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Irishguy
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# Posted: 26 May 2014 09:15am - Edited by: Irishguy
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Hey Guys,
I have been reading in the forum for a while now and this is my first post, so I wanted to introduce myself and start a thread about our cabin build[s] in the North Alabama Mountains.
My wife and I have been looking for some land for over a year now and have looked as far away as North Carolina, but ultimately decided to stay in Alabama because we have some beautiful land, lakes, rivers and valleys here. The added benefit is that our land is only 90 miles from our home near Birmingham, AL and is only about 1.5 hours away. We had almost given up hope of finding property with a view that we could afford and had decided to buy 25 acres on a large creek and had made several offers, when we found the 10 acres that we now own....
Here's a 180 panorama shot looking out off the mountain where we will build the main cabin.
We will eventually do some "Vista Pruning" and when we do you will be able to see the valley below and the mountains in the distance and it will look like the view from my friend's cabin just down the ridge...
The property is teeming with wildlife and native plants and is just across the dirt road from 1750 acres of "Forever Wild" land that is protected from development by the Alabama constitution and beyond that is the Little River Canyon National Preserve. Little River Canyon is the largest canyon east of the Mississippi River and looks like this...
Some pics of the Wild Azeleas on the property...
We closed on Friday May 16, 2014 and immediately went to work this weekend...
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Just
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# Posted: 26 May 2014 09:40am
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welcome Irish ,pics are not coming in but the land sounds great..
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Irishguy
Member
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# Posted: 26 May 2014 09:52am
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Well... I'm pretty frustrated with Flickr right now. Posting pictures was always so easy, but someone decided that Flickr need to be "improved." I've just wasted about 45 minutes of my life trying several ways to get the pictures to post, and still nothing but code shows up.
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 26 May 2014 10:52am
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Fixed pictures.
Great views!
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neb
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# Posted: 26 May 2014 02:11pm
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Welcome and keep us posted.
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Irishguy
Member
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# Posted: 26 May 2014 09:48pm
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Thanks Cabinbuider! I checked out the code and hopefully the next post will come though with pics...
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Shadyacres
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# Posted: 26 May 2014 10:03pm
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Welcome to the forum. You indeed do have a nice piece of land there. I never pictured Alabama like that. Kind of reminds me of PA. Have fun with your cabin build.
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old old buddy
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 07:06am
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Irishguy
Welcome to the forum. I think you have a beautiful view! I was in Alabama about three years ago and was shocked how much it resembled Ohio as I was driving through it. We came in from Chattanooga and down through I-59 and I-65 (I think) and exited Alabama as we drove into Florida not far from Defuniak Springs, Fla.
Alabama was green like Ohio and had several hills (mountains) like Ohio.
What size cabin are you planning? Do you have a road yet and will it be any problem in heavy rains. Our place is only attainable January through May by four-wheeler. As long as it's dry I can reach it by my Chevy 4X4 throughout the summer and fall. It's very steep but heck, were use to it now. It's totally off-grid. I wired the cabin and take a generator when I think I may need it. The grandkids like lights in the cabin when it gets dark out
Good luck with your build, take lots of pictures, and think about starting a log where you can sign in every time you visit, what you did, who was there, etc. My grandparents had one in their old cabin which spanned about 30 years that they owned it and it was really nice to go back through and read different accounts of what had transpired while they were there with my parents and us kids.
We started our build in late 2010 and finished up with the cabin, porch and build-on room by 2012 (I think). It's still not finished outside or in but it's dry and warm in the winter.
Old Old Buddy
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 08:27am
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Welcome, I like the pictures. It sound like a good place for an outdoors man or woman.
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Irishguy
Member
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 11:01am
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Thanks for all the replies folks,
We are starting with an 8'x8' shed that will serve as our "camper" while we work on the various cabins in stages. It will have a tin roof with a large overhand over a 4'x8' deck for lounging after a hard days work. It will also have a side deck with an enclosure for an outdoor shower using rain water collected from the roof in a 275 gallon tote and also have a 5 gallon bucket composting toilet. I will power the water pump and provide a small amount of off grid power with a pair of 12 volt batteries and a solar panel. That is the first project.
The second project will be a 12'x16' "Guest Cottage" that will serve as the main cabin for a couple of years while we build the actual "Main Cabin" which will be the third project...
The "Main Cabin" will be at least double the size of the "Guest Cabin" with a second story.
The fourth project will be a 2 car garage/workshop with an upstairs great room for office space, extra guests, etc... that will come much later.
We got the footers placed for the 8'x8' "Shed" this weekend and cut up several downed trees and we are tired today. Glad to be back in the office where I can rest up a little. 
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Irishguy
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 12:38pm - Edited by: Irishguy
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Pics from this weekend...
Loaded up and ready to go:
Some trees that need to be cleared:
Footers placed for the 8'x8' cabin/shed:
Managed to get the downed trees cut up before relaxing a bit:
We ended up getting quite a bit of brush and smaller stuff cleared out as well. Our plan is to cut down the minimal amount of trees, which is why we decided to place the driveway where there was already a drainage run-off. Our new best friend up at the property happens to also be the president of the propery owners association, and he has already helped us out quite a bit. He had the bulldoser reshape and fill in the run-off and move it on down the road to a new location, so now since we already have this big gash on the property we decided to go ahead and place the driveway there. Since the bulldoser is already there doing road maintenance he is giving us a deal on placing a culvert and smooting out our drive and "paving" it with a load of chert. All that is getting done this week and is only going to cost us about $250 which seems to be a heck of a deal!
I hope to start on the floor of the 8'x8' cabin this afternoon after work. I will preassemble as much of that cabin as possible and then haul the semi-complete panels up to the property in my utility trailer. I spent a good bit of memorial day installing a class III hitch on the Jeep Cherokee.
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Irishguy
Member
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 12:46pm
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Well... Not sure what I've done wrong with the images this time... 
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In the Hollow
Member
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 01:20pm
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Welcome Irishguy. Beautiful property. Good luck I will be watching!
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 03:52pm - Edited by: CabinBuilder
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Fixed images...
Quoting: Irishguy Well... Not sure what I've done wrong with the images this time...
Change https: to http: and strip _b at the end of image name ( _b inserts a large image which takes too long to load )
Hope this helps.
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Irishguy
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# Posted: 27 May 2014 04:01pm - Edited by: Irishguy
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Quoting: CabinBuilder Fixed images...Quoting: IrishguyWell... Not sure what I've done wrong with the images this time... Change https: to http: and strip _b at the end of image name ( _b inserts a large image which takes too long to load )Hope this helps.
Thanks again! Will do!
OH... Forgot to mention in the post above. If you look in the first picture, in the back of my Jeep, you can see our new 4000 watt Harbor Freight generator that we picked up on sale for $299. So far it has performed well, running my electric chainsaw almost all weekend without a hitch. I was going to buy a gas chainsaw, but already had the electric one and needed the generator to run other power equipment anyway. The generator used very little gas. I still have not run one tank through it. It is a lot quieter than I thought it would be.
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tichalet
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# Posted: 28 May 2014 11:53pm
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Gorgeous property! Is that on/near Lookout Mountain? You really scored a gem there.
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stickbowcrafter
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# Posted: 29 May 2014 12:50am
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Looks great, thanks for sharing and welcome! Looking forward to following your progress.
-Brian
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Irishguy
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# Posted: 29 May 2014 12:22pm - Edited by: Irishguy
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Quoting: tichalet Gorgeous property! Is that on/near Lookout Mountain? You really scored a gem there.
Yes it is! We are on the eastern brow about 3/4 of a mile hike to the canyon. We are about 3 miles from Little River falls and about 20 minutes down the mountian from Weiss Lake.
Here are some plans I sketched up on the kitchen table last night for what we are calling the "Hunter's Cabin."
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Irishguy
Member
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# Posted: 31 May 2014 08:27am - Edited by: Irishguy
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Got a lot done yesterday...
Ready to load on the trailer...
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 31 May 2014 10:34am
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very exciting.cant wait to see the place up.
the land is so beautiful where u are at.
thanks for sharing such great photos.good luck.
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Pookie129
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# Posted: 1 Jun 2014 10:22pm
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Wow, awesome land, start and passion in getting your cabin going.
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Irishguy
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# Posted: 3 Jun 2014 12:22pm
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Thanks for the interest and comments folks!
We had a super productive few days this weekend and the weather was mostly cooperative with little rain and nice, cool temps...
Everything loaded on our little utility trailer for delivery to the job site:
Fortunately, like the cavalry in an old Western, my new, best buddy on the mountian "Skipper" showed up just as Mrs. Irish and I were setting out our tools and about to unload the wall framing from the trailer and saved Mrs. Irish some heavy lifting. Thanks so much to Skip, he and I were able to get the floor framing set, leveled and bolted, the floor decked and screwed, and 4 walls set all in a matter of about 3 hours on Saturday afternoon.
Here's a pic of your's truely enjoying a well deserved, ice cold beverage :
Sunday morning came around and thanks to being blessed with a little upper body strength I was able to press the roof framing over head while Skip pulled on a rope from the ground on the other side of the cabin and we set the roof on top sans decking. We used a site build stilt to support the roof slope while I climbed up and installed the shot wall extension. An hour trip to Lowes and I had decking and tar paper and by lunch I had a semi-waterproof roof.
After that we simply hung out, had some beers and relaxed in the chairs and the newly installed hammock...
This week I will frame the decks in the garage for delivery to the jobsite. My plans are to take Friday off from work and put in 3 good days this weekend and weather permitting, hope to get all of the siding on, windows and door installed, decks built, and possibly stairs up to the deck.
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tnky03
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# Posted: 3 Jun 2014 06:24pm
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Welcome to the site Irishguy. Your property is beautiful!
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Irishguy
Member
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# Posted: 3 Jun 2014 08:24pm
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Thanks! It is a labor of love. We are both very excited and focused.
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ErinsMom
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# Posted: 4 Jun 2014 07:44am
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hattie
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# Posted: 4 Jun 2014 12:52pm
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Such a beautiful spot. I'm looking forward to watching your build come true!
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In the Hollow
Member
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# Posted: 5 Jun 2014 01:21pm
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Welcome Irishguy, you land is beautiful. Looking forward to seeing you build.
Sue - In the Hollow
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Irishguy
Member
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# Posted: 11 Jun 2014 07:40pm - Edited by: Irishguy
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Hey everybody!
We had another productive weekend. I prefabbed the deck framing and took it up to the property last Friday and Mrs. Irish showed up Saturday and she and I were able to get the decks built, the siding on, and the windows and doors in. I doubt I will ever use Hardie Board siding again. That stuff takes all the fun out of carpentry...
This weekend I hope to get the bench built on the deck, the outdoor kitchen, trim on the outside, stairs and maybe get some stuff done on the inside. We have our fingers crossed that the weather permits. It has been raining almost every day around here. I'm starting to think Alabama is in the Pacific Northwest. I need to get my gutter installed and my rainwater collection system built so I can catch all of this stuff...
The Workhorse Cherokee hauling up the deck material on Friday
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All the siding on, decks built and the windows and doors installed
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Taiwin
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# Posted: 12 Jun 2014 01:40am
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Looks great! Thanks for posting
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Bevis
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# Posted: 13 Jun 2014 09:48am
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Nice little "hunters" cabin.
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