It has been hectic around here lately but I did manage to get out to the place a week or so ago and do a little work.  We had a hard time deciding what to do to enclose the underneath of the executive deer stand.  We looked at steel underpinning, rock, brick and T1-11.  After looking at the prices, we decided to just use treated 2x8s!

Treated plywood is pretty expensive, especially in a thickness that seemed worthwhile.  T1-11 is not cheap and once you add primer, paint, and pain in the butt, it isn’t cheap either.  I did some ciphering on the price per square foot and treated 2x8s worked out to being only slightly more expensive and well within the “close enough” factor.

I like working with individual boards because they are manageable for me to handle alone.  I can hold a board and nail it all by myself.  I think that the bigger draw for me is that the finished product looks log-cabin-ish.  Much like a log cabin, I will let the boards shrink to their dried out size and then use caulking as a sort of chinking in the spaces between the boards.  I am not sure whether we will do anything else with the wood at all.  We may stain it or we may leave it alone.  Either way, I like the look, it will be nice and sturdy and it will not rot or get termites!

Closing in the bottom space makes it finally feel as if we are closing in on the completion of the outside work!