Cabin Addition

WH_Conley · January 31, 2011, 06:32:20 PM

Drunken bugs?

Dodgy Loner · January 31, 2011, 07:27:42 PM

Yep. They are just a bunch of boozers :D. I read an study conducted by the USDA to determine the effectiveness of a variety of beetle-killing pesticides. In this case, the beetles they were studying were ambrosia beetles, which attack hardwoods, rather than pine beetles, but the principal remains basically the same. To ensure that the trees were under heavy attack, they actually developed a method of injecting ethyl alcohol into the trees, which the trees then released and immediately began attracting hordes of beetles. I wonder if the researchers aroused any suspicion when they wrote off a dozen cases of vodka on their expense account ???

SwampDonkey · January 31, 2011, 07:41:55 PM

I know you meant it jokingly, but Universities have it on hand. It makes a pretty good preservative. I collected insects for college, in the lab was a great big glass jug of it. You can't get the same thing on the consumer market here, it's regulated. I know because I asked drug stores and NB Liquor Corp (a crown corporation). Although, I've not heard of it used for an attractant produced by stressed trees. I have to consult with my bugman.

Seems to me a bacterium or yeast must be in this formula at some point to make the alcohol in/on the trees if not placed there otherwise. ;)

WDH · January 31, 2011, 07:55:23 PM

I have always thought that alcohol was an attractant.

I would be suspicious of any research proposal that stated, "We plan to buy a bunch of alcohol and see if it attracts any bugs...".

SwampDonkey · January 31, 2011, 08:10:12 PM

:D :D :D :D

It should be more craftily worded like "We want to take out the buzz from these trees".

Magicman · January 31, 2011, 08:32:19 PM

Quote from: Meadows Miller on January 31, 2011, 05:49:17 PM
I just notice that alot of the Syp you mill in your posts is either dead or on its way there

You are exactly right. Landowners have beetle killed SYP that the commercial mills will not buy. Rather than just letting it rot, it's just a matter of salvaging some value from it. Landowners always need lumber, and I am the guy to produce it for them. I have probably estimated before that 50-75% of my business (maybe more) is sawing beetle killed SYP.

I guess that means that I am in the "food chain".

WDH · January 31, 2011, 08:42:20 PM

So you are the one that has been surreptitiously sprinkling the pine trees with corn whiskey? Now I know what you are doing with all those slabs and bags of sugar. No wonder the "slab guy" sends you all those boston butts and ribs :D.

SwampDonkey · January 31, 2011, 09:15:45 PM

:D :D :D WDH

Magic you live in an ideal situation as for sawing. I gave logs away to the neighbor, they had them sawed, now they are black as tar paper sitting in the weather 3 years. Then they go buy lumber. :

Those trees were chalk white under the bark.

Magicman · January 31, 2011, 09:16:50 PM

Quote from: WDH on January 31, 2011, 08:42:20 PM
So you are the one that has been surreptitiously sprinkling the pine trees with corn whiskey?

Who me ?? Nah, not me. I'm just a little ole Woodchucker. ;)

Quote from: SwampDonkey on January 31, 2011, 09:15:45 PM
Magic you live in an ideal situation as for sawing.

Yes, I am very fortunate.

SwampDonkey · February 02, 2011, 05:27:04 PM

I believe the methods of the alcohol injections also includes turpentine.

But as far as a tree producing ethanol I found this study.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/reprint/87/3/693.pdf

Where they state in the discussion:

"The trees examined were apparently healthy, and we cannot rule out the possibility of a microbial contribution to the observed fermentation..... We had anticipated...... that trees with thicker bark, and therefore a longer diffusion pathway for 02, would have higher ADH activity and/or greater ethanol synthesis. This was not the case......ethanol concentrations were unrelated to stem diameter and bark thickness......It is also possible that ethanol is synthesized in the cambium by some other pathway. Although we know of no other pathway leading to ethanol, the enormous biochemical diversity of plants makes us cautious about interpreting our results exclusively in terms of 0₂ limitations on respiration.......In addition to direct measurements of cambial pO₂, it will be necessary to rule out other sources of ethanol before we can be certain that anaerobic fermentation does occur in tree stems."

Those little microbes are everywhere, we are even full of them, so it's absurd that a tree wouldn't be. And if you read the method of collection in the report, it is far from a sterile process. Even if it was, the little buggers where there already doing their thing before they were neutralized. :D :D

Magicman · February 19, 2011, 08:25:44 PM

I hauled a load of lumber last week and foundation blocks and mortar mix over today. I need about 150, but I'll haul them 50 at a time.

My back is not looking forward to laying blocks. :-\

beenthere · February 19, 2011, 08:42:13 PM

MM
Find someone looking for work.

Save your back for a rainy day, or something ;)

Magicman · February 19, 2011, 09:23:31 PM

Thanks, but this old codger will get-r-done. One block at a time.

First, I have to remove a couple of those siding panels. That may be a chore because they are interlocked. Not only that, but there is Dow 30 year caulking in the joints. :-\

DouginUtah · February 19, 2011, 09:47:32 PM

I have worked just about every trade in construction. I laid three courses of block for the foundation of a 6,000 sf commercial building (slab on grade). That was the hardest job I have ever done--maybe because I wasn't very good at it. Or maybe it was because I was working alone and mixing my own mortar and laying the block when it was 90°-100° with no shade.

"One block at a time." That's how I got-r-done. ;D

SwampDonkey · February 20, 2011, 05:22:48 AM

Ones own labour is the cheapest and often the most reliable way to get her done. If I waited for any help from this neighborhood it would be a long wait. :D ;D

Larry · February 20, 2011, 07:08:43 AM

My experience with blocks was much like Doug's. :( Than when the job was complete I noticed a little hump about 3' long in the stem wall. Got to spend more quality time with a right angle grinder making it perfect. :

Next job I hired it done...figured I could make 4 times the amount of pay required to pay for it, doing something I really knew how to do, in the same amount of time. 8) 8)

Burlkraft · February 20, 2011, 11:52:49 AM

Quote from: Magicman on February 19, 2011, 09:23:31 PM
Thanks, but this old codger will get-r-done. One block at a time.

First, I have to remove a couple of those siding panels. That may be a chore because they are interlocked. Not only that, but there is Dow 30 year caulking in the joints. :-\

Got a chainsaw ain't ya? ;D ;D

Magicman · February 20, 2011, 02:24:43 PM

But I'm planning on reusing it. I just wasn't planning on ever removing it 15 years ago. I'll probably have to start the removal at the right corner. That "Z" flashing at the top of the panels is gonna be a booger also.

pineywoods · February 20, 2011, 02:33:49 PM

MM why not just leave it in place as a different kind of interior wall? I did that with a brick wall when I enclosed the carport here. We like it.

Magicman · February 20, 2011, 04:26:21 PM

Oh, that would work, but we want the interior to be natural wood. I'm going to use reclaimed barn lumber for inside paneling, similar to the rest of the Cabin, such as this.

The door to the new living room will be about where the window is. This room will become the dining room.

The top of the foundation blocks are above the bottom of the outside siding which is why I have to remove it anyway.

Magicman · February 25, 2011, 08:18:41 PM

My sawing customer needed a couple of day off, so it was foundation block time for me.

The good news was that the siding did not drop below the existing foundation, so I did not have to remove any siding, yet. I did have to saw up 8', 10" where the new will meet the old. Thursday was spent mixing concrete and pouring footing. I got 23 blocks laid today, which was a good start.

The first batch of mortar mix.

The first 23 foundation blocks laid. I'll have another entire course to lay on this.

JohnG28 · February 25, 2011, 10:20:31 PM

Your plugging along well MM. At the rate your going you'll be relaxing in your new livingroom in no time. Thanks for the pics. ;D

SwampDonkey · February 26, 2011, 07:51:05 AM

Once we get more climate change and it sends frost below your footing depth ........umm. ;)

Looking good for a day off. ;D

Meadows Miller · February 26, 2011, 08:22:08 AM

Gady I hate bricklaying too Magic ;) :D if it where me I would be using a timber floor system and just used 4x4 or 6x6 stumps thats what I am using on my place Mate ;)

Regards Chris

Magicman · February 26, 2011, 08:42:02 AM

Quote from: SwampDonkey on February 26, 2011, 07:51:05 AM
it sends frost below your footing depth ........umm. ;)

Yup, our freeze line is just below what the lawnmower cuts.. If a water line is below the grass roots, it won't freeze.

When I make that corner I'll be on the gravel base of the existing parking area and no footing will be required. I'll just lay ½ inch of mortar to maintain my string line.