Cabin in the Woods

Backfilled and safety fence up

I'm so happy to get the retaining walls backfilled and the yard to the rough finish grade. I've spent over a year looking at the pit/ditch beside the cabin, and it feels so good to get it covered and ready for landscaping.

The grass seed is planted for temporary erosion control, until I can plant centipede seed next spring. It was rather hot yesterday pushing that rake around the yard to get the seed bedded. 90+ degrees. I was watering myself more than the grass by the time I finished.

I even cleaned up most of the junk that's been populating the back patio! I just need to finish the trim around the garage door and stain the back porch floor beams and the rest will be considered "projects".

All these photos were taken before raking and seeding the dirt, (before I was to be covered in dust), so the ground looks a little rough. It's much better now.

Gerald was kind enough to stain the front deck last week.

Iron Sulfate Block Stain

The retaining wall and basement walls looked pretty ugly as bare block, so I cheated and used 1 part Iron Sulfate mixed with 3 parts warm water to make my own stain. The concrete stain in stores is way too expensive.

I may play with the colors a bit before sealing the blocks, but it is a vast improvement to me already. It has an old stone look I think. Much less glaring than unstained.

I also stained the front deck. Of course, Gerald did most of the work, and it looks great. It will lighten up a bit in a week or two. We were too tired to wait to take the plastic down, so I'll add some better photos later. It should look very nice once the finish grade is established and the landscaping is in.

Retaining wall is almost complete.

This was a lot of work. I'll add a cap stone to the walls and backfill with sand and topsoil and it will almost be complete.

This looks like a good place for a new road.

Off through the pines you can now go:

A cedar and some unknown tree struggled for years for the same real estate:

I think the cedar won. The other tree is still alive. It's roots are on the north side of the cedar and the main trunk on the south.

Nature can be really weird:

What's taking so long?

... you may be asking.

well, I have more excuses than most people would have the patience to listen to.

Basement ceiling finished and painted: check
Workbench complete: check (all 26 feet of it)
Garage door trim installed and painted: check

The back of the cabin is a mess. Old lumber lying around, blocks littered here and there, but most obvious is the massive slope on either side of the cabin that is slowly eroding away. Slowly, because the wonderful red gumbo clay is like concrete. While a total, sloppy mess when wet, it is almost immune to erosion. It still looks bad and I've started to address that issue with a stepped retaining wall.

The first step will be 32 to 36 inches tall: enough for a comfortable raised garden bed. It is also in the shape of a lightning bolt... don't ask... it'll look great.

I'll start the second step on the dirt shelf where the drain tile is currently perched.

Before:

After and ready for rebar:

I've compacted a few more inches of sand on what is shown above since these photos were taken, so it's ready for the rebar. Don't make fun of my footer forms and braces: it's all re-purposed lumber that's left over from the original cabin footer. I had to work around the drain tile and allow it a place to drain, so that's what the pvc and black plastic wrapped pipes are.

I did the other side of the cabin as well:

The new garage and workshop/storage room ceiling... (with lights: super modern, right?)

Disregard the junk please.

Notice the workbench is already unusable. This is the correct state of any work area. If it's clean and neat, it's a sign of mental illness.

A December Update.

Temporary grass is getting established.

Gerald and I have begun finishing the basement ceiling. It started with this plumbing chase to hide all the pipes:

Then the OSB went up. Talk about work. I'm glad it was cool that day.

Gerald is all about wood work, but vanished like Harry Houdini when the paint can opened. I can't say I blame him.

Primed and starting the flat black finish. I used a glossy white finish on the walls to make them easy to clean, but it creates a lot of glare from the lights, so the ceiling should tone that down a bit.