I thought that building the log cabin would take me 2 days! How wrong was I? Actually getting the main building up was fairly straight forward (after some advice and direction from my mate Gary!) but then came the ‘fiddly bits’. A bit of cutting was required, which meant I really had to measure a few times before sawing through logs and trims, as I was not sure there was extra bits to cater for any practise goes!
I picked my Father-in law (Ray) up on Saturday morning and when we arrived at mine, we looked at the plans over a nice hot coffee – start as you mean to go on. We had the roof to put on, followed by the damp course protection and then the shingle tiles to finish it off. We only managed to get the roof on and some trims screwed on, before we lost our way. The plans were not as clear as I needed and, I think, they assumed I had more knowledge than I actually have.
I called Gary and he told us to make sure we covered the roof with the plastic sheet as it was going to rain for the next couple of days and the roof did not need to get soaked through! Still not really sure of how to do this, Gary popped around (hammer in hand). We fixed the sheet on and, as expected, it started to rain.
So, now I have to be patient and wait until I have some spare time and the weather is good again, before I can continue to ‘finish off’ the project. Ray has offered to help me again and I will call him to arrange the date as he enjoyed spending time with us and helping me out. I think I achieved what I set out to achieve, Ray felt valued and got out of his ‘retirement routine’ which he is finding quite challenging and boring. He was like an excited kid all day and it was great to see the old Ray back.
It would have been easy to just crack on and do the roof on my own on Saturday. I wouldn’t have had to drive 65 miles (each way) to get Ray, so could have saved time. Although I would have had to do a bit more lifting of panels myself, I could have got going earlier in the day and possibly got the damp course fitted properly. But, I had promised my wife I’d involve her Dad and, when I mentioned it to him last week, I could tell he needed to do something different.
On Sunday, because it was raining and we couldn’t do any more on the cabin, we went to the beach for a walk before I took Ray home again, promising not to do anything with the cabin until he is here again. I can’t wait to get it finished and I am looking forward to spending some more time with Ray. I am already thinking about another project to involve him with, once this is finished, so I can use his knowledge and experience and keep him active and busy. I think that’s a win-win outcome!
It also means my wife will see more of her Dad, which is priceless.
Now that’s a win-win-win…..