We Build Our Alaska Log Cabin - Family Of 7

...and in this episode we're going to build... First log that we laid on our house. This is our second log that we're going to lay down. Over here was the first one. Here Ethan is chinking so we can put this log down. Just laid our second log. Our loader situation just did not pan out very well. We're going to have to go to plan B. Look at this. I started coming back here and I basically got stuck. Almost got stuck. So I can't even do that and it's just pouring rain. So we actually got those two logs over there just in place by... ...rolling them around on dowels which is not going to work long term. So I'm not sure what we're going to do. There is a guy that's got an excavator working doing a septic at Michael's. He's going to come over here and we're going to see maybe we can set him with the excavator. We'll see. We'll try that next I guess. Have you ever seen a log aquarium? You're probably going to see one. The water is insane. It just jumped a lot this afternoon. So basically I gave up on setting logs with that loader. We just almost got stuck. Then we set one log with this excavator but that was not a good possibility either. So I'm trying to find a crane now. This is on a Thursday and I don't think I can find a crane until Monday. So we'll figure out something else to do tomorrow. Probably clear some trees. I still need to clear some trees for the power. But we got one row on. We got it screwed down and that's a good thing. So got something done. So much for one day. Well you saw us laying the first row of logs yesterday. And it didn't really explain what all was going on very well. But it didn't turn out too great actually. So we're like on plan D right now. Plan A was I'd just take my little excavator and go around the house and set the logs. Which would work out just fine. The problem is I can't get around the house. It's way too soft with all the rain. So my second plan was this blue loader which I rented. I thought with a 40 foot reach I'd be able to reach out and get it. But I still couldn't get close enough. I almost got the loader stuck. One log rolled off the subfloor. So the guy that had the big excavator came by to get the excavator back there. So he can get started on my septic when it quits raining. So he picked that up for me and helped me set a log. We rolled a few more in place by hand. So we got row one all done. But I'm just going to have to buckle down now and get a crane. So I've been looking everywhere for a crane. Today is Friday. We could be setting logs. But we can't because we don't have a crane now. So I'm hoping we can find one by Monday. I found one that the guy is going to get back in touch with me today. So instead of laying logs today we're doing a little bit of brush clearing. There's still about a 50-yard section behind us that we had to clear some brush for the power. And you can see the boys and I got my friend Ron here again. He's helping run the excavator. We're making a little shortcut for the power, which is going to save us a ton of money, which is good. So we are doing that. And then I think we're going to get all our... We can actually work on putting our trusses together and the log gables. Screw them all together and get them prepped so we can lift them up into one piece. So it's probably okay. We're just going to be working on that probably this afternoon and maybe Monday if we can't get a crane. So it's all good. I've got to keep reminding myself slowly but surely we're making progress. Okay, well we're using the excavator here. And we're putting these trusses together right here. So we've got one down. One more to go. Okay, we're putting these gables together. She can swing a sledge. So we've got two rafters and we're putting the gables together. We've got Ron here. He's doing the hard work, making sure we do it right. The inspector general. Okay, we're going to put the whole gable together right here. And then what we do is we lift it up into one piece with the crane. It saves a lot of... It's a lot safer building it on the ground. Well, what we got done this afternoon is what you see behind me there. We got the two trusses put together. We got one of the log gables. Actually, both log gables. The other one's in two pieces. Got that all put together. And so we did get a bit done. That took probably about three hours or so. So that definitely saved us some time. So when we do get a crane, all we have to do is lift that up into one piece. But it's raining. It's poured rain all day. As you can see by these puddles right here. It's like never-ending monsoon up here. I don't get it. It's like the subfloor is absolutely just covered in water over there. You probably can't really see it very well. But it's just like an inch of water on the subfloor. There's nowhere for it to go now except trickle downstairs. So that's kind of what it's doing. Well, it's Friday evening, and my brother-in-law Benjamin and his wife family are here. Benjamin is the one that came up here with us to look at property. Michael and I, when we came up in March. So he brought his whole family up here for a few days. Because we're all very good friends, and they miss us, and we miss them. So they came up here to see us, which was really nice. So we're going to get together for dinner, and I think we're going to call it a weekend. Tomorrow, maybe do some fun things. But thanks for watching this video, and we'll see you on Monday. All right. Welcome to Montana Haven. And this morning, we have a crane showing up. We actually found one over the weekend, like I mentioned. We tried an excavator. That didn't work. Our little excavator. Then we tried a telehandler, set the logs. That didn't work. Too muddy. Then we thought about a big excavator. That didn't work either. So finally, I just buckled down and said, you know what, I just got to find a crane. So God was good. He helped us find a crane, which was awesome. Searched around and finally found somebody that could actually come. So I got my brother-in-law Michael, cousin and brother-in-law both, I guess. Michael is showing up here with his helper soon. As well as my other brother-in-law, Benjamin. So we're going to get as far as we can today. I'm hoping we can get about 12 rows set today up to the roofline logs. That would be really great. Maybe we can finish in a two-day set. That would be ideal. I don't know if we can or not, but we're going to give it a shot. Looks like a little bit of rain today, not a whole lot, which is a real blessing. It rained a bit over the weekend, but it's relatively dry this morning here. So anyways, we're going to get going. We're just starting to get everything prepped and logs pulled off and tore apart and stuff. So here we go. Well, we got some rain coming down here, but we're getting started. Got this crane. Going to get rolling here. All right, we're rolling. That's the last log on row two. I don't want to say too much, but I've ran cranes. Thousands and thousands of hours. And I know immediately if there's a good crane operator or a bad one. I'm just thankful for a crane. That's a big thing right now. So we'll put up with whatever we've got to work with. It is what it is. All right, so we're putting steel pins in. And then we put screws in. That sucks them together. And then we screw the splices together in the corners. And Wyatt is doing the gluing. That foam right there is kind of like glue. It glues everything together. It's 1045 and we are working on row five. Right now, this goes up fast. Hey, Austin. It's lunchtime now. We got row nine down. Almost ready to go over the windows. And lunch is here. So the guys stopped for lunch break. And I just bought them some chicken and some junk food. But they'll work it off. They're all over there taking a break. They worked so hard. Just look at that. That all went up this morning. Wow. It's looking so good. It's so nice having my brother Benjamin here for a couple days. He's been helping. Michael and John Beiler are helping. I got all those little hoodlums out there hooking the logs for us. They're doing a pretty good job. Coming together. We are working on row eleven. And we're almost getting up to where we're going to start roofline here shortly. Okay, there goes the back half of the gable. Or the whole gable almost. Except for one row. It's pretty heavy. He's kind of maxed out. We'll see how everything goes here. Hopefully okay. Alright, we got the truss going in. All in one piece. There it is. Day one. We've got the back gable up. We've got the center truss up. And we've got all the... Well, actually we've got some more logs on this side to put up yet. But we're making progress. It should be an easy day tomorrow to finish it up. It's going to take a while because we've got some valley rafters to put in. And a lot of purlins. I'm thinking it's going to be a full day. But we got way further than I anticipated. So I'm very thankful for that. So glad for today. Hey, good morning. We're back again. I've got my good friend Johnny here. He's actually came out from New York to help Michael on his cabin. But I sweet talked him into... No, they offered to come over and help me. Which is so awesome. So we'll trade some work. I'll help them then as well. So Johnny and I are up here this morning. We're setting purlins. And Justin and Ethan are down there. They're hooking the purlins. So I think basically all the logs that you see right there is what we've got left to do. So it's going to take us probably about all day to get these logs up here. Because the purlins take quite a bit of time. But I think we can get it all done without too much of a problem. But it's pretty nice today. It's only supposed to sprinkle a little bit. We actually have a little bit of blue sky which is such a blessing. Really nice to see that. So yep, we're just swinging purlins up here. Each of the purlins fits right into these notches right here. So all we've got to do is just match up the numbers. Everything's been pre-cut. So you can see this has got a number 2 on it. And that's got a number 2. So we just match that up. And 1 and 2. 1 on that end over there. 2 over here. Then we go 3 up there. 4 over here. Like that. All the way around. Now we're ready to get this other big boy up here. The other truss. That thing weighs quite a bit. I don't know. Maybe 2500 pounds or so. There's one half of the gable. Because there's going to be a window right in the middle. All we could do is drop it down and then back up a little bit. Ok down. Stop. A little bit more. Hold on. This has got to be even with this cut right here. It's got to go down a little bit. Yeah. We need a dowel. Hey hey look at that. You know what I like to see? I like to see the sun. Right there it is. Somewhere behind that cloud. But good news. We're down to 2 more logs and we're done. Got the brace to put in. Down there. And the purlin out here. And that will be the last log. Just about out of logs down there. Ok last log. Ok. I know this isn't OSHA code. Better sit down boys. I know this isn't OSHA code but. I'm going to let him ride up the last log. This is my own job. Straddle it. Put one leg on each side. There you go. Like a horse. Alright now we're squared away. Here we go. This is not company protocol. This is my own house protocol. Little sharp huh? Okie dokie. There it is. Alright get out of here. That's the last log. Yee haw. Man look at the sky. The sun's out. Clouds are going away. This is highly unusual. Ok there's our house. Hey can you throw those at me? Was that too far? Put a couple more screws in and we're done with the logs. Ok look who showed up and brought me a Frappuccino. Which was so nice. Well what do you got to say babe about your house? Oh my. I just can't believe it. Look back there. It's amazing. Oh wow. I'm so happy right now. It's just a beautiful small cabin. I love it. Just perfect. Actually it's not too small. I know. With the basement it's perfect. It's going to be a little bit more of an upgrade from living in our RV. What do you think? Our RV that we've been staying in all summer long is like the size of our bedroom at home. Yeah. With 7 people you can't even move without having to sit down so somebody else can pass you in the aisle. It's hilarious. But it's a good time. So we're just real thankful for this. Look at that house. I'm amazed. Thank you Lord. And here we are getting the septic dug this morning. Awesome. Finally getting to it because there's no rain this morning. They got to create a big old test hole. Well unfortunately he's having to do some logging again because my septic tank is going in here. So all these trees right in this whole area are going to have to get out of here. But it is what it is I guess. Make our backyard a little bit bigger. Let him do his thing. Get our septic in. It will go right in this spot right here. With our drain field out there in that direction there. And what we're doing this morning is we are putting our window box in. Do you want to point to the window box? Those guys right there are those boards. Like a window frame. We've got to put these in and then we've got to get a measurement and order them custom from the building supply store. And those take like 6 or 8 weeks to get in. So that's what we're doing so we can get those measurements in and get those windows ordered. Wyatt and Chloe made a pinata. So they're going to whack this pinata. You've got to spin her around. Hold on. Don't break a window. Oh funny.