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flatwater
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# Posted: 17 Jan 2010 04:16pm
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Would you rather live in a clear area with woods around you or a more private cabin deep in the woods with trees all around you? And Why. For myself, our cabin was in the deep woods but I cleared an area 50 feet around the cabin for #1 fire protection #2 to let more light in #3 allow for better solar use
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dk1393
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2010 07:50am
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Our cabin is in an open field (4 acres are cleared). There are woods all around us. It is nice being in a clearing. We have good sun for the solar. An open area for a food plot and veggie garden. We dont have to worry as much when using the fire pit. I wanted in the woods, but I am now glad we are in the clearing.
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MikeOnBike
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# Posted: 18 Jan 2010 10:37pm
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We have a mix of forested and cleared space on our land but will build in the cleared space at least 100ft from the trees. The main reason is that we are in high mtn. desert and it is quite dry. No lush forest here. If there is a fire we will have little to no help saving the cabins.
+1 on the open space for a garden and solar.
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Moontreeranch
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# Posted: 19 Jan 2010 12:49am
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open...passive solar...and for the PV
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bigriver
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# Posted: 9 Feb 2010 08:01pm
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Our cabin is in the middle of an open field. We do have a wooded area and I am thinking of setting up a little camp area with a small lean to for sleeping in the middle of the woods. Does any one have plans for a small camp area?
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larry
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# Posted: 25 Feb 2010 09:08pm
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we have plenty of open field around but we decided to go in the trees with the field on the north side. since we would be using our cabin mostly on the spring, summer and fall we wanted the shade on the cabin so it would not be so hot inside.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 26 Feb 2010 03:15pm
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hmm.
Would depend on what part of the county you are in. Hear in east Texas summers are terrible HOT ! . we built burried under the trees and need the shade in those summer months. kinda sux in the winter.
But in Colorado where we are putting our cabin we have to think backwards. would be to cool in the shade specially in the morn and afternoon for us. So, we are building our cabin in a Sunny open space. Not the way we are used to thinking. I dont usually sit in the sun.
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waldenpond
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2010 05:33pm - Edited by: waldenpond
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am thinking several open acres with a few trees, garden plot and burn area, and wooded rest but not too over-much. right now we are out in the open surrounded by crop lands. great when its corn , not so much when its beans..
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Xplorer
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# Posted: 29 Jul 2010 04:40pm
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Another one for the open field. My house is in the woods & it's nice to have the cabin in the open. It's located 5' from my garden entrance. How nice.
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fooboo
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# Posted: 30 Jul 2010 12:23am
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Hmmm, how to describe this with just words. Suppose we have a clock and the cabin is in the center of the clock. North is at the top at 12.
The cabin was on the edge of the forest. Look out to the North, East or West and you saw dense forest and there was a creek to the North about 100 feet into the forest. So everything from 9 to 4 on the clock was forest.
If you look out the windows to the south, it was cleared. Everything from 4 to 9 was in the sun. Right about where the 7 and 8 o'clock area would be I expanded the cleared area further out so that it received more light and that's where the animals were kept and the garden was located and a shed.
So I ended up with a circle and a rectangle that jutted off into the 7 and 8 o'clock area. I hope that is easy to visualize.
The cabin would not get any sun until about 10am on most days, but the area down around 7-8 o'clock got lots of early and late sun.
We also trimmed the lower branches on a lot of trees that looked out towards the creek (north) and removed the underbrush so it was more of a "park like" manicured forest between the cabin and creek. The area was very wet so fire wasn't a big concern, but we cleared the underbrush to lessen the fire danger.
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 3 Aug 2010 09:54pm
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well,i love deep woods with tons of brush and weeds and all.trees galore,but we have to clean up our whole area cause of fires.Theres so much brush and wood down.We are not allowed to burn it till the first snow.so we are waiting .We have to get tarps over the big piles and then burn.But i like the deep forest alot.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 24 Oct 2010 04:42pm
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Nestled in the trees. I'm cleared back a little, brought in all gravel up the drive and all around the cabin. I have about 40 yards of 5/8minus crushed rock surrounding the cabin and any tree around that perimiter is getting the lower limbs removed up to about the 10 foot mark. And I keep vegitation from growing int he gravel with casoron granules.
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dabones
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# Posted: 24 Oct 2010 07:38pm
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we have 5 acres.. about 1 acre of it is bush, the other 4 are mostly open feild, with some trees here and there, but it's mostly a wetland, since the beavers have dammed up the streams. :<
we didn't want the driveway taking up any more of the bush than it had to, so we had just a small drive put in, and the trailer is there for now.. when we build cabins/huts they will be in the bush, or possibly at the bottom of the hill where the feild opens up, that will be nice to look out at, and the sun will be a nice wakeup, but will disappear around 5pm..
right now my solar power system is at the bottom of the hill, so it actually gets sun for more than only 3 hrs a day, but it sucks cuz it's 150+ feet away from the trailer, so no 12VDC will run to the trailer..
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fasenuff
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2010 05:56pm
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I built in the trees and hated having to clear enough of them on the south side for the solar panels. Left all I could on the north side to help keep cool in the summer and still get sun to the panels.
I enjoy the woods and wild life it supports.(Although me and some racoons are gonna tangle if the spread my trash one more time.) Privacy is also a big thing the woods gives that I like.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 25 Oct 2010 06:08pm
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Cabin is in the trees, but fairly well thinned trees, tall pines 50 - 70 feet. Pretty much thin enough to keep tree tops separate. The ground cover has been cleaned up in a 100 ft circle. The balance is getting cleaner every year as we work at it. There was a fire a couple years back but it stopped at the property line, but with help of the forest service and county fire fighters (who said good job on the thinning and ground clearing. )
Solar panels are 325 feet to the south looking out onto the south meadow. Three panels in series runs DC panel power to the charge controller at the cabin so we have choice of 12/24 VDC or 120 VAC via the inverter. #2 AWG wire; cost a bit but works well.
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SE Ohio
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# Posted: 4 Dec 2010 07:26am
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Our cabin is under deciduous trees, with a 75' canopy or so. The shade keeps the cabin cool in the summer (90 degree summer days with high humidity come often even in Ohio). We are off grid, so the shade is really a requirement with no other cooling source. The cabin doesn't get hot. The only disadvantage is the cabin is a bit dark indoors even during the day. A full-view screen door has helped with this.
Six months of the year, the leaves are down. We can get full sun on our solar panels then. We need full sun on the panels since we use more battery power for lighting on those long winter nights. This is a good balance for us.
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lawnjoky
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# Posted: 13 Dec 2010 10:29pm
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My place is in the desert on the side of a mesa. I can see a hundred miles. There are too many things to bump into in the woods.
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RIjake
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2010 11:04am
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Mtn Don, I just want to clearly understand your setup. You're running #2 from the panels to the cabin? What's the approximate cost for that much wire? I'd like to do something similar at my place.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 14 Dec 2010 12:12pm
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Yes I used #2 AWG copper wire, type THHN/THWN and ran it thru PVC conduit. I bought a spool of 500 feet plus an extra 220 feet. They gave me the spool price even on the cut length. Plus I had a 10% discount.
Copper wire prices go up and down with the market price of copper. IIRC, I paid $450 at the time.
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bugs
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# Posted: 16 Dec 2010 12:46pm
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We were fortunate enough to find a place with almost everything from unused hay land and pastures to thick aspen/hazelnut forest that you can't see 10 feet in front of you to 5 mile views across our pond. Only thing we are missing are conifers (only have five 2 foot high spruce trees) and a decent stream.
We cleared a yard site on a hill which enabled us to have wonderful views of parts of our property and the pond. The cleared yard site, as flatwater says, provides fire protection and good sun exposure for solar. Being on a hill also gives us nice breezes off the water on hot days and keeps some of the bugs down. If things get too windy we can stroll down the wooded driveway or along one of the trails we have cleared through the woods or sit at one of the many benches we have scattered around the property and just watch nature go by.
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seesaw
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# Posted: 8 Jan 2011 03:19pm
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I love this forum!
Our property (Catskills) stays pretty cool in the summer. Humid, but cool. It's almost entirely shaded and we like our tent camping. So we're planning to put our cabin in one of two sunny spots because we really only want to use our cabin in the winter. Now there was a shock! We saw our property for the 1st time in summer and now it's bald! We can actually see the neighbor's lights from our favorite spot! I was extremely disappointed at first until I realized we can plant some reasonably mature conifers where we need them. So my only real pearl of wisdom here is for those who are new to their land: choose a cabin spot in the winter if you're going to use it in the winter.
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larryh
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# Posted: 8 Jan 2011 05:58pm
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My current home sits of 40 acres, the 16 or so behind the house is a rolling alfalfa field, I love to look across to it to the woods that wrap around my ground. My folks had a very nice home on a lake not far from me and wanted to know if I wanted it. Having lots of trees on the property was one reason I opted to stay put. I love to have a wide open view.
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bugs
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# Posted: 8 Jan 2011 07:14pm
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Jeeeeeez Larryh you sound like a prairie boy!!!!!! !!!!!
I love the mountains. I love the boreal forests. (Not so excited about skyscrapers. ) But I find all get in the way of the view. I need to be able to see for at least 20 miles. And for some reason I don't enjoy the ocean. Up and down. Down and up........ Where is the Gravol!!! They say prairie boys made good sailors in WWII 'cause they were used to the "flowing" wheat fields. I have done my time in wheat fields and I don't see any resemblance to the ocean.
Different strokes for different folks.
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SmlTxCabin
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2011 05:24am
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With the land that I bought I had intended to build my cabin in the back of the property surrounded by the tall elms and oaks that sit on my property, but It was going to be cost prohibitive to run the electricity that far back so I ended up building the cabin in the front of the property that had the trees cleared away. All that remains in the way of trees are some Cedars and Mesquite. Neither of which I am very fond of. So I have cleared away most of the mesquites and left a few choice Cedars that have a nice shape and purpose. I have planted 4 Loblolly Pines, 2 Elms, 5 Crepe Myrtles, 1 Purple Ash, 1 Japanese Pistache, and a Bradford Pear. I plan on planting much much more, because I LOVE trees.
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97Marlin
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2011 05:10pm
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Open land is always nice to look at and one can do a lot with it. However, in the northeast, and in northwestern Connecticut, in particular, it appears that open land brings a hefty premium over that which is covered in timber. I don't think this premium justifies the extra cost. Plus, you have timber that you can sell at some point and additional privacy, especially if you can't afford to buy such an extensive tract of land that contains fields and privacy.
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squirrel
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2011 09:04pm
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I have to say I do agree I love the mountains and not too keen on the whole warm beachy areas. Our property is not far from us like 40 minutes but for the most part the area around us is game managed and reserve so don't have to worry about some one buying it and building houses not too easy to get the electricity up there so don't think they'll be any city people moving in either. so i have to say i love the woods around us
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Heus
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2014 11:39am
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An old thread, I know but... Should the fear of trees falling on the cabin prevent someone from building in the woods? Or is that just a risk that goes along with being "in the trees"?
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creeky
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2014 06:09pm
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this is a great bump. from before my time for sure.
I built on the north side of a tree line to get protection from the wind. Storms mostly blow from the south/south west. I look over an open field down to another tree line and the creek.
I like the shade from the summer sun too.
I'd say don't worry about the trees, you can usually spot the sick ones and remove before they fall.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2014 06:21pm
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Good bump indeed . W have one acre of field amongst many acres of farms . There is always a breeze to cool us off and control skeeters
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 25 Jun 2014 06:53pm
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I like shade. I also hate tall grass, so I'd like to be in timber. There is a bigger danger of fires near our grass here than our woods. Trees and brush grow fast here. Twenty years ago I had all the brush cut under the trees. It was pretty and it did help blow away the skeeters. It has grown back now, except for a small yard. I also left pockets of brush with trails between. I now have more wildlife close in. I do watch close for trees that are weak and likely to fall on the cabin.
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