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Small cabin/shed build planning

 
pollinator
Posts: 153
Location: Mid-Atlantic zone 5ish
33
forest garden trees woodworking wood heat
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Hi natural builders,

I'm trying to build a shed (also serving as a small, very rugged cabin) for a remote woodlot I steward.

I'm super interested in wofati and earth berm houses. Someday I hope to live in a hobbit home. Thus, I think building this shed/cabin as a wofati structure could be a great learning experience.

I'm looking for your advice, tips, tricks, and especially examples of this sort of thing. I've searched around but want to pick your brains.

Here what I'm imagining the shed to be like:
  • ~8'x10'?'
  • Bunk bed frame (~7'x4'x6') with wooden board as 'mattresses'
  • table with bench/chair
  • storage locker, storage bin


  • Simple as that. Just need a place to offer some shelter for hard times during camping, and to store tools at a remote site I'd like to do other natural building at without having to haul things with me to and from where I live.

    Update - Site conditions:
    I'm about an hour and a half drive from the site, with another steward working on the site from half that distance.
    It's in a pretty undeveloped area, heavily forested, but does have neighbors. Nearest neighbor possible neighbor for where this might be built would be a good 100+m away, the next one being triple that probably further.
    There's not much equipment left there and most equipment and work would be whenever my team and I could get out there, usually for 2-4 days at a time a couple of times a month on average (more in warmer seasons). I could bring some small earth moving equipment there on a trailer I think, there's a rental place about a half hour away on some backcountry roads.

    What do you think, doable? Been done? Any tips?
     
    Rocket Scientist
    Posts: 4530
    Location: Upstate NY, zone 5
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    How remote is this woodlot? What kind of earthmoving equipment could you get in there? Unless you have mechanical help, a wofati, and to a lesser extent an earthbermed structure, would be a serious amount of digging and piling of dirt.

    A structure of this construction, for occasional short-term use, would tend to stabilize at ground temperature, say around 50F, and I think would tend to stay relatively humid all summer, which is not good for tools.
     
    R Spencer
    pollinator
    Posts: 153
    Location: Mid-Atlantic zone 5ish
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    Glenn, good points. I updated the original post with some site conditions.

    The relative humidity being bad for tools is definitely something I need to consider. I wonder if being in a storage cabinet or chest would help with that.

    I helped build an earth bag yard shed once which served well as a tool shed so I thought these kinds of earthen structures may behave similarly, if not a little more sturdy, hidden, and moderately cool (rather than frigid or sweltering). Earth bag is a plan B for this because I'm seen it done successfully and gotten my hands dirty with it before.
     
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