Over the long weekend I stopped in to check up on our lake cottage remodeling project in the Carlton County area. Work has moved along very nicely on the project. This past week the workers completed the soffits. On this project we matched the existing soffit detail, using 3/8″ smooth plywood. The soffits angle up on the bottom of the roof rafters. We also installed several of the windows. The windows are Marvin products, made right here in Minnesota. The exterior aluminum is finished in their ‘wineberry’ color which looks great with the darker siding and log color. The windows have extruded aluminum brickmold around the perimeter to match the style of the existing wood windows in other parts of the cottage. The windows still come with a nailing flange which allows us to use our normal installations procedures using sticky tape flashings.
In the room that faces the lake we created a vaulted ceiling. We used hand cut rafters and fit Styrofoam insulation into the rafter spaces. The first piece of Styrofoam is pushed into the space against some 1″ wood spacers. This creates a good air flow from the soffit vents out through the ridge vent. Doing this helps keep the room cooler and vents any moisture out. We use spray foam to seal the sides of the Styrofoam. We also use spray foam to seal any holes in the framing.
While Ellen and I were in the area we drove up to Duluth. It was a beautiful day on Saturday and we spent part of it at Canal Park. The maritime museum there has a lot of history to review. There are several ship engines on display, including a good sized diesel engine, a large tug boat steam engine, and smaller fishing boat engines. There are several dioramas of model boats, photos of Duluth from the past 150 years and lots of other things to look at.