B Steinmetz

Thomas Finnley wrote:

B Steinmetz wrote:I thought I would share my small cabin I built here. All the stone is from our property, the wood as well save a few items like the door frame. The iron work my brother and I did on his forge. Every stone had to be brought across the hillside by hand to avoid damaging the surroundings, and in all it took about 5 years to finish. Hope you all enjoy.

That is absolutely beautiful, I'm currently researching to build my own cabin in the woods out of the natural  sandstone I can find on the property and seeing what you built makes me think that might be the best choice for me especially considering my woods don't offer too much in the way of uniform logs. I can only hope I end up with something nice like that if mine ends up being built from stone.

Thanks! Hope your cabin project goes well!

Sebastian Wolff wrote:@B Steinmetz
Thanks for your reply.
So its an old pig pen which will serve as a small studio for friends and family when staying over.

Yes the roof is the obvious part to make sure its stable. Were very exposed on top of a mountain with strong seasonal winds.
I was thinking of not resting the roof on the bales but putting in 6 wooden posts and fixing the roof to these with a frame, then building up top the roof with the straw bales.
Do you think 3,5 metres is too high?
How high is your roof?
How will you secure the roof to the stone walls?

Cheers
Sebastian

It sounds like you have a good plan, an Erik Slagter has some excellent sounding suggestions.  To answer your questions: I don’t think 3.5 metres is too high, especially if you go with a flat roof. I ( personally) like shorter walls with a vaulted ceiling, but that’s just individual preference. My walls to the top of the sills are about 2.1 metres and the peak of the ceiling is about 3.3 metres.  Due to the mass of the sill plates and the roof structure it simply sits on the stone wall, and it has never moved, even with some mild earthquakes, though it’s not technically a dwelling, so I didn’t have to meet any codes etc.  This is the finished cabin....

IMHO that’s a lot of extra height (2 metre )  to take up with straw ( but I’m no expert at building with straw bales). You would definitely need to build a support frame for the roof etc. When I built my cabin I added an extra 12 inches by using 9”x12” sill plates I cut.  I’m curious what you’re using your building for that you want that tall of walls?

Jay Colli wrote:Is that an Erma 22 I spy out of its holster?

Nope, that picture is a little deceptive how small it looks. It’s actually a 1918 DWM Zwickau police P08 chambered in 9mm.

Heather Staas wrote:Wow, gorgeous.   I love how it blends into the surroundings and all the custom craftsmanship.   thanks for sharing,  it's inspirational!  

Thanks!

Joylynn Hardesty wrote:That is beautiful! Is the roof all wood? Was any vapor barrier used on it? Did you 'plant' the moss, or did it self colonize?

Thanks. After weighing several different options I decided to use tar paper with asphalt roll roofing over that, which gives a rough surface for the moss to attach to. Then I harvested the moss from elsewhere on our property ( it has since grown back fine the last few years) and placed it on the roof.

Mike Haasl wrote:That's beautiful!  Might we be able to get pics from outside from a few more angles?  The way it tucks into the hill soothes the soul...

Absolutely, here are a few more, as well as a few I missed. Getting a pic from the front is hard because the Hill is so steep. I ended up having to put in about 100 stone steps to avoid erosion and slipping and falling  in some areas.

L. Johnson wrote:Wow! Nice work. It is absolutely beautiful.

Thanks!

John C Daley wrote:That is a great place, well done.
Did you have anything between the sheets of rock, soil?

Thanks! No, the hillside I built it on is very rocky and porous, so it drains really well. The back wall get a tiny bit damp if it rains real hard, but otherwise it’s fine.

Jane Mulberry wrote:Beautiful work! Looks like your cat and dog enjoy the place, too. :)

They do, thanks.

I thought I would share my small cabin I built here. All the stone is from our property, the wood as well save a few items like the door frame. The iron work my brother and I did on his forge. Every stone had to be brought across the hillside by hand to avoid damaging the surroundings, and in all it took about 5 years to finish. Hope you all enjoy.

I kind of like stone myself.