Blame It On The Rain

We drove out to the homestead today.  We have received several inches of rain over the past week and wanted to see how the water flowed thru our property.

In my last post I told you about my daughter digging a hole and it filling with water and my hypothesis of there being a spring.  At the time she dug the hole we had not seen much rain so I was really surprised when she hit water after digging less than two feet.  I don't remember if I mentioned but after she hit the water it made my wonder if the low spot of our land just below the berry patch would have easily accessable water.  It is always the last place to dry out and it's where we want to dig the pond.  We went to that area and dug down 3-4 feet and didn't hit any water, just clay.

When we reached the land today we didn't risk driving in for fear of getting stuck.  Once off the gravel the ground was saturated with water.

There was no way I was walking thru the pass so I took off on our path thru the woods.  Imagine my surprise to finding water flowing down the path we had cleared thru the woods.

I walked further into the woods to find the source of the water.  Remember that hole we dug?  The water was coming out of the ground about three feet uphill from the hole and also bubbling out of the hole.  The water in the hole was crystal clear.  I firmly believe I can drive a sand point well and have water for irrigation most of the year.

I made it out of the woods and found the cabin just like we left it.  It's a good thing I repaired the roofing felt because it would've been soaked inside if I hadn't.  The areas in front of the cabin where we have the play set for my son was wet with standing water.  Once I get the porch built we will have to make a path with pebbles.

On my way out I checked out the pass to the back of our property.  It looked like a pond and the water was flowing across it at a fairly good rate.  It will be a major project to make this area passable by car.  Right now I doubt if I could make it to the pass much less across it.

I shot multiple pictures, I will start with the picture of the hole full of water prior to all this rain.

Up With the Loft

Since we had the cabin dried in for the most part we decided to go ahead and start placing the loft joists.  The plans I purchased called for an U shaped loft open in the middle.  We really didn't like that plan and decided to put a loft over 3/4 of the cabin on one end and a small loft at the other end for storage.

The primary purpose of the loft will be for sleeping.  I used a 12/12 pitch on the roof and varied from the plan on the south rafters and raised them one foot higher in order to achieve more head room.

The day was nice, at least inside the cabin.  The girls were complaining about the cold as it was very windy.  They were wanting to light a bonfire and we had to have a discussion about fire safety, especially forest fire safety as they can get out of hand in a hurry.

The loft joists were spaced two feet apart on center.  I varied the second joist to be able to nail it directly to the rafter as well as the wall.  This will make it more stable.

I used 2x8's for the loft joists.  I don't want it coming down and it may be a little overkill but I would rather do it right to begin with.  I also installed blocking every two feet in between the joists to stiffen them up.  I staggered the placement so I could butt nail them.  I plan on going back later to install some brackets.

We spent a good portion of the afternoon working.  The weather forecast was calling for increasing chances of rain beginning at 1600 and getting greater by the hour.  Well the meteorologist was wrong as we started getting rain around 3:00 pm.  I had wanted to fashion a temporary door and install house wrap around the outside of the cabin.

We have one more loft joist to install on the long end and half the braces and we still have to install the joists for the short loft which we will do when we frame in the bathroom.  My wife bought a new bathroom vanity including the top for $15 on bid it.  If it wasn't for using cull lumber and upcycling we would'lve never been able to affort building this cabin with having to pay two house payments.

 

I ended the work session in the rain by installing the temporary door.  I just wanted something up to keep out the rain.  We have no valuables inside so I didn't install a padlock. 

The next objective will be to install the front porch so that I can determine how much metal roofing I will need and get it installed.  The front is to be sided with rough sawn cedar and the sides up to 8 feet are going to have used tin from an old barn installed horizontally to give it an old time feel and the gable ends will be stained cedar shake siding.  I have a couple more windows to install and then we will be ready to put in some insulation.  I have a dual fuel ventless space heater which will heat the cabin well.  I just have to find a propane bottle at least 100 pounds which I should be able to find on Craigslist.  We also plan on hitting the Habitat for Humanity Restore to find a door.  If we have no luck with a door the local lumbar yard has one that will work. 

The Big Hunt

My two girls aged 13 and 9 have been expressing an interest in hunting for some time now.
I have no idea where it came from as I haven't seriously hunted since I was a kid and never since having them. 

I started by purchasing a 22 rifle for my oldest on her birthday this past summer.  We then joined a local gun club with a shooting range.  I can't say enough to express my gratitude to the range master.  He went over gun safety and allowed her to shoot several of his guns including a pistol.

For Christmas they each received a shotgun. I picked up a couple of 20 gauges at a gun show. One is a single shot, the other a pump. We decided to go out to the land to rabbit hunt. We had began the hunt by reviewing our safety rules. The day was cold with a brisk wind. Unfortunately we had no snow. We walked the brushy area at the edge of the woods. It wasn't long before we had spooked up a rabbit. I was the only one to have a shot and despite taking two shots the rabbit managed to escape unharmed. We kicked up several more rabbits over the next hour or so. It was cold and getting late. We made a small campfire and made some s'more's.

Despite not bagging any rabbits it was a good time spent with my girls. I think with some more practice their shots and confidence will improve and one day we may actually bag some rabbits.

What a day!

I wasn't able to round up any apprentices today but I have to get a roof on this cabin.  The good news is I discovered my framing nail gun was not broken but I had bought the wrong nails for it when I originally bought it.  Too bad I didn't get that figured out until after all the walls were framed.  It would have saved so much time.

We loaded all the lumber, generator, and all the tools and pulled out of the drive around noon.  I know, I should have started earlier but my two year old sounded like he was coming down with something so we let it warm up a bit first.  We had a couple of stops to make before we could head out.

After grabbing lunch we hit the lumber yard for nails for the gun and some brackets.

We got out to the land and got everything unloaded.  I had to fix a couple of mistakes and place some more nails in a few of the studs it was time to pick up the girls from school.  I stayed behind to continue working.  The plans called for doubled 2X6's at each end to act as ties and the start of the loft joists.

After getting those set I began work to prepare for placing the ridge beam.  I doubled up two 2X4's and set them atop the middle of the end walls and braced them.  I thought it would be smart to attach a short 2X4 at the top on each side of the ridge beam studs. 

After setting the ridge beam atop the supporting studs I realized my mistake.  If I was using a doubled 2X8 for a ridge beam it would've worked out great.  Since I wasn't I realized I had no way to nail the beam to the studs.  I had to cut off the "safety studs" and got the ridge beam secured.

I just started to figure out the angle for the plumb cut for the first set of rafters when my daughter advised me her Christmas program was starting in 30 minutes.

We hastily gathered and loaded the tools and covered the flooring and all our lumber with tarps.

I have to work a 24 hour shift tomorrow and they are calling for a lot of rain and/or snow for Saturday.  Hopefully everything stays dry and I can get the rafters up on Sunday.

Wish me luck, I need all I can get.

Free Heat a Passive Solar heater

My daughter had a science project due and we never finished last years so we decided to try again.
The thought behind the passive solar heater is to reduce our utility bills and have something to assist with heating our cabin.


We started out with two Korean war era wood foot lockers.  the dimensions were 16" wide, 32", and 8" deep. We began by removing the lids which had been secured well with rivets which had to be drilled out.

Removing the well secured lids

We then had a huge decision to make. Aluminum conducts heat and cold extremely well. To test this for yourself take a hot can of soda, fill a basin with ice and spin the can in the ice rapidly. In a matter of minutes you will be rewarded with an ice cold drink. Our last project we gathered used cans. It was time consuming because each can had to be cleaned and holes cut in each end. The cans were then secured end to end in rows with silicone. As we were under a time crunch we looked for an alternative heat conductor. We looked at aluminum rain gutter which would have worked but it was pricey. As we strolled the aisles of the lumber store we came across sheets of aluminum ducting. It was flat but machined to form a tube 4" in diameter and came in multiple lengths. It was reasonably priced and although I would've preferred a smaller diameter we went ahead and chose it. We then needed to find something to connect the ends of the tubing to form a continuous network of tubing. We looked around and found flexible aluminum dryer duct and picked up some hose clamps to secure the connections. The remaining materials we purchased consisted of silicone caulking, flat black spray paint, liquid nails, thermometers, and panes of glass to fit our boxes. As this is being used for a school science project we had to build two boxes. One being the passive solar heater and the other serving as the control. The boxes were a bit deep for our needs so I started by cutting a couple of inches off all the way around. The boxes already had a 2X2" strips of wood running along the length and this gave us a platform to lay the panes of glass to when we reached that step.




We began by forming the ducting into tubes.  We then attached the flexible dryer duct to one end of one tube, formed a U shape and connected to the tubing beside it. At the opposite end of the middle tube, we used three tubes to fit the size of our box, we repeated the process by attaching the vent to the tube, made another U shape to attach the middle piece to the last duct. We made sure all of the hose clamps were all tight.

Forming the layout for the ducting

Drilling the air inlets

Next we drilled a 2" diameter hole through the base of the box in the bottom corner to serve as a cold air inlet. We then drilled a 2" hole on the top of the box on the opposite side of the cold air inlet.



















In order to keep the entering cold air from escaping the tubing I built a box in the corner around the cold air
inlet and cut the wood on one side to slide over the ducting.   Use clamps until the glue has dried.

Add Silicone to seal any leaks

 

We cleaned out the sawdust from the boxes and then painted the interior of the solar heater with a couple of coats of black paint. We then attached a thermometer on the inside of both boxes near the hot air outlet. Once the paint was dry we laid out the ducting and put a nice sized line of liquid nails along the entire network of ducting. The ducting was then placed inside the box with the glued side down. The cold air inlet box was then put in position and clamped until the glue was dried. It is important to note the box's top came up to the level of the bottom of the pane of glass. After the glue had dried all of the ducting was painted flat black and once dry a second coat was applied ensuring all surfaces were covered.



Once all the glue had cured and paint dried we placed a bead of silicone caulking along the 2X2" strip of wood along the inside of the box and the glass was carefully laid in place. We then repeated the caulking on the top outer edge of the glass to ensure it was airtight.

Carefully place glass onto the lip inside the box

We repeated this step on the control box. Both boxes were placed in a sunny location facing south. The temperature inside the control box never rose more than a few degrees more than the ambient temperature which averaged in the low to mid 60's. The thermometer inside the passive solar heater maxed out at 140 f the first couple of days and ultimately burst due to the high temperatures we achieved in the passive solar box. The science fair ends this week. I plan on replacing the original lid to the heater to protect the glass during the summer months when not in use. The control box is going to be converted into another passive solar heater using the same technique.

The finished project

 
This type of heating device would be ideal in a bug out situation and you don't have to expend energy gathering fuel and there is no smoke to reveal your location