Building the Guest Cottage

Last weekend my cousin Kris and I went out to the lake to help dad build the sub-floor for the new guest cottage. The Friday before we left I had some time so I mowed my lawn. It was a bit cold out but I was only in a fleece. Definitely fall weather.
Kris and I left the city by about 6 pm. About 30 min out of town we were in a full blizzard. It was snowing so hard you couldn't see very far out the windshield. Not the kind of weather you want to build a guest cottage in and I think we were both starting to wonder what we'd signed up for. We got to the cottage by about 9pm and there was a few inches of snow everywhere. This was winter. As we got to our doc the slanted transition piece was so slippery that you needed to use a rope to walk up it. Before we went to bed mom and dad told us how miserable the weather's been the last few days. Not very encouraging stuff. The next morning at least the sun was up but there was snow everywhere and all our lumber was covered in ice and snow.
But for both the Saturday and Sunday that we worked the weather turned out great. The mornings were a bit cold but it just kept getting warmer as the day went on. As you'll see in the pictures below the snow keeps getting less and less and by the end of the day sunday we were in t-shirts. Not bad at all.

We started at about 9 am on Saturday morning. Mom and dad had already put in the centre beam and the josts that the bathroom rests on.
First we put up the main posts that the front of the cottage rests on. Then set the front beam across the three posts. Then we hung all the joists between the centre beam and the front beam.Once we had set all the joists in the right place we nailed the it all together
We laid beaver board between all the josts. The beaver board keeps the insulation from falling through.
Once all the beaver board was in place we laid all the insulation.
After the insulation comes the vapour barrier.
We then screwed down the plywood floor and started the second level. We built the back wall then laid down joists for the upper level.
It's smaller then the lower level because the bathroom is going to be on the main level in the space you see here.
Again we put in the beaver board and the insulation...
while Dad worked on the stairs.
We put down vapour barier again and then screwed down the plywood for the upper level floor.
With Dad's stiars finished and the top floor in place we were done!
The place looks great and I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's done. The view of the lake is fantastic. Next up is the walls and the roof. Dad hopes to get them started next spring, bringing all the material over the ice (all the material fror this job was hauled in by boat by dad and me and then carried a few pieces at a time up the 60 foot hill).
It was great to have Kris there to help and thanks to Mom who fed us like royalty (homemade soup and sandwiches for lunch (with 6 types of cheese) and roast pork and homemade pie for super!!!). It was a good weekend.

Comments

Ali Kat said…
This is impressive. My hubby and I are hoping to get a group together in spring to build stairs at our cabin. We could use some tips (your stairs are beautiful). email me

Alison
Ali Kat said…
Sorry, the email link doesn't work - you can get it off my blog!
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