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trooper dan
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# Posted: 1 Jan 2010 04:44pm
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Hi I'm new here, I am not new to building cabins or living in them. Last two years I had spent building a 14x20 with a loft, I, made some design mistakes and learned from them.
I also learned that my wood stove I installed only heats my place to about 55 degrees F; needless to say I am not satisfied.
I own property here in Ohio and I am planning on building a 10x15 cabin just like Thoreau's with a gable roof and a small loft. I wanted to keep it small enough to make it "portable" Not exactly easy to move but it can be done.
So my question was, what would be the best foundation? The ground is fairly rocky and I thought I could get away with it with such a small building with out a poured piers or foundation. I was thinking I could just put it on cinderblocks spaced every few feet. Does anyone know how many blocks on intervals I will need to be acceptable for what I want to do?
After living in my first off grid cabin, I am hooked on the lifestyle. I realized that my cabin is too big for me and I would be cozier in something much smaller.
Here is a link to a thread I wrote about my first cabin. Check it out.
http://www.whenshtf.com/showthread.php?t=14488
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flatwater
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# Posted: 1 Jan 2010 07:02pm
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Tell us the situation with the stove. As far as the foundation, I would use pier blocks and tie into them. They make a number of types of pier block tops. Once you level the site you could lower the cabin right inside the slot of your pier blocks. How much square footage do you want?
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JRanch
Member
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# Posted: 1 Jan 2010 07:42pm
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Google skip foundations on the web. I ran across a couple sites with good info on them. Good luck and keep us informed on your progress.
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trooper dan
Member
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# Posted: 2 Jan 2010 01:54am
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If you click on the link in the first post you can see how tall the cabin is, this makes it cold and drafty. I think its cheaper to start over. I will google, thanks for the info. I will be stopping back.
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Borrego
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# Posted: 2 Jan 2010 10:45pm
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I would NEVER use cinder blocks or pier blocks. Why would you? It's not that much trouble to get a few feet into the round and grab a hold of Mother Earth. The concrete footing with a good post anchor will be far superior and stable to anything else. Don't worry too much about the frost line if you're in cold climate, a lot of old homes didn't and they're still standing....
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trooper dan
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# Posted: 2 Jan 2010 11:15pm
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Quoting: Borrego I would NEVER use cinder blocks or pier blocks. Why would you? It's not that much trouble to get a few feet into the round and grab a hold of Mother Earth. The concrete footing with a good post anchor will be far superior and stable to anything else. Don't worry too much about the frost line if you're in cold climate, a lot of old homes didn't and they're still standing....
Well the problem out here is that the land is strip reclaimed and there is no topsoil. The ground is so hard and rocky I would have to rent equipment to dig holes because it is near impossible to dig them by hand.
Renting equipment is out of the budget especially because there is no electric there and it makes the project more involved and time consuming.
Thats why I thought I could put it on blocks because the ground is mostly rocks and packed fill. I was thinking about making my own pier blocks out of cement and 2x6s, kind of like a square maybe 1ft by 1ft.
any no dig suggestions?
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 3 Jan 2010 03:03pm
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Hi trooper dan,
Consider using Deck Blocks for the cabin foundation. This is what I did for my small cabin.
I would space concrete blocks 4-6 ft apart.
This Cabin Foundation Page contains some thought on the subject. Hope it helps.
Good luck with your project.
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trooper dan
Member
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# Posted: 4 Jan 2010 12:11am
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I was considering renting an auger, maybe that might be an economical way to bore holes. I have reconsidered the foundation, I am thinking about cementing some 4x4s into concrete in 5 gallon buckets and then burying that. Those holes to fit a bucket would be near impossible to dig by hand.
Honestly that would be the best way to make a secure foundation on a budget.
Does anyone have any idea how much a gas powered auger would run in price to rent for a day?
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 4 Jan 2010 10:06am - Edited by: CabinBuilder
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Have you considered the foundation using concrete blocks over the entire perimeter of the cabin?
Check this cabin foundation on this project by the one of our forum members.
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lawnjocky
Member
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# Posted: 4 Jan 2010 10:20am
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Something I have thought about is using an old mobile home frame. I see them all over the place rusting away and I believe one could be had for free. Just cut it down to size. When it comes to moving it, bolt on some axles and have it towed. As far as leveling the cheapest way to go is level off a spot on the ground where you want support and put a concrete paver down and then put 2x4 cribbing on it to the desired height using a floor jack. We have levelled shipping containers this way. If there is settling down the road relevelling is easy to do.
Make sure you are not building too high to have the thing towed under underpasses if that might be in your future.
Jocko
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Moontreeranch
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# Posted: 4 Jan 2010 03:23pm
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Our neighbor just built a small cabin over the summer near ours, they built long and skinny on some "log" beams. the build site was not the cabin site, they ended up draggin it to the cabin site. It held together
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elkdiebymybow
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# Posted: 11 Jan 2010 06:36pm
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I set my base logs for a 14' x 24' log cabin on 2"x12" pressure treated planks lagged into a compacted crushed stone slab to build my cabin. I would have no trouble building a raised foundation with block or sono tubes set sub-grade 18-24". Just make sure you have excellent compaction before building.
I grew up fairly close to Walden Pond and Thoreau's cabin is pretty cool. good luck with the project!
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axel
Member
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# Posted: 25 Jan 2010 11:36pm
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tropoer dan,
If and when you (or anyone else for that matter) finishes your Thoreau cabin, let me know. I'm working on a book about people who have built replicas. I'm at jkitterman@ferrum.edu.
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Mark Carlisle
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# Posted: 12 Feb 2010 04:03pm
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Take a look at our site:
http://www.nenests.com/Thoreau.html
Click on The Furman University Project. We have another project in March at Penn State Altoona. If nothing else, it will give you a few ideas and might help you with your project.
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lawnjocky
Member
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# Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:20am
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Too much Thoreau around here. Try some real literature like Louis Lamour, Zane Grey or Stewart Edward White. Or one close to my heart, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Jocko
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knottypine
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# Posted: 14 Feb 2010 10:43am
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The soil at my cabin is very very hard/rocky. It's clay and sandstone. I tried to dig by hand and then with a power auger, but neither worked. i rented a skid steer with an 18" auger. That worked. The whole shooting match was $310 for the weekend. Friday afternoon thru monday morning was one day rental rate. That included the 6400 pound tractor, bucket, drill attachment, chains/binders and diesel. BYO trailer.
A camp down the road from me is built on railroad ties as a foundation. They are just laid on grade. Been there for 25 years.
tractor
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posts in the ground
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trooper dan
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2010 01:15am
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For about $300 I can have this guy scrape off a level surface and then have gravel brought in. I am thinking the base will sit on 8x8s on the packed gravel.
This foundation is giving me headaches already and its not even spring yet. I have one section of the base built it measures 14x6 and I just need to build one more and then truck it out to the site.
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lawnjocky
Member
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# Posted: 16 Feb 2010 10:43am
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Does the guy who is going to scrape it have an auger for his tractor?
If so, have him drill a few holes, use sono tubes for forms and stick metal brackets for 4x4s in the concrete. You will be glad you did down the road.
A trick you can do is set the ends first then put the beam across and hange the other posts over the sono tubes, then pour the concrete. It saves the hasstle of aligning all the brackets.
Also, get rid of that commy reading material and read some Barry Goldwater.
Jocko
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larry
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# Posted: 28 Feb 2010 08:45am
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my friend has a old logging cabin in da u.p. Been there for over a 125 years and it is built on railroad ties sitting on the edge of the fox river flood plane. it is starting to settle a bit but it's still stands.
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