the gable walls!

Here are some pictures from this week, Enjoy!!!

Week #3: Floor sheathing and Kitchen wall.

Last weekend we went over for two days (again I decided to cut my trip short due to rain in the forecast).

We were able to finish all the floor framing (including the cantilevered joists for the back deck, and installed the floor sheathing. We also finished installing the cross-bracing and the structure feels perfectly solid.

Now that we have the basic footprint of the cabin, we laid out the location for the windows, doors, interior walls and kitchen cabinets. We have some doubts about the bathroom door: the original plan was to use bi-fold doors but they might interfere with the kitchen cabinets, so we are considering using a pocket door instead; since we wont need to build the interior partitions right away we still have some time to make this decision.

We also framed the first wall. It went really fast, and we had time to raise it and brace it in place.


This will be the view from the kitchen front window:



I'm hoping that the weather improves over the next couple of days and go over and finish framing the walls!!

Week #2: Posts, Beams and Floor Joists.

The concrete has hardened for almost a full week, so I can get started on setting up the posts.

I wont be using 6x6 posts. I knew from the beginning that most of the work I'd do by myself, and handling an 8 feet long 6x6 is not an easy task. Instead I will be using built up posts made out of 3 2x6 nailed together. The result will be a post that is 5 1/2" x 4 1/2". Since the post based that I'm using (Simpson Strong ABA66) is designed for a 6x6 post (5 1/2" x 5 1/2") I will fill the remaining space with a wood spacer. On the other end the post will be the exact width as the built up beams, so I will not need to notch the posts to fit.

Since I don't have a set height to build to, I started from the highest pier and cut a post 10" long. I will cut all the remaining posts to the correct length to ensure that the top of all the posts is level. I used a water level (a long piece of transparent flexible tubing, filled with water and some food coloring. I also added a drop of dish soap to break the surface tension and avoid capillary effect) to mark this height and transfer the level form the first post to the remaining three. Once I had my four posts up, I started putting together the beams. Unfortunately the precision of either the water level or my marks was not good enough and one of the posts is off (short) by about 1/4". I realized this - off course- after I had already cut assembled and nailed all the posts to the bases, and taking three pots out is not an option. I'll shim the beam at this post to fix this...

The next day and for the posts for the second beam, I cut one piece for each of the posts first and used the water level as starting point then used a 2x8 (visually checked to be perfectly straight) and a spirit level to mark the final length; then I cut the remaining pieces... Much better!!

Both main beams are 'built up' made out of 3 2x8. Each beam is 20' long; I used a combination of 12', 8' and 10'. (12+8,10+10,12+8) The joints between the 12' and the 8' lands on one of the beams, while the join between the 10' pieces is in mid span (as allowed by code ;o) ) The result is a much straighter beam that would result if I used all 12' and 8' pieces.


The rest of the day was tedious and dirty... back filling the holes and regrading the site around the piers.

Day #3 did not start in a good way... The night before, I connected my phone to the cigarette lighter charger for a few minutes. When I went to sleep I did not turn the switch off, so my car battery was completely drained ;o(. I had to take the car battery off, haul it to the cabin (where I left the generator for the night) and use the generator to recharge the battery. Then I flooded the generator engine so it took me at least half an hour to get the generator going... By the time I got the truck going it was already 11 AM, so I missed the most productive part of the day (before it gets too hot).

Once the truck problem was resolved, I loaded all the wood for the floor joists (13 12' 2x8 and 6 8' 2x8) and got them to the cabin. I started by cutting all the floor joists to length 11' 9" (3" shorter than the width of the cabin); The outer joists are doubled as they will carry the load of the gable walls, so two of the floor joists were cut at 12' (Yes cut, as none of the 12' long 2x8 are actually 12' long). I assembled the outer joists and placed them approximately in place. Next step is to measure the diagonals to ensure that the floor assembly is square.

Some 'small' errors in laying out the location of the foundation are definitely showing up now: to make the floor square one of the outer floor joists would not be fully supported by the beam. The easiest way to cut this corner is to reduce the size of the cabin by two inches...

After the layout of the floor is set and the two outer joists are secured to the beams, I used a length of mason string (hard to see on this picture) as reference for the remaining floor joists.


The next part of the process goes fast, I only marked the location for the second and second to last joists on the beam, for the remaining, I cut a piece of blocking 1' 10 1/2" long (my distance on centers minus the thickness of each joist) and used it for keeping the floor joists in place as I toe nailed them to the beams. Once all the floor joists are secured I nailed the front rim joist to each joist. I could not resist and put a couple of boards to get on, It's an amazing feeling!!! I can't believe that I've gotten so far in only a few days work! It's definitely starting to take shape, and it shakes... I better get off and get going on the cross bracing!!! (this last picture was taking once some of the cross bracing was installed)

Week #1 - Trip 2: Concrete Piers.

I made an early trip on Wednesday morning and had a full day to work on the foundations.
I set the forms for the piers for the upper beam and poured the concrete for them. To ensure that the piers are on the correct location, I used a 'hair cross' made with mason string (Measured the circumference of the form, divided by four and made some shallow cuts with a hand saw.



Then I used a level and a plumb bob to locate the forms. To keep them in place I loosely back filled about 12 inches.
I poured concrete to the top of the form and trowelled the top to level, by the time I got to the last pier I run out of concrete just an inch from the top of the form. Since I already have an appropriate coverage for the rebar, I just vibrated the concrete flat by tapping the form.

The 'hair cross' was also used to mark the center point to place the anchor bolts.

On Thursday I finished the excavation for the footings for the lower beam. There was a massive tree root on one of the holes, so I had to move the whole a few inches, and dig a little bit deeper (the root comes from a dead stump, so I have no worries about the root growing and displacing the footing). By the end of the day I had placed the rebar and poured the concrete for these footings.

After I stripped the form I found that the last pier (the one that was not flushed to the top) has a much smoother surface than the first three, so I decided to use the same technique for the lower beam. I placed the post bases on the piers and started working on aligning them. After a while I realized that it will be much easier to do this once the posts are in place.

The rest of Friday was spent placing the form for the lower beam and puring the concrete.

At this point all the concrete for the foundation has been placed, and I need to allow it to harden for a couple of days before I put any load on them, anyway the forecast is for rain on Saturday and Sunday, so I'm going back home....

Week #1: Excavation and footings.

After the move was completed, and the camp was (somehow) set up, I could focus on the cabin:

The next tasks were to finish laying out the location of all the footings, finish the excavation and pour the footings (My girlfriend was over during the weekend, and helped me with all of these tasks).

Excavating the first feet was really hard as the surface is full of rocks that make using a shovel impossible. Once this first layer was removed, the soil is more sandy and excavation is not as hard. Unfortunately sand does not have a great bearing capacity, so the size of the footings was increased (from 14"x14" to "16"x16" - it does not sound like much, but this increases the capacity of the footing by almost 40%!)- I did not use the forms that I was planning to use, instead I just filled the bottom of the hole with concrete up to 6 inches from the bottom - Hopefully the extra concrete that I brought will be enough.

Each footing has two pieces of rebar with a 4 inch hook inside to footing. A 2x6 and nails was used to hold the two pieces of rebar in place while we poured the concrete.



Since the foundations are fairly simple and the amount of concrete is small, we did not use a concrete mixer, we used the old bucket and shovel method - Mixing concrete by hand under the sun at 30+ C is something that I don't recommend to anyone!!

By the time four of the footings had been poured, we were both exhausted, and had just enough time to clean up, go for a swim in the ocean and wait for the water taxi that would take us back to Vancouver... I'll be coming back next Wednesday and the target for next week is to have the foundations completely finished and maybe make some progress on the posts and main beams!!!

Succesful move...

After the last push to get everything (or at least as much as possible into the container), and get everything secured to prevent it from shifting during the trip, the date came to get the container over to the site.
Everything went smooth: The truck arrived onsite on time and the barge was waiting for us at the ramp. Once the Jeep and the truck were loaded we were on our way...

The original plan was to travel by barge to the fircom pier (40 minutes trip from Horseshoe bay). There is no real ramp at Fircom, to unload the barge just gets as close at possible to the beach (which is not that close unless the tide is really high), and the truck would have to drive on a loose sand an pebble beach for a few meters. In order to avoid the risk of having the truck stuck on the beach, the barge was taken to 'Long Bay'. This added an extra 15-20 minutes of travel time, but there is a concrete ramp and the first few meter of road are paved (good thing as this is one of the steepest pieces of road I've ever been on!!)



Unloading the truck of the barge and getting it up the hill was the scariest part! But the truck made it to the top with no problems; from there getting to the site and unloading the container took less then 20 minutes.

After opening the container I found that only one small box had moved around, and there was no damage at all!!

The first two days I spent setting up camp and re-organizing some of the contents of the container to make access to everything easier. I also installed and tested the water pump, and got to drink some fresh water from the well...

Cabin in a Box. (Some assembly requiered).

After several trips to/from Home Depot, I have almost all of the materials for the cabin in the container. I'm only missing the metal roof (corrugated galvalume) that should be delivered early next week, the concrete forms (I'm using Sonotube forms for all the piers, the concrete for the foundations and the 6x6 pressure treated posts.




My target date for shipping the container is Thursday next week. Hopefully my next posting will be from the Island...

Finally some real action!!

After a very enjoyable trip to Colombia, I'm back in Vancouver ready to get started with my project, and it got started on a hurry...

Yesterday I finally signed the documents for the rental/purchase of a 20' shipping container. I will use this container to consolidate ALL the building materials that will be required to complete the cabin - once the cabin is finished the container will be used as a storage 'shed' and as my workshop. I sourced the container from BigSteelBox. I did some research and found two other companies. One which offered better pricing on used containers ($2200 vs $2700). However I was unable to find a site to park the container that would provide constant access to the container. BigSteelBox has a large yard and they'll store the container for a few weeks and allow access to the container. The site is not close to home, but it will do - and there is a Home Depot less than 2 minutes away!!

BigSteelBox will also deliver the container to the site on a tilt bed truck. At 125$/hr is not cheap but I guess that's the extra cost of building on a difficult access site. The plan is to get the container on the truck, load the truck on a barge (around 150$/hr), get the barge across to an unload ramp on the other side, drive the truck to the site and unload the container - while the barge waits - and drive the truck back to the barge to be returned to the mainland. There are two sections of road that are fairly steep and one tight bend that the truck might not be able to do. That's why I'm setting the container as a rental initially: My plan B is to drop the container in the parking area, and once the cabin is finished, return the container (I'm hoping that I wont have to switch to plan B - as this would cost me between $1500 and $2500 extra!).

I ended up not getting a used container. What they sell as used, are really old containers that have been used and abused for years, and that cannot be used anymore for shipping. They are all battered on the outside so the doors need a lot of persuasion to open; they are also heavily rusted both inside and outside (they'd be an eyesore,and the container will be visible from the cabin). Since the price difference is not that significant, my container is brand new, it smells like fresh paint inside, and has brand new plywood floors on the inside.

Since I now have a container I made my first two trips to Home Depot and made two trips worth of dimensional lumber. I was able to use the roof rack on the truck to load the wood. I will need to make several more trips, but I should be able to get all the wood in a couple of days. I'm buying all the materials in reverse order: First all the materials for the roof, then all the materials for the walls, floor and the last I'll get will be the concrete for the foundations. This way the materials that I'll need first, will be the ones on top...

The Andersen Windows that I ordered before my trip are ready for pick up, and the doors will be ready by the end of the week.

I picked up the submersible pump that will provide me with fresh drinkable water out our well, It's amazing how small it is!

I've also done some research on composting toilets, I'm amazed of how dealing with urine and feces can be such an interesting subject!! I believe it deserves a full blog entry (coming soon...).

I'd keep writing but I have to head out to Home Depot to buy more 2x4s!

An end and a beginning....

Today was my last day at my 9-5 job. Not having a job will give me the freedom and time that this project will require. Anyway my original plan was to stay for only 6 months and I ended up staying for more than 2 years. It's hard to break the addiction to a pay-check! but it was harder the first time; once you've done something once, doing it again is way easier...

There is a lot of things that I'll miss! Somehow I'll miss the daily routine, the bus ride in the morning, a very decent meal for a more than decent price, all the things that you take for granted. But I know that what I'll miss the most is my people! After 8 hours a day for two years almost non stop, the people you spend your time with become part of your life and that chair and that desk become your home! I wish I could go over every once in a while and do my design work from 'my desk';

Unfortunately I was not enjoying my job anymore, and when you spend most of your day doing something that you don't enjoy, you are wasting your life, and I could not do that anymore...

Tomorrow will be the first day of the rest of my life, and the day that I'll start making my dream a reality...

Wish me luck!

Final Design (if there is such a thing!)

It's been a while since my last post and some things have changed since then...

We took a better look at the financial side of the project, and decided that at this point it does not make a lot of [financial] sense to spend 60K -80K or even more on a cabin. Smarter to build a smaller simpler cabin for 15K or so, and invest the rest o the money toward retirement...

So the whole project has been stripped down considerably and is now a simple 14x16 foot print with a small bathroom and a sleeping loft. For now we'll use a composting toilet (most likely a homemade system) as there won’t be a septic field for a while (the cost of the septic field alone was estimated at around 30k-35k!!!).

The Cabin will be built 'on site', but will be designed as a number of modules, so that the cabin can be esily moved to a different spot, when we decide to build a more permanent structure. Once moved it will be either used as a guest cabin, or as a workshop.

There are still some TBD's on the design:

We are still shopping for windows and doors - The original budget for windows was 7k, and has now been reduced to 3,500 -. The idea is still to have as much glass as possible in the south side to take advantage of the views, and a large opening that connects the cabin to the deck.

The finish material for the roof is also not decided yet: roll roofing will be economical and easy to install, but a metal roof would be more aligned with the 'modular design'.

I guess that I'll have to make a decision soon as I'll have to start buying all the materials soon!

On the 'start buying things' side of things we bought a 1988 Jeep Cherokee that we'll use in the city to purchase all the materials and will later be barged to the island...

Cabin Design.

Once we got the land, the next step was to design the cabin that will be built on it.

Design #1: Dream Big!!!

Post and Beam (with Exposed beams) Finished with Cedar Board and Batten and Cedar Shakes and a metal roof!!! Not too big (32' x22' footprint and total area of 1150 sqft)
In the lower Level a Laundry Room, Bathroom, Storage Room, a large kitchen with an Island, Dining room and Living Room; and in the upper level a Mezzanine open to below and two bedrooms.

Off course the south wall will be all windows to take full advantage of the views, and there will be a huge deck to enjoy barbecues and cold beers under the summer sun with all the friends that will come and visit.

After pricing the 'Straight Grain Douglas Fir' 10x6 beams and 6x6 posts and getting a quote for $10K+GST for just the materials for the frame (and that is before moving them on a barge to the island, and renting a crane and crew to install it!), it was not hard to realize that this is just another 'dream design'... back to the drawing board (aka AutoCAD).

Design #2: Variations on a Theme...

.. Or adaptations of an existing design... One of my existing designs is an open space on the main floor, with a bathroom, a compact kitchen and a small area for a couch, and a sleeping loft above. It would be really easy to adapt to the site: move the door to the front, move the kitchen from the back to the side… move the sleeping loft to the front and voila there is cabin design…

There is a ladder going up to a sleeping loft, which is now above a covered porch outside. And the footprint is 16’x 18’, and the total area is just over 450 sqft.

I like this design!! It is simple, it's more 'down to earth'... It should be cheaper to build, and it feels like 'I can build it'...

I like it so much that I draw a full set of plans, including a site plan, foundations plan, roof plan, 4 elevations and 2 sections. I’m now ready to get a building permit... except for a couple of concerns: What about that ladder? It's not 'to code' so can I actually get a building permit for this? I also want to have the framing exposed to the inside (because I'm planning to do a perfect job framing it and I want to show off!! ;o) ) So how do I insulate it?? (Or can I get a building permit for a non insulated building?)

I decided to print a set of plans and get on the Ferry to the sunshine coast and visit my local building inspector - Gambier Island is part of the sunshine coast so the 'Authority Having Jurisdiction' is the "SCRD (Sunshine Coast Regional District) Planning Department" located in Sechelt.

Not a bad visit, took a short hour to get (mostly) good answers from a very helpful Building Inspector:

A1: The stair is only required to comply with code if it provides access to 'living space'. If on the plan the is label as 'storage' then the code requirements are minimal (a ladder will do)... If you later decide to sleep in you storage space, that is up to you...

A2: The SCRD can relax the requirements for insulation for 'seasonal buildings'. I'd have to register a 'covenant' on title that states that the 'dwelling' is a seasonal building. (I'll keep this information just in case I need it in the future).
I also found out some additional information about the cost of a building permit, and the requirements for a septic field... (Not what I was expecting... for a building permit you must have a design for a septic field filed to the health authority. Also found that you can have a composting toilet... as long as you also have a toilet that is connected to a septic field or sewage system).

My first blog

I guess all blogs start with a 'My first blog' entry (at least the ones written by new bloggers like me!)

I'm starting this blog to track my latest project: The construction of a Cabin in Gambier Island. If you decide to read through, you will find a lot of technical information on building a small cabin in a remote location. Very likely you'll also get to know me and share the personal aspect of this journey!

Building a house/Getaway/Cabin has been the dream of my life for as long as I remember. Even before I moved to Canada I remember looking for a piece of land to buy close to Bogota (in La Calera, Chia or Cota); after moving to Canada I continued my search and visited the Okanagan, the Sunshine Coast, some areas of the lower mainland and some of the Gulf Island looking for that piece of land. I never found anything that I liked (and afford!), everything I saw was too small, too far too crowded or... too expensive. Then I found it... 5 acres lots on a 60 lot subdivision, with great water views, 1 hour away (door to door using public transit and water taxi), and at a decent price! the rest was easy... offer, review of documents, financing, removal of subjects and done!

The lot is located in the Sunset/Fircom area on Gambier Island; Gambier Island is the big island located between West Vancouver and the Sunshine Coast north of Bowen. Most of the island is undeveloped (hopefully it will stay like that) with a small settlement at New Brighton (west side of the island); New Brighton is serviced by a passenger only ferry from Gibsons; there are however, no roads connecting this settlement with the Sunset/Fircom Area. The only access to our lot is by Water Taxi from Horseshoe Bay (just 20 minutes boat ride!). From the public dock to our lot it's an enjoyable 25 minute walk (should take less than 5 minutes to drive once we get a truck over).

Next step: design the house... How many houses have I designed? I’ve lost track a long time ago... too many, none of them for real as I did not have a piece of land, so it was always a game. But now I do actually have a piece of land and I can start designing a house tailored to the location.