We Found Structural Problems… DIY Off Grid Cabin Repair Begins

Added: 2026-05-24

[00:00:24]Uh so for today we're going to go ahead and fix the beams that are inside the cabin. And we're going to take the ones that we put up a few videos back and we're going to raise them up. And then we're also going to put the blocking in the center of them. So, we're going to get that done. And then we're also going to be underneath the cabin today. We're going to install some blocking for structural support. We need it.

[00:00:47]>> Side note, let's just uh give her a little bit of credit for for the shot standing on a block.

[00:00:55]>> You mean the stump?

[00:00:56]>> Yes. Yes, the stump. Don't mind our burn pit. But yeah, good job, honey. I also have my legs are completely covered in ants because I'm standing >> to get that shot in between two trees.

[00:01:09]So, and completely in poison oak.

[00:01:14]So, the question was a little off topic right now, but I was asking Ashley when we put a door in, do we do around the door, do we use this trim?

[00:01:26]Right. Mhm.

[00:01:28]>> Or do we use >> Let me see. I think that might look better.

[00:01:34]>> This >> Yeah, especially if we maybe go for a darker color door.

[00:01:37]>> Yeah, I I that's what I was saying. I already know my answer, but I wanted to know where you were coming from. Yeah, I think this looks better.

[00:01:43]>> Yeah, the corner trim pieces that we've been using, it might be too contrasty.

[00:01:48]>> Yeah. Plus, I'm >> very white.

[00:01:51]>> We have a lot of this.

[00:01:52]>> Yeah, >> a lot of this. I'll have to mill some specifically from our slabs >> to go from there to there.

[00:02:01]But, uh, yeah, I think we should definitely use our own stuff. Yeah.

[00:02:06]That's cool cuz that means we could say all of our window and door trim we milled ourselves.

[00:02:10]>> Mhm.

[00:02:10]>> From our own trees. Boom. As I punched myself in the stomach with that piece of wood. Okay. So, you were saying that you want to get started on the beams first.

[00:02:18]>> Yeah.

[00:02:19]>> Okay. Let's do that.

[00:02:21]>> Yeah. At eye level, this is what it would look like. Obviously, minus these guys. Those are moving up there.

[00:02:31]>> It's like perfect. Still gives you that uh that vated open look. So, what I'm putting in right now, hun, is nailers.

[00:02:37]>> Nailers.

[00:02:38]>> Yeah. So, you know, we're doing tongue and groova on the ceiling.

[00:02:43]>> Yeah.

[00:02:43]>> Well, if you imagine right here, it stops right here.

[00:02:47]>> I'm we're attaching them to the rafters.

[00:02:50]>> Yeah.

[00:02:51]So if it comes to the edge right here, there's nothing for it to attach right here.

[00:02:56]>> Okay.

[00:02:56]>> On the edge of the beam. So I'm going to screw a 2x4 on the edge right here.

[00:02:59]>> Okay.

[00:03:00]>> So it has somewhere to attach to.

[00:03:10]>> You know, I actually kind of like it better that I'm not banging up against this.

[00:03:14]>> Oh, what was that?

[00:03:15]>> I don't know.

[00:03:18]>> Is it coming off the ground?

[00:03:19]>> Hold on.

[00:03:24]We finally got the depth set. If I would have done it this way, it would have actually been 2 and 1/2 in between here.

[00:03:31]Then we can't have that because we have 1 and 1/2, 1 and 1/2. So we have a two 2x 10, 2x 10, and then in the space is a essentially essentially a 2x10 which is only one and a half inches. So a little bit of modification done. Uh, and yeah, but doing it this way where you just cut, notch out, chisel out isn't possible now because this all just fall off. So that's why I'm using a 2x4 and just being careful.

[00:04:34]What?

[00:04:36]You're just going to do it by yourself.

[00:04:38]>> I mean, I can.

[00:04:40]>> Look at you.

[00:04:43]>> I'll need your help again.

[00:04:46]>> Yeah.

[00:04:47]>> Yeah. I just knew I just know you don't exactly love this.

[00:04:52]>> Doesn't mean I won't get up there.

[00:04:53]>> I know.

[00:04:55]And that's what I love about you.

[00:05:08]These pieces that I'm installing are just nailers so the tongue and groove ceiling can have something to mount to because right now it'll just run into nothing and be loose right here.

[00:05:20]>> Where are you? Oh, >> I don't know.

[00:05:22]>> Story of our life.

[00:05:25]>> Story of our life.

[00:05:29]We did it again.

[00:05:30]You ready?

[00:05:31]>> Yeah, I'm good.

[00:05:34]>> Go.

[00:05:36]>> Thanks.

[00:05:37]>> Again, it's a 50/50 shot. 100% chance of I'm going to get it wrong.

[00:05:42]>> Much better.

[00:05:44]>> That was way too low.

[00:05:45]>> Just hold it with both hands.

[00:05:46]>> I know. Let me put the driver down right here.

[00:05:48]>> Okay. And then just make sure it doesn't twist out. Okay.

[00:05:55]Okay.

[00:05:57]>> Oh, okay. There we go.

[00:06:00]Got it.

[00:06:00]>> Oh god.

[00:06:01]>> Sorry.

[00:06:03]>> You can put it closer than that.

[00:06:04]>> I know. You can put your side down first. So, we got done with that other one. Now, we're going to move on to this one. This has got to go, too. This is was just there very temporarily. Okay.

[00:06:15]You got it.

[00:06:17]>> Yep. I got it.

[00:06:18]>> Okay.

[00:06:21]Yeah. Put it down this way so we can squish it tighter.

[00:06:27]>> It's not very nice. Well, >> good job, honey.

[00:06:32]>> Now, I'm hot.

[00:06:33]>> Just from what? The nervousness.

[00:06:35]>> Oh, god.

[00:06:36]>> Just tell me when to stop. If I even need to.

[00:06:42]>> If this falls or I fall or anything falls, just get underneath the loft or something so I don't hit you.

[00:06:50]>> Okay. It's all you now.

[00:06:52]>> Yep.

[00:06:55]Oh, that sucks.

[00:07:05]Don't worry people, we're going to go from the highest part of the cabin to the lowest part of the cabin.

[00:07:10]>> Literally, >> we got the full full tour.

[00:07:26]Heat.

[00:07:53]Heat.

[00:08:06]Oh, I should have got up in the loft.

[00:08:08]>> I got to hand you the driver.

[00:08:10]>> That's okay.

[00:08:12]>> Okay. Does that look good?

[00:08:13]>> Perfect.

[00:08:15]>> Yeah, I like it.

[00:08:17]>> Um, can you tilt it towards uh your left a tiny bit?

[00:08:24]Yep. Like right there's perfect.

[00:08:38]>> Okay, last one on.

[00:08:41]Why am I happy?

[00:08:45]>> I needed that.

[00:08:49]>> Always got to drop something.

[00:08:54]I saw the end up there.

[00:08:56]>> It's only a little high, but that's okay.

[00:08:58]>> Come on, jump on over here.

[00:09:00]>> Yeah.

[00:09:01]>> And you're the one that encourages me to do the thing.

[00:09:04]>> Oh, yes.

[00:09:05]>> Okay. I don't like it. Let's take it down.

[00:09:08]>> How fine. You'll be doing that.

[00:09:11]>> Okay. Let's see it from our eye level and go ahead.

[00:09:15]>> Oh, much better.

[00:09:16]>> Yep. Actually, this is a little bit higher than eye level. The camera is higher than eye level.

[00:09:22]>> Yep. Now you are.

[00:09:23]>> Okay. So, uh, a recent structural issue that we found and, uh, except for the beams up top and the walls possibly opening, which we fixed, is we did not do any blocking on our beams themselves.

[00:09:38]So, if you look, come over here.

[00:09:43]If you look down the length of the beam, these are just freestanding beams, right? Three of these. The actual pedestal is nailed onto them, but it's really just toenile. So, it's barely even attached. And what's happening is when we're up there and moving around this way, the cabin is very, very sturdy.

[00:10:06]This way, these beams are racking. So, what we need to do is we need to lock this beam to this beam and that beam to that beam. We need to create a essentially a solid system.

[00:10:20]Um, and to do that, we need to put 2 by10s from as blocking from here to here. And, uh, I think we have eight of them to do.

[00:10:30]>> We have eight.

[00:10:30]>> Yeah, something like that.

[00:10:31]>> With hangers and not just any hangers.

[00:10:35]So, most hangers just hang the actual >> Why are you laughing at me?

[00:10:42]>> My what? Oh god. You got enough sap on it.

[00:10:45]>> It looks worse on camera, >> does it?

[00:10:47]>> Yeah.

[00:10:47]>> Okay. So, most hangers just hang like a uh uh rafter or a joist. These actually have double shear to where they go through and they suck it into the actual wall or the beam or whatever you're attaching it to. So, let me show you.

[00:11:05]Maybe I can get a demonstration of up there. So, you know, when you look at the screen that close, your eyes go a little cross-eyed. It's really cute.

[00:11:11]>> They do?

[00:11:12]>> Yeah. kind of creepy.

[00:11:15]>> So, we just got finished up with the beams up top. Now, we're moving down to the other structural issue. And the best way that I can show it is if we go this way, it's fine. Solid. No movement at all. But if you look at the scaffolding behind us and we go this way, and this is just my body doing this.

[00:11:34]>> Not even just You can hear the our little thing moving.

[00:11:40]>> Yeah. this this thing rocking back and forth.

[00:11:42]>> Yeah.

[00:11:44]>> Can you see the scaffold moving?

[00:11:45]>> Yeah, you can see.

[00:11:46]>> You can.

[00:11:46]>> Yeah.

[00:11:51]>> Can't stop already in here yet.

[00:11:53]>> Yeah. No. So, um it's not a big deal.

[00:11:55]It's really easy to fix. It's kind of something that happens to helms on stilts. They take a little bit more shoring up to actually get them strong.

[00:12:02]If this doesn't work, the last and final option is putting uh 4x well 4x4 putting 45 degree kickers to every single post and going now we have them going this way, but we put them going this way as well. So cross bracing. Uh hopefully we don't have to do that, but if we have to then it's not a big deal. We're trying this first step. All right, babe. You ready to go under the cabin where all the creepy critters are?

[00:12:31]>> Nope. No.

[00:12:32]>> No.

[00:12:33]>> All right, cool. Perfect. Sounds good.

[00:12:34]Let's go. Are you limbered up? Are you stretched out?

[00:12:38]>> As much as I can be.

[00:12:40]>> Okay.

[00:12:40]>> What about you?

[00:12:41]>> Oh, I'm always limber, honey. I'm as limber as it gets.

[00:12:45]>> Mhm.

[00:12:46]>> You sure about that?

[00:12:48]>> Okay.

[00:12:48]>> See? Oh, see, I knew I needed my gloves.

[00:12:51]>> Why need your gloves for down here?

[00:12:54]>> There's It's dirty down here.

[00:12:56]>> Oh, little princess. Come on.

[00:12:58]>> Oh, I see a spider web. I see more. Oh, it's a full size.

[00:13:04]>> You know, this would have been much better idea to do this like >> when we didn't have the floor on >> when we didn't have the whole cabin on top of it.

[00:13:12]>> Yeah. So, >> I mean, hey, this thing survived a 3.8 earthquake.

[00:13:17]>> Yeah, that is true.

[00:13:18]>> So, we did some, right?

[00:13:23]Sorry, nail gun.

[00:13:26]Ouch.

[00:13:28]Oh my god. And of course, the second I put these on, they break. So, I was a gentleman and I gave my wife the good ones.

[00:13:39]Oh boy.

[00:13:40]>> You need your tape measure?

[00:13:42]>> Yeah.

[00:13:45]You know what, honey? I love you.

[00:13:48]>> What?

[00:13:48]>> This was an awful idea.

[00:13:50]>> Well, I didn't know we weren't going to have to do this. Here, I'll while you're measuring, I'll kind of scoop some rocks out of my way.

[00:13:56]>> Okay.

[00:13:56]>> Oh my god, there's a bunch of ants.

[00:13:59]Yeah, I know. Those ones I pissed off.

[00:14:01]>> Now, where are we going? Oh, we have to go >> all the way to that way.

[00:14:06]>> Yeah, you're going to have to go all the way over there.

[00:14:08]>> We're connecting these two together.

[00:14:09]>> So, I should just make a pile of rocks in the center.

[00:14:12]>> Hopefully, they're friendly.

[00:14:15]Whoever I'm sitting on.

[00:14:18]>> Oh, they're sitting on them. They're probably not going to be very friendly.

[00:14:21]>> Well, I'm sorry. I apologize, guys.

[00:14:24]>> What?

[00:14:24]>> Sorry. Massive spider.

[00:14:26]>> 80.

[00:14:28]Okay.

[00:14:30]>> The amount of spiders that are under here is >> really cool.

[00:14:35]>> Scary.

[00:14:35]>> Really exciting.

[00:14:36]>> No, I don't want to get bit.

[00:14:38]>> Oh, well, you're not going to get bit.

[00:14:39]>> How do you know?

[00:14:40]>> Because they're friendly.

[00:14:41]>> No, I probably just made that one spider very angry.

[00:14:44]>> Well, he said he he forgives you.

[00:14:50]>> That's why I should have my gloves on.

[00:14:52]that uh >> he looks like a tarantula.

[00:14:58]>> Can I talk now?

[00:14:59]>> Yeah, >> just keep an eye on him.

[00:15:04]>> I'm sure somebody's going to say that we should have done this before. And yes, we should have done this before. We should have done this actually. The easiest way would have been to put the well all of this and insulation before we even put the subfloor on.

[00:15:20]Unfortunately, we knew this cabin was going to get rained on a lot and putting insulation into a rained on rained in area is just not a good idea. So, we're having to do it this way.

[00:15:34]Not the best way possible, but it works.

[00:15:37]Okay.

[00:15:39]>> This creepy crawly is right here.

[00:15:42]>> Oh, it's just a wolf spider.

[00:15:45]>> Oh, yeah. Just a wolf spider. It's okay if you get a little wolfy bite.

[00:15:50]I mean, wolves are friendly. We literally have a wolf as a pet.

[00:15:54]>> Go, go, go, go, go, go. No, wrong area.

[00:16:03]>> Go straight up at the same time as I do.

[00:16:10]>> We're going to have to hammer in it.

[00:16:13]>> There you go. Now it's good.

[00:16:17]A little bit more. Okay, there you go.

[00:16:18]There you go.

[00:16:25]>> Okay.

[00:16:27]>> Yeah. You don't want to be loose in there. Stop before I get in the truck.

[00:16:31]>> Yeah.

[00:16:38]>> Okay.

[00:16:46]And then you just do the same thing, honey. Okay.

[00:16:50]Uh >> or yeah, I'm not over there.

[00:16:53]>> Now I wonder.

[00:16:55]Oh, I don't think I'm that good.

[00:17:01]Who needs a special $500 pass load nail gun when you got me?

[00:17:10]>> Yeah, >> dude. I nailed that. Perfect. You know how hard that is?

[00:17:14]>> Oh, wow. There's a spider right there >> on the first try. See if I can do it again. Hey, that's still a little hard though. Let's pull that out.

[00:17:29]Oops.

[00:17:30]>> Yeah.

[00:17:31]>> Yeah. I nailed it right to the metal plate on that one.

[00:17:34]>> Why can't I get this one to touch this on you?

[00:17:39]>> I don't know what this was.

[00:17:56]Oh, this is going to be a little tight, too.

[00:18:27]It's loud.

[00:18:46]actually over here being a photographer for little back friend that came down.

[00:18:54]We are obviously going to have to get rid of it one day, but for now, >> one day >> you get to enjoy its presence.

[00:19:01]>> Mhm.

[00:19:03]I give it permission to sleep here.

[00:19:05]>> Yep.

[00:19:06]>> Okay. So, we got both of the beams up and we got one side of underneath the cabin done. That was really exhausting, but it's a little stiffer now. So, hopefully the other side uh will make it even more stiff.

[00:19:20]>> Yep.

[00:19:20]>> And hopefully that's all we have to do.

[00:19:22]Hopefully we don't have to do anything else under there until we have to do uh >> insulation.

[00:19:27]It's right there. He's watching me.

[00:19:33]Ashley's obsessed with this bat.

[00:19:38]It is a very cute bat.

[00:19:40]>> It looks like a What are those? Uh miniature hamsters.

[00:19:45]>> Yeah.

[00:19:45]>> They're called They're not called miniature hamsters. They're called something else. But it looks like that but cuter.

[00:19:50]>> Mhm.

[00:19:51]>> Those those hamsters are mean.

[00:19:54]>> All hamsters are mean.

[00:19:55]>> Those ones are meaner.

[00:19:57]>> Are they?

[00:19:57]>> Yeah.

[00:19:57]>> I don't know. I've been bit by one before.

[00:19:59]>> Oh, you have? Yeah. I used to have a hamster.

[00:20:01]>> Did you?

[00:20:02]>> Yeah.

[00:20:02]>> His name was Cheeks.

[00:20:04]>> Cheeks.

[00:20:04]>> Yeah. If you haven't already, please like, comment, and subscribe. And also, we noticed that on our last video, only 119 of you got notified that our video was posted. So, if you haven't already, please hit that bell button, and that way you can be notified when we post.

[00:20:22]Thanks for building with us. See you on the next one.