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trollbridge
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# Posted: 28 Oct 2011 10:22am
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Montanan, you said you used 3 nails in each end which I can see in pics but did you nail anywhere else along the length of the board?
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Montanan
Member
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# Posted: 28 Oct 2011 03:59pm
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Nope- just at the ends. I suppose if we get creaking or warping, we could add some. But most of the boards are pretty short- there are a few that are 5-6' but otherwise they are 4' or shorter and they lay in there nicely with just the ends nailed down.
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Tim
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# Posted: 16 Nov 2011 02:53pm
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Just an over-all awesome cabin Montanan! I love the floor, the wood stove, the counter top, the walls.....just everything! :-)
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crosswind
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# Posted: 18 Nov 2011 12:33pm
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Wow what a beautiful place.Congrats.
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Montanan
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# Posted: 18 Nov 2011 01:16pm
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Thanks Tim and crosswind!
We stayed home last weekend, as we needed to get work done around our house (leaf raking, storm windows put on, etc.) It's a good thing we did, as a winter storm is moving in today. The husband took the day off work and is headed up to the cabin right now, trying to beat the storm. According to the weather channel, it's 9° F at the cabin right now, and they are calling for 10" of snow. I'm feeling bad for my husband, as he needs to do some exterior work up there (skirting around the foundation and insulating pipes.)
He'll come back Sunday and then the whole family is headed back up there Tuesday, on our way to my folks' house for Thanksgiving.
Here are a couple photos my mom took when they were up there last week chopping firewood for us.
My mom is into artistic photography =)
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I said we need some Christmas card photos of the cabin
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trollbridge
Member
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# Posted: 18 Nov 2011 08:30pm
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Hey Montanan, hope your husband has a safe drive and beats the storm.We will be leaving tomorrow early- decided not to go tonight cause there are just so many people and deer on the road right now. Tomorrow is the deer opener and I'm sure we will be dodging deer on our drive but I feel better doing it in daylight hours. There is also a
winter storm coming in tonight-expecting about 6" of snow. We will be trying to finish those railings outside (nothing like racing the weather huh?). I hope your husband is able to get done with everything. I also hope you have a great thanksgiving! My kids have school through Wednesday and Mr.Trollbridge is working Friday so we will go back up with some family Saturday morning. We host Thanksgiving every year at our house. This year we are expecting 25. We will be doing 3 turkeys-gooble,gooble!!! Have fun and eat plenty!
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neb
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# Posted: 18 Nov 2011 09:37pm
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Quoting: Montanan Here are a couple photos my mom took when they were up there last week chopping firewood for us.
Man you have a great place those pictures are very nice.
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hattie
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# Posted: 18 Nov 2011 10:21pm
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Those photos are beautiful!!!
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Montanan
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# Posted: 21 Nov 2011 03:30pm
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Thanks everyone.
trollbridge~ wow- that's a big crowd you will have for Thanksgiving!! Have a great holiday!
We've had a setback. Sigh...
My husband spent the weekend up at the cabin and our water system is frozen. =( We have a sort of interesting system where we pump water up the hill to the cabin from the spring-fed creek at the base. The spring runs year round and we use pvc pipe to divert water into a holding "barrel" (which is really just a big ribbed PVC tube- about 30" diameter- turned on its end and sunk into the ground about 25'.) It's open at the bottom so water continually leaks out while fresh water is brought in- preventing the problem of standing water. The electric pump is suspended in the center of the upended tube and sucks water up and through a buried water line (pvc) up to the cabin and there is a metal lid on top of the tube to prevent debris from falling in from the top. I wish I had photos.
Anyway, we drain the water system when we leave the cabin by opening a valve that allows the water to simply flow back down into the collection "barrel" (tube) but it was -15° F up there this weekend and the pump itself froze. My husband used a propane torch to thaw it (until he ran out of propane) and got the water moving- only to find that there was a blockage somewhere in the water line between the pump and the cabin. So, there must be a bend somewhere that prevents the water from fully draining out of the system.
So...we are currently without running water until we figure out a way to prevent the pump from freezing and to make sure all the water is out of the lines when we leave (compressor??)
So far, we have no good ideas. Sigh...
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PA_Bound
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# Posted: 21 Nov 2011 04:02pm
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The pump is in the center of the upended tube. If the tube is 25' deep, that puts the pump ~12'. It froze up that deep? If the pump froze up, how about the section of water pipe from the waterline down to the pump itself. If the pump can freeze up at that depth, why not the water pipe that runs down to the pump? I would think that may be the frozen section.
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trollbridge
Member
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# Posted: 21 Nov 2011 04:10pm
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Sorry to hear about your water freezing. It sounds like a very interesting system and somewhere there is a bad spot but I'm sure you will get it figured out. Did you really mean 25 feet down it is buried???? Seems so far, I don't get how the pump could freeze but I do see how water could freeze in the pipe if it doesn't all drain. The beauty of this forum is that somebody will come to the rescue and have the answer for you! I suppose the first year is for working out all the kinks right? Ugh! Hope you can get it figured out not too long into your stay this week :) Good luck!
PS...our thanksgiving guest just grew to 26...I better start rounding up folding chairs.
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Montanan
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# Posted: 22 Nov 2011 10:54am
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Ok- clarification: the pump itself did not freeze. It was the pipe above it (the one that runs down to the pump), as you both suspected. =) But my husband was able to thaw that part. There is apparently somewhere else where water was trapped when we tried to drain the system. We *hope* that it's a section right under the cabin, where it's easy to access.
But yes- I am trying to have a good attitude...the first year is going to be full of kinks to work out. Thanks for the reminder! Good luck serving your big crew on Thursday!!
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 22 Nov 2011 12:04pm
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Have a great Thanksgiving too...remember to be thankful for what you have...even the frustrating timing of your frozen pipe! I live by the motto "This too shall pass". Believe me, I guarantee that there will be a moment or two within the next 5 days when I will be saying this to myself! HA!
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Montanan
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2011 04:09pm
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We are home! We had an enchanted time at the cabin on both ends of the visit to my folks' for TG. The temps heated up significantly and we were able to get the water running again. Woohoo! We did more insulating learned a few things about how to drain the system and are hoping for the best with the next cold snap. One valve broke due to the frozen plumbing, and the metal cracked on my nice, new kitchen faucet (*sniff*) but otherwise there was no damage from the freeze.
Here are a few photos- perfect sledding and snowman-building weather!
Building a snowman!
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Cabin in the snow
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Sledding!
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Creek in the snow (at the bridge)
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2011 10:07pm
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That sledding looks like lots of fun. *S*
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dstraate
Member
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# Posted: 30 Nov 2011 11:31am
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Whew! I see you are getting some snow. How many days on the slopes so far?
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Montanan
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# Posted: 30 Nov 2011 03:59pm
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Oh yeah- snow is there for sure! Kids were great sports about hiking up the road in the dark now that we can't drive up. No skiing yet though, as the ski area has no snow making equipment. Season opens on the 7th! =)
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 1 Dec 2011 03:11pm
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Glad you got your pipes figured out but sorry to hear your beautiful faucet cracked...I know you must be disappointed :(
It looks like the kids enjoyed the snow! I'm glad they did not mind the walk to the cabin in the dark! I'm sure you are going to get really good at packing the minimum of stuff to carry with you, or come to think of it...I would pull a sled-is that what you did?
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Fire18
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2011 02:30pm
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Very nice.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2011 11:47pm
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What a gem!
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brokeneck
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# Posted: 2 Dec 2011 11:49pm
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Awesome ...
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adakseabee
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# Posted: 4 Dec 2011 07:15pm
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Montanan, until you get a permanent solution to prevent your pipes from freezing, I assume that you have already determined that you need to ensure your supply pipes are thoroughly drained when you are not at the cabin. If you are at the cabin, it is heated, and the temperature is at or below freezing outside, you should keep a rapid drip from your faucet(s). If you have a toilet with water plumbed to it, I recommend that you close off the line leading to the toilet from your main supply, and use buckets of water to flush the toilet. Closing off the line to the toilet may require putting a valve at the point where the toilet supply line branches off the main supply line, if you don't already have one there.
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Pyro
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# Posted: 5 Dec 2011 09:03am
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Fun reading & looking at the pics. Thanks for posting! Love the feeling of looking back on my cabin re-hab pics, the pics you took will do well printed out & put in a old fashioned photo album & kept at the camp for future visitors to look through.
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Montanan
Member
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# Posted: 5 Dec 2011 12:55pm
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Thanks for all the compliments!
adakseabee~ thanks for the tips. Yes, the system is designed to be drained when we leave the cabin to prevent freezing. Unfortunately, there seems to be a "flat spot" or something in the plumbing where water is not fully draining. We need to address that at some point. And we learned the hard way to make sure that all valves are OPEN when we drain the system. ;P We plan to use the drip approach when we are there, for sure. And yes, we are using buckets of water to flush the toilet. It's good to hear that our strategies are the recommended ones. Thanks again!
Pyro~ yes- it is my plan to make a book/album out of all the photos and descriptions of the building process. Unfortunately, my home computer died this weekend and many of the photos are stored only on that computer. Grrrr. I'm hoping we can retrieve them. We kept saying we needed to back them up...but didn't get around to it in time. I tried to re-save them from here, but they are tiny thumbnails when I do that. Weird.
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2011 11:26pm
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Knock,knock...anyone home????
You must be busy enjoying life lately(probably playing Santa too). Are you finding the time to get to the cabin?
Were you able to recover your pictures from your hard drive? Hopefully!
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Montanan
Member
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# Posted: 19 Dec 2011 05:45pm
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Hello trollbridge. =) I've been really busy, that's for sure. No progress on the deceased hard drive...but we haven't really tried yet. The husband was up at the cabin the weekend before last (while the kids and I stayed out from underfoot by joining some friends at their mountain retreat and did some skiing.) We won't be headed back up until the 26th, but then we'll be staying for 5 days. We'll be trying to finish the last of the major work and getting ready for the bank appraisal, but we'll also be skiing and relaxing.
When will you be back to your place?!
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Tim
Member
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# Posted: 24 Dec 2011 08:43pm
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Quoting: Montanan I tried to re-save them from here, but they are tiny thumbnails when I do that. Weird.
I found it you right click on the small pic without opening it and save it, it is larger than saving the larger version on here. Give that a try.
Tim
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trollbridge
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2011 10:12am
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GOOD LUCK on your bank appraisal today...
be sure and let us know how it went. Hope you are enjoying your vacation time at the cabin! Have a Happy New Year! Cheers :-)
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exsailor
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# Posted: 30 Dec 2011 11:59am
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I work on computers, and data from a failed drive can usually be recovered. If the hard drive disk can spin, you can install the bad drive as a slave. Then it is a matter of reading the information of off it like it was a huge folder. Programs won't run off the slave unless they are in DOS. Yes, I still know what that is, and it does tell my age. That should solve your problem. If the disk doesn't spin then the only way to recover the data is take it to an expensive clean room where they disassemble the drive and put the disks in another enclosure and read them that way. That process is very expensive, and not commonly available. The only way to recover the pictures from the forum site is open them and use keys alt-print screen. The pictures can be pasted onto a word document. If the picture has a sliding view bar, you will have to make two screen shots to get a full picture. I hope it solves some of your problems. Good luck and I really enjoy the story and pictures you post of your cabin.
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Montanan
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# Posted: 1 Jan 2012 01:52pm
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Thanks for the tip Tim- and for the suggestions on data retrieval, exsailor. We will see what we can do.
Thanks trollbridge- we are home now. It was a very busy 4 days at the cabin, getting ready for the bank appraiser's visit. But we got it "done enough" so that I think it showed well when she came by. She couldn't have been there more than 15 minutes! She basically took photos and measurements. So...we'll have to wait a week or so to find out what happens with the mortgage loan.
At any rate, we had a very nice time. As soon as the appraiser left, we celebrated by going skiing. Great powder day- it snowed the whole time!! Before that, the kids did lots of sledding and snow fort building while the husband and I worked. I did a lot of cooking and baking, played cards with the kids and read them about 1/2 of "Old Yeller" throughout the 5 days we were there. We truly enjoyed the last day, once the work was "done" and look forward to many more relaxed cabin visits. We got the water working and had hot baths and showers for the first time. What luxury!! We all got snowshoes for Christmas so we used those to walk in. That was definitely a worthwhile purchase, as it made it much easier to carry all of our gear in and out. So far, there's not so much snow that we can't park at the entrance to our property. I still plan to look into a plowing solution though. We really just need the DOT plow to carve out a space big enough alongside the road that we can fit the truck there.
Here are a couple of photos from when we had the place staged for the appraiser (i.e. tools and supplies stashed away and the sawdust swept up.) ;P
Happy New Year everyone!!
Fully functional and efficient bathroom sink area
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Ahhhhh...the tub and shower.
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Breakfast bar cobbled in- not finished yet, but functional
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Taken from the front, looking to the rear. There will be a game table under the stairs.
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