26th Posting - Big Progress on the Interior

During the winter I didn't make a lot of progress on the cabin, obviously, but one bright January day several of us did go out to check on things. We had more snow out there in December than I had seen since buying the property back in 2006. But the cabin was perfectly cozy, snuggled in the snow, and comfortable inside.

In March the work got more serious. My cousin Leora and friend Shelley came for a weekend and we started to work on the floor. I had gone round and round with ideas for the floor, but in the end decided to just go with wood. Since it is so dry in the hill, we just put down a sheet of plastic for a vapor barrier and then put 4x8 sheets of OSB down one way, and then a second layer perpendicular to the first layer with no seams overlapping. We screwed it together tight and that made a pretty solid floor. However, when it comes to sealing the edges, even a little give in the floor would make it tricky. So I used cans of gap-filler insulation all around the edge of the floor. The effect of that was to seal the boards in place so they couldn't move once the foam hardened. Then I went back to adobe and connected the walls and the floor with a rounded coat of adobe.
Then it was time for the walls and I started with a heavy coat of KILZ for a primer. Most people don't attempt to paint adobe, but I wanted a sealed surface with a good surface bond, and KILZ was the way to go. It worked great, but took 17 GALLONS of KILZ for just the first coat!!!
The fun thing about the primer was being able to tint it different colors to experiment. I put on a nice peach color which I've considered doing as an accent on one short wall, but in the end I've decided to do all the walls a cream color with (very) slight rose tint.

Twila, Valeta, and Vaughn head up the lane on a bright January day.

The cabin is nestled in the trees.

Leora starts the process of cleaning and then leveling for the wooden floor.

Vaughn, Gaylene, and Shelley work on the floor. Mother and Leora look on from the corner.

Even OSB doesn't look too bad when it's put down.

(Even if it is made in Canada from imported materials!)

Gaylene puts in screws as Mother looks on.

I enjoy a few minutes in the chair, enjoying a view of the distant mountains.

Twila gets a well-deserved cup of coffee after putting a lot of screws in the floor.

Foam insulation (Gap Filler) beaded around the edge of the floor solidifies it in place.

Close-up of the foam bead after it dries.

Then I used adobe with a little mortar mix in it to 'connect' the walls to the floor.

It won't be long before I move in my piano, wood stove, and sofa, etc.!!

Then the window and door trim in the cabin were all painted dark brown.

Colors after the first coat of KILZ. Far left is an adobe pink, center is peach, buttress is cream, and the gray on the right is the original adobe color.

After all that it looks like the paint is going to be a subtler cream color with a slight tint of rose.