2017 Fish House Build

[Chaws]

It's unfortunate that because other people are too stupid to understand what is budgeted that they ruin some of the main purposes of posting this information online. One of which is for another individual to have an idea on costs so they can then either use that for consideration to go down the road of a build of this nature or to use that information for comparisons purposes of vendors of products or to use that as consideration on perhaps scaling back on hard board insulation instead or screwed on traditional barn metal siding.

Regarding the endorsement, well, that's what reviews are for and I'd assume that a part of this is a review of product. Naming the builder of the frame and reviewing it as good or bad, well that's not really your problem but the vendors problem. If they can't keep up with production or another purchaser has issues with that vendor, how in the heck is that your fault?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I agree with you on several of those points.  

Calculating cost is probably the easiest and most basic part of the build.  Prices are readily available online for everything.  If you (or anyone else) are serious about building your own, put together a detailed budget spreadsheet and a plan and I'll be more than happy to review it and offer feedback.      

[nofishfisherman]

The beer costs alone to get a job like this done must be astronomical. 

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

4 hours ago, rl_sd said:

....... And then add 20% on "incidentals"

After a couple of these, the "incidentals" goes way down    

I didn't used to be quite so organized, but I bet on the skid house we built in 2009, "incidentals" was better than 100%!  I think I planned for a total build of around $2,500 worst case scenario, and it was WAY over that.   

On this build I have a special "add on's" column on the spreadsheet.  So far I have a MaxxAir MaxxFan 7500, a TV, and a TV sound bar.  An air conditioner might be getting added.  How is "add on's" different than "incidentals", you ask?  I'm not sure      

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

4 hours ago, nofishfisherman said:

The beer costs alone to get a job like this done must be astronomical. 

Oh man...the amount of cocktails consumed when we were planning the hydronic heat system was not good!  The planning phase in general is a liver-killer for me.  When we actually get to building we may have a beer or two for an entire day, but it's pretty much balls to the walls the entire time.  Kind of a "plan your work" (drink), and "work your plan" (don't drink) sort of thing.    

Since starting this build, we've come up with a three phase plan for testing purposes on the in floor heat.  This 21' is the first gamble, and if (when) that one is successful I have two really cool ideas that may be seen on future builds.

I haven't had much time to work on these the last two nights.  The wheel wells and v-fronts are getting finished, and are a lot of work for little reward.  Tomorrow night we'll start siding both houses.        

[Hawg]

I hear you on the lots of work for little reward thing. I put a pitched roof on mine to get headroom for the fan without taller walls and roof stress. Making that sloped V front roof match up took more work than anything else on the whole house and it's one of those things that's hardly noticeable. Even after all the wood work the rubber membrane match up was a son of a gun and took a MUCH larger piece of rubber than you could ever plan for. 

Edited April 13, 2016 by Hawg

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I'm in need of someone knowledgeable in galvanic corrosion.  Can anyone here help me out?

[randerson]

Well I can give you a little information for what its worth. I work on trucks and with the new aluminum F150 it is funny to hear all the accessories manufactures different takes on how to work with this new truck. Ford uses a wax coated card stock type spacer in between the body and the frame, We install a lot of Weather Tech mud flaps and we generally have a aluminum washer that sits on the body before we install a steel nut to prevent corrosion. I had a customer line his bed with duct tape before he installed a steel drawer system in his bed where the frame and bed were to make contact. When the truck first came out a couple Ford techs screwed some generic mud flaps to the fenders in the winter and there was noticeable corrosion with in the first couple months so I would do as much interwebs searching and cocktailing as you can 

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Had a little bit of time tonight to get the last of the welding done, which was the v-front roof.  This really tied everything together, and there is now zero flex in the walls.

And also got the first piece of siding installed.  Poor picture...it looks awesome in person, but was the best I could do with the lighting.  

The back siding corners are getting bent tomorrow.  

Progress may be slow the next two days, as I'll be preparing for the South of the River Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet at Horse & Hunt on Friday evening.  We still have plenty of room if anyone wants to join us for some prime rib and sweet prizes.  Flag me down and we can talk elk hunting (and fish houses)!  

Edited April 13, 2016 by Lip_Ripper Guy

[Moon Lake Refuge]

On 4/11/2016 at 11:22 AM, Lip_Ripper Guy said:

 

13 hours ago, Lip_Ripper Guy said:

 

Progress may be slow the next two days, as I'll be preparing for the South of the River Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation banquet at Horse & Hunt on Friday evening.  We still have plenty of room if anyone wants to join us for some prime rib and sweet prizes.  Flag me down and we can talk elk hunting (and fish houses)!  

Do you know Todd Heuer??  He's going to be out there.  If you run into him tell him Jonney Paige says hey!

 

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Just met Todd on Monday.  I'll be seeing him tonight and I'll be sure to say hello!

[Moon Lake Refuge]

This may have already been answered in one of your posts but what is the main advantage of staining the walls before they get put up.  Any reason why it couldn't be done after they are glued and nailed?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

1 hour ago, Moon Lake Refuge said:

This may have already been answered in one of your posts but what is the main advantage of staining the walls before they get put up.  Any reason why it couldn't be done after they are glued and nailed?

I tried varnishing the tongue and groove on a previous house after it was put up.  I quit after about 30 minutes.  It is way easier to set out saw horses and stain or varnish on a flat surface.

With this house I had both sides sprayed with lacquer, which obviously couldn't have been done after it was installed.   

[Moon Lake Refuge]

11 minutes ago, Lip_Ripper Guy said:

I tried varnishing the tongue and groove on a previous house after it was put up.  I quit after about 30 minutes.  It is way easier to set out saw horses and stain or varnish on a flat surface.

With this house I had both sides sprayed with lacquer, which obviously couldn't have been done after it was installed.   

What did you use to spray it with?  I've actually been looking into a torched look and kind of looks sharp.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

I had a little bit of time to get the two corner pieces put up this afternoon.  The odd color is due to the protective plastic on them.  

The 24' fell slightly behind over the last two days, but is getting caught up.  I wasn't there for it tonight, but I heard there was a mental error in cutting one of it's sheets!  Good thing we got an extra piece!  One mess up is free.  Two = blanket party!

[rossco1418]

How far do you wrap the back corner siding pieces around? Do you bend it so it overlaps a couple of inches on the side and start the new pieces on the very back of the side? Or do you calculate the studs so you use a full sheet for each back corner piece?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

The siding bends around the corner, and continues forward of the corner 1 1/2".  Then the next sheet starts at the very corner, so there is about 1 1/2" of overlap there.   

The frame is 8'2" wide, so two 4' sheets won't work across.  You end up having to do a 3rd sheet.     

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Another great weekend with a lot of progress.  The siding is about 85% done and the roof plywood is down, ready for the rubber roof as soon as we finish up on the v front siding bends.  

This one was taken before the 2" filler strip was installed down the middle of the sheets.  

One thing we've done on these builds is switch from an all aluminum roof to rubber.  The one piece aluminum roof was near impossible to find from a reliable supplier without paying an obnoxious amount in shipping charges.  These have 3/8" plywood as the base.  One thing I did that I haven't seen before, is install flashing tape on the edge of the roof, over the top edge of the aluminum siding.  The most likely place for a leak would be at the edges, so this would direct any water (hopefully) over the edge of the siding.  The flashing tape will also get installed at the air conditioner and bathroom vent openings.   

Siding will be done on Wednesday and then it's on to electrical!

[Chaws]

Don't put an air conditioner on the roof. More opportunity for a leak and crazy expensive for something only used part of the season. Go and get one of those portable AC units that sit on the floor and build an intake that goes out one of the holes in the floor by modifying a catch cover for it to draw in outside air. Then in the future if it goes out, it's far less to replace and no need to try and get a new replacement in the roof without it leaking.

[Moon Lake Refuge]

One thing about the AC, depending on the size of it look up a quick start capacitor.  Most AC units can function on a 2000 watt generator but they require more to start.  With the added capacitor it gives you the boost you need to not damage your motor.  Usually very easy to install and some come ready to mount.  I have done roof top AC units and Windows and I love the rooftop unit in my camper.  Its so much quieter.  May be because its ducted too but it removes a lot of noise from in the house.

Also found last winter with mine, stuffing some foam in the vent stops a lot of the draft from coming through.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Moon Lake Refuge

[rossco1418]

What is the best way that you have found to cut the aluminum siding for windows, doors, ect? Are you using a pneumatic nibbler?

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

2 hours ago, rossco1418 said:

What is the best way that you have found to cut the aluminum siding for windows, doors, ect? Are you using a pneumatic nibbler?

A pneumatic nibbler from Harbor Freight.  At $25, make sure you buy two of them for your project.  They are nothing fancy, but get the job done quite well.  The most important thing is to keep them lubed up.  I put a couple drops of oil in before each cut.  The first one with my other house survived about 3 window cuts.  So far the current one has survived 11 windows, 2 doors, and 4 sets of wheel wells.  

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

We've run into some rainy weather the last two days, but we are still mostly on track.  The 24' siding got finished off tonight, and we have just one last sheet to throw on the 21' tomorrow.

    

We'll probably install the roofs on Saturday, and then get into some wiring the rest of the weekend.  I picked up the diamond plate today, so we'll get going on that next week.     

On April 14, 2016 at 11:39 AM, Moon Lake Refuge said:

What did you use to spray it with?  I've actually been looking into a torched look and kind of looks sharp.

Used a small paint sprayer, and about 2 1/2 gallons of lacquer.  

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

Roofs are on, doors are in, wheel wells are built.

Hit a bit of a snag with installing the wheel wells.  One of the pins for a hydraulic cylinder doesn't look like it's in the way, but it is, causing a lack of clearance between the pin and the HDPE wheel well lining.  Going to do some investigating into a fix today.  

[Hawg]

I talked to one of the big welding shop owners in our city today and the subject of galvanized frames came up. He says if anything goes wrong that professional welders wont even touch it because of the toxic fumes it puts off. He also says if you do heat up a hot dipped frame or pipe to weld that the galvanizing runs off it like water.  Many lake home owners are finding their new galvanized dock pieces have to be replaced rather than fixed in the event of wind or other damage for the same reason. Is that true?