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antler
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# Posted: 29 Aug 2010 22:35
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Hey guys i'm new here and in need of some help. I'm planning a cabin build to start next spring. I want 16x24, with a loft with 2 bunk rooms. Doesn't have to be alot of head room. For electricity I'll be using a generator, heat I'll be using a oven/stove that burns wood. so, I won't be needing a range in my floor plan. No refridgerator either. Small and simple kitchen with a larger living room area, fold out sofa bed, and a table to seat 4-6 people. small bathroom with a tub, toilet and sink.
I've looked all over the net for floor plans but couldn't find anything I liked. Maybe you guys could show me some of your self-drawn plans, or point me in a good direction to where I can design my own. I'm new to this stuff, and cannot design my own on paper that I like, I always run into alot of complications.
For those wondering, this cabin will be nestled into an old community that was ruined by resettlement years ago. My grandfather used to live there as a kid, only access is boat. I'll probably get things ready and put my piers in this fall, then next spring get cracking at it asap. Thanks beforehand for your help guys!
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mlhall
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# Posted: 30 Aug 2010 12:35
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Antler,
16 x 24 is plenty big for what you are wanting to do. I'm currently working on a 14 x 21 floor plan with intention of sleeping 4-6 people. The design uses a gambrel style roof to create more space for the loft area. You can view some of the design work on my website as well as a layout http://mlhalloutdoors.com/?page_id=82
I used a product called 3d home architect to layout the floor plan. Seems like I downloaded it for free. You might try www.download.com and do a little searching for free programs. Try a couple and keep use the one you like best.
Hope that Helps.
Matt H.
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antler
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# Posted: 30 Aug 2010 21:58
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Thats a great looking plan but I'd like to keep the 16x24 size. Also, my source of heat is a wood burning stove that doubles as an oven/range, and i'd like it close to the center of one of the longer walls, to keep the place evenly heated as much as possible.
One of my bunkrooms in the loft will have a large bed for me and the misses, the other two smaller beds. Probably be sleeping 8 maybe ten the odd time or two. I think i'd have plenty of room for a small bunkroom on the main floor too if needed. There are 3-4 cabins in the area, all of which are close friends of mine, so I'd like plenty of room in the downstairs area for when everyone gets together. Theres still lots of useful info for me on your website, and I'll be sure to check out that program first thing in the morning. Anyone else got some ideas?
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fooboo
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# Posted: 31 Aug 2010 23:00
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An old version of 3D Home Architect can be had for about $9 on Ebay or Amazon. Version 3 of 3D Home Architect is plenty of software power for a cabin floor plan. You can also use Google Sketchup which is free and the library of windows, doors and plumbing fixtures will get you off to a fast start.
In "Architect speak" you are in the "programming" phase of your design. This is where you write down all the requirements of your project and what the function of your building and parts of your building will be, and where you make many of the decisions that will affect your final design. Creating this document will force you to make many design decisions before you ever start to actually draw anything. A good primer on what programming is can be found at: http://www.wbdg.org/design/dd_archprogramming.php
Programming is not difficult - it's just a process that everyone goes through but many don't put a name to it and may not even be conscious that they are creating a program. Things like deciding how much square footage you require for living areas and storage areas, whether you want a lot of windows or not, how the building will interact with the outside world, how people will flow through the building in a typical day, and your overall budget - These are all things that you should be worked out before you start to actually draw the plan.
You'll also need to program your requirements for "service areas" - Hot water heaters, stoves, furnaces, air conditioning, electrical panels, where the plumbing will go, etc. etc. Some of these items require dedicated space, or you may be excluding the item altogether, like the hot water heater for instance. Either way, these are things you need to think out before you begin to put pen to paper.
You also need to incorporate your local conditions into the program. Are you in a high wind or high snow load area? What type of foundation will you use? Do you want a design that blends in with the other cabins in the area? Do you want a design that will lend itself towards retaining resale value, or is this a one off custom cabin being built with no regard for any future sale? These are all questions that will greatly affect your design.
If you already have the site picked out, the next logical step would be to examine the soil and determine the appropriate foundation. After that I would start working on square footage requirements. Measure your living room wherever you are now. Now envision 10 people standing or sitting in there. Will they fit? What I'm getting at is that you're speaking in terms like "sleeping 8 maybe 10 people" when you should be speaking in terms of "4 sets of bunk beds at 24 square feet per bunk"
One final idea is that if there are lots of cabins in the area and you've visited them all then try to borrow the best of each and avoid the worst of each. Ask your neighbors what they like and dislike about their cabins. For instance, you may find that many of them loathe a steep ship's ladder to the loft and would prefer an easier set of stairs to climb, even if it means sacrificing space. Or you might find that others in your area have mold issues, or wildlife under the floor joists issues - all valuable knowledge that you can learn from your neighbors and incorporate into your design very early on.
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mlhall
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# Posted: 1 Sep 2010 21:10
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Antler,
Sorry for the slow reply. I've been out of town on a Hunting trip with my father. As to the 16x24 floor plan. It's simple enough to adjust my 14x21 floor plan to a larger footprint.
But I think you should follow FooBoo's advice and program first! Then get a copy of the 3d home architect and play with it a little. You may use my design or someone else's design as a starting spot to create your own. I honestly didn't whip this out in a day. I traveled around and looked at many premanufactured cabins in the area, some Amish built. I also looked at many ideas on this website as well as other places on the web. I bet I went through 40 designs of varying footprints before finally reaching my final design. Take your time with this, designing with software is great fun!
I'm also set on using a woodstove to heat, I have access to plenty of wood. My original thoughts also were for even heat and central location. Reality for me is a small footprint, even a 16x24, it could be difficult to center place depending upon your requirements. Fact is that many of these woodstoves are more than adequate for heat, and since I like my sleeping area a little cooler than my living area, I opted to place mine toward the end of the building. Here's a sample of a small wood stove that will heat up to 800 square feet, that's twice that of a 16x24 building http://www.vogelzang.com/browse.cfm/standard-boxwood-stove/4,13.html (Ignore the MSRP, this model sells for $189 at my local farm store).
I hope all of this helps. I'll try to follow this thread a little more closely, but I am going to be working this weekend and then going out of town again on Monday. Actually, I'm heading out on Monday morning to work on the cabin again. Will update the cabin page next tuesday evening as well.
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unixfmike
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# Posted: 2 Sep 2010 23:46 - Edited by: unixfmike
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Hi Antler.
First off, thank you for asking those with the design and build experiece for our suggestions.
Before you go buying software, you have programs that help you if you get familiar with the free ones. I'm a fan of Windows (tm) Paint, and Google (tm) Sketchup. If your ability limits you to a single floor, here is a simple plan I slapped together in about 10 minutes using Windows Paint. The software you already have might be helpful saving some paper. I used about 8mb of storage on my computer making Windows Paint images before I settled. Then I got about another 100mb worth of Google Sketchup files too. I still to this date, have not sketched a single image or idea on paper for my cabin, and I am for the most part done building.
I don't know you (or your assistants) building abilities, which is a major consideration. Unfortunately you can't jump to blueprints based largely on this. But the good thing is you can do the floorplans. You, better than us, know the limitations of your weather, soil or footings and what will be best for your area or what will be buildable.
My build is at http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/6_136_0.html . It pretty much covers everythig I did, based on my abilities. In the whole process, I also did the behind the pictures research of learning to run electricity (power outlets and light switches, and some light plumbing).
This was the small kitchenette I designed that use s a camping stove.
http://www.small-cabin.com/forum/shared_files/uploaded/136/917_4_o.pdf
The best thing you have going for you here, is a handful of freindly and experienced builders and designers. I'm sure more of us will blurt in ideas as we get away from our cabins and back to the internet.
--MikeW
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Vince P
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2010 10:51 - Edited by: Vince P
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Here are 2 floor plans for my 16 x 24, One very general and one shows interior floor plan detail. This does not include the loft that I have 4 beds in.
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rockies
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# Posted: 5 Sep 2013 21:35
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The one thing I've found with most small cabin designs is that a lot of space gets used up on the main floor by a bedroom. By the time you get clearances for a door, room to walk around a bed, maybe a closet and some side tables and almost 100sq feet or space is used for a room that really only gets used for sleeping. If you can get the sleeping function into a loft you can keep closets on the main floor, maybe on each side of a built-in sofa that also has storage drawers under the seat. The other areas that tend to suffer size-wise are the bathroom, kitchen, and mudroom (or lack of). I designed an 18 by 26 foot cabin that has a 12 by 16 main room for living/dining, a 10 by 6 foot kitchen with full sized appliances, a 10 by 6 foot bathroom, a 6 by 8 foot mudroom, and a 6 by 8 foot office space (with a sleeping/storage loft at one end at 7 by 16 feet, and a 6 by 7 storage loft at the other (with the possibility of putting in a 2nd loft bedroom floor. All in 468 sq feet. The one thing I really preferred was getting rid of an indoor wood stove and using a Profab indoor wood furnace in a separate building (which can also heat all your hot water needs) and used radiant tubing on the main floor. No mess, no soot, no ash or wood inside the cabin, and no worry about "clearances" to surfaces or chimney fires. The cabin could also be done in a 16 by 24 sq footprint, or 384 sq feet.
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ak_flyer
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# Posted: 11 Sep 2013 05:30 - Edited by: ak_flyer
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This was the floor plan I started working with and it keeps changing for the better thanks to this site. I have a mac and used a app called Floor Plan purchased from the apple store. I bought it a while back but from what I recall it was only a couple bucks.
I am using 16X16 main floor and 16X20 overhanging loft. with 12/12 roof.
Main_Floor_plan.png
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rockies
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# Posted: 11 Sep 2013 20:33 - Edited by: rockies
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Here is the smaller version of my cabin. There is a loft over the bathroom/mudroom, and you could put a second loft over the kitchen/office area. The office could be a pantry, laundry etc. Keep in mind that once you enclose a loft and put in closets you must provide egress windows to code for fire escape. That and having the entire loft enclosed will make it seem like a cave. If possible, have you considered using an indoor furnace (like "Profab")installed in a small out building? You would free up a lot of floor space, keep wood, ash and soot out of the cabin, and get hot domestic water too. You would have to heat with radiant floor tubing, but you also avoid having a heat source blasting away indoors in the hot summer just to cook. Lofts overhanging porches are really hard to insulate sufficiently, and since the most expensive things to build in any house are the foundation and roof you might as well make the porch part of the usable indoor space and add the porch off the side as a lean-to shed style.
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