Bye Bye Mobile
The rustic mobile home caused us some serious troubles . Despite numerous interested parties, no buyer had been found. Strange! So we have to look for alternatives. One of these alternatives is to dismantle the monstrosity piece by piece, to remove the resulting waste and to prepare the construction site. The work for this will be done by Dave.
Even before we had signed anything, as we all know, we had to clarify whether it would be possible to install a septic tank or other fecal disposal option on site. Back then we had to deal with Dave for the first time. He had assured us on the phone that he knew the property well. All the necessary testing had already been done for other interested parties and there are numerous ways to get the crap off the yard, I'll just call it. To avoid having a hundred different people on the property in the end, we decide without further ado that we will hire Dave to handle the entire project: so please tear down and dispose of the mobile home, prepare the building site, and set concrete piers. Thank you!
And so, in our absence, it's time to get to grips with the good stuff. Terry, Raymond and "The Machine" come into play. By "The Machine" or "M" we mean an excavator - comparable to the one that has already been flipped during excavation work in Markkleeberg, only bigger.
"M" is big, yellow and loud and "M" smells, because "M" is of course fuel-powered.
Bilddokumentation
Innerhalb weniger Tage ist das historische Wohnmobil aus den 1950er-Jahren Geschichte. Wir haben Dave gebeten, während der Abrissarbeiten ein paar Fotos zu machen. Und was soll ich sagen: Dave und Co. haben abgeliefert.
All that's left at the end of the day is a crammed blue container and a pile of metal.
Defining the Layout
On Thursday evening, when the site is cleared of the old rubble, the next step is to roughly mark out the floor plan of the planned building. On the one hand, this gives us a first feeling for the size of the cabin and, on the other hand, it gives "M" a rough framework in which it will be used.
Damit die Cabin am Ende auf soliden Füßen steht, lassen wir die Fundamentarbeiten von einem Profi erledigen: Jim. Jim besticht mit jahrelanger Erfahrung und dem Ausdruck vollkommener innerer Ruhe sowie mit Muffins. Die hat er am Vorabend selbst gebacken. Mit einem schelmischen Grinsen meint er, dass er nicht mit Sicherheit sagen kann, ob bei der Zubereitung Magie im Spiel war oder nicht.
Mit Muffin-Jim legen wir also sehr grob die Eckpunkte der Cabin fest, damit »M« so bald wie möglich loslegen kann. Auf dem Bild sieht man »M« übrigens an besagtem Platz. Dort wird in den kommenden Tagen gebaggert und geschaufelt und allgemein ge»m«t.
Homework
We get a homework assignment from Dave on Friday. We meet him at the bottom of the driveway to the property. There he leads us to a place overgrown with ivy and proudly announces that this is where our water supply is.
In the small black box in the ground is a water meter and a valve that can be used to open and close the water supply. He turns the sucker on and ... the water meter turns. That means: Theoretically, we have water.
Let there be water?!
Now to our homework: A very very long black hose leads from the water connection at the driveway to the top. The task now is to find out whether the water from down here actually reaches the top - there are enough pipes lying around. And if no water arrives, we have to find the place where the hose is leaking.
Dave says that if we want to, we can take on this task. Of course he can do it, but then it will cost us money. Our choice! Of course we accept the challenge.
Saturday Expedition
Of course, the water does not arrive at the top. That means we have to find out where the hose has a hole.
In case we haven't mentioned it yet: The property we purchased is about 5 acres in size, has a steeply rising rock massif on which we will build the cabin, and lush vegetation, two-thirds of which consists of blackberries. So gorgeous to look at but rather difficult to walk on.
Samstag mache ich mich also auf in den Busch – bewaffnet mit Heckenschere, Gartenhandschuhen und einer Wie-schwer-kann-das-schon-sein-so-einem-Schlauch-zu-folgen-Einstellung. Bereits nach drei Metern habe ich die Spur des Wasserschlauchs verloren, irre wie ein Gartenkobold durch die Gegend und gerate in eine Wer-verlegt-denn-einen-schwarzen-Schlauch-im-Wald-verdammt-nochmal-Stimmung.
It is well known that fires are lit from below, but finding water hoses obviously does not follow this principle. Good! Then I'll try it from above. There you go! In the meantime, I have fought my way up more than half the mountain. By the way, whoever finds me on the picture beside is allowed to buy himself an ice cream.
Somewhere under these centillions of spines, thorns, loops and whatnot this rubber thing must pass. And shortly before a final I-just-burn-it-all-down-feeling breaks out in me, it happens: The rubber hose is to be seen and a splashing is to be heard. Following my ear more than my eye, I finally find the spot where it's stuck or not.
And another search picture: In the photo you can see very well how wonderfully clearly the black tube structure is silhouetted against the forest floor. By the way, you can see two ends. One on the left in the picture and one rather in the right quarter in the middle. In between: nothing. Which also answers the question why the water does not arrive atop.
The plumber in me, who until then had obviously been very much asleep, bridges this hole made of air almost expertly with hose remnants and connecting elements. And lo and behold: water is pouring!
Building Site
To give the builders an idea of what is planned, Rico took the liberty of making the following drawing. On it you can see wonderfully where and how the cabin is to be positioned.
Von der Auffahrt (Drive Way) biegt man rechts ab und trifft zuerst auf eine kleine Elektrohütte. In der Zeichnung ist diese als Quadrat dargestellt, mit Kreisen, die wiederum für Bäume stehen. Geradeaus kommt man direkt auf den Workshop und rechter Hand liegt der geplante Bauplatz. Die Zeichnung lässt die Bestandteile der Cabin erkennen:
- Main Building (House), in the middle
- Bathroom (Bath), right
- Open Porch and Screened Porch, left
Der Fußabdruck der Cabin wird übrigens knapp 9 Meter in der Breite und knapp 8 Meter in der Tiefe umfassen. Die Cabin wird auf 15 Betonpfeilern stehen, die im Idealfall direkt auf Felsen platziert werden oder mit einem breiten Betonfuß gestützt werden.
As you can probably guess, the correct placement and secure anchoring of these 15 concrete pillars is extremely important. Either the concrete pillars are embedded in the ground and are thus stable or - and this would be the ideal case - directly attached to the rock.
How it works? Three to four holes are drilled in the rock for each post, and steel rods are inserted into these holes. Then you put a long cardboard tube around these rods, cut them off at the top so that they are all the same height, and fill them with concrete. When that's all dried, you have 15 funky concrete pillars to build your platform on.
But before we have these concrete piers, Raymond, Terry and M have to examine the ground and figure out what we're dealing with here. Are they building on rocks, are they putting concrete in the ground, or are they building small foundation boxes, filling them with concrete, and then building the concrete piers on top of them. Let's have them do it!
Bad News
Basically, with Dave and Co., if you don't hear from them, then things are going according to plan. So we were all the more shocked when Dave calls us one fine day and says, "We need to talk." On the phone he gives no further information. Oha!
And so it happens that one evening at about 6 p.m. the three of us are standing on the construction site and Dave gives us bad news.
Raymond and "M" took charge of the ground and began to explore the subsoil at the staked points. In the process, the ground moved a lot and "M" had even sunk several times by a few centimeters. In short: The underground at the desired construction site is good for nothing. Lots of dirt, rotten wood, mud, debris, dirt and old tree roots. Building a cabin on this unsafe ground is not feasible without a lot of effort.
The place can be used at best for a carport or for a garden area or other structures with less weight. As a base for a cabin, however, this pile of sh...dirt is definitely not to be used.
So basically, we have two options.
- Digging in this pile of dirt until we hit solid ground and make sure to make the said place a stable ground
- Completely change the plan and build the cabin in a different location
New Building Site
Of course, this is not good news. But honestly: Better to reschedule now than to see the entire hut slide down the mountain in the end and, in the worst case, even sit in it and go on a slide ourselves. So let's reschedule!
Random Find
As chance would have it - and at the time it really wasn't thought of as a serious option - I had been standing on a small elevation a while ago, looking out over the trees to Vancouver Island and the snow-capped mountains, and I thought to myself: "This is a nice place, too! I had also shown Rico the spot and we both agreed that it was pretty cool here. Therefore, on that night of bad news, we were able to introduce Dave directly to an option.
Preparations
Now you may guess what will happen. We are rescheduling to this place discovered by pure chance.
There are no objections from Dave. And so we agree to roughly stake out the rough layout of the cabin. Then Raymond, Terry and M will clear the ground of vegetation and we will all get an impression of what we are dealing with here.
Also verbringen wir den nächsten Tag damit, den geplanten Grundriss am neuen Bauplatz abzustecken. Dieser Vorgang gestaltet sich erstaunlicher Weise um einiges schwieriger, als wir uns das ursprünglich gedacht hatten. Man darf nicht vergessen, wir befinden uns nun auf einer Anhöhe und auch relativ nah an der Grundstücksgrenze.
So first we have to locate the highest point and then define the remaining corner points from there. At the end of the day, with a long measuring tape, professional eye measurement and yellow barrier tape, we manage to determine the approximate position of the cabin at its new building site.
Auch hier hat sich Rico nicht lumpen lassen und eine Zeichnung erstellt. Die Cabin an sich ist natürlich immernoch identisch. Allerdings befindet sie sich nicht mehr rechts, sondern nun vielmehr linkerhand der Einfahrtsfläche. Ausrichtung: Süden; Ausblick: Wald, Meer, Berge
»M«-Action
Well then it can now hopefully finally soon really and actually possibly go off, right? Yes!
And by going off, I mean that the planned new building site is actually cleared of all vegetation. The tree visible in the picture above is felled and provides us with firewood for later, the bushes as well as smaller and larger boulders and stones are removed. At the end of the day, one thing is clear: we are definitely standing on rocks here, and everything that is not stone is much more stable than the underground at the originally planned building site. So all in all, it was a very good decision, even if it wasn't entirely voluntary.
Weekend-Action
In order for Muffin-Jim to be able to place the concrete pillars, we have to/are allowed to work again this weekend. This time it's not about finding invisible water hoses, but about cleaning the rocks. The moss has to come off, the dirt has to go away. The best way to do that is with a pressure washer and a lot of patience.
Water Pump
The successful repair of the water connection has already been explained. But what arrives at the top does not have sufficient pressure, of course. That's why we need a water pump that turns the splashing into a solid stream.
Dave recommends us a unit, which is even available at Canadian Tire. This is ordered online and picked up directly in the evening.
Kaercher
Water alone is not enough to get dirty rocks spotlessly clean. You need a scrubber and toothbrush or a high-pressure cleaner. We get the latter from Rona, and the necessary connectors and garden hose also end up in the shopping cart.
Connecting a water hose to a water pump, by the way, seems like a very extravagant idea! You need several adapters to get the hose to talk to the pump without leaking. When the helpful employee at the hardware store stands in front of the shelf shaking his head, you know that it's not you, but that it's really bullshit.
Wie auch immer. Wir haben erfolgreich Wasserpumpe, Schlauch, Adapter und Hochdruckreiniger erworben und können somit am Wochenende loslegen und die Felsen von Dreck befreien. Das ist anstrengend und feucht, macht aber unglaublich viel Spaß. Vor allem auch deswegen, weil man ein Ergebnis vorweisen kann. Als wir am Abend den Bauplatz verlassen, sind wir durchaus zufrieden. Damit sollte Jim etwas anfangen können.
Finally Relaxation
We are satisfied with our work and the resulting prepared site. So on Sunday we can relax and indulge in the "dolce far niente".
And we also enjoyed a culinary masterful Easter brunch prepared by our terrific and very patient hostess Sabine, who we threw a thousand thanks. Grandiose! Dear thanks and greetings.
Cabin Playlist
Music is Emotion. Music holds Memory. This is the soundtrack for the build of our Cabin at the Upper Sunshine Coast.
So finden wir jederzeit zurück zu den Momenten voller Herausforderung, Freude und Zufriedenheit.
Follow us on Instagram
Cabin-Blog-Zeitleiste
All our posts about RITICOLO Cabin have been organized in this fancy looking timeline. Pretty cool, eh! Have fun looking around and leave a comment if you enjoy what you are reading.
Trees, a Wood Stove, Lumber and Paws
Vapor barrier - cabin interior
Thermal Insulation and What it Takes to Get There
Roof – The big Finale
Roofing for Dummies
Roofing - shingles or metal roof?
Cabin - New Year Progress
Cabin Timeline
Roofing – Part Two
Roofing - Part One
Gable Walls and LVL
Lofts
Header Beam – Ein dicker Balken, der alles zusammenhält Zum Bau der Außenwände hatten wir…
Things we learned so far
Framing the Cabin
Basecamp
From concrete piers to the finished subfloor
It's amazing what you can accomplish in a few weekends. During the construction of our
Progress - Getting Rid of Stuff
First Steps in Lund
On the February long weekend (Family Day), we pack up our MINI and head to our
Lund - The Property
