12 x 16 House

[Beavers]

Maybe you should just live there.  Why move? 

We'll see how it goes living such a small house...

Who knows, we might decide we like it! 


tinybuilder, I checked out your photo's, your house looks great.  I really like the kitchen setup, thats a pretty slick design!

[Don_P]

This is how one around here evolved, there are rooms under portions of the porch now.

[tinybuilder]

Maybe you should just live there.  Why move? 

We'll see how it goes living such a small house...

Who knows, we might decide we like it! 


tinybuilder, I checked out your photo's, your house looks great.  I really like the kitchen setup, thats a pretty slick design!

It is... I worked in a hotel that had those Acme kitchen units in the suites, and always thought they were a really cool idea of just one nice neat stainless combination appliance to install. One drawback is the sink is a little  shallow. But it's a standard size so a deeper one can easily be dropped in.

I bet your cozy house grows on you once you're living in it.

[pocono_couple]

Hi guys,
  thanks for putting the pics of your canoe on my page.. great job!    it looks like you find some neat places to camp as well... the canoe that i built a few years ago was a kit from newfound woodworking    in NH.   the kayak  is the coho model afrom pygmy boats out in washington.  I knew that I was going to be building the kayak so i casually mentioned in class one day that if anyone wanted to build a boat, I was going to be starting on a project and would help.  a student came up after class and said that he was interested.. and the rest is history..  we found a space on campus and built them side by side..   as it turned out.. i did not get a whole lot of help from him, and i built about 75% of his boat    but that is fine, it gave me lots of free experience with cedar strip construction!
 
my kayak was supposed to be finished bright, but some of the "planks" got water stained.. so i ended up painting it..

there are a couple of other boats that i have built sitting around the property..  one is a gloucester light dory that you can see by the shed.  that was a project that my son and i built.    he ended up moving back to NH and got a job for a while at newfound..   small world!

 after the house is done.. and a few more small boat projects,  I am hoping to build a boat that my wife and i can use to attempt the "great loop"  -  probably in the 28 foot range.. not sure of the hull type yet, but i am leaning towards a funky houseboat plan..

so, your house looks great!  lots of neat detail with the timber framing.. my uncle and i took a workshop on that years ago in western mass.  it was a lot of fun.. we built a 12 by 16 frame..  i would love to get back to that sometime..   work tends to get in the way of dreams, if you let it!    I am looking forward to seeing some more interior shots!     
I would love to chat more about boats.. keep in touch. 

[Beavers]

Thanks pocono,

I take my canoe up to the Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota quite a bit for canoe camping trips.  Not much paddling to do locally, so gotta make the drive up north. 

Sounds like you have a whole fleet of boats!
Had to google the great loop...that would be a hell of trip!  Guess that's one of the perks of being a teacher, you get the summers off, and have the time for an adventure like that.

Like you I have to concentrate on the house for now, haven't gotten much done this winter.  Once the house is done though, bring on the boat building! 

[pocono_couple]

the boundary waters - sounds like some great boating and camping there.  i had a friend who used to do a lot of big boat sailing, but he was convinced that the best boat for touring was a racing canoe..  i think that he did his honeymoon in a canoe in the boundary waters..  it takes a very special wife to make something like that happen!

we started building boats in NH when a friend went off to wooden boat school in maine and then came back and announced that he wanted to build a boat.. we got a few friends involved and had a great routine of getting together in his shop on friday evenings..  in a year or so, three of us had boats.  the design was DAISY  - i think that they still build them at wooden boat..  then i got some students together at my school and we built one for our school's auction.   after that, i helped a friend at another school build some six hour canoes with some students.   when i moved to PA ,  i built a six hour canoe with a student here.. that was my introduction to fiberglassing..  then we built the dory and the kayak and the canoe.. 

  in addition to another kayak, i also have the plans for  a pulling boat named firefly.. it is a pretty cool looking boat, and we could use it here on the susqhehana river..   wilkes barre is cleaning up the river front - they put in a nice park last year, and fixed up the boat launch on our side of the river..  so it would be nice to put this boat on the river in the early morning or early evening..   check it out  http://www.tsca.net/LostCoast/BuildingFirefly.html

  let me know when you get back to the house..  i will be anxious to see your pics..   

[Beavers]

Well it's been a long winter without much progress made on the house.

I've finally got my butt in gear and have actually made some progress.
A few weeks ago I rented a bobcat to spread out the mountain of dirt I had left over from the 16x24 foundation.  Didn't get any pictures of that process, I was having way too much fun in the bobcat to stop for pic's.    Sure would be nice to own one...

Was able to get some pic's of me farming afterwords though.  I ran the disc over everything and then the harrow.  It did a nice job of getting everything nice and smooth and ready for grass seed.






The bathroom is all roughed in and drywall up.  Should have it mudded and painted by this weekend.





Also made some headway on the kitchen.  Drywall up and the cabinets in.  The cabinets represent my biggest Craigslist score ever!  Rich guy decided he didn't want the kitchenette in the basement of his huge house any more, so I got them for $100.  Custom made solid oak cabinets, counter top, sink and faucet, hell the hinges are even stamped "made in Austria"  this ain't no Home Depot crap.  Nicest cabinets I'll ever own, for sure. 






I was thinking of doing tile for the back splash, but I was getting worried that these fancy ass cabinets were getting a little too fancy for their surroundings, so I used some old rough cut 1x12's that I got at an auction for a buck.  They cleaned up really nice with some sanding and a couple of coats of Polyurathane.  I didn't sand a bunch, you can still see the saw marks on them.






By the end of the week I will have a functioning bathroom, and kitchen.  Just in time for me to move in by April 30th...just so happens to also be the deadline for living in your house, if claiming the new home buyer tax credit. 

[mldrenen]

any updates? 

[Beavers]

Sorry I missed your post...haven't been around it here as much lately.

We've been living in the house for a while now, and really like it.  Still have a lot of interior finishing work left to do, but all the major stuff is done.

I'll get some updated photo's posted.

[Pritch]

Great!  I'm looking forward to current pics and your report on how living in the new home is going.  Did I miss a discussion on how you acess the loft?  Would love some more interior pics. 

[pocono_couple]

Hi guys..  nice job..  i love your comment about the beauty of a small house being simply that it is small..   so are all of the expenses..    we have not posted for quite some time - not much work done since school started, but I did get out there a little over Thanksgiving, and we are scheduled to put some heat in over Christmas, so I intend to get a lot done this winter.   did you guys fit some good boating in this summer?    - looking forward to seeing some more pics.. 

[Beavers]

Hi guys..  nice job..  i love your comment about the beauty of a small house being simply that it is small..   so are all of the expenses..    we have not posted for quite some time - not much work done since school started, but I did get out there a little over Thanksgiving, and we are scheduled to put some heat in over Christmas, so I intend to get a lot done this winter.   did you guys fit some good boating in this summer?    - looking forward to seeing some more pics.. 

Thanks...Have you guys added any pic's to your page?  I'll have to check it out.

No didn't get any canoeing in this summer, I am planning on heading up north this spring for a solo trip though. 

[Beavers]

Well I haven't made a ton of progress, but we have been moved in for a while, and I'm slowly working at all the little things left to do inside.  Moving in before the house is done might of been a mistake, it's such a pain to work on things when you are living there.  Moving stuff around, and trying not to get everything in the house covered in sawdust makes an easy job much tougher.

Anyway, here are some updated photo's...


I ended up closing in the underneath side of the house.  With the wind and snow we have around here I thought it would be much better than just insulating the floor.  I removed the 4x6 bracing between the end piers and built a short stud wall between the piers.  (not sure what the actual term for it is)  Everything was then sheeted in 1/2" PT plywood.  I really think the sheeting and the stud walls do a much better job of tying the whole foundation together.  Seems like it should be almost as good as a full permanent wood foundation.  

I then bermed earth around it, and insulated with sheets of foamboard insulation.   This also gives us a sort of crawlspace under the house.  I added a trap door in the floor to access the area under the house.   This provides for some much needed storage space as well.










Here is a shot of the kitchen...small but...has been very functional.








Here is the bathroom.  







These are the stairs.  It's my version of the "Jefferson Stairs" of the plans that John has posted.

They are built out of 2x12 construction grade lumber.  The railing is pine log.
Going up and down them takes a little getting used to, but you can go up and down them just like regular stairs once you get the hang of them.  

The stairs don't take up much more space than a ladder, and are way better IMO, especially if you plan on using them everyday.  I couldn't imagine trying to go up and down a ladder with laundry, ect. not to mentioning going downstairs to the bathroom in the middle of the night.











Also got a shed built this summer...8x8.

[speedfunk]

The place is looking great beavers.  I like closing in the underneath, it makes sense from a lot of different reasons...good idea!!!!

Also looks like you have a great efficient use of space in their ..very nice! 

[jan nikolajsen]

very nice, love it! best looking house of that size i've seen in a while.

can you go down the 'stairs' facing out? is that pt plywood rated for burial?

[Beavers]

Thanks for the compliments guys.


For as small as the house is, we have been very happy with how livable it has been...turns out that we need a lot less space than we think we need.

I do have a lot more built in shelves, ect. that I still want to build to make the small space even more useful.


You can walk down the stairs face first.  It does take a little getting used to, but I think we feel just as comfortable going up and down these stairs as we do a "normal" set of stairs.  

The plywood is ground contact rated.  I hope that means it will be ok being buried, I've got a pretty steep slope on the earth around the house, so it should stay dry around the house.


I'm glad you like our house Jan.   Your family's first small house was one of things that convinced us that this was doable!  

[Barry Broome]

Beavers... can you post some new pics? I'd like to see what the place looks like now.

[jdp]

Beavers, what part of Nebraska are you from? I'm about two hours west of Omaha. How long have you been actually living in your house? Are you considering living there for awhile? Is space an issue yet? Sorry about all the questions, I'm new to this forum. I've been following it for awhile just never joined. Nice build to by the way. Did you have any problems with the plumbing through the winter? It gets damn cold here.

Jdp

[CjAl]

I've decided I want to use timber frame construction for the covered front porch.  I wanted to try making a joint to see how difficult it would be, and if timber framing would be fun.

I don't have a large framing chisel, so I cheated and used a router to hog out most of the wood then finished up with my small chisel.
Turns out, that you've got to have pretty tight tolerances for this kind of work.  I think the most I'm off is a 1/8" making the joint very loose. 

I got a chunk of nice straight grained ash from the firewood pile to make the peg.  I split off a section and rounded it down using a drawknife and spokeshave. 

I ended up with a sloppy loose fitting joint, but it was fun and let me know what I need to work on.
I've got a bunch of scrap 4x6 from the house foundation, so I'm going to keep on practicing.

I promised my wife that I'll get the house done before I start working on the porch.  I'd end up getting side tracked, and by fall would have a great looking timber framed porch, but no house to go with it. 

bore the holes for the dowel.slightly off center and taper one end of the dowell to fit.it.through the non lined up holes. As you drive in the dowel will pull the material together as it lines up the hole. (or.push it apart if you offset the holes in the wrong direction.lol)

[speedfunk]

the balance between the have to do and the fun to do..  Its a constant struggle for us as well

[soomb]

Updates? Interior photos?