Black Locust summer cabin - $150 in parts

I put a video on youtube that I thought might be of interest to some folks out there.  It's a structure I made last summer that I use as a summer cabin space, very inexpensive to build, really quite easy to do.  Hope it is helpful information:


http://youtu.be/iS4NRZh5APY

Nicely done! Hope it all turns out how you hope it to. Keep us updated.

I think a 'shelter from rain' is about all a lot of people actually need for a summer cabin...

@creteman - I hear what you are saying.  The 'guy' is me... In the video I mention that this is a work in progress, so you aren't seeing the finished product.  I need to submit an updated one, where there are side walls on 2 sides of it, which actually made for a perfect enclosure for this summer, the east and south are open to let in a ton of light and air, there is an 8 straw bale bed that was super comfortable for summer living, and a few other amenities.  Cabin it is probably not, but tent it isn't either... It's hard to say... Summer Pavilion?  Summer living zone? 

Anyway, semantics, it did it's job and was comfortable!

Many cabins or huts in various parts of the world have dirt floors, as did many of the log cabins of the US pioneers.

The pioneers to the US midwest commonly built sod houses.  I imagine that most did not have dirt floors...they had sod floors.  Perhaps, years later when the railroads came in, they might have added wood floors.  They were still houses to a whole generation of farmers.

Wow.

I just deleted two really harsh posts.  Not okay.

@Paul... I'm wondering why the creteman post was deleted.  His comments were directed at my video and the language used to describe the structure and although perhaps a little less than friendly they didn't come off as offensive or worth removing.  Perhaps I can understand better why that happened, since now the thread of the discussion (which felt valid, as to 'what defines a 'cabin''), has no continuity.

Your input here would be helpful so I can interact with this site in a way that is in line for all users...

Thanks

@Edibleacres, Just a heads up that Paul just left for a weekend trip and will be back Monday or Tuesday. He may not have internet where he is going, but will see your post next week.

Nice pole barns. 

If you added some battens under the plastic roofs, they may droop less under rain and have less tendency to pool water and possibly leak on your head.

I'd do it like the roof on a metal building.  You have the rigid frames, then above them going in the opposite direction I would put smaller straightish sticks, purlins, to create a shorter "span" for your plastic sheathing. 

Looking good, keep up the hard work.

You'd be surprised, the billboard held up really well to what was a long and hard winter last year under heavy snow load, and this year with the N.E. hurricane that came through it didn't leak.  In fact there were 4 people a cat and a dog all laying on a straw bale bed I made of 8 bales and we got to watch the whole thing with just mist coming in from the 80 degree rains hitting the side walls.  It performed ridiculously well considering the cost, the materials and the situation...

What, exactly is that "Billboard" made out of, do you know?

edibleacres wrote:
I put a video on youtube that I thought might be of interest to some folks out there.  It's a structure I made last summer that I use as a summer cabin space, very inexpensive to build, really quite easy to do.  Hope it is helpful information:


http://youtu.be/iS4NRZh5APY

I just emailed the video link to my sister and brother-in-law who are my right and left arms in getting our property ready for occupation.  We have been discussing the fact that I need something more than a pop-up camper to use during my extended visits to Lollyland.  We have talked about doing a lean-to for several years now but poor health (sis had cancer last year) kept pushing the project to a back burner.   Even without a tarp, the open roof would work something like a pergola to partially shade a portion of our camping area.  I can visualize my summer kitchen now...   

Then there is the spot we excavated from the hillside to put the heavy equipment.  Something like this would go a long way to keeping the snow off.  We finished too late this year to enclose the space, so everything is covered with a donated 20X40 pool tarp that was no longer useful for covering a pool.  Half-filled water jugs are tied to the grommets where the tarp doesn't hit the ground, to keep winter winds from uncovering everything.

Thanks so much for the hint of the "waste cuts" that a lumber mill might have available.  There happens to be one located about ten miles up the road and by spring they should have less call for those cuts to be used as firewood.  A couple of stands of "volunteer" trees are on the property and local farmers tell me to just raze them because they have no resale value and don't burn properly for use in a wood heating system.  I don't know what variety they are, but anything will come in handy about now.  If we use them for a structure and they only last ten years, by then we will know if the structure is in the right place for our needs.     Of course there is also the idea that if the three of us (ages in 50's and 61) do this for our storage needs it will be practice for the house we hope to get built very soon.

The beauty of a structure like this is there aren't any particular rules you have to follow. I used Black Locust and billboards because thats whats around. If you don't need it to last a real long time, it could be layers of tyvek over pine logs, it could be scrap metal over sugar maple, you get the idea. There are a million ways to put a roof over your head, and a billion ways to put a roof over your tools and equipment and resources needed to build a better home for yourself down the road. You just have to try.