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Crake
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 16:05
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G'day everyone. Quite awhile since I've posted here. Thought I'd do another series on my second cabin.
My original thread (New build - central SK) covers the build of my little hunting shack. After a few years of use, I came to recognize that while tiny and quaint, I could use a little more room for longer stays and the occasional guest. For the most part, the little cabin is nice for a short overnight stay. After awhile it starts getting a little cramped.
My dad approached me last winter about an old granary he was planning on getting rid of and asked if I wanted it. Given my newly established vehicular access to the property from the south, he suggested we could clean it up and skid it onto the quarter fairly easily.
I came out to the farm and took a look at the structure. This granary was built by my great uncles around 70 years ago and has been quietly sitting on the original family farmstead.
I checked over the overall structure and it looks pretty good. The roof was in pretty poor shape but the overall walls are solid and straight. The granary measures 10' wide by 16' long and sits on three 4x6 skids.
I gave the whole building a clean sweep and told pop I'd take it.
Big Cabin - 1
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Big Cabin - 2
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Big Cabin - 3
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Crake
Member
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 16:11
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2024 Winter Planning
I took some quick measurements of the structure and did some Google Sketch-up drafting to try some new ideas. I quickly settled on a 10' x 12' interior space with a 4' covered porch off the front of the cabin. The extra space would feel downright luxurious compared to little cabin.
Based off the plans, there would be enough room for a double bed, a decent firestove, a 6' kitchen countertop with sink and cupboards, and a bit of room left over for a folding table. My daughter also wanted a sleeping loft above which could double as storage space.
Cabin draft 1
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Cabin draft 2
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Crake
Member
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 16:24
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2024 April Renos
As soon as the snow melted, Dad dragged the shack out into the yard where we could tear into it. I peeled all the old plywood off the roof and had a look at the rafters. It was clear most of them were gonna have to be completely replaced (particularly those along the plywood seams. A few trips to our local lumber yard acquired the necessary 2x4s for this process.
I elected to go with collar ties, both to straighten/square the overall structure and to provide the base of the loft, which will cover half of the 12' length of the living space. I'll remove the front half of the collar ties once the cabin is in place and the inner wall is built (I'd like a bit of lofted ceiling).
By the end of Day 1 I had the rotted rafters replaced and collar ties in.
New job
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Removing roof
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Rafters and ties
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Rafters complete
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Crake
Member
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 16:29
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2024 April Renos - Day 2
The next morning I strapped the rafters with 1x3s. Dad had some left-over galvanized tin from his pole shed, so we screwed on a nice new tin roof. I also screwed some OSB sheets into the loft space as it made a nice standing platform to install the roof. I'll likely have to pull the sheets out again when it comes time to insulate the roof.
Phew! The big cabin is almost ready to move. We had a pretty wet spring, so we agreed to wait for things to dry up and do some prep work at the quarter before doing the big move.
Loft space
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Strapping
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Roof done 1
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Roof done 2
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Crake
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 16:44
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2024 May Brush Clearing
I headed up to the quarter with a work crew of friends and family to do some prep work on the quarter in anticipation of the big cabin move. I rented a walk-behind brush mower from a rental company in the city - about $200 a day. Should make short work of a lot of the poplar saplings and shrubbery.
The road access to my property is on the SE corner of the quarter, and it appears as though once upon a time there was a cattle stockade situated here. I mowed this area out for a parkade. There was plenty enough space for our three trucks and trailer, and I plan to fence off access to this space with a 10' cattle gate.
There was a pre-existing trail running north around 100 meters from the parkade to the beaver pond. I figured this would be the most natural place to site the cabin - not only does it have a nice few of the pond to the north, but the end of the trail is high and dry on a natural bluff. I cleared out about a 12' wide trail and mowed out a clearing big enough to accommodate the cabin. My work crew worked feverishly for 2 days to clear dead fall and branches. We found time to run the mower up and down the quad trails leading to the little cabin as well - I can tell already I'm gonna need to buy one of these things....
We had a great couple nights around the fire. I slept the night in the little cabin while the rest tented and hammocked. The weather couldn't have been better for a spring weekend in Saskatchewan!
Parkade
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Trail looking north
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Cabin site
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End of the trail
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Crake
Member
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 16:59
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2024 July Big Cabin Move
Well the time finally came to do the big move. We had a nice long stretch of warm dry weather and I decided to head to the farm for a long weekend to visit the folks. I headed up with Dad to check the trail and see if it would be dry enough. It's amazing how much greenery had already taken over the areas I'd mowed. The trail was more than dry enough for the tow, so we headed back to the farm to do the final prep for the move.
The 3x skids under the granary were pretty rotted out, however the solid wood floor above seemed in really good shape. I skidded 2x new pressure-treated 4x6 skids under the shack and secured them above with 6" lag bolts.
I visited our local Co-op Ag who lent me a set of wheeled dollies and a hitch for the weekend, free of charge. By late afternoon I had everything prepped for the tow.
Up to this point, I'd kept as little inside the shack as possible for the tow in, trying to keep the structure as light but sturdy as possible. I plan to do the bulk of the work on the cabin once its on-site, as I'm concerned a building as sturdy as this might be a pretty hard pull down the trail. The floor is solid wood and their are studs every 12" throughout the building - definitely quite a bit heavier than your typical garden shed...
Jacking up
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Skid install
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Wheeled dolly
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Ready for the tow
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Crake
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 17:03
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2024 July Big Cabin Move Part 2
The following morning, Dad, brother and I headed out to the quarter. Its about a 60km trek out to the property - half black-top, half gravel. I piloted behind to make sure nothing went sideways...
Fortunately, road traffic was pretty light on an early Sunday morning. We made it to the trailhead without any issues.
Heading out
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Highway drive
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Gravel drive
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Crake
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 17:12
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2024 July Big Cabin Move Part 3
Once at the trailhead, we gently squeezed the granary up the trail. I have to say - there was just enough room to get it into the quarter. Only whacked a few high tree branches on the way in.
Once we got to the clearing, however, the summer heat started to work against us. Dad's F150 started to overhead as we attempted to pull the granary around enough to back it down the trail. Brother and I took a hike to the little cabin to fetch some water as the F150 radiator was a little low on coolant (and to give the tired old girl a much deserved rest...)
On the walk back I realized we could take some of the work off Dad's truck if I simply towed the granary from the front with my Jeep while Dad pushed from the back with his truck. I'd left enough room at the end of the north trail that I could disconnect and drive past the site, and Dad could back the granary onto the site once I was out of the way. This idea worked in principle, however we needed to work on our communication skills as the truck was blindly pushing the trailer hitch from behind while I steered the whole operation from the front... After a few twisties and turnies, we ultimately we got the process figured out. Once we got the cabin close, I pulled out trusty old jackall and skidded the cabin the last few feet into position.
As my easement prohibits any kind of excavation, I elected to set some big patio stones and cinder blocks under the skids for a temporary foundation. The stones should give plenty of footprint and there should be sufficient space under the cabin for the deep snows I'm anticipating.
Up the trail
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Getting turned around
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Lined up
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On site
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Crake
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 17:20
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2024 July Renos
I took a week of holidays in July, most of which we spent at the in-law's cabin. I had ample time and with the wife's encouragement, I elected to take some time to do a little work on the place and haul some stuff in.
I'd managed to score a nice propane range top/oven combo on VarageSale for $100 which I figure will make cooking/coffee making a breeze. I dragged this and a pile of building scraps/odds and ends into the cabin. I can't stress enough how nice it is to be able to drive directly to the door with all the materials. Half the challenge of the little cabin site was the difficulty in dragging materials in by quad or on foot. This new site is way more better-er.
My first task was to get the new front wall built in so I could remove the front half collar ties. I worked through the afternoon and got the front door and window framed in before I ran out of lumber and energy.
With the new front wall tying the structure together, I was able to remove the front half collar ties and use the loft space for spare lumber. I slung my hammock inside and gave everything a clean sweep. Even just partially put together, the interior feels so much more spacious.
What a mess
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Front wall door & window
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Facing inward
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Crake
Member
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 17:27
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2024 July Renos - continued
With sunlight fading, I headed outside to do some yard cleanup and burn some brush. This new site is much more scenic, with open skies to the north. I was also thrilled to discover my clearing is surrounded by hazelnut shrubs!
I'm going to need a proper fire-pit at some point but didn't feel like lugging stones around quite yet. I decided instead to cord some of the firewood helpfully sawn by my spring work crew, and made a crude lean-to so the logs would have a place out of the rain.
As darkness fell, I cooked some hot dogs over the fire and enjoyed the peace and quiet. Strangely enough - while the rest of the quarter is practically crawling with mosquitoes, the new site was strangely bug-free. I would have thought its proximity to the beaver pond would have made it worse.
I sat out by the fire until around midnight before heading inside. Seeing everything lit with lantern/candle light is making me seriously reconsider wiring this place for generator power - I may go full power-free at this site.
Backyard fire
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Firewood
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Night falls
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Cabin at night
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Crake
Member
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# Posted: 25 Aug 2024 17:40
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2024 August update
Well that about does it for the summer of 2024. I have to leave town for a month for work, so I'm afraid the big cabin will have to wait until fall. When I get back in September I have a lot of plans.
I was able to score a used brush mower from the same rental company for $1000. A good buddy picked it up for me and it'll be waiting for me when I get home. I'll have to build some sort of small shed to keep it in on the quarter so I don't have to trailer it back and forth. But I'm very excited to get it tuned up and ready to chew up the landscape this fall/next spring.
On my next trip, I plan to finish framing and sheeting the front wall, and install the door and windows. The cabin will have two 2'x3' slider windows on each side wall, as well as a 2'x2' slider window in the back wall peak. I hope all these windows will add a lot of natural light and ventilation in the summer.
I've scored a lot of free insulation from various sources. I'd like to have the cabin at the very least insulated for the winter so we can use it for an overnight snow-shoeing destination.
As for heat - have a small DC-electric diesel heater that should keep things warm this winter until I can buy a proper fire stove. I expect I'll rough it for at least this winter and hopefully I can get to the interior/exterior work next spring. That's all for now folks! "Crake"
Big_Cabin__40.jpg
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Big_Cabin__43.jpg
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jsahara24
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# Posted: 26 Aug 2024 12:12
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Very nice! Good progress and i'm sure you'll appreciate the extra space!
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 26 Aug 2024 15:09
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What a haul! Well Done
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