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wise goy
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 08:44pm
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Hey guys,
Brand new here. Me and my girl are planning to move to southeastern Ohio in a year or so and we are going to be building our very first cabin. We have been researching a lot about the process of it all but are having trouble finding the answers to some specifics on the foundation in our design.
Here are the things we do know:
We will be living in this structure for maybe 2-3 years. We know we want to have a 12' x 16'. We know we want to use deck blocks for the foundation since this is so temporary. We know we want a 2nd story loft where the bedroom will be. This 2nd story loft will be at about 12' x 8' so it'll take up half the length of the cabin along the longer side.
Here are some of the things we are having trouble with off the top of my head (I'm sure more questions will come along):
We read that some people are using gravel either as a bed or as a trench under the deck blocks. Is this gravel absolutely necessary? We're considering not even doing gravel or anything and just placing our deck blocks directly onto the ground and building. I know settling may be an issue and weather/drainage scenarios, so what do you guys suggest in that case?
Thanks in advance for the help!
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cspot
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:02pm
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What is your long term plan? Are you planning on building another structure on that property for your eventual house/cabin? Or is this really temporary.
One though I have is if you are building another building is to either build this one so that you can add on or to make it such that you could use it for an outbuilding of some sort.
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wise goy
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:09pm
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Quoting: cspot What is your long term plan? Are you planning on building another structure on that property for your eventual house/cabin? Or is this really temporary. One though I have is if you are building another building is to either build this one so that you can add on or to make it such that you could use it for an outbuilding of some sort.
Ya we plan on building this and then a second cabin.
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cspot
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:19pm
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I don't have experience on deck blocks so I will let the others tell you what they have done. What county are you looking at in Ohio? Do you have the property bought yet? I can probably help you out with some places to buy materials as we just built a cabin in SE Ohio last year.
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wise goy
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:24pm
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That's awesome! We would greatly appreciate that. We haven't bought any property yet. We're not sure yet which county but we definitely want land somewhere where there isn't all that communist code/zoning requirements. I saw that there are several counties that way that don't have municipalities and so there aren't any building codes or anyone breathing down your neck telling you what you have to do.
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cspot
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:33pm
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Southeast Ohio has some really reasonable prices for ground. The biggest issue is finding something that has a place that you can build. We looked at alot of ground that would have cost a small fortune just to get a driveway cut in and pad leveled off.
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wise goy
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:36pm
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Why is it so hard to build on the ground there?
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:46pm
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Don't skimp on your foundation.
Trust me I know because we had to replace ours and put in drainage tile.
Also, you may think this is a temporary cabin but what if it isn't?
A loft bedroom will always be warmer no matter what time of year it is.
We thought we would sleep in our loft but it is just too warm for me. As you age bathroom trips in the middle of the night can become dangerous.
We no longer sleep in our loft. It is for storage. We plan on having a small library up there as well when we can find the time to put that all together.
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cspot
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:57pm
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A lot of the ground is very steep and has a lot of rock which can make it difficult. There is some flat ground though. Just be prepared as some properties are beautiful but really have no good place to build.
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Just
Member
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# Posted: 28 May 2018 09:57pm
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You should remove the top 8 in. of top soil and replace it with cement shed pads ,the ones i use are 16 x 12 in. two or 3 at each pier.. then use cocrete blocks filled with cement to rays your skids to your desired hight . For a 12x 16 I would go with 2 6x8 skids on 8 piers. I have built a few that way.
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Smawgunner
Member
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# Posted: 30 May 2018 03:50am
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Welcome from Athens county!
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Borrego
Member
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# Posted: 30 May 2018 06:16pm
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This may be intended as a temporary structure but once it's done, even though you may move to a larger more permanent place, you will have this lace for guests/emergencies, etc....so I'd say if it's worth doing at all, do it right....
That doesn't mean you have to dig a 3 ft deep foundation, but something solid...at least some of the large pier blocks set on a spot footing.....
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