We've been busy working on the cabin six days a week, up to 12 hours a day. But honestly, I almost dread the one day off a week. In that one day off, I am busy preparing for the next week, making sure we don't run out of supplies, materials, or food for the next six days of working remote.
We also are winter camping on site, so I've been bringing home laundry and dishes home. I'm glad to be heading back to work today.
That's my excuse anyway for going so long since posting about pouring the concrete footers for the cabin foundation that we did last year.
Someone asked what the purpose of the batter boards are -
The batter boards simply give you something to pull string lines to help you create your foundation layout.
Getting to this point - having concrete on the ground - was a huge task and I was very relieved that it was done and over with. But before it snows my goal was to have a floor deck in place. As long as I have the floor deck done, I can start building anytime and will not have to wait for the snow to melt in May of the next year.
Summer is even shorter in Paxson because of the mountain elevation.
You can see in these photos that the foliage is already starting to turn into their fall colors.
I set up my transist on one of the concrete pads. I set the transit receiver to read at the height of the heighest bracket.
This tool has been invalueable to me. If you do alot of projects and construction, it's a must have.
Once I had the transit set to read at the highest bracket, I just went to the next bracket and used the transit to find that same height on the bracket, and cut a 6x6 to fill to this height.
It's a pretty simple process, just measure and cut -
I had to bevel the edges because of the brackets have a weld line on the inside.
And also drill a hole in the bottoms for the adjusting screw bolt to fit in.
And then just set the 6x6 in the bracket.
By the second row of footer pads, I was cutting the 6x6s a few feet long.
But by the third row, they were getting pretty tall.
After getting all of the 6x6 uprights installed, I have a second bracket that goes on top. Later on I will put glulam beams in these to support the spans between the beams.
But a big problem right now is tie all the uprightst together so they are square and solid.
While holding a level up to each 6x6, we attached bracing between the 6x6s at angles. The cross bracing ties all the posts together.
I cut the ends off with a chainsaw, flush to the sides of the posts.
This foundation is ready for the glulams and joists. Later on, I will realize that the 2x4s just aren't enough bracing to keep the foundation square as Alaska soil heaves and jacks and will replace them (I'll post about this later and it is also being filmed for DIY Network).
I'v got a few more steps to take care of before hunting season arrives, I'll be sharing those with you later this week. If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm sharing current cabin progress photos there.
Jacob