Karls innawoods shack progress thread

Update #1    "good enough for the likes of us"

Hello!

Ive been stalking permies material for a while now to help with my ambitions to live a life of simplicity and solitude. As a religious Hermit and I am presently building my own hermitage.

I have some experience in woodworking, gardening, handiwork. Not a ton, but some. Thanks be to God I am able-bodied and not tied to career or debt, this is my main work, I tend to put about 6 hours or more a day in.

Over the last few months Ive gathered windows, doors, and a lot of old wood beams and boards to be used to build the place. Perhaps you could keep an eye on this thread and help me as I go along. While building a wofati or wattle and daub home is an awesome idea, and may be an eventual project for me, I was far enough along the standard wooden shack route that I decided to continue with it. Some day with more time to research and plan and build a cobb cabin will be a goal.

Presently I am on some friends land and free to build this as I see fit. Though I wouldnt want to ask for anything too weird, wouldn't want them to feel pressured into saying yes just to be nice. I hope to get this built before winter so I can live as a hermit while saving for my own land and my own hermitage.

The plans generally are (more details to come)

10' x 16'
walls 8' to 10' at peak
2' off the ground on solid stacked 16x8x8 blocks
metal roof (sheet metal)
1.5'ish roof overhang
no plumbing , compost toilet + 5 gallon water bucket. well nearby.
no electric. Maybe battery LED light.
rocket stove/heater setup of some kind
loft sleeping area
Ohio/Pa area 20ish miles from the great lakes
woodland in small hilly area
Small clay-ish looking mostly dry creek/runoff nearby
Framing mostly 3x5s, 2x8s, 2x6's reclaimed
Thin wood slats 2x1" approx for cladding/walls
2 or 3 big double layer double hung windows I got for free

My friend is a carpenter/framer, I had him look over the plans to assure I dont build something that will fall right down. I have a small pickup truck with a pull behind trailer with a 2,000 lb capacity, im hauling the wood in day by day from about 25 mins away, there is plenty of easy access dry storage near the site, though I carry everything through the woods a short walk.

So Im very excited and happy to have found this forum. As I build it ill make updates to this thread with more details and pictures to come, maybe ill be diligent enough to have a thread chronicling the whole build. . So far Ive chosen a spot, cut down a tree, changed my mind and chosen another spot, cleared the brush, made approximate marks, and begun eyeballing how much work Im going to have to do to deal with the slope.

Next steps are hauling over the rest of the blocks, leveling.

Present questions:

1. instead of insulation and plastic wrap, I could nail the wood strips/cladding all the way around the shed then on the inside of the structure make a thin cobb wall with lime plaster exterior. Mostly to keep out bugs and wind, also keep the place a bit warmer and cooler. Im under the impression a small stove/heater will be plenty for such a small space. this would be cool since I could live in a tent or nearby while I worked on it once the framing and roof were finished. How thick should the cobb be to have integrity? Would the added weight be a problem given my choice of foundation?

2. I got someone's pine subfloor which is a healthy 1" thick shiplap with more than I need. Dry and splintery with some holes. I also have more thin strip cladding than needed. Perhaps I could make an earthen floor as well as the walls on top of the wood, to have a decent surface and seal the place up? Usually earthen floors are described quite thick but I think that is for leveling and drainage reasons?

3. If the walls and floor are cobb with lime plaster, why not the ceiling on the inside of the metal roof? Am I crazy? I like the idea of cooler summers and that white washed english look.

4 Place guesses on how long this will take me now haha, my friend said all summer. I think less than that.

5. Its very shady, even dark area. What would you grow? Im thinking mushrooms and some kinds of herbs. Maybe someday Ill get chirckens or ducks but thats down the road.

Ill definitely have more questions to come but those are the most on my mind for now. Here are the site pictures, hopefully in a few days Ill take pictures of the building materials. The clear area is where the cabin is going, nevermind the positions of the blocks, thats the old area I was going to use. I marked the site with 4 wooden stakes you can kinda see, its also got trees at all four corners but should just fit (ill reduce some roof overhang if need be. )

Thank you and God bless you all.

The last 5% is the hardest, so plan to be done by august and spend the rest of the year fussing with all the details.

Thanks ill keep that in mind. I really hope I can finish it good enough to live in while I finish the rest. Shouldn't be too hard to manage survival since civilization is not very far away, just the logistical order of 'to do's' to consider

Update #2: hauling rocks, upping stocks

hauled in what is hopefully the last of the cinder blocks
Chopped down two small trees to the side which were too close
stacked the trees to keep dry for possible future projects
Worked on the lights on my trailer so I can haul in the main beams
worked on positioning of foundation stone and beams
took some wider pictures of the site
Was visited by a red hoppy boy checking on me
Resized photos to be smaller this time

The branches in the foundation stone photo are just an example of what I plan to do when I get the 5x3 structural beams in. I would like to use more natural materials depending on how doable they are, as I said I was planning this shed as I was learning about natural building so Im trying to somewhat shift gears using what I already have. After this one Maybe next one I can do 100% natural.

more questions

6.  Does soil on a moderate hill slope tend to stay well drained?

Up next:
finish up the foundation block placement, level
Get beams hauled in, joined together (maybe half lap joints + wooden nails?)
Perhaps some amount of terrain leveling; will be dealing with yucky roots