Zach Darling

Welcome Lindsey! So happy to have you join us. Can't wait to read more of your book! So very exciting!

Hi Tibif,

I farther East, in Nova Scotia.Are you building a Wofati home? Or something else similar? It sounds interesting what your building. i like the idea of the greenhouse. I was trying to figure out how I can do it. I remember some time back I saw the Earthship documentary and they have a greenhouse on the side of the house, and I really liked that butt I forget the details. The only part that makes me hesitate for the Wofati is I need a lot of sun in my cabin. I dont do well with limited sun. Also wehere do I gather the soil from? Do I ship it in, but then that could bee damaging to the area, cause soil can harbour tings I do not have and then lead to unpleasantness for the gardening aspect. I could be totally off, but it was a thought. I am not too keen on digging up the land unless I was going to for something but to just dig it up, strikes me as counter productive. But maybe it is just finding a compromise as in most things.

What si the design for you to maximize the sun in your home?It sounds very interesting! Do you have nay links for what you are doing or are you doing it all from scratch?

Tibif Leboeuf wrote:

Hi Zach,
I understand you it is hard to find positive feedback sometimes where i am too. Where abouts in Canada are you? I am from Qc maybe i can help you?

In my opinion to isolate a log cabin you need to build around the living place. What i mean is find out where do you think you are gonna spend most of your time when you are inside (kitchen,bedroom, fireplace,etc) and then use this room as the central point of the house and build around it. You could attached a workshop on the east wall, a greenhouse on the south, bathroom west side, shed/wood storage on the north... These are only examples to give you an idea. That way the main room that you are going to live in and heat as well is not going to be next to outdoor temparature. The added rooms add temperature transitions area. If i translate it from french it is called Shell insulation. That is what i should start doing pretty soon. Although, i am going to build my log cabin with a different shape to maximise sun gain.

I understand you might have a limited supply of logs so maybe what i am proposing requires a bit too much logs...Maybe you could build the core out of whole logs and then after build around with a different technique?

Looked up the Wofati house! Very cool!! But I amnto sure about getting the dirt! Lol!! Where I live if I dig too deep, I will hit water. I live in a place in Canada where there is more water than land. And most basements if built flood! My last house was a 200 year old house and actually had a spring running under neath, it was not ideal living with that. But I really like the idea. I have a slight slope as to where I am building and it is sort of aiming the right way of South facing. I need to look into it more nad maybe find someone near me that has built one. I am wanting to build the cabin myself. What ever I can I want to do, and at a last result have someone hired to help out.

As for the lumber, I might have a mill that will mill it for me for the cost of the diesel to cut the logs. I just have tot get the logs to him. I lucked out, an old machinist who has an old old mill has a hobby and offered to help name out. So I shall see if this can for sure happen.

The more I think about the Wofati house I really like it!

I am thinking of going Stick frame too. I had originally wanted to a post and beam. I had a person near me that does the frame and could deliver it. But the cost was just too much for me, and then to add the rest of finishing it was way more than I want to spend.

MY cabin will be as off grid as I can at this time. With composting toilet, and cook wood stove. The electrical I think I have that covered my dad is a retired red seal electrician. The plumbing should be pretty simple as I will only have grey water.  I know even on paper this all simple in reality building the cabin is more complicated then I ever thought. It is a major learning curve!! Lol!! But a very rewarding one.

One of my biggest challenges is where I am located is it is hard finding people with the know how or think building your own cabin yourself being a green horn think it is possible. Lol!! I have a lot of negative feedback here, so places like this are such a blessing!! Thank you for all your guys advice and tips!!

Great questions! I had grown up in a log home my dad had built on the West Coast and there the winters were mild, bu damp. THe house was a hot box! It was lovely! I am on the East and we do get winters however the seasons seem to be changing. I would want to insulate but putting up another interior wall would defeat the purpose like you had mentioned. It is a full time cabin/home. I can order a truckload of logs for about 800$. I think I would need two truck loads. A guy is selling a log home ready to be assembled for $16,000. So if ordering three loads I am still ahead. I have tried to price out the lumber from a lumber yard and the cheapest I can get everything is for about $30,000. I am really wanting to try and wither do it myself or resalvage stuff. My logs are not too big here, as most forests have been cut about 30 years ago, so the trees are about 12inches in diameter.

Makes sense. It is nt too small an escalator so I think I will be ok. If it doesn't work, I get a guy down the road. I really want to try it myself first. I also need to work on some gardens I am clearing up for new gardens this year, so if the stumps are too much I can get that done at least. But I totally get what your saying. I woudl ideally like to be moving in this summer but if it doesn't happen till fall, I m ok with that. The terrain is pretty mild to what your are describing, I am in a place where we dont have mountain sides and we have rocks but nothing too huge here. It really is an ideal place to try an exscavator. Last summer i dug out a septic tank and I had to try aand find it as the previous owners never knew where it was. I had to dig holes all over the place!! It was actually pretty good terrain to do, I did it by hand! If I come up to something when I use the machine, I will re try something else. This whole thing is a major learning curve for me.

I am building a cabin and I am trying to find the best and most cost effective way to build it! I have some logs but not enough to build my whole cabin, the cabin is 20x28. I had originally wanted to do post and beam, but after much dismay it isnt feasible at this time. So I was thinking log, as then my insulation is basically built in, or going a traditional home with 2x4's. (Not sure what the proper term for the style). I am figuring for the log cabin I can use what I have and order some extra to make up the difference. My logs are on the smaller end on the east, so I may need about 80-90 logs.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks for all the advice. I am going to remove them. I can rent a mini excavator for a week and it will cost me less than grand. Cheaper still then getting someone in. I loved the video of the work horses pulling the stumps! We have oxen out here, but to find someone to do it. I might be bale to find someone who wants to practice old skills? The cabin is for a long time, it will be my home for some time. THe trees are pretty small as the land had been cleared about 25-30 years ago, so the trees are not much bigger than 12 inches. I did have the stumps all sticking out for easier removal, but then I thought I could keep them and without prior thinkg cut them right down to the ground. Learning curves.

I'm building a cabin and I really would like to not use big machinery if possible. I have the stumps all down right to the ground line, but I'm hoping to build like that. I am using pillars and hope to have about 4' clearance to use the space as a root cellar. The Land is on a slight angle so only part of the cabin will have a root cellar my question is can I just build like so or do I need to pull out all the stumps? I can't see why I couldn't, but maybe their is drawbacks I'm not aware of. What are your thoughts?