On the surface it might seem that building a snow fort with the help of a 3 and 5 year old doesn't compare much to building a cabin, but that's not entirely true. Here are some lessons learned from building a snow fort that could serve us well in the "big build":
- Project planning counts. We started too late in the day to finish our snow fort ... we need to make sure we don't run out of summer while building the cabin.
- Stay real. We didn't have the man power for the scale of our fort. Instead of a 5 snow brick x 5 snow brick fort, we would have been just fine with a 3 x 3, but we got greedy and then we got tired. For the cabin (and this one's tough), we should choose pragmatism over grandeur. The goal is to get a better mortgage and not be under water on our investment and have a place to have fun, not build the house of our dreams.
- Corners matter. Being level matters. Strong foundations matter.
- Placement is critical. Our snow fort is situated it on the front lawn near the road providing a really "attractive nuisance" to neighborhood kids. Also, though unintentional, it looks like we created it for the sole purpose of pelting cars with snowballs and ducking for cover...not true, but appearances count. For the cabin, we have to be sure where it is located on the lot is just right because that's a decision we can't re-think. We want enough front yard for volley ball, and a big fire pit area, enough back yard for parking, enough space for friends to park RVs or pitch tents. We want to be oriented away from the crazy neighbors and toward my parents, making our 2 yards seem like one happy complex.
- Have the right tools to do the job. Our fort started out as a mommy-daughter project. We got the first row of bricks laid by scooping snow into the box with gloved hands. When my husband and son came out with shovels, our output increased dramatically. For the cabin, we have to balance cost savings with productivity when choosing tools, so while hammers may be cheaper, renting nail guns is probably enough benefit to be worth the extra cost.
- Understand what motivates the crew. At some point in the fort build, we went from "lets have fun in the snow" to "we HAVE to finish this fort before it gets dark". Blinded by new found passion for snow construction, I forgot the law of diminishing returns AND the output potential and attention span of pre-schoolers. The fort project ended unfinished with crying kids and a cranky mommy. Good lesson for the cabin build. Workers -- especially ones only paid in good karma and a lake-house to visit for life -- probably don't have the same passion level we do. Meet them where they are, appreciate their contribution, keep fun a priority.
Progress:
Though there hasn't been a ton of specific progress lately, my father in law has helped a lot by meticulously doing his own private blueprint scrutiny and surfacing lots of questions and thoughts at a level of detail that illuminates our inexperience with construction. From that, for those of you hungry for the technical stuff, here is the beginning of a list of items we need to address either with the township building permit supervisor or by seeking out the help of experts:
- The plans call for 4” of granular fill on top of the 6 mil vapor barrier in the crawlspace. Is this required?
- Will we need to plan for a pressure tank for the water inlet? Talk to the well driller and building inspector about advantages and disadvantages.
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Does the plan call for an electric water heater? If we change to a gas hot water heater, we will save money. However, we will need a vent pipe for it.
- Are we going to use a rafter brace?
- How wide is the overhang?
Some of this stuff might as well be a foreign language to us today, but one side benefit of this project will be newly found skills and knowledge. To that end, please feel free to ask me about the relative benefits of a pressure tank a year from now.
Treasure hunting:
Treasure hunting:
Those of you who know me will not be surprised that I am getting obsessed with craigslist (as if I wasn't before!). "Treasure Hunting" (2nd hand shopping) is a hobby of mine regardless, but now I have a mission (and a dangerous one). While I have been thus far able to temper my compulsions, I have been doing lots of "research"on Craigslist, at the local Goodwill and the Habitat for Humanity "restore". It has been hard to resist treasures like:
Last thing...since my last post, my uncle gave us the painting. It is 10x more amazing in person.
Thanks for reading.
Sarah
- A gorgeous cast iron stove for $300
- A whole kitchen of cabinets for $700
- Brand new windows for $100 or less
- Carpet tile flooring for less than $1 per 18-inch square
But, stayed by the voice in my head (who sounds remarkably like my husband) that says "if you buy an 800 lb cast iron stove now, we have to live around it until we actually have a cabin to put it in" I have resisted. So far, and I trust my "research" will serve me well when it comes time to pounce on the "deals" of a century.
Last thing...since my last post, my uncle gave us the painting. It is 10x more amazing in person.
Thanks for reading.
Sarah
