Cell Phone Cinema

In past blogs I have tried to highlight what can be done with the relatively primitive digital camera on my cell phone. Recently, I have upgraded to a much more advanced cell phone, a Samsung s390g. It is still a Tracfone and its total cost was less than $35 so it is not very advanced by contemporary standards. Still, one can use it to place and receive calls; it has a very fine mp3 player along with a standard assortment of calendars, calculators, memo pads, and alarms; it has free web browsing via wifi; and most importantly from the point of view of this blog entry, its two megapixel camera is a big step up from the one on my previous phone. Sue says that it isn’t really a smartphone, but rather one with above average intelligence. I am now using it almost exclusively to record my progress in construction. The video here is my first use of the movie camera on the new phone:

Speaking of construction, I have just passed a number of milestones. The windows are all in so that the west wing is now completely enclosed. The wiring is finished. The mini-split heat pump is scheduled for delivery today. And crucially the ping pong table has been moved from the garage to it new home in the west wing.

Bedroom wall--Note the wiring

Two layers of 1/2" foam provide insulation

The fixed-pane windows

The area for the mini-kitchen with its window

The great room

Almost Enclosed

After four more weeks of work--made intermittent by Christmas celebrations and the inevitable winter weather--we have finished the siding and begun work on the interior.

Three More Work Weeks

Three good weeks of work have resulted in significant progress. Soon after Thanksgiving break I was able to get shingles delivered onto the lower end of the roof. This first required me to power up my chain saw and clear a wide enough route so that the fork lift could make its way back of the addition where the roof is low enough to allow roof-top delivery. Shingling forced me to buy my fifth pneumatic air gun, since renting one for the four-day duration of the actual roofing would be as expensive as buying one. Amazon accommodated with one-day delivery. What an amazing modern world! After the shingles were distributed, the roofing could begin in earnest.

 Terry and Jim glue down the final strip of shingles.

 Framing of the walls is a piecemeal project since the walls don't carry any significant weight. The horizontal 2x4s are nailing strips to which the vertical pine siding will be attached on the outside and the vertical car siding will be attached on the inside. The finished walls of solid wood eventually create a very strong structure.

 You can see below that I have cleared a bit more of the downhill brush. Notice the turkey posing for the photo just above the deck railing.

 Morning walks to the water at this time of year can be very foggy, but it is eerily lovely as the fog rises.

 Here we are attaching the very last panel of exterior foam insulation.

 The highly reflective addition is starting to look like a house.

 Here is another view of the structure. We are starting to get of sense of how the finished building will appear.

Thanksgiving

Jim and Terry took a few days off for Thanksgiving and went off to visit family. I slogged away alone--albeit at a relaxed pace. One thing I did was to chop down a bunch of small cedar trees that were blocking the view of the lake. I followed that up by clearing a small trail that should allow Home Depot to deliver shingles onto the low end of the roof. Finally I finished the railing on the new deck and built three sturdy benches from left-over scraps of the 2x12 beams.

Cabin addition -- 11/22/2012

When I last posted, we had just finished installing the 4x4 crossbeams and the 1x6 pine car siding for the inside ceiling. That was far from being a weather-proof roof, as one long day of heavy rain displayed to my complete satisfaction. Fortunately, I had covered my tools and lumber with black plastic tarps so things survived the storm well.

During the past week or so we have completed a lot of work that isn't particularly visible in snapshots but that is of vital importance. First, we covered the entire roof deck with 1/2" foam panels--shiny side up to insulate the roof and reflect infrared heat from summer sunlight. The foam is held down by 1x4 spacers, spaced at 16" on center. Those in turn hold up the 5/8" OSB roof deck. And now that is covered with 30# felt, with a 19" overlap to provide double coverage. Only the shingles and fascia boards of the finished roof remain to be installed, but even as it is today, the roof should be impervious to the most sustained of rainfalls. . . . And given that the lake is nearing record low water, I very much hope that we get such a rainstorm soon!

Note the 1x4 spacers holding on the layer of foam
 

Here Terry and Jim are cutting the final strip of felt.

 

Packing up after a job well done