Foam operations are complete

One last weekday off (we are already back to our day jobs most of this week). However, we’re totally in the home stretch. Nearly the whole cabin has its exterior sealed up. If we had to, and if we didn’t have to wait for things to cure, we could easily get done in one more solid day. Today was the day that got us to that point! Our last shipment of (expletive) caulk arrived, and we picked it up at UPS on our way to the cabin this morning. One more wall to foam (backer rod) and caulk, and several walls were ready for either a first or second coat of stain. We’re a well-oiled machine now, so we divided and conquered and got going pretty quick.

I still have one more small set of logs to caulk – just under one window, and hour or two of work – and some more coats of stain will happen this weekend. Then a wait for this last wall to cure (>1 week is recommended for the caulk before staining), which will leave us with just this one last wall to stain after Labor Day. Sweet!

We did completely finish up with foam backer rod today (hooray!). We kept a tally of how many rolls we used in each size, so we can approximately duplicate it when we order more for inside. Wait – we have to do this whole procedure again, on the interior?! I quit (just kidding).

Also, on the topic of foam, our spray foam insulation rocks! When we got there today, the outside temperature was this:

And inside, it was actually 74 degrees (this photo taken after we had gone in and out a bunch, warming things up). We’ll take 13 degrees of free A/C!

Before and somewhat after

The back side of the cabin – the logs, at least – is nearly done. One more coat of stain and we are done back there! What a difference from the mess we bought. 

Witness:

Before

Now

Boarded up

Today

Before

Wow!

Photo of the day

Kablammo. This staining job goes quick! Coat 1 is mostly done.

1500 ounces to freedom

Anyone getting the song reference?

Anyways, we have been spending every free moment caulking the cabin. Except when I was away for four days for work, or when there are freak thunderstorms or other bizarre delays. We’re about 7/8 done! Just waiting for one last shipment of caulking, which will bring our total to 1500 ounces applied (LOTS of large tubes), then we’ll have a weathertight cabin, well in advance of winter.

So we moved on today to staining (huge joyous celebration). Unlike the caulking project, which has taken over a month, we finished the first coat of stain on the front side of the house in about an hour and a half! Had time to get groceries on the way home, and cook lunch when we got there, meaning it was barely even a half day’s work. We are feeling good that we can get this part of the cabin project done by the time we need to go back to work full time, in just under a couple of weeks. Fingers crossed.

To keep track (there’s a long cure time needed for caulk – a week at least), we have kept track of the last date of caulking on each wall. Now we can keep track of staining as well.

One coat of stain on! Woo hoo!

And another view. The new cedar trim will need some work to darken up. More coats later…

We dogsat part of this week. M is always a great camp buddy. Each dog had a bed but they just had to share.

And even though I complain about work trips taking me away from working on the cabin, at least I get to go to gorgeous places like this. Not so bad.

Sticky fingers

Tomorrow is Aunt L’s birthday, and she’s a huge fan of the Rolling Stones, so this post is for her!

Despite us not showing many photos of it, we have been caulking the cabin nearly constantly (Time is on my Side). No photos because it is extraordinarily tedious – we are up to about 40 tubes of the sticky stuff (Paint It Black). We’re happy to report we are about 3/4 done, and might have been finished if not for repeated pop-up thunderstorms (Gimme Shelter) and all kinds of day-job drama last week (I Can’t Get No). To wash away some of the frustration (You  Can’t Always Get What You Want), we said screw it this afternoon, and took the new canoe (Beast of Burden) out for his maiden voyage. Plus, it was the first time the dog has been in a boat (Jumpin’ Jack Flash).

We found one of the local public-access islands (a land trust property where you can land your boat and go for a dip), and it was perfect. We were the only ones there (Get Off My Cloud). A lovely diversion before we get back to the dirty stuff (Bitch).

Boat, bath, and beyond

So, we’ve been caulking between logs for, like, two weeks.

This is why my back and arms are aching! The day off was great.

The largest two walls are done; two small ones to go. We are waiting for more caulking to arrive, so we got today off from working with the sticky stuff. We had a blast on our day off!

Actually, on Friday, a neighbor dropped by with this photo for us. He had stopped in before to see what we were doing, and said he had an old sales book with photos of various cabins, including ours. He recognized it from the giant rock, which apparently has a name (“Cliff Rock”). The house (and rock) are located on what used to be the major tourist route to Bar Harbor, so we like to think that Rockefellers and other well-heeled folks noticed our “Cliff Rock” as a landmark on their trek each year.

Dated 1928, this is a photo of the cabin right around when it was built (we knew from other documents it had to be between 1927-1929, but this narrows it down).

I also made a few of these little mason jar lanterns (with LED candles) to hang on the porch.

Tiny lantern.

On Saturday, this guy’s nose got totally bitten by mosquitos, so we bought and set up a cheap screenhouse for respite. Seems to work OK. Today was much better.

Snout.

When I was on the trek to get the screenhouse, K got the old well pump to work. We can’t drink the water (not tested and other issues), but we would LOVE to have wash water outside so we can stop hauling jugs from home every day. We got a used sink for $9.99 and built a stand today; voila! Garden sink!

Outdoor ‘plumbing’. Aqua no potable.

Then, we finally hung the two galvanized roofing panels that we bought to use as a bathroom ceiling. We did this in our basement bathroom at the other house, and love it. So, we copied our own idea.

Bathroom ceiling

At the end of the day, as we were packing up, this guy starting hollering. Seemed like a Peregrine Falcon to us, based on size and sounds it was making. Very cool!

Either a falcon or a hawk. Sounded more falcon-y.

And finally, a guy I had been playing email tag with got back to me about a cheapo canoe he was selling; we are not ready for a nice one until we figure out where we can store it/put in. But, this one was a great beater (and cost less than my paddle!). Tomorrow we’ll clean it up and hopefully take a trip soon.

The ol’ aluminum canoe. Perfect!

Phew! Kind of a busy weekend.