It’s been almost exactly a year since we first saw our Port Orford property. My last update was back in January and some of you expressed interest in more updates. Since I’m sitting here in Eugene waiting to pick up my special order of pine t&g on Monday with which to panel the pole barn garage-turned cabin, I’ll do just that.
The main work for me has been the ongoing project to convert the windowless pole barn garage into a 480 sq. ft cabin. The biggest visible change was taking down the west wall and re-framing it to install a large living room window, a new glass door, and a kitchen window to take advantage of the view down over the pond, the woods beyond, and of course the ocean in the distance, which looks further away than it is because of the iPhone’s lens.
First, let’s back up where I left off in my update in January. The first order of business last fall was to clear the place out, at least an initial go-around, as after some 20 years of neglect, brush had taken over the clearing and the trees needed lower branches pruned. This resulted in several huge piles of cuttings, this being the largest of them, about 80-100′ long, 8-10′ tall, 10-12′ wide.
How to get rid of it all?
We’re within city limits, so fires are restricted in size (4’x4’x4′) and require a permit. I picked one up in early January, but could not get the pile started. The wood and brush were still too green and wet from recent winter rains. I tried several times with diesel and kerosene. No luck.
But then we had six straight weeks of sunshine for the rest of January and first half of February, so in early February I got another $7 permit and also bought a cheap electric leaf blower, as per a suggestion on the internet. It worked like a charm, and once there was ignition and lift off, I spent a very hectic, long day dragging all the brush and branches from the big pile over to the small fire, as I had to keep it (mostly) to legal size.
I had to really hustle non-stop all day and I was still at it at sunset, having burned about three-quarters of that mountain. I then let it die down for the night.
In the morning, it started right up again when I fed it more fuel. By mid-day, the mountain was all gone,
replaced with a beautiful mountain of still-glowing embers covered with ash, which looked just like one of the snow-covered volcanoes in the Cascades. It emitted a huge amount of heat, and was of course red hot under the white surface. It glowed red like fresh lava at night for several days.
It took several more days to slowly disintegrate into a flat little round of ash. Amazing, really, how all that wood can turn into heat and so little ash. At some point in the early spring, I moved this little camping trailer on site, as my younger son no longer needed it. It’s now the guest house.
For the big pile of fairly straight tree limbs, I rented a chipper for a day and made good work of them. The chips will be put to use around the pond and on walkways.
I then started taking apart the west wall of the pole barn. That opening is where the original entry door had been.
The beauty of pole barns is that their walls are not load-bearing, as the six “poles” (6×6 posts) sunk into the ground are the sole primary structural elements that support the roof trusses, and the walls just hang from them.
I framed in the living room window, the kitchen window, and the new door.
Here I am working out the plans with the help of my trusty architect’s rule, paper, pencil and the expert engineering consultant who’s always at hand.
The new windows and door in place, and half of the steel cladding back on.
Finished, for now.
I originally intended to replace the yellow fiberglass semi-translucent panels on the upper part of the wall with some clear poly-carbonate panels, like the single one in the upper left corner I installed. But I wasn’t satisfied, so I order four real windows instead.
Surprisingly, they arrived in about three weeks.
Much better now…
Inside and out.
Whenever Stephanie was out here too, she was busy clearing out the rampant vegetation around the pound, uncovering plants that had been mostly swallowed up,
like this rhododendron. The view to the ocean was somewhat spoiled by that tall, youngish spruce right in the middle, though. Time to do something about that.
So I hire a retired lumberjack I met in town to take it down. It was in a very steep, remote part of the gulch down there, and it was instantly swallowed up by the alders.
The result is a significantly better view, although again, this iPhone shot doesn’t do it justice. We can see the waves roll in, as well as hear them.
In May, we rented an Airbnb next door so my daughter Emma and Dolores, Stephanie’s 95 year-old mom, could spend a few days in comfort and show them the place and the sights nearby. This is on a hike along the Sixes River in Cape Blanco State Park, just a few miles up the road.
We also took them to Battle Rock, where the first white invaders repelled the natives on the beach with a little canon they fortuitously had with them. Like much of American history, the founding theft of Port Orford is not a pretty one. That’s the harbor and the Port Orford heads, where our place is.
The view south, to Red Fish Marine Preserve. The reefs around the rocks are a popular scuba diving spot, and there’s good surfing at one of the beaches too.
Every morning after breakfast, we walk up our road a third of a mile to the top of the heads at the state park and take the loop trail. It’s different every day, depending on the light, clouds, fog, etc.. That’s the real appeal of the ocean; it never looks exactly the same twice.
We check to see if the seals are out basking on the rocks below, if the tide is low.
The end of the trail faces north, with Cape Blanco and its historic light house in the distance.
Around four or so, work ends and we head out for our afternoon hike. One of our favorites is the old hwy. 101 roadbed south of town a few miles, now a hiking trail which has a bench from one of the better vista points. That’s Port Orford in the distance.
And we’ve discovered dozens of trails and other ways to hike at Cape Blanco. We finally made it out to the light house, where it’s seemingly always windy, if not foggy. Actually, it’s been much less windy and foggy this summer than usual. Oddly so.
There’s endless vistas from the headlands.
Such a great stretch of beach. We walked along this one and then made our way up the cliff for a loop hike back. And the state park campground has great hot showers, to boot.
Speaking of….in the summer, when the days are long, there’s time for a third walk after supper. Right at the corner of our lot is Boot Hill Road, which heads up along our property line to the little cemetery at the top of the hill where some of the town’s founders are buried.
It’s a great place to watch the sunset.
In early July, the spray foam insulators came down from Eugene, and did their thing. I didn’t know exactly what to expect, and they wouldn’t let me be inside while he was spraying, so there was some collateral damage.
He sprayed right over the rafters and the horizontal wall “joists” to which I was going to nail the pine T&G paneling. So I spent a couple of days cutting and scraping off the foam as needed.
I realized that it would be too challenging to remove the 4-5″ he sprayed on the ceiling “joists”, so I decided to hang a second set perpendicular to them for the ceiling paneling. The other benefit is that it will allow the paneling to be installed horizontally instead of vertically, which will look better. Getting those 12′ long 2×6 board up and installed by myself was a bit of a challenge, but I’ve gotten good at working solo and figuring out solutions.
I’ve actually spent less time down in PO this summer than this past winter and spring, as there’s been so much to do in Eugene, including EXBRO as well as several epic mountain hikes. We decided to paint the exposed trusses and posts, and picked a color that we see whenever we look out over the ocean on a sunny day.
Of course that’s a bit different every day, but until they make paint that changes its color daily, it’ll have to do.
Next up is installing the ceiling paneling, and then the wall paneling, after I run some electric cables and such in the wall cavities. And then…
Go for another hike.
Unsurprisingly, it’s taken longer than I originally hoped for, but what doesn’t. If we really knew how long things would take, we’d never take anything on. Humans are inherently optimists, for a good reason. Otherwise we’d still be running on the savannas. Or the beach.
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A delight to read this, Paul—I envy your designing, problem-solving, and construction skills, and delight in all the philosophy that’s part of your writing.
Paul, thank you for sharing this adventure. Are those great green ranks and files Cedar plantation? The very name of your building’s location fills my mind’s senses with the beautiful scent of Port Orford Cedar. For years I used it to make my hunting arrows, measuring each shaft’s spring. I worked in the dining room, so with every cut, every sanding, the Cedar scent suffused throughout the house, enjoyed by everyone in it.
No; mostly a variety of spruces, firs, etc. The PO Cedar likes it a bit more inland, in the slightly warmer coastal valleys, not right on the coast.
It’s beautiful wood. I would have liked to use it to panel the place, but it’s pretty pricey for that. If I was building a real house, I’d use some in strategic places. My friend up the road paneled the ceiling of their new living room with it, and it is very lovely indeed. There’s a little mill about 20 miles down the road that mills it, but only a rough mill. You’d have to take it to another planing mill to get it fine milled with tongue and groove.
I decided to be pragmatic and a bit cheaper for the pole barn, especially since it’s not going to be insured.
It looks great, really coming along wonderfully. It’s very satisfying getting different parts of a project done as you well know. The European style front door is great too, far better than the normal junk available and used to make do while tying in better with the architectural aesthetic of the metal walls and the new windows. Now you just need to lay about 40,000 square feet of interlocking euro pavers out front for the visitor parking and driveway. You’ll have it done by the weekend I’m sure!
That door was an unexpected boon. My window dealer had a bunch of these very well built doors to get rid of very cheaply; $330, or no more than a typical basic door. Very solid construction and the European lock is a nice feature.
I’m waiting on the paver project until you show up… 🙂
I really liked the Euro doors on some of the Airbnb’s we stayed at in Ireland this year. Some of them had odd locking procedures but the latches were very effective.
Another great look at your progress, thanks for the update!
Hi, what’s a Euro door please? Enquiring minds who live in Ireland would like to know. Thanks, Richard, Dublin, Ireland
It’s just what I call a modern European residential door as opposed to the junk that is commonly sold here. Frequently it’ll be a large piece of glass in the middle of a thick bordered frame such as what Paul has. Often the glass will be thicker than normal or even reinforced with wire. The door itself will often be metal but painted or anodized, in US terms far more like the door found on a commercial structure as far as solidity and build quality is concerned.
We have “metal” doors too, but they are usually a thin pressed sheetmetal thing with a hollow core, maybe a little window surrounded by an invariably cheap plastic border, a hole drilled into it for the lockset and all done with very imprecise tolerances. “That’ll do”.
The european lock will usually be of much higher quality and a much more precise assembly, a common front door mass market lockset over here can often be had for around $100 and may look nice or ornate, but offers little protection. Front door locks here are more about the style and less about the component quality and you’ll rarely see a simple elegant handle such as the one Paul’s door seems to have. To some that’s boring, to many it’s more architectural and engineering inspired. Better doors and locksets are more often seen on “modern” houses, i.e. not the conventional mass market cookie cutter homes churned out by the millions every year by various builders.
Windows are the same way, normal modern windows in Europe tend to be of far higher build quality with sophisticated hinge design and quality componentry that is all built to last a lifetime (actually longer than the lifetime of the occupant), whereas here the volume stuff is cheap as cheap can be in every sense of the word.
One can spec better stuff but only in a one-off custom build, it’d be extremely rare to find in a normal subdivision such as what most live in.
That’s not to denigrate anything, just that the underlying philosophies are different. A simile that may make sense to many here would be to compare it to bicycles. There are bicycles with precise and excellently engineered and built components and then there are bicycles that are made of garbage components, i.e. lowest bidder stuff. Both will get you down the road for a while, only one is actually a pleasure to use and can last more or less forever.
Thank you, looks like I have Euro doors myself
What a terrific adventure!
You live an interesting and fascinating life, Paul. One that is beyond my imagination and comprehension.
On a practical note, I’m surprised you’ll be able to get an occupancy permit for a pole barn in that town. That’s been a big nono everywhere I’ve ever lived.
I’ve not yet had anyone come to the door of any place I’ve ever lived and asked to see any sort of certificate. Does that happen in the US? There seems to be no issue among those with the power to make a difference as regards people and families living in cars, RVs, and boats, never mind tents or cardboard boxes here.
Like Schrodinger’s cat, Jim, I think you’re simultaneously wrong and not wrong. Zoning laws and similar do exist, but how they’re enforced is an entirely other matter.
In cases like Paul’s, enforcement may come down to the tax man and the insurance carrier. If a parcel with just a pole barn is turned into a residential property, the taxing authorities are going to want to tax it as such. If Paul wants to insure it as a residential building, my bet is that the insurance folks may want to see proof that it is permitted as a residential building.
I guess most folks never run into this because we mostly buy or rent existing dwellings.
It’s a gray area. I’m not going to insure it. And since I’m not hooked up to city utilities and it will not have a range and certain other specific amenities, it’s technically not a residential dwelling unit, but what I chose to call a combination storage/office/shop that happens to have has a fridge and a shower stall. And a nice view. And a place to sit and enjoy it.
The RV-van will always be there too, and technically it has the facilities the pole barn lacks.
Well done, Paul! You’ve clearly done your homework, and I applaud you.
Nice spot and your shed is coming along nicely, very habitable.
Looks great Paul, it’s going to be amazing when you’re all done. It looks like a beautiful spot.
Good approach on the permit/zoning question as well
You sure do have a lot of energy and, as Frank Sinatra sang, high hopes.
But then I still recall a 17 mile solo hike you took earlier this year up and down rough terrain and then for dessert topped it off with a 5 mile hike with Stephanie and Lil’ Man.
Glad to see your energy continues unabated.
Gotta go now, time for my nap.
Sure is coming along well, and I’m sure that the feeling that comes from doing all that work yourself must be very satisfying.
To the earlier points about permits and such, yeah, I suspect that oversight might be a bit less in your corner of the country than in mine. Here in the Northeast, we seem to have an endless supply of building and construction inspectors who demand permits for everything…and codes which vary from town to town.
Very nice! The concept of a permit being required for a fire is interesting. In my area burning is outlawed, unless it is brush on the same property as the fire. But I guess the permit IDs those burning, to either blame or clear them if a fire gets out of hand.
In my area (Northeast) burning is not allowed. The town landfill will take all brush, leaves, storm debris, and trees and then mulch or chip it down. The resulting mulch/chips is available for free to town residents who can take as much as they want, is used by local farmers to be plowed into the ground at the end of growing season, and by town landscapers. The key is to keep this rich carbon material mostly in solid form and not turn it back into a gas through burning.
The main reason I bought my truck was to make it easier to haul huge piles of brush, storm debris, and leaves to the town landfill/recycling center. They do not take grass clippings as many residents (but not us) use too many weed killers and fertilizers to allow for the clean recycling of such clippings.
When I was a kid the smell of burning leaves was a sure sign of autumn and school starting back up, but there’s no more of that stuff around here.
In unincorporated areas, burning does not require a permit, but can be done only during burn season (not in the summer/fall, until it’s started raining). But all towns and cities can and do regulate burning. It’s almost invariably not allowed anymore at all in larger towns/cities, but Port Orford does include some semi-rural areas, so the allow it with a permit, which requires the fire size to be fairly small as well as to be attended at all times with person and a working hose. Understandable.
FWIW, a neighbor must have complained and called the city, which erroneously told them that there was no permit issued for our address. A police officer showed up and explained why. I was very glad to be able to show him my permit! I didn’t take a risk, for a change. 🙂
Looks really good – we on the couch salute you! 🙂
What a beautiful part of the world, and packed with lots of outdoor activity potential. When I was a teenager we moved to a neglected small holding/farm and we went through much of what you’re are doing now regarding clearing and starting all over. I look back on that time fondly, even though we were going through tough times as a family.
Splendid craftsmanship and wonderful scenery!
Paul,
I hesitate to wade in on the subject of how the original inhabitants of this country were nearly wiped out – first by disease, then by systematic removal by our government and it’s antecedents. My point of view, in general, on this subject likely is mostly in agreement with you.
That said, there is something that makes me a little queasy about you spending a line or two calling it the theft of Port Orford, with the rest of the article showing the beauty of this property you – a white man – now have come to own.
Some might say that you’re in possession of stolen property, and that the descendants of those it was taken from would have every right to take it back from you, just as you could take something of yours back, without compensation, that was stolen and then sold on.
Of course we have the power of the government who took title, by hook or by crook, from the original inhabitants, backing us up. I, too, own property that was taken from its original inhabitants. Most of us that own property in the Western Hemisphere do. I just feel that the optics of combining that tossed-aside comment about the original inhabitants of your land with a bunch of prose and pictures of this beauty that YOU now possess aren’t great, in my opinion.
Not here to start an argument; I love this website and love reading about your adventures. I can’t even really put my finger on what bothers me about this discontinuity in the tone of the article. Hypocrisy is really too strong a word, and I respect you too much to accuse you on that. But it’s something like a venal sin version of hypocrisy, or something.
Maybe, rather than tossing those few lines into this article about what you’ve been doing with your property, a short article about the history of the original inhabitants and how the property was taken from them in general would be a more balanced approach?
I spent a half hour writing a very long and detailed response and it was eaten somehow. I can’t retrieve it, and I don’t have time to rewrite it.
Let’s just say that the natives down here were exceptionally intent on not giving up or sharing their land, unlike the tribes further to the north. The resultant battles and massacres on the Southern coast of Oregon were epic, and acknowledged as such.
Here’s the plaque at Battle Rock that gives a brief description of what happened.
The single word “established” in the second to last sentence is carrying an awful lot of weight there…
It’s interesting to learn of it being one of the few areas (along with some other Oregon areas) vanquished from the west (or the water side) rather than across the land from the east in this country. Of course there is only so much coast relative to inland, just never something I considered before.
That’s a bummer, Paul, I’m sure it was thoughtful and I’d have loved to have read it; but I’ve also had comments eaten over the years and definitely didn’t have the time or inclination to recreate them, if I even could. I’ve gotten used to typing up long comments locally on my device and then pasting them in when ready to send. I’ve had this issue on many sites, not just yours.
The plaque is definitely interesting, and next time I’ve got some free time for more reading, I’ll have this on my list to read more about. I appreciate you taking the time for a thoughtful response – the history of both white settlement as well as the Native American societies is much more nuanced than most folks are willing to try to understand.
Thanks, as always, Paul, for an amazing website that has taught us all about much more than cars. 🙂
Your “cabin” is really coming along nicely, and that view is spectacular. I can’t wait to see the finished product!
Good to see the progress that you’ve made. I can understand how your shed is not really a residence, full time at least, and more like a “hunting cabin” that you visit. I imagine that you won’t have too many problems until you decide to build a permanent residential structure there.
I think that you were just trying to share a historical site that is in your area and didn’t want to get embroiled in a discussion of American colonialism. As I mentioned in a comment about the Spanish Conquistador, De Soto, history isn’t particularly pretty. Just think, this “encounter” took place only around 170 years ago! America’s colonial expansion is relatively recent in global terms. Anyhow, I’d rather discuss cars on this site.
Cape Blanco is another MARAD cargo ship I have been on.
I was on that same trail on the Sixes River in early July. when we visited Gold Beach and Port Orford. I guess your place is off the road up to the old lifeboat station. My wife is obsessed with the falafel at Golden Harvest.
I like the area and the slightly hippy vibe but I don’t like that much rain. Also the rust from above like the van in front of the sporting goods store in Gold Beach.
We did see some CC grade stuff for sale in Brookings, a decent looking 81 Chevette at the Dodge dealer and a Pontiac Solstice at the Mazda dealer.
Your property’s looking great, Paul.