Konstruction

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For What It’s Worth….

Don’t know if anyone even reads these posts, but here comes the latest update.

I had called my insurance company last summer to find out what might be involved with insuring the property at the lake.  I knew they wouldn’t insure the camp as it was, but I wanted to find out what options I might have once the demolition had taken place.  I was told that an empty lot would be covered by my homeowner’s policy even if it was in another state.  That was great except for the fact that there is still a building of a sort on the property, and I really wanted to have some kind of coverage in case a tree or something fell on the boathouse.  So, after chatting with someone at USAA, we worked out a policy that covers the structure as well as includes liability for $150 a year.  Definitely worth it for the peace of mind.  That expense will be incorporated into the monthly bill for everyone who decides they want to contribute to this collective effort.

And speaking of the boathouse….

The other thing I want to ensure is that the boathouse remains standing.  There’s no problem replacing structures not on the lakeside, but replacing a lakeside structure might be a nightmare of paperwork if it were even possible.  As such, I want to do everything possible to keep that structure standing.  As of last summer, the two supports on the dock side of the boathouse have started to lean due to the ice pushing them over.  So, while I was up north last weekend, I met with Randy Sherman to see what might be done to keep the thing standing.

We both agreed that the best option was to pour a much bigger and more substantial pier on which the boathouse will rest.  Essentially, he wants to copy what is on the other side.  This will hold up much better and provide much more stability.  Similarly, he wants to put a large concrete pier down the middle (replacing much of dock that is there).  This will provide the support for the center of the building and, again, be much more stable than the support it has now.  Of course, this will set the Kamp Fund back anywhere from $5,000 to $7,500, which may push out the final kamp build by a year or so.  But, I’d much rather make sure the boathouse remains before I concentrate on the kamp.  If all goes well, this construction might be completed this fall.

Lyn and some of her krew are going to help out by clearing out the dock extensions from inside the boathouse.  This will help in two ways: first, it gets that stuff out of the way for Randy, and second, it relieves some of the stress on that side of the boathouse.  It will be piled behind the boathouse and covered with a tarp for now.  Anyone interested in helping out with that should give her a call to find out when she’s going to get up there.  I know she and I would both appreciate any help on this.

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New Floor Plan

So, when I gave my initial plans to Randy, he told me that going up to a second floor does a lot to increase the building costs.  As such, he suggested that I redesign it a bit so that the it is spread across a single story.  Thus, I came up with the following plan.  It still gives us roughly the same square footage (1495 sq. ft.), it just puts the sleeping area back into the woods rather than up the stairs.  It will also make it easier for getting furniture in there.  Let me know what you think.  The comments should be open.

L-Shaped-Kamp_small

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Konstruction Update

As you all know, konstruction was put on hold while we waited for the lawyer to finish screwing around and get the paperwork taken care of. Because of this, we weren’t able to get anything accomplished in the summer of 2015.

I spoke with the kontractor on October 4, 2015, and the current plan is to begin demolition in the spring, sometime in April 2016. He’s actually going to do the demolition himself, which should save us some money. The plan is to excavate into one of the small hills on the property, dig a shallow grave, so to speak, and push the demolished camp into it. Then, he’ll cover it with the dirt he removed and effectively bury the remains of the old camp. This, too, should save us a considerable amount of money as having the debris hauled away was going to be expensive.

I’m going to be working on a new floorplan over that time. After discussing it further, it turns out that creating two stories actually increases the costs significantly. So, rather than have a camp that goes up, I’m going to design something that goes back. That is, it will be in an L-shape. I’m thinking the front facing the road will be approximately the same as the original first-floor design, and then I’ll take the other floor space and put it into a wing that juts back into the forest. Thus, we’ll still have the same square footage, but it will be spread across a single story. Not only will this make it cheaper, but we won’t have to be hauling beds and things up and down stairs. We may even be able to put a deck on the back inside the L.

That’s the latest news for now. At some point, I hope to have the time to tweak this Web site so that I can more easily update the site without losing the previous posts. This design works, but it’s not to my liking. This new WordPress site should accommodate what I’m looking for.