Iron Horse,
Funny, but the deer blind looks better then my house too!!! One of our long term goals is to redo the siding on our house with the Hardi Lap siding and stain it the same. It's gonna be one of those projects that just eat up the money, but it's on my list of things I have to do.
Toro,
Thank you. I hope you'll change your mind and post pics of your deer blind when you build it. This isn't really a deer blind, as I'm sure that everyone can see. It's long term goal is what I'm building to add to the RV Park and kids playground. Doing it this way just makes it more fun for me and hopefully everyone who's been following the thread has enjoyed it too. For just a hunting blind, I'd never put this much time or money into it. Not even close!!!!!!!!!
I semi joke around about not working in the cold. I will if I have to, but charge a premium for it. Here, attic work in summer is premium pay. Most contractors charge allot more for it, but I usually dont as the heat doesn't bother me too much. There is a point where it gets to be too much, but it only happened on day last year. If I don't have to deal with the cold, I just don't. LOL
Mark,
Yes, I did the same thing on my gazebo type building for my hot tub. I had experimented with dozens of stains and finishes on sample pieces of Hardi before finding the Gel Stain from Minwax. I even tried other brands of Gel Stain, but the Minwax is what I like the best by a very large margin. It's sort of pricey at $14 a quart, but I did the entire deer blind on three quarts, so it's not really all that bad. The Helmsman comes in gallon cans, and I think costs around $20. I'll buy a new 4 inch brush for that too, but it's really not that expensive.
There is absolutely no sign of wear or fading on the gazebo. I've been inspecting it since applying it to see how it holds up. I can't find any sign of failure. It's only been a year and a half, so it could still fail on me, but I thought it was worth the risk to do it again.
The Gel Stain does take longer to dry and clear coat then regular stains on wood. I might be able to put it on today, but I'm going to wait until a free day this week, or next weekend to do it just to make sure the stain is completely dry.
Jim,
Thank you. I was hesitant on the weather vane when I saw what it cost, but couldn't find anything that had the same impact. Of course, this was in the early stages of the build, so I was also worried that the picture I had in my brain would live up to the finished build. Another worry was going with a 12:12 pitch on the cupola. I was concerned that it would look too much like a steeple of a church and not carry through with the lines of the roof. I think I got it right. It doesn't jump out at me like there was an afterthought or lack of plan. In fact, I'm very pleased with the roof. From the soffits and fascia to the weather vane, I think it all works together and adds to the overal impact of the structure.
I'm going to put the railing on today. I wanted to have the trim painted first because of the posts that will go right next to the trim. Since the stairs will be cut and changed around quite a bit when I build the rest of the fort, I'm not putting anything into the railing. It will be three posts on both sides of the stairs and a single PT 2x4 at the top. I'm going to stain it dark brown, to almost black. I'm hoping it will blend in with the deer blind without looking too cheap. It's got more then enough strength, so that's not a concern, but I don't see any reason to do add spindles to the railing at this point of the overall build.
Silverdollar6,
Stairs going up, and then there will be multiple slides coming down when the rest of the fort gets built. When that is, I have no idea, but I have been pricing out different types of slides.
Eddie
How about running water, cable TV and a big screen when you hunt on Sunday afternoons?
