Damn, it was a scorcher out there this weekend. I had a very ambitious list of things I wanted to accomplish this weekend, but alas, I didn't get most of it done. I did, however, add two things to the list, which didn't help the other things.

Total Construction Days: 18.5

I started off by rewiring a receptacle I had inadvertently wired to an existing box that was in the same stud bay where the outdoor shower plumbing will be. I deleted that box and ran new romex between the two new receptacles. I also wanted to get the shower completely plumbed, but it wasn't my highest priority, so I got the PEX lines run into the wall and connected to the kitchenette lines under the building (I forgot to take a pic under the building). Having plumbing in the same bay as electrical is where me using a spool of direct burial cable was beneficial.


I took a slight detour and decided to get a first coat of paint on part of the outside where there are things I need to install that need paint behind or around them, namely the air conditioner mounting bracket, exterior receptacle, and lights. To be truthful, I had wanted to finish wiring all the interior lights, which happen to be on the same circuit as the exterior lights seen here so I could have outside lights at night, but that did not happen. It gets REAL dark in the woods at night.

I went with a bulkhead light for the shower area.


Next up was to finish the western-facing wall to help fight the effects of afternoon sun on the interior temperature. First, I had to finish furring out the wall, which included having to extend the nailers on the abutting walls. My furring strips allowed me to correct the areas where the stud bays are not 16" all the way up. A taste of problems to come was having to spend almost an hour hammering down and pulling construction staples by hand out of the ceiling nailer. I think there are 10 more rafters I will have to do the same thing to.



One thing which really slowed me down was having to cut and fit rigid foam around the plumbing and electrical panel, as well as irregular areas of the wall. I forgot to get a pic of the insulated plumbing, but insulating around the drain line was a real PITA.


One thing I discovered when I removed the rest of the R13 insulation from this wall was the gable vent never got sealed - they just covered it with insulation, so any wind-blown rain just went into insulation and down the inside of the wall. Thankfully there wasn't significant damage or mold, but I did treat the area with Concrobium. I then put a bead of sealant around the inside of the gable vent and sealed it with 1" rigid foam before putting batt insulation over it. You can see the correction at the top center of the wall.


I had not initially planned to install sheetrock, but I decided to go ahead and try to make that push just for the psychological effect of being able to physically see progress, since I had ended up so far behind this weekend. I was going to put up the 4th piece of sheetrock, but it was 11:00 PM last night and I was tired and needed to head home early this morning. Finally having a (mostly) covered wall really makes it start feeling like a habitable space.


I probably won't be back out there for a month. My priorities will be:
- Finish insulating and sheetrocking the wall under the loft
- Wiring the main lights
- Wiring the loft lights
- Installing the "ceiling" under the loft

I was back out at the cabin this weekend, and damn, this heat needs to let up. It was 104 in the shade Saturday and my poor portable AC was losing the battle. Nonetheless, I made some great progress working the leftovers from my list for last month.

Total Construction Days: 20

I decided it was easier for me to remove the insulation from the rafter bays to run the overhead lighting. Cutting the insulation and tucking the romex was just too much of a PITA.



I got as far as I could get on the tongue & groove under the loft without my table saw. I have to cut the back of the tongue off the last two pieces and treat them like shiplap. I got stalled out on this last month because I was having a lot of trouble getting two pieces to go together by myself.


I finally reached the point where some walls were fully insulated again and could be sheetrocked. The great thing about having the walls closed up is I can put stuff against them instead of constantly doing the shuffle when I need to access those walls. I'll be happy to not have to haul the mini split boxes outside every time I work on the cabin.




I'm going back out Labor Day weekend, where my priorities will be plumbing the shower so I can sheetrock that wall and wiring the loft lights.

My plan was to be out at the cabin through Monday, but an emergency with the beagle cut things short and I had to get back home. Nonetheless, I did get two major things on my list completed.

First, I got the outdoor shower plumbed and that wall mostly insulated. I had sheetrocking it on my list, but Delta somehow failed to include a test cap in the box, so I could not pressure test the plumbing, even if I wanted to.



Next I needed to get the loft lighting installed. This was a super PITA because everything was basically upside down and behind me. Everything I did required abs for days. Wrestling the insulation into place was awful and I ended up with fiberglass all over my arms and face. One item of note is I should have not installed 3-way dimmers in both locations for the loft because it causes the lights to flicker. I will replace the lower dimmer with a standard 3-way switch.



The benefit of completing the loft lighting is I was able to power the overhead lighting and the exterior lights on the back of the building, although I think one of the wafer lights has a loose wire. It isn't working, but everything downstream of it is, so I'll troubleshoot it next time.



I was glad to get the exterior lighting working, because this would have been completely black:


I may try to get back out there next weekend, but I'm not sure right now. It depends on how things go with the beagle and my grad school workload.

I went back out yesterday to try to get some more work done, since the previous weekend was unexpectedly cut short. The relatively mild weather with a high of only 86 (compared to 106 the previous weekend) gave me an opening to finish replacing the exterior siding. The best part of this is it consumed building materials that were taking up a lot of space inside.

I ripped off all of the old siding, and much of the bottom of the T-111 siding just disintegrated from water damage.





I increased the window size from 24x26 to 24x36.





I set the old barn doors aside for now. I will need to build new doors and will have to reverse engineer these to make sure I get it right. Since the backs of them are 2x4 framing, I will probably use rigid foam insulation in each panel to help just a little bit more when the structure is closed up.


I took a little time to get some insulation up on the re-sheathed wall, but I started my day on the road at 6:00 AM and it was after 9:00 PM by the time I got this far, so I called it a day and headed home. All I have left on this wall before sheetrock is to run plumbing for a hosebib on the front of the building and insulate the irregular width stud bays.


I did take some time to enjoy dinner by the fire.


I won't make it back out until mid-October. Priorities then will be completing all plumbing and tying it into the service line, insulating and rocking all walls, and making some electrical adjustments. I suspect after my next trip it will finally look like a place that will be habitable and I can start bringing tools and materials home.

Finally got back out to the cabin this weekend. There have been events every weekend which prevented me from doing work.

I started out doing some site cleanup. The giant pile of demolition and construction debris has been growing since April, so I started cutting it down to dumpster-friendly pieces. These pics don't do it justice, and I unintentionally made an enormous rat homeless in the process.



I finished plumbing a hosebib, insulated around plumbing in two walls, and insulated irregular stud bays. I'm so happy to be almost done dealing with insulation.



Now that I had the interior plumbing I got my primary goal achieved of closing in all the walls except for the loft and the gambrel portion of the other wall - soooooo many angles to cut and it's a two-person job.




I may only be able to get back out there once in November. The goal will be to finish the sheetrock so I can start taping & floating it. I may also buy some of the ceiling material so I can stain it before my December trip out there. Getting the mini split installed is less of a motivating factor now that temps are coming down.

Please don't judge me for how long this is taking.

Total construction days: 23

I went out for Thanksgiving weekend. I wasn't feeling very motivated and we were doing some social stuff, so I didn't get much done, but here's an update nonetheless.

I got there Friday afternoon and used what light I had left to do some paint work on the grooves in the siding and get a second coat in the area where the mini-split compressor unit needed to go. This allowed me to go ahead and place the unit to get it out of the cabin and give me a little more space. I was also sick of moving it out of the cabin and back in every time I did work.



My big goal was to finish installing all the sheetrock, but I ended up one sheet short from what I needed (well technically a half sheet). The gambrel angles weren't that bad to cut, but it was certainly tedious because nothing in this cabin is plumb or square. I finished closing up the wall around the sliding doors and most of the full wall gambrel. I finished replacing insulation in the loft, but by the time I was ready to cut the one piece of sheetrock I had left, it was late and I just didn't feel like doing it.





Now that I've reached this level of progress, I was finally able to start clearing some stuff out like larger sheetrock scrap and leftover batt insulation. I always love site cleanup that gets rid of stuff taking up space. I also brought home all the tools not actively required for the task at hand.

The one thing I am dreading is taping & floating the sheetrock joints. I do not have high confidence in my ability to do a good job, so it will take me a LONG time to get it done, unless I hire someone to do it. It will also require removing EVERYTHING from inside the cabin. Once I get the full end wall done and painted, I can install the head unit for the mini-split and have AC and heat. Finishing plumbing connections to the water supply is very low priority because we are about to winterize.

I'm going back out the day after Christmas, but I'm the lead on an event that weekend, so I doubt I will get much done, but I think getting the sheetrock 100% installed is still achievable. I may also get about half the material for the ceiling so I can get it stained and ready to install when I go out the first weekend of 2026.

If anyone here can do a good job taping & floating and wouldn't mind making the trip out to Milam County, I'm happy to talk business.

Just found this thread and enjoyed all of the progress. Got a bit worried for a second scrolling on my phone when I came across the photo with flames!

I made a day trip out Thursday on my way back from Austin and had planned to finish installing sheetrock and start taping & floating. To my dismay, my end of the property had been winterized due to recent freezing weather, meaning no running water. I might have better luck this weekend when I go out for an event, but if it means carrying buckets of water to my cabin, so be it. This is holding up the mini-split head unit install.

I only took a couple of pics, but this is what I got done:

• Bought more sheetrock to finish install; all walls are now closed up, including the loft. The gambrel angles were a real PITA - measure three times, cut once, trim it, trim it again, get the flush cut saw out and trim it in place to fit.
• The ceiling insulation in the loft was not stapled on both sides of the last rafter bay, so it fell out and came apart, so I got to do insulation again. All insulation is now installed and secure.
• Cut and installed ceiling nailers for the full end wall. I had furred out this wall to accommodate plumbing, which ate up all of my ceiling nailers, so I had to extend them.
• Connected the whip to the outside HVAC compressor unit.
• Jacked up part of the building to correct some settling that occurred after it was raised and leveled. The door wasn't closing very smoothly and the deadbolt was binding up.

ETA: Once I get taping & floating done, I will prime the walls, then start installing the ceiling boards. I may buy the ceiling board in Houston, stain them here, then take them out for install instead of consuming all the space necessary to stain and store them. The inside of the cabin gets really small, really quickly when construction materials are brought inside. Taping & floating is the only impediment to very fast movement of finish work. After the ceiling is up and walls are painted, all I have left is trim, flooring, connecting plumbing, and cabinetry.

ETA: Total construction days: 25

I actually have decent WiFi access out at camp this weekend, so this will be the first of multiple updates for the weekend.

My first order of business upon arrival Friday afternoon was to remove just about everything from the cabin to get the rest of the taping and floating done so it could start drying while I did other things.

I then started sanding the other wall I did last time i was out here. Taking my time and being meticulous with taping & floating paid off with a lot less sanding. I opened both doors for cross ventilation and set a shop fan up at one door to exhaust the dust out. It worked magnificently. After sanding I textured it with spray on orange peel texture. I am fine with a handful of minor imperfections since the texture will help hide them, but there were very few imperfections. I will gloat a little and say I am very proud of the work I did after expecting to be very bad at it.


Now comes the real light at the end of the tunnel moment - I got a wall primed. Walking in and seeing this white wall makes it feel more like a real space and not a construction zone.

I closed up shop a bit earlier than I normally would have because it was getting too cold to work with the doors open, but I was able to get the other three walls and the loft sanded. I re-mudded a few spots that needed touch up before closing up. The plan for Sunday is to finish a little sanding, then texture and prime those three walls. If I decide to stay at camp into Monday, I'll probably consider sanding and painting the cross braces, painting the two end walls their final colors, and installing the mini-split head unit.

The next update will probably be whatever progress I make on Sunday.

Sunday update:

I always try to post pictures that are a little bit sanitized, so I figured I'd show you what you're not seeing ... This is most of the **** I have to take out of the cabin every day to work on the walls:

Today I got started around noon because it didn't get above freezing until sometime between 9 and 10. I finished sanding the sheetrock, textured it, and primed it.



I'm going to agree with Tree Hugger about the crossbraces being white. They are just primed for now, but I'll go back over them with trim paint.

And now for another big milestone - final paint on one wall. After doing a good priming job, I was very impressed that I did get solid one-coat coverage. I can't wait to see it with natural light.

My original plan was to go with a much darker blue on the wall with the loft (both upper and lower) to make it a darker, cozy space, but after seeing how bright the cabin is with just primer, I just don't think I want to go darker. Instead, I will paint those walls the same light grey as the walls with the doors. Since I don't have the grey paint with me, I had some spare time, so I went to Temple to get the first round of ceiling boards.


Total Construction Days: 28.5

Mission accomplished to beat the big freeze. I went out to the cabin on my way back from Austin and got the HVAC finished so the space can be heated. I also got the rest of the walls painted (no pics). It sucked doing all the outside work in the cold, pouring rain, though. The inside of the cabin has mud everywhere, so that will be fun to clean up next time.


Total construction days: 30

I got out to the landsite around 8:30 Friday night, set camp, and got started around 9:30. We were expecting rain all day Saturday, so I worked through the night.

This is what greeted me after my mad scramble day trip a few weeks ago to get the HVAC installed ahead of a big freeze. My dad would have kicked my ass for leaving my jobsite such a mess.


I stained 35 of the ceiling boards that were ready. I already had 19 done and another 18 need to be prepped for staining. It's a semi-transparent stain that is supposed to have two coats, but I was happy with how a single coat looked, and yeah ... screw all the time involved in doing it twice.



I used wainscot cap for my transition between the wall and ceiling. I really like how it looks, and the white crossbraces are a nice touch. I was installing the boards with 2" brad nails because they are less noticeable, but as fate would have it, my brad nailer went tits up. I had a finish nailer with me, but no finish nails, so I called it an night at 5:30 AM and went to bed. I went and picked up some finish nails in the morning. They are much more noticeable, but I don't care - I am not going to go back to fill 2,000 holes.



With all the rain today, I had no choice but to work inside, so this was my setup. The shop vac wasn't perfect, but it did a great job of capturing the sawdust.


I did some troubleshooting on the one wafer light that wasn't working and got it up and running. Cutting the holes for the lights was a bit of a pain, though. Three lights contained within four different boards. Somehow I managed to screw one board up by 1/2" and had to cut a new board. Thankfully I was able to reuse 85% of the miscut board.



My jobsite hygiene didn't get much better since I couldn't put anything outside, and as I made more progress on the ceiling (and still had the saw in the middle), I had to cram everything against one side of the building.


This was the extent of my progress for Friday and Saturday. Now that I have three lights pointing down instead of all willy-nilly around the room, the lighting is so much better. I spent my last hour in the cabin sorting through stuff and pulling aside items that are ready for permanent removal from the cabin.

11 more hours of work today. Things went a little slower because I had more than a handful of boards that weren't perfectly straight and required some manhandling. Since I didn't have any leverage while on top of a ladder, I had to tack a block in place and drive shims to get the boards where I wanted them (one board took 4 shims!). As I got farther along, though, I was able to stick a foot against the wall for leverage.


While I still had good light I took some time to make my window sills. I used 1x5 and a roundover bit on my router. I thought I'd get to trimming out the windows this trip, but it's just not going to happen.


Then there was more of this tediousness cutting holes for the lights.


I installed one more row after this pic was taken. I completed my mission of installing all 54 boards that were stained. The ceiling is now about 75% done and I can calculate the exact number of boards needed to finish it next time I'm out here. I can't believe how far it's come.


Here's your horror movie shot to close out the day:


Total construction days: 33