J & J Log Home

The drywall guys are done, & they were nice enough to leave the scaffolding for us to use until their next job. We spent a couple days doing the last of the "high" work while we had a chance. We bought ceiling fans that have remote control, since both fan's are quite high. All the new sheetrock has a coat of primer on it as well. We also put a clear finish on the ceiling (4x10's + 2x6 T&G flooring). We didn't want to darken things up too much, so we used a clear waterbased poly in a satin finish, so it's not too shiny. Here's a before (from a while ago): Here's after we finished 2 coats (tired arms!): Here's a couple cool pics from today & yesterday:

Well, we had walls before, but they look more like walls now. After seeing the framing for so long now, I was quite surprised how different everything looked when we walked in the door on Saturday. Future kitchen: Downstairs bedroom: Upstairs: Master bedroom: Master bath: We only have 1 more day of chinking left, so we're looking forward to that. Next weekend we hope to have all the walls primed & painted as well, then onto flooring & cabinets.

We found a drywall crew that will install & finish all the interior walls & ceiling. The supply guys showed up this morning & brought in all the sheetrock. The nice thing about not getting it from a standard "big box" home store, the drywall can be ordered in larger sheets. Here's some for the ceiling, 16' long, wow! We also taped off some logs using blue painters tape, (an idea from Chris the other weekend). Here's a picture that shows a couple rows of each, some that were taped, & others that weren't. The taping takes a bit of time, but not having to clean the logs after is worth it!! (I labeled each that were taped and not taped) Hopefully by the weekend we'll have the drywall done.

For the last two weekends we have been busy chinking the inside of the house. We have accomplished quite a bit, it seem to be going much faster than when were were chinking the outside. It might have something to do with working off of floors and it not being 90+ degrees outside. We had quite a bit of help this weekend, and it was nice having an extra day due to the holiday. On Friday and Saturday Travis ( Log Home Builder Member KingLewey70) came down to help. It turned out that he was quite the chinker, even though it was the first time he had ever chinked. He is welcome to come and help anytime. On Sunday we were pretty chinked out and decided to clean up the logs a little. For those that have never chinked before, it is a very messy and dusty task. No matter how hard you try to keep the lines perfect and the excess chinking off the other logs it seems to make it's way there. Another Log Home builder member Chris (ribbonevt) came to check out our progress and lend a hand. Chri...

The excavating company came out today to run the main power from the street to our meter base. They were also nice enough to trench our water line in as well, & helped me get it into the crawlspace, nice guys! Digging near the water meter: 48" deep trench for water supply, he was flyin' through our rock-free dirt. Here's another angle.... After this, they trenched another along the treeline for the A/C & phone cable. We'll be able to fire up the furnace soon & get the drywall guys starting. The REMC was out the following morning & wired up the meter, we have real power!

Last week we had the inspector out for the rough-in inspection, it turned out that there were still some things that we needed to do before he would give us the okay to continue. Things like fire caulking, dryer vent, and also a few things that the electrician failed to do. It probably did not help that we were not there when the inspector arrived. He tripped the temporary security system which we put in to prevent thieves from stripping the wire and copper out of the house. After we finished those repairs last weekend we called the inspector and had him come out again this week, and he gave us the okay to move forward. It seems that there are so many little things to do when building a house. Given that this is our first house and neither of use has any experience (other than google), it would be helpful if someone were to write a book that gave detail instructions on how to build a house starting with digging the footers to the final inspection. We called the painter out to put the...

We had Don come out to stain the inside logs, we used the same stain as the outside, & will be putting on a clearcoat in a week or so. Finished 2 coats of stain by the end of the day. Today we stained the front board & batten before it gets too cold out. Started: Finished: