Northeast Ohio 16 x 24 project with pics and updates

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Small Cabin Forum / Member's Projects and Photos / Northeast Ohio 16 x 24 project with pics and updates

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Author	Message
stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 31 Jul 2013 11:25pm - Edited by: stickbowcrafter Reply I sold my old 25 acre farm back in 2011 and have been looking for a bigger place since. This past spring I purchased 40 acres in northeast Ohio near Pymatuning Lake. It's a great location with lots of year round activities and only an hour and a half from my home in the suburbs of southwest Pennsylvania. I'm getting ready to start building a 16 x 24 two story, gambrel style barn. The ground level will be storage for farm and hunting equipment and living quarters on the second floor. I plan to use propane, solar and wood burning and hope to be completely off grid. I don't have the funds or desire for a septic tank so I'm looking into composting toilets and a gray water system for the sink and shower. Still up in the air on a well or rain water system. I have plenty of room and time. This will be a weekend cabin with a few full week visits a year. I may add another small building in the future for living quarters but I'm starting with this for now. Here are a few pictures of the property: Fire pit my daughter and I use while camping looking west I spent a whole day building up and grading the driveway Spraying the soybean field for weeds -Brian

old old buddy Member	# Posted: 1 Aug 2013 09:06pm Reply You got a good start there Brian. Shouldn't have to worry about neighbors too close with forty acres. Keep us updated with your pictures. Old Old Buddy

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 18 Aug 2013 12:47pm - Edited by: stickbowcrafter Reply Thanks OOB. Spent the day at the farm yesterday to do some prep work for the building. Cleared out a 20x30 spot and got some stakes and string laid out for the foundation. -Brian

trollbridge Member	# Posted: 18 Aug 2013 01:29pm Reply Beans are looking good! Exciting time getting started, huh? Congratulations!

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 19 Aug 2013 04:57pm - Edited by: stickbowcrafter Reply Thanks Troll. It's nice to get the ball rolling. It's nice to have a place to get the family away from the hustle and bustle of schedules and technology. They may not remember how to use a survey transit or lay out a foundation but I hope they remember the time we spend together. The little one is learning how tiring country life can be Got quite a few bucks showing up on camera regularly. Hope to see this guy or his dad this season -Brian

old old buddy Member	# Posted: 19 Aug 2013 09:42pm Reply I had to laugh when I saw the photo of someone running the auger for your holes. We had to dig every single hole with a spud bar and clean them out with a post hole digger. The composition of the material was 95% rock and 5% dirt/sand. Each hole ran right at an hour to dig (with Old Buddy and I working at the same time). Anyway....you're off to a great start and you'll be dried in before you know it Keep the photos coming... Old Old Buddy

TheCabinCalls Member	# Posted: 20 Aug 2013 10:58am Reply Sorry if you already addressed these elsewhere: - are you managing the fields or leasing it? - do you have a barn or other buildings on site already? - are the woods part of your property? - how long is the driveway?

OwenChristensen Member	# Posted: 20 Aug 2013 03:37pm Reply Looks like a good start on a good plan. I love to see little ones falling asleep right where they are. O

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 20 Aug 2013 04:29pm Reply OOB my brother offered to lend his auger and I jumped at it. 75% of the holes went smooth but a few still needed a digging bar and post hole digger. I have lots of experience with that method TCC I lease my fields to my neighbor. He was aware that I was putting in a driveway and building but he maximized his planting area into the power line. No other buildings on the property, I bought vacant land. Yes, I own about 20 acres of timber in blocks of 15 and 5 acres. The driveway from the road to the building is about 300 feet. Thanks OC. Looking forward to having a building up before the weather turns sour. -Brian

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 20 Aug 2013 04:36pm Reply This may give a better perspective. From the road/gate looking back to building location (75 feet left of the first pole): Looking back towards road/gate from building location: -Brian

TheCabinCalls Member	# Posted: 21 Aug 2013 10:03am Reply Very cool. I like a property that has both woods and open spaces. You're kids will love it for years! Keep the pics rolling in...

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 21 Aug 2013 12:31pm Reply I agree TCC, best of both worlds. Here is an aerial view to give more perspective. -Brian

OwenChristensen Member	# Posted: 21 Aug 2013 01:50pm Reply The things you're doing are like ten times more than what the average city lot or apartment dweller resident does. When you're working with the eye level and layout with the kids, they see what math is for. It's a good thing! Owen

TheCabinCalls Member	# Posted: 21 Aug 2013 03:43pm - Edited by: TheCabinCalls Reply What's with all of the trees down in the back 40? Looks like piles of sawdust...did they log part? Is it common to leave behind so many felled trees?

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 21 Aug 2013 06:45pm Reply The properties to the north were part of the original farm that my parcel was subdivided from. They were clear cut and it was quite the butcher job. I can't see them ever getting much interest in them from anyone looking to buy land. Only the extreme north of my parcel was affected by the clear cut. Perfect place for my waterfowl/fishing pond and orchard. Will be easy to push with a dozer. -Brian

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 27 Aug 2013 06:43am - Edited by: stickbowcrafter Reply Had half a day free on Sunday so my oldest daughter and I headed up to the farm. I didn't expect to get much done but I wanted to get a feel for installing the concrete piers. I never get tired of the view.

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 17 Mar 2014 10:16pm Reply Winter still won't leave as we start the 7th week after the groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter. Geez, I'm ready for spring. Between hunting season, the brutal winter and the schedule demands of a full-time employed couple with 2 kids, my cabin didn't see any progress. Motels are pricey and a bit of a drive and as much as I love the tent, it gets old. So I decided to get a jump start this year and throw up a quick 12x12 building for temporary shelter and a place to store tools/material while I build the cabin. Weatherman said 55 degrees F for Friday so I headed to the lumber yard Thursday night and stocked up on 4x4s, gravel and cement. A simple pole construction shed should be easy to build, cheap & effective. Arrived at the farm Friday morning, was still in the 20s F and plenty of snow in the driveway. These 4x4s are rated for ground contact but I added another layer of protection with some roof sealant. Layout went smooth and we started setting posts. Thank goodness for the power auger. The sun came up quick and warm and it didn't take long for the melting snow and ground frost to turn our work site into a mud hole. -Brian

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 17 Mar 2014 10:30pm Reply We pushed on and had the 4 corners and 4 center posts up in no time. Once we get some drier conditions, I will grade around the posts and raise the ground height at the floor to slope water runoff away. Not bad for a day's work for 2 guys. It's nice to have good friends. Everything went so smooth, I just kept wondering when the other shoe was going to drop. My driveway is only dirt but it's an old utility maintenance road for the power line and it's always been solid. Well, melted snow and thawed ground frost can really have it's way with packed dirt. Was getting on the road two hours before sunset and heading home with a whole evening in front of me. Nope, the farm wouldn't let me leave I was patient enough not to bury her to the floorboards so we managed a few hundred feet with lots of stops and shoveling. The worst part was yet to come down near my gate. Fortunately, the good Lord smiled on me again and a neighbor drove by and stopped after seeing us struggling in the mud. He came back with his big old Ford tractor and pulled me to the road. Lesson learned. Thank goodness for good neighbors. -Brian

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 24 Mar 2014 10:12pm - Edited by: stickbowcrafter Reply Only had a few hours to work on the shed barn on Sunday afternoon. Had to fill up the corn feeder and frost seed some white clover in a new food plot. Did manage to get the header boards in and measured for the gambrel rafters I will build at home and trailer up. -Brian

old old buddy Member	# Posted: 29 Mar 2014 08:02am Reply stickbowcrafter I haven't been on your site for quite awhile and had forgotten what your property looked like. It's getting to be "work time" again! We built our basic cabin (before the bunk room) basically in about two weeks. We didn't get the roof sealed up across the ridge for quite awhile so we dealt with a tarp like forever it seemed. We didn't get the eaves boxed in for quite awhile either but for the most part....it was up and the hardest part was done. Once you start it will go really fast since the foundation is already done. I liked your pictures of the SUV with mud all over it. That is what are road gets like except it's three steep grades totalling 4/10 of a mile. Nice to be off "the beaten path" but without the four-wheeler we'd be lost. Keep the pictures coming and do't forget to start a journal for your family that you can write in and date every visit. Your kids will love it when they're your age. Old Old Buddy

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 2 Apr 2014 09:25pm - Edited by: stickbowcrafter Reply Thanks OOB. Been enjoying following and learning from your thread here. I managed to get up to the farm on Monday and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Still muddy, but got a lot of work done by myself. First order of business was to keep the deer and turkey happy and fill the feeder. I added some black oil sunflower seeds this time for a little variety. The mud did dry up a little but it's still a mess. I had the "tank" this time so no worries about getting stuck. I hand dug a little trench on the high sides of the shed barn to try to keep the run off out of the interior. -Brian

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 2 Apr 2014 09:30pm - Edited by: stickbowcrafter Reply I got a few more of the girts on along with the cap plates for the rafters to rest on. All in all a great day and I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset. I'm going to build some rafters at home this week and trailer them up over the weekend. -Brian

old old buddy Member	# Posted: 5 Apr 2014 05:10pm Reply Brings back old memories! It resembles our cabin at this point. Our situation was a little different. After we got the 2X10's and 2X12's bolted to the uprights.....winter set in and we were unable to make it up the hill with the truck for over five months. Thus.....no work on the cabin for five long months. I do recall having the time of my life building it! It still isn't much but I have the best naps there than anywhere else You'll be in the dry before you know it. Old Old Buddy

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 7 Apr 2014 09:17pm Reply Got a little more work done this weekend. I pre-built some rafters at home then trailered them to the farm which made things much easier than building on site during mud season. First we installed the floor joists and plywood for the loft and what a difference that made in making the rafter installation simple. I had some great helpers. From there, the rafters were easy to set. -Brian

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 7 Apr 2014 09:22pm Reply A few more pictures from yesterday... -Brian

60766244 Member	# Posted: 20 Apr 2014 05:16am Reply Looks like a fun little place! Hellova muddy patch in the wet though! Looking forward to new posts as they come.

Sarg68 Member	# Posted: 20 Apr 2014 07:25am Reply Brian, Looks like you just about have a warm dry place to work out of while you build the new cabin. Are you going to put concrete down or stone in the lower area? Cheers Sarg

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 20 Apr 2014 01:09pm Reply Thanks. Sarg I have not decided how to finish the bottom yet. I went up to the farm loaded down with materials and my compressor and nail gun in hopes of getting a lot accomplished. My daughter came along and we planned to hunt turkeys during the Ohio youth season. The turkeys didn't cooperate and the generator wouldn't run my compressor but we did manage to get some work done with the old hammer and nails. -Brian

stickbowcrafter Member	# Posted: 20 Apr 2014 01:19pm Reply Here's a few more. I also fished a new trout stream 15 minutes from the farm and caught a bunch of brown trout. I also hooked into a steelhead, what an experience on an ultra light rod! -Brian

ErinsMom Member	# Posted: 22 Apr 2014 06:42pm Reply

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