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Small Cabin Forum / Member's Projects and Photos / We just started building our little 20X20 cabin
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Tim
Member
# Posted: 14 Jun 2012 05:49am
Reply 


Quoting: oldbuddy
This build has kept you extremely busy for the past year. You are really going to miss it...don't you think? You have a lot to be proud of. Enjoy it!

Well, there will be a garage to build, a chicken coupe, some kind of storage barn, and some kind of small work shop. Then a garden to plan and get in. I plan to work on some wind turbines, solar panels.......and then maybe sit on the porch and have a beer. I don't think I will run out of things to do for a while yet, that is for sure. lol

Thanks for the comments.
Tim

exsailor
Member
# Posted: 14 Jun 2012 08:40am
Reply 


Tim,
While growing up my Mother kept chickens. The eggs were great, but I was the one who had to clean out the chicken coop. I have seen smaller designs for a smaller number of chickens. I think those would be the way to go. They roll, so the chickens graze and fertilize one area, then you move it to the next. It is much better to pull than push. Can you guess why?

TimJ
# Posted: 14 Jun 2012 12:37pm
Reply 


Quoting: exsailor
It is much better to pull than push. Can you guess why?

lol....especially in your bare feet!

Tim
Member
# Posted: 16 Jun 2012 08:48pm
Reply 


WE HAVE WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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FIRST_WATER.jpg


Rifraf
Member
# Posted: 16 Jun 2012 09:31pm
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Grats on the water Tim, how deep did you have to go for it ?

Tim
Member
# Posted: 16 Jun 2012 11:36pm - Edited by: Tim
Reply 


360! It is cased to 250. They had a heck of a time with large bolders. It took a total of 8 days of drilling to get there, but the water is fantastic.
The driller said he hit a pocket of pure white sand just like beach sand. He stopped right there.

Rifraf
Member
# Posted: 17 Jun 2012 09:39am
Reply 


8 days, wow!

Most well drillers have a set price at x.xx per foot drilling and x.xx per foot casing. Did they try to modify that because of the boulder ?

I hope not.

Tim
Member
# Posted: 17 Jun 2012 09:55am
Reply 


Nope! He had said up front he drilled all the wells in the area, and he would need to go to about 360. The price was 10k, but priced by the foot. If he would have hit good water befor that, the price would have gone down. His price included pump, preasure tank, and hook-up up to the main shut off valve. That is pretty standard and just what he did.

MJW
Member
# Posted: 17 Jun 2012 11:33am
Reply 


10k...ouch. In the areas we have priced so far, we are looking at about half of that and I am still fussing about it.

Flat lands don't have to drill as deep and they cost less. Trouble is, we like mountain areas.

Tim
Member
# Posted: 19 Jun 2012 09:34pm
Reply 


I started putting in the septic system today. I am beat! I feel like I dug the whole by hand. lol
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MJW
Member
# Posted: 19 Jun 2012 10:05pm
Reply 


Is that a plastic tank? Never seen that before.

Tim
Member
# Posted: 20 Jun 2012 05:35am - Edited by: Tim
Reply 


Quoting: MJW

Is that a plastic tank? Never seen that before.

Yep! It sure is easier to deal with than the old concrete ones, that is for sure. Code requires it to be surrounded by sand, so the hole had to be dug a foot deeper and a foot bigger in all directions. Then I will put sand in the bottom and backfill with sand around it. That is to protect it from sharp rocks.

It also has to be filled with water SOON after being burried to prevent it from floating out of the hole if we get a big rain. It comes with the Inlet and outlet "T" baffels already installed.

Total weight, about 200 lbs!

The pipe in the last pic is called "easyflo". No gravel in the trenches, just lay in the pipe and backfill! (after inspection of course!)

MJW
Member
# Posted: 20 Jun 2012 07:23am
Reply 


Do you have to have some certain soil to use those or is that something new anyone can use?

The last septic I had installed (4 years ago) they used those large curved pieces (the name escapes me right now) for the drainage. I thought that was the latest thing but I guess not!

Tim
Member
# Posted: 20 Jun 2012 10:27pm
Reply 


Quoting: MJW
Do you have to have some certain soil to use those or is that something new anyone can use?

As far as I know, anybody can use them, but check your local health department.

Tim
Member
# Posted: 20 Jun 2012 10:32pm
Reply 


Installing this stinking septic system (pardon the pun) is killing me! I am saving about 3k doing it myself though, so still worth every ache and pain. lol
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leonk
Member
# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 02:29pm
Reply 


Very nice cabin/house and great job!
I admire you for doing it 'your way'.
Thanks for sharing.

Tim
Member
# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:45pm
Reply 


Quoting: leonk
Very nice cabin/house and great job!
I admire you for doing it 'your way'.
Thanks for sharing.

Thank you, and your welcome!

Tim
Member
# Posted: 21 Jun 2012 09:53pm - Edited by: Tim
Reply 


STUPID! STUPID! STUPID!
OMG...... I am so stupid, I just can't believe it. I have done something really, really bad! No, even worse than that.....this is about as bad as it gets!

The septic tank has an inlet, and an outlet. I had it sitting the right way, but somehow when I hooked to it and swung the hoe around, and reversed the way it was sitting. I have set the tank in the hole, filled it with water, and burried it with the outlet tward the house. The fittings are all glued in and the sand is all in place around it.

Someone once told me if it isn't death or dieing, it can be fixed. I have to keep telling myself that before I cut my wrists!

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hattie
Member
# Posted: 22 Jun 2012 01:50am
Reply 


OH NOOOOO!!!! That is terrible!!!! What are you going to do now?

Tim
Member
# Posted: 22 Jun 2012 06:04am
Reply 


Quoting: hattie
OH NOOOOO!!!! That is terrible!!!! What are you going to do now?

All I can think of is, we are going to have to sit backwards on the toilet!

lol.....(hey, if I don't joke about it, I am going to cry) .......

It is going to have to come out. I will have to cut away all the plumbing and carefully dig down around the sides of it, lift it out, relevel all the sand in the bottom, and set it back in the right way.

I basically, have to start all over again.

OwenChristensen
Member
# Posted: 22 Jun 2012 06:49am
Reply 


Oh that's tough. It looks like redoing it will be harder.

Owen

MJW
Member
# Posted: 23 Jun 2012 04:00pm - Edited by: MJW
Reply 


Hey Tim,

Hope you got your septic situation corrected with minimal trouble. I know you were bummed about the whole thing.

I have a question about your build.

I know you used green wood and I know some have given you grief about it but my questions are for my own information and research.

What about the way you constructed this house keeps the wood from shrinking excessively, twisting and buckling?

Will painting this wood so soon after it being cut not cause any problems with the paint after a period of time?

Again, please let me assure you that I am in no way trying to be critical of your construction methods or materials used, just trying to learn something for myself about the process.

I actually really like how your house came out and it is very close to something like what we want to build.

Thanks for any insight you will share.

Tim
Member
# Posted: 23 Jun 2012 09:18pm - Edited by: Tim
Reply 


MJW,
I got the septic tank dug out and set back in today with less trouble than I thought it would be. Thanks for asking. The inspector is tentatively scheduled for Monday and it looks like I will make it.

As for the green wood. I have worked with green wood most of my life in various forms. At one time, I made a living making Windsor chairs. They were constructed exactly as they were in the mid to late 1700's.

Windsors are made of mostly green wood. The tennons for example are dried in hot sand and set into a hole drilled into green wood. When the green wood shrinks, the joint gets tighter. Modern chairs, made of kiln dried lumber, get loose joints and fall appart.

I know chairs are not what you are asking about, but it is just one example of how many "modern" wood workers who think they know what they are talking about, have no idea.

The skills and knowledge that were once tought to a carpenters apprentice have been lost in the shuffel.

Air nailers, and CNC routers, now have all the skill a "carpenter" needs.
200 years ago, a young man apprenticing with a cabinet maker had to cut dovetails for drawers completely by hand. Few "cabinet makers" today would even know where to start. They just throw it in a router jig.

Now, don't get me wrong. I have no problem with a carpenter using the latest technology. What I have a problem with is when one of them tries to tell me I have no idea what I am doing and it won't work.

If you are interested in using green wood to build a house, you need to read a book called "The Green Wood House" by Larry Michael Hackenburg.

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Wood-House-Beautiful-Inexpensive/dp/0813906830

As for painting the wood. The entire framing and the board and batton siding were green rough sawn poplar. There has been no finish at all put on any of the siding yet. The wood on the inside that we painted, was rough sawn pine that had been air dried in a shed for about 5 years.

I wouldn't normally mix green and dry wood, but by the time we did the walls inside, the green poplar studding had dried for about 8 months. It wasn't that far from dry by then anyway.

I hope that answered most of your questions. Let me know if I can be of further help.

Tim

MJW
Member
# Posted: 23 Jun 2012 10:11pm - Edited by: MJW
Reply 


Thanks Tim for taking the time to answer.

Glad to hear you got your septic situation squared away with minimal trouble.

I actually have the book you referenced. I found it as a free download here: http://raincentre.in/The_Green_Wood_House.pdf

Just wanted to get the story from someone who is actually doing it as opposed to the book.

I wasn't aware that the wood you used inside was dried. I thought it was the same as the wood you used on the outside. Big difference.

Thanks again.

Tim
Member
# Posted: 24 Jun 2012 09:32pm
Reply 


THE SEPTIC IS DONE! (sorry I yelled, but......YAHOO!) LOL
The inspector is scheduled for 1:30 tomorrow afternoon.
Wish me luck!
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Tim
Member
# Posted: 24 Jun 2012 09:34pm
Reply 


Quoting: MJW
actually have the book you referenced. I found it as a free download here:

I got my copy the same way from a link on "Mother Earth News" website. I wasn't sure if he was still offering it or not.

Thanks for sharing the link!

trollbridge
Member
# Posted: 24 Jun 2012 09:45pm
Reply 


Good luck with your inspection tomorrow Tim...I bet you will be fine.

Such a bummer about the septic but I'm glad you got it redone with out much headache!!!! Hate when that stuff happens! A sense of humor sure helps though huh?

Tim
Member
# Posted: 24 Jun 2012 09:51pm
Reply 


Quoting: trollbridge
A sense of humor sure helps though huh?

It sure does troll. If I would have realized how easy the fix was going to be, I wouldn't have been so distraught. I was afraid it was going to set me back several days. If I would have had to reschule the inspection, it would have been an additonal week before they would come and inspect it. Ugh!

Oh well, ready now, bring on the inspector lady. By the way, she is a fox! lol That just makes it easier to have to get an inspection anyway.

trollbridge
Member
# Posted: 24 Jun 2012 09:58pm
Reply 


Quoting: Tim
By the way, she is a fox! lol That just makes it easier to have to get an inspection anyway.

OHHHH... now I see the urgency of the inspection!!! Oh Jeez...men...you are all alike! LOL!! Are you going to call her "baby" just like Turkeyhunter would?!!????? Don't forget to shave and put on cologne!

hattie
Member
# Posted: 24 Jun 2012 11:14pm
Reply 


I'm so glad you got things fixed up. Good luck with the inspection!!

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