Ranch Cabin Build

[dstrong]

Caught up.... Amazing build... Congrats to you and some very quality craftsmanship.

[wlee15]

The last two weekends we have went out to ranch and got a lot done. The weekend before last my son and I went alone and got the rest of the living room skinned with plywood. (pic 1) Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures when we were done.

This Past weekend (5-2-2020) we had a full crew. Andy and his son, my son and his friend Miles, Chad and his son and myself. First we had to make a stop in Del Rio to pickup a new side by side from Del Rio Power Sports. I bought a Can Am Defender Max HD8 with the ranch package! Man this thing is nice! (pics 2&3)

We also brought some more plywood and new kitchen wall cabinets. Friday afternoon we installed the kitchen wall cabinets and set the kitchen counter in place. We just installed a piece of plywood on top for right now, we will put concrete or granite counter-tops in later. (Pic 4)

On Saturday we concentrated on the guest bedroom. We installed the furring strips and plywood up first, then installed the cedar tongue and grove to 2 of the walls. The other two walls will be old fence boards. (pics 5-8) Saturday afternoon we worked on clear more cedar trees around the property.

I sold my 5th wheel trailer that we were using to sleep in before I dried in the cabin. I was lucky enough to have a neighbor at the ranch that needed one. We no longer have a truck with a 5th wheel connection and nor did they. So we improvised and used a backhoe to move it. (pics 9- 10)

Sunday we worked on the master bedroom. We installed the furring strips, plywood and Cedar tongue and groove on all the walls. (Pics 11-16)

All in all we have made a lot of progress inside the cabin. I am hoping to get out there again the next two weekends to get all the lighting installed and a temporary solar array.

[fordsuper08]

man that is going to be a nice place can't wait to see how the Saloon turns out

[Tsnow]

Awesome build.

[Matt_C]

Weren't you going to add Solar? I'll be following along to see more of what you are doing.

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

Just out of curiosity, why did you put plywood on the firing strips? why not just nail the tongue & groove to the firing strips?

The place looks great and you're going to have a great cabin once you're done!

[wlee15]

Weren't you going to add Solar? I'll be following along to see more of what you are doing.

Yes the cabin will be solar powered. There will be a couple of outlets for high AMP devices that will run on Generator when needed like the Air conditioner and toaster. I do expect to have to run the generator a few hours in the heat of Summer at night but so far these last 3 years we have not HAD to have AC. luckily having the cabin at the top of the hell gives it great cross winds and the breeze in the cabin makes it feel very cool and almost cold by morning.

For the solar I will have 3 180 watt solar panels on the cabin, 1 30 watt on the shower house and 1 180 watt on Saloon.

[wlee15]

Just out of curiosity, why did you put plywood on the firing strips? why not just nail the tongue & groove to the firing strips?

The place looks great and you're going to have a great cabin once you're done!

You are absolutely correct I could have nailed to the fir strips. I just wanted to keep the exterior wall thickness the same throughout the cabin. the plywood is just one more layer of insulation. On the interior walls I nailed directly to the studs.

[wlee15]

It has been quite a while since I have last posted here. I have done a few things more to the cabin since the last time.

I added two 2'x2' windows in the loft to help keep it cooler. pics 1-2

I added a cotton seed feeder to my feed pen and added Chaffhaye to my hay feeder (trying this for the first time) pics 3&4

I refurbished 2 hanging feeder to be set out at a later date (have to build feed pens first) pic 5

I FINALLY have axis deer on camera! pics 6-8

I have made some other minor additions to the cabin like a portable Air conditioner, Mirror in bath house as well. I also borrowed my neighbors backhoe and was able to clear out a new drive way to the east of the cabin.

Made a trip out two weeks ago with the wife again. It was a great weekend. She is now all in with making the ranch a more enjoyable place! That is both good and bad. Good news is that I get more $$ for doing projects, bad thing is that she is piling on more projects! The first thing she wants me to do after I get the inside completely finished is add on to the East side deck. Right now it is uncovered and only about 4' wide. She wants it to be at least 12' wide with a cover. This will be all Shaded in the mid afternoon and get excellent southern breezes in the summer. She wants to make that the outdoor dining area. I have created a master plan for the entire project. It will probably take another year or so to get all these things done. pic 9 (up in the picture is South)

This last weekend I went by myself and added a water trough to the feed pen. it was a fun project to work on but it was pretty hard work. I think it turned out nice, we will see if it all works correctly after a few weeks. Pics 10-14

[Booner Sooner]

Things have progressed, indeed! There is a heck of a lot of hard work and planning that has gone into this. Very impressive!

Thanks for continuing to take us along for the journey.

[RiverBend]

Great skills and dedication.

[wlee15]

Had a productive weekend at the ranch. I purchased a bundle of cedar 1x4x4 planks from a local mill. The bundle had approximately 550 boards in it. The cost was $440.00. We we able to get the entire living room completely skinned. Originally we were going to have a wainscoting of rusty tin, But the cedar looked so go I decided to just make the wainscoting out of cedar putting those boards vertical. We cut down a smaller board to 2" for a boarder piece. This piece will be stained in walnut while the rest of the wall will be kept natural with a semi gloss finish. We also removed the welded kitchen lower units and installed wood based lowers, finishing the ends with the same cedar running vertically. Last we trimmed out the corners with 45 degree cedar trimming.

The back splash for the kitchen will be rusty tin to tie in the accent wall to the bedrooms. Granite counter tops will finish the kitchen cabinetry.

Next weekend I will install the window and door trim, and stain the doors Walnut. I am debating on what color to use for the cabinets. I am thinking of staining the cabinets to match the accent border and doors in walnut. What are your thoughts?

[Rwc]

Been following this thread since the very beginning. You continue to knock it out of the park.

Appreciate you sharing.

Rwc

[wlee15]

My Son and I went to the ranch this past weekend. We are really starting to get some momentum; The inside of the cabin is really coming along. We accomplished the following:
1) Made screens for the windows.
2) Stained the Chair-rail border and the Doors Walnut Brown.
3) installed window trim on 7 of the 9 Windows.
4) installed front and side door interior trim and door jams.
5) finished the Loft interior plywood siding.

On Friday and Saturday night we both got to see the Neowise Comet. It was visible right after sundown to the north west just below the big dipper.

[Booner Sooner]

Really coming along. That loft will really add room.