Building the Boathouse - Part 1

After dividing the water from the dry land (building the retaining wall), it is now time to begin building the boathouse.  We are limited to no more than 1000 square feet, not counting the pier leading to the house.  There are other limits also.  There can be no more than 20 square feet of enclosed closet, so no one could build a bedroom over the water.  There cannot be toilet either.  There cannot be any walls extending more than two feet down from the roof.  There must be a light illuminating the dock and boathouse from dusk to dawn.  And finally, it must not extend any farther into the lake than the neighbor's dock.

We want the boathouse to resemble the house we plan to build onshore, so we selected a steel, standing seam roof material that will match portions of our home.  The vinyl siding on the closet and sink is a shade of beige with grey heather which looks similar to the Austin stone which will cover the bottom of the house.  Also, the stone for the sink countertop will match the house.

The pilings are 5 1/2 inch diameter steel pipe about 22 feet long.  The water depth varies from about 2-3 feet deep at the retaining wall to about 10 feet deep at the outer edge of the boathouse (130 feet from the shore).  Larry Wade, our contractor, decided to use the larger pipe instead of 4 1/2 inch pipe.  When the house is finished the longest pipes will be from 9 feet below the lake bottom, up through 10 feet of water, up an additional 3 feet to the boathouse deck, and finally 9 feet more to the roof structure  - for a total 31 feet.  The thicker walled pipe will provide greater strength and stability.

The pipes are placed into the lake bottom with a hydraulic vibrating hammer plate attached to the trackhoe.  The workers are able to precisely place the pipe.  The process is quite noisy and it startled Boston.  Unfortunately, he may never want to return to Manny and Papas lake house.

No portion of the dock or boathouse can be any closer than 5 feet from our extended property line.  Since the roof will extend almost 2 feet beyond the deck, we placed the entire structure 7 feet from the property line, keeping the roof just beyond the restriction.

This week as we arrived there was a blanket of fog that obscured the horizon.  It was warm and the wind was calm.  The lake was as smooth as a sheet of glass.  These are ideal conditions for working on a small barge welding 4 inch by 4 inch, 1/4 inch thick angle iron between the pilings.  This cross bar provides additional strength and will support the 2x6 joists on which the deck will be laid.  In this photo you can see the 2x10 stringers which frame the outside of the dock and boathouse.  These boards are bolted into steel plates welded onto each pile post.

Here you can see just how calm the lake is as the workers weld more cross bars.

The joists are placed 2 feet apart along the pier and temporarily held in place with boards.  Each joist will be bolted into a bracket welded onto the cross bar.  By mid-afternoon the fog had lifted and the sun began to break through the clouds.