ExploringMaine.com

It is Year 6 for Your Scribe's cabin, and major repairs are necessary.

The 24-foot-by-20-foot one-room wooden edifice sits elevated on nine cement stanchions. This building strategy has been effective, because much runoff flows down the long hill and under the cabin each spring. I am convinced the cabin would have flooded numerous times had it had not been several feet off the ground.

But a couple months ago I noticed that one of the supports had cracked - horizontally. A few weeks later, this stanchion started buckling. The cabin, shown here, began to sag at that vulnerable corner, and I feared doors, windows and other essentials would be thrown out of kilter if improvements weren't made.

Happy to say, Kevin the Well Digger was available. He is a road commissioner by trade, and a well digger in recent years. He also has the ability to fix houses. He came down to the cabin, replaced the 6-inch support with an 18-inch stanchion and we are good for the moment.

But more work needs to be done, and I will have to replace at least four of the supports.

Come to find out, the builder I chose six years ago used cheap materials. I can't say I am crankified, however, since I paid a pretty low price to have the cabin built. Also, how long do cabins last? We've had five good years, and have not had to replace anything.

I will be meeting with Kevin this week, to get cost estimates and a schedule of when he is available to do the work. Actually, I feel fortunate that I know Kevin, who is an honest upcountry handyman who is capable of fixing my cabin, building a well (which he did last fall) and giving me excellent advice on how a tenderfoot can enjoy a cabin in the Maine woods.