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hattie
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 12:57am
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We purchased our cabin about 7 years ago to use as a cottage, but now we live in it full time. It has been moved 3 times over its life, but now is on a permanent foundation. It was built in 1912 and had two rooms. When we purchased, a room was added to the back where the wood shed was. It is the bedroom and bathroom now. We had also added a utility room and a passive solar greenhouse. Total sq. ft. of the main cabin is 550 sq. ft. Utility room is 250 sq. ft.
What he looked like in 1942 (in foreground)
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New shakes and roof and moving for the last time
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All settled in and we built a garage too
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We added a greenhouse on the back
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hattie
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 01:07am
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The utility room is for our clothes closets, pantry, and laundry room. We have a fold down ironing board and a clothes drying rack above which can be raised and lowered. The heater near the floor was installed upside down (on purpose) so that the hot air would blow up toward the drying clothes.
The greenhouse has passive solar heating. The blue barrels are filled with water. The sun heats up the water and at night the heat from the barrels warms the room. We have a backup heater but have only used it twice when it went to -30. We pick tomatoes until December. The windows are angled so that in the summer the barrels are in the shade and in the winter, receive full sun.
Utility Room
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Drying rack lowered
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Passive solar heating in greenhouse
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Greenhouse from another angle
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 01:18am
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A cold cellar (about the size of a closet) is below the greenhouse. We use it to store preserves, dog food, flour, sugar, etc.
The living room photo shows an electric fireplace. I would like to have a small wood stove for backup heat in case the power goes out.
Our house is small, but we love it and wouldn't trade it for any millionaire mansion. *S*
Cold Cellar
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Inside living room at Christmas
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Outside at Christmas
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 01:07pm
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Hattie, very very nice! Thanks for the photos.
Is that 15 30gal water barrels?
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 03:39pm
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Hi MikeOnBike: We are using 18, 25 gallon (Canadian)/30 gallon (US) barrels. They were originally used for juice concentrate and we paid, I think, $15 each barrel. Hubby says that it would be better to use 45 gallon (Canadian)/55 gallon (US) barrels if you have the space (which we didn't). He said that the larger barrels will require more time to heat up, but will hold more heat that will be transferred to the room. The barrels are extremely heavy when filled, so you have to build a very strong support system for them. We put a little bit of bleach into each barrel to keep them from going skanky.
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 03:51pm
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I won't have a sunroom like you do but I am going to use plastic barrels to store drinking water in the cabin. I will have at least 4 30gal barrels under my kitchen counter. We will pump water 150ft. up in elevation and about 1100 ft. across the property from the spring to our cabin. In addition to providing water storage I also hope they will help stabilize the cabin temperature a bit. My barrels will be sitting over a foundation beam.
Is that peas growing in front of the barrels?
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 04:03pm
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That sounds like a good idea. Will you put anything in the water to keep it from going bad? How long do you think you can store it and still have it drinkable?
We figure if we get a serious power failure, we can use the water in the barrels for flushing the toilet. We can get drinking water from our well, but with no power, will have to use the backup generator to pump it out.
Yup, those are peas. We also grow tomatoes, carrots, peppers (really hard to grow because the aphids love 'em), lettuce, beans, cucumbers and mint (but always grow mint in a container or else it will take over the world - *S*).
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 9 Jun 2010 04:12pm
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We will probably be at the cabin every weekend for most of the season, occasionally the water will sit for a couple of weeks. I don't think we will have to treat it. It will get no light exposure and we will keep adding fresh water weekly as needed. I expect to add about 60 gals every week. That's half of the capacity. I would really like to grow a summer garden but I will have to come up with an automatic watering system. I also hope to collect rainwater for the hot tub and garden but we don't get a lot of rain during the summer.
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