I think I lost at least 1 cabin in the Great "Smoky" Mountains...

Kill off the trees and you'll have erosion like nobody's business. That area gets loads of rainfall. They may call them the Smokey Mountains, but what I've seen when I was there was mostly water based fog.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Steep piece of property! Good luck with the rebuild.
Was thinking 'cut trees back; make firebreak' but maybe they are keeping the soil on that slope.
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When I lived in the hills the advice was to clear brush and limb all the trees up to at least 6 feet and some guys said 10 feet. The idea was to eliminate the path for a ground fire to move up into the trees. No idea if it helped (and sorta doubt it did) once a fire was in the trees and moving towards a home. There was also supposed to be a clear space around the home but I forget what that dimension was supposed to be. My home had more than 10 feet on three sides. The front faced the downhill side of the slope and had trees near the deck. The deck always looked to me like the first place a wildfire would set on fire even if I covered it with dirt before evacuating.
 
Glad to hear it’s moving along. A neighborhood house that burnt around the same time here still isn’t finished yet, and one that burnt after that, hasn’t even been started. Hard to find good contractors I guess.
 
I have already cut down a half dozen or so large trees that burned so bad we felt they were a threat to falling on the new construction.
The build site has a mascot. A daily visitor, or more accurately a family of visitors. .. mama bear and cubs. I would upload video but the upload a file button said it wasn't a supported file type.
Some owners are going to run into trouble with the new building code requiring off street parking adequate to allow a vehicle to turn around on the property. I wonder who determines that. I am told if a lot has inadequate space for vehicles to turn around on the lot that the lot may not be used for overnight rental purposes and is limited to permanent resident use.
 
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FORANE said:
I am told if a lot has inadequate space for vehicles to turn around on the lot that the lot may not be used for overnight rental purposes and is limited to permanent resident use.
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Nice of government to be so helpful in y’all’s rebuilds. Saving everyone from... what they already had.
 
The massive foundation is done. imagejpeg_0.jpg
The subfloor on the main level.
Spur 1-30-18.jpg

old deadwood burned in the fire used as a temporary retaining wall being replaced with permanent wall of block, and floor of main level going down.
imagejpeg_3.jpg
 
Hell of a foundation wall there.

I get a kick out of residential guys complete ignorance or disregard for OSHA regs, and for the most part it appears OSHA takes a similar view of residential guys... But in the commercial/industrial world there'd be citations written for a fraction of what you showed in your pictures there.

*To be clear, I'm not suggesting that we need more enforcement. I'm personally a big fan of "you're a big boy/girl, you make your own safety judgements" in a lot of cases. I just don't like uneven enforcement of anything.
 
SoonerAviator said:
I mostly like that guy's beard. That takes dedication to go all "ZZ Top" on the facial hair.
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Yup he's the builder; great guy.
We have some mountain folk up in these parts.
 
FORANE said:
Some owners are going to run into trouble with the new building code requiring off street parking adequate to allow a vehicle to turn around on the property. I wonder who determines that. I am told if a lot has inadequate space for vehicles to turn around on the lot that the lot may not be used for overnight rental purposes and is limited to permanent resident use.
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I can see that they want seasonal rentals to have sufficient off-street parking so the 'folk from elsewhere' don't block the mountain roads with their SUVs. But enough space to turn around ? Do they think tourists are too dumb to back up a car ? Probably just a mechanism to increase the availability of long term residential property.
 
SaltH2OHokie said:
Hell of a foundation wall there.

I get a kick out of residential guys complete ignorance or disregard for OSHA regs, and for the most part it appears OSHA takes a similar view of residential guys... But in the commercial/industrial world there'd be citations written for a fraction of what you showed in your pictures there.

*To be clear, I'm not suggesting that we need more enforcement. I'm personally a big fan of "you're a big boy/girl, you make your own safety judgements" in a lot of cases. I just don't like uneven enforcement of anything.
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I wouldnt care if I didn't have to share the workman's comp risk with those contractors.
 
weilke said:
I wouldnt care if I didn't have to share the workman's comp risk with those contractors.
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You probably don’t share the risk unless you are a construction contractor. Each category of business has its own rating and fee multiplier (for lack of a better word).
 
FORANE said:
Yup he's the builder; great guy.
We have some mountain folk up in these parts.
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Oh, I know, I witnessed several of them at Neyland Stadium! We made a detour through G'burg on our way to Knoxville for the OU-UT football game a few years back. The wife and I have t-shirts from one of the distilleries (Ole Smokey I think) in Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge. We happened to be there the same weekend as the big Pigeon Forge Fall Rod Run, which was great for gearheads like us!
 
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Those rod runs are fantastic. we bought bikes to go ride through the last one. A few years back we got married on a rod run weekend.
 
SaltH2OHokie said:
Hell of a foundation wall there.

I get a kick out of residential guys complete ignorance or disregard for OSHA regs, and for the most part it appears OSHA takes a similar view of residential guys... But in the commercial/industrial world there'd be citations written for a fraction of what you showed in your pictures there.

*To be clear, I'm not suggesting that we need more enforcement. I'm personally a big fan of "you're a big boy/girl, you make your own safety judgements" in a lot of cases. I just don't like uneven enforcement of anything.
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Ha!

Coming from OSHA regulated environments, I have to recalibrate every time I go to NYC and head to the subway.

Platforms with multiple fall hazards, exposed high voltage power sources, fast moving equipment without guarding, zero operator training, children and drunks running free on the job site, and nothing but a stripe of yellow paint to keep everyone safe.

DE8JFy0UAAAbhNJ.jpg
 
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SaltH2OHokie said:
Hell of a foundation wall there.

I get a kick out of residential guys complete ignorance or disregard for OSHA regs, and for the most part it appears OSHA takes a similar view of residential guys... But in the commercial/industrial world there'd be citations written for a fraction of what you showed in your pictures there.

*To be clear, I'm not suggesting that we need more enforcement. I'm personally a big fan of "you're a big boy/girl, you make your own safety judgements" in a lot of cases. I just don't like uneven enforcement of anything.
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OSHA tends not to spend time on small-time contractors or day laborers. Unless an accident happens. The bigger you get to be, the bigger target you are, and the more likely they are to hang you on your petard.
 
denverpilot said:
Glad to hear it’s moving along. A neighborhood house that burnt around the same time here still isn’t finished yet, and one that burnt after that, hasn’t even been started. Hard to find good contractors I guess.
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It took more than 4 months for one of the houses down the street to get a permit for renovations after a fire. House not destroyed (so no need for planning approval, just permits). Has to be brought up to current code, adding thousands of dollars even in sections not burnt. We're now 7 months in and it's still over a month from completion. Assuming that the inspectors pass it.
 
FORANE said:
I've already got a pole barn, I think... or is it a shed?
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None of the above. Barns and sheds have walls to go with the roof. What you have there is a roof on poles...which is not the same a poles on roofies.
 
Figured I would bump this old thread to show what the cabin looks like now.

Construction finished over a year ago. We've changed around management a little since then. Gatlinburg went through a couple of covid crisis months where every singe reservation cancelled, and is now hog wild with everything we've got booking just about every night of the month.

It's a beautiful cabin in a great location close to the Gatlinburg welcome center, between Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The front has concrete log siding made by my builder, and metal from Bridger steel in Montana shaped to look like board and batten. The flooring is a mix of 5 different types of 100 year old reclaimed hardwood from tobacco barns in Kentucky. Burley tobacco would commonly be cured in Kentucky using a heat curing process incorporating a dry fire in a barn. Over time this imparted some of the tobacco oils into the wood which shows in the wood coloring. The wood flooring you see in the pics has no stain on it, simply clear urethane. There is a HD 110 inch home theater in the lower level, arcade, pool table, hot tub, jacuzzi in master, etc as is typical of cabins in this area.

The fire was in November 2016. To date, we are the only people who have even begun to rebuild on our street. As a result, the wildlife has moved into the area with bears and bobcats often seen on our property. One guest review mentions 2 bears on our front porch.

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/44642691?source_impression_id=p3_1603455988_GeBKI7R0erTO2Aa4
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c35f8917-1978-4c02-9c2e-77721b003930.jpeg

5efbf39d-1621-4701-b0a9-7e6f30a17fa0.jpeg

3b43ecf6-17a5-40b0-a788-2393d95dfcac.jpeg
 
Very nice looking home, you did a great job! I've bookmarked the airbnb listing, my motorcycling friends and I like that area and may contact you next riding season. Nice place!
 
@FORANE i wish you put this up a couple weeks ago. My wife and I just flew there. I’ll save the link for future trips. You did a great job with it!!
 
Wow. Gorgeous! I thought I had found a winner as we're looking to go somewhere Thanksgiving week, but looks like you're already booked to January. Wow!
 
CJones said:
Wow. Gorgeous! I thought I had found a winner as we're looking to go somewhere Thanksgiving week, but looks like you're already booked to January. Wow!
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Yes, Gatlinburg has gone wild with bookings since the city reopened. We think it's related to covid. People are vacationing closer to home, not flying, tired of lockdown in house, going away from higher density hotels, going to nature hiking, etc.
 
Absolutely beautiful. It's been a couple of years since we've been to Gatlinburg. We discussed going last month, but opted to social distance in the Black Hills instead because they are a little closer driving wise. Just wish the Hills had cabin rentals like the Smokey's do though. We liked where we stayed, but it wasn't the same.
 
Will all the rain we got last night I couldn’t imagine anything burning up there today.
 
Velocity173 said:
Will all the rain we got last night I couldn’t imagine anything burning up there today.
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Yeah, the articles I was reading were hoping that the rain would help slow the fires enough to get it under control.

FORANE said:
I don't think so. From what I read, the fire is in wears valley. We're in Gatlinburg and along the spur. I suspect our insurance policies are in harms way though...

Thanks for asking.
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I just saw an evacuation map which had the area shaded in between PF and Gatlinburg to the west. I wasn't sure how far south your properties were.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Yeah, the articles I was reading were hoping that the rain would help slow the fires enough to get it under control.



I just saw an evacuation map which had the area shaded in between PF and Gatlinburg to the west. I wasn't sure how far south your properties were.
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The big one, 4000 acres uncontrolled in wears valley, is currently well away from our cabins and most of Gatlinburg.

The small one last night and this morning near the Gatlinburg Pittman high school was very close to one of our cabins.

We've had many downed power lines recently. It seems the city has been slow to cut back the standing dead timber from the last fire. Now, when a storm comes, we have trees falling everywhere.
 
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