Next step: Lots of painting. But not right away.
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They say that Louis XIV had the inscription Ultima Ratio Regum cast into all the cannon of the French Army. It means “The Ultimate Argument of Kings,” and that always struck me as one of the most honest and up-front things any ruler or would-be ruler ever said. “We can dress it up prettier than this, but when it comes down to the unvarnished truth this is what it’s about: You’ll do as I say or I’ll send my goons to kill you.”
I thought about that for a long time. If there’s an ultimate argument, it seems only logical that there must be an ultimate answer. For years I thought the ultimate answer must be the bullets in my rifle, but it never seemed quite right. I’ve got bullets – he’s got frigging Cannon Balls. I mean, if there were three hundred million rifles throwing bullets at him, then maybe. But we all know that’s not going to happen. So if there’s an ultimate answer to his ultimate argument, it sure as hell ain’t bullets.
It finally came to me – and that’s when I abandoned the city and most of my stuff, and gave all that was behind me a good stiff Randian Shrug.
The ultimate answer to kings is not a bullet, but a belly laugh.
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Fascia board? Gutter? Downspout?
😉
Not sure you need a downspout, but probably need to engineer a small river stream with rocks at edge of roofline. Would look nice and divert water during monsoon. Could also provide small pond during winter if you dug one out and lined it with clay. Tilapia are good in tacos 🙂
Gutter & downspout: Definite. That ground won’t be fit for walking without it, and I think I already have everything I need. Need to paint first. Fascia board: Not if I can get away without it, but I do have a couple of 6″ 2X6s.
Because if you don’t engineer a stream with a liner and rocks the stormwater will do it for you and you may not like the result. I always put a channel and/or rock splash area at the edge of a roof and back to the building. Rocks break the force of the water hitting the ground and are free. One thing dry climate dwellers know is that prolonged hot weather dries the soil totally and when the moisture comes that dried out soil can’t absorb water. There’s a thin surface film of wetted soil but underneath it is totally dry. Most of the water will run off for a while but you can slow down the runoff or capture some of it. A nice addition to The Elegant Improved Lair would be a runoff pond filled by gutters and downspouts, surrounded by fruit trees and berry bushes. FOMCL
Congratulations on DONE. I hope that now you and BB can relax and visit for a while.
When a good rain is accompanied by a good breeze from the north, all the water cascading off the roof edge would be blown right back onto the porch without a gutter to collect and direct it to a downspout.
Fascia board would lend a finished look to the whole thing and perhaps aid in attaching the gutter. Wouldn’t even have to be 2×6 lumber, a nice 1×6 should suffice. Of course, if all you have is 2x6s, well, then . . .
As I said there will definitely be a gutter. If I needed convincing about that I got it in the first summer after the bedroom was enclosed and the monsoon turned my side yard into a sea of mud. Not interested in having that happen to the front. I should already have all the hardware I need to install it, the one thing I knew I needed is an elbow for 4” ABS pipe to carry the water from the downspout to the nearest ditch and BB has supplied that. The gutter will go up well before Monsoon, as soon as the joists are painted.
But no, the Lair is not going to acquire a pond.
Oh come on…Zelda convinced me!
Not a bad job for a couple of back country builders. Put some flashing over the exposed 4×4 posts at each end of the porch or you will get rot, Spray painter would be handy too.
Joel, is your abode on cinder blocks or solatubes foundation? Do you have a problem with settling?
It’s on pilings formed with Sonotubes, which in turn sit on big poured concrete pads about 30″ deep which anchor the rebar. I have had no problem with settling and anticipate none, but my biggest worry was flooding. I’m tucked into the crotch of a branching ridge with an active gully right behind the cabin and while it has been trenched and bermed into apparent submission the site used to see periodic flooding – plus of course a 100-year flood in the wash would be an interesting day.
But settling? No, I haven’t detected any at all.
Blasted auto spell, I did say sonotubes and it spelled out solatubes… thank you for correcting me.
The porch looks good!. I’d suggest using a chain for your downspout. It would be in keeping with the rugged cabin look. If anyone in your circle of friends does blacksmithing, a home made wrought iron chain would be perfect.
Desert Rat, I have chains instead of downspouts and I’m not that fond of them although I’d be less fond of downspouts. Enough rain or snowmelt can overwhelm the chain pretty quickly and then the water goes everywhere. Downspouts would confine the water to where you want it to go but downspouts would have to be cleaned out even with screen in the gutter. When water freezes on the chain it is very attractive but useless. Given Joel’s dislike of ladders chain would probably be better even with its disadvantages.