Permission to reproduce plans for Summer House

[kyounge1956]

Hello all,
Some months ago I joined CountryPlans looking for the construction drawings of a panelized building called the Summer House, designed by Jeff Milstein and published by Family Circle. I just recently found out that a member of another online forum I belong to has a copy of the plans. In searching around on CountryPlans I found some references to getting permission to reproduce the plans for the Bolt-Together House designed by the same architect, which are now available for download. How did you go about it? I think the person who has the plans is willing to let them be duplicated assuming this is OK with the copyright holder. Did you contact Family Circle, or Jeff Milstein directly? I am willing to do the legwork but don't know where to start.

P.S. this same person also has the plans for another panelized cottage from Woman's Day in 1948. Any interest? Is the copyright still in effect after sixty years?

[glenn kangiser]

I think John went through a long process dealing with Jeff on that.

[John Raabe]

Yes, it was a long process and I was able to finally post the full sized drawings (in PDF format) on the Planhelp site for the Bolt Together cabin.

Jeff has a lawyer with an active imagination and is therefore rather paranoid that he can be sued for a plan that will no longer meet building codes.

The trouble with panelized buildings from that era is that they don't come close to meeting current energy codes and their unique structures were neither built to standard "best practice" framing guidelines, or engineered for their one-off structural configurations. Jeff is not an engineer and I can understand his position. We have disclaimer stamps on every page of those Bolt House plans!

I would feel comfortable with house plans using standard framing from these early years... the spans for joists and rafters would need to be updated but much of these older plans can be useful today. This is not so true of panelized plans.

If you do want to run these things down you will want to contact the author or designer. The magazines will likely not hold copyright but may be able to get you in contact with the author. Good luck, it is an interesting adventure.

PS - Have you seen our Vintage Farm plans on this site? There is information there about copyright issues. If you have things from 1948 it is unlikely to be under copyright now.

[TheWire]

  What a flashback with the Vintage Farm Plans link.  I vividly remember reading about those exact projects in the magazines my grandfather had saved.  Just one more neat part of CountryPlans.

[kyounge1956]

Yes, it was a long process and I was able to finally post the full sized drawings (in PDF format) on the Planhelp site for the Bolt Together cabin.

Jeff has a lawyer with an active imagination and is therefore rather paranoid that he can be sued for a plan that will no longer meet building codes.

The trouble with panelized buildings from that era is that they don't come close to meeting current energy codes and their unique structures were neither built to standard "best practice" framing guidelines, or engineered for their one-off structural configurations. Jeff is not an engineer and I can understand his position. We have disclaimer stamps on every page of those Bolt House plans!

I would feel comfortable with house plans using standard framing from these early years... the spans for joists and rafters would need to be updated but much of these older plans can be useful today. This is not so true of panelized plans.

I always supposed these miniature houses were intended as short term camping cabins on a vacation property, or maybe a kids' playhouse, not as permanent dwellings, so I never expected that they would have met code even 20+ years ago when they were first published. How big an issue is the fact that they don't meet code now?

If you do want to run these things down you will want to contact the author or designer. The magazines will likely not hold copyright but may be able to get you in contact with the author. Good luck, it is an interesting adventure.

Is that how you got in touch with Jeff Milstein—via the magazine? Or do you still have his address?

PS - Have you seen our Vintage Farm plans on this site? There is information there about copyright issues. If you have things from 1948 it is unlikely to be under copyright now.

If I understand the copyright info on the Vintage Plans page, if the copyright date is more than 56 years ago, the copyright is expired (original 28 years + 28 year renewal). Is this correct, or could it be renewed a second time? I have an old floor plans magazine (Better Homes & Gardens) my dad gave me, from the early years of my parents' marriage. There is one plan I found particularly interesting. It's a rectangular shell with a truss roof, and the only actual walls are around the bathroom. All the other partitions in the house are storage cupboards, and the instructions for those were included in the plans if you bought them. The house as originally designed was made of concrete block, but since it's a plain rectangle, it could be built with standard stud framing or just about anything else you can think of—logs, bales, adobe, sandbags, cob, old tires, or whatever. I have adopted the "no walls except the bathroom" part of the design but the rest of my house design. All the plumbing is in the single interior wall—bath on one side and kitchen on the other. The rest of the house is all one room. It isn't big enough to need a partition.

I don't remember exactly where I've stashed it, but IIRC there were quite a number of small houses in it, that might be of interest to members of this site. Assuming for the moment that the copyright is expired, how would I make them available to the rest of you, scan them and save as a pdf?

[NM_Shooter]

Hi... just an FYI.  I have a friend who is building the bolt-together house right now for a hunting cabin.  He found a dimensional error in the revision of plans that he has with regards to the four main support posts for the structure.  He said that the drilling pattern is slightly off.  Make sure you do a sanity check on all the dimensions if you proceed.

Regards,

-f-

[John Raabe]

Thanks Frank.

Yes, you would want to check all the dimensions and make material substitutions for more modern safe materials. Jeff says that some of the materials he called for in the Bolt house were made with lots of formaldehyde.

[SusanLake]

I have come across several postings about these plans and thought I'd share our experience. We actually used those plans in 1980 or so and built the 10X10 with a loft. It's still functional and made a great summer cabin. We did spent two Thanksgivings there, however, and it made for interesting family tales. We will be taking our grandchildren there next week so revisit their parents' experiences.

[JL Frusha]

I have come across several postings about these plans and thought I'd share our experience. We actually used those plans in 1980 or so and built the 10X10 with a loft. It's still functional and made a great summer cabin. We did spent two Thanksgivings there, however, and it made for interesting family tales. We will be taking our grandchildren there next week so revisit their parents' experiences.

Would love to see pictures of your Summer House!  If you still have the plans, or any of the details on the construction, that would be something!

I would love better plans for the Summer House, myself.  It's represented in the book "Tiny Tiny Houses" by Lester Walker.  Not a 'how-to', so no real technical info.

We'll be doing something similar, possibly a 10' or 12' by 16' version (to use whole sheets of plywood).  I'll be using coffin-locks to pull the panels together, so I can pre-insulate them, as well.  Will be using the Myco Foam DIY, grow in place, foam insulation.  That will make them more like SIPs, rather than just uniform panels.  Stronger, better sealed, better insulation that fiberglass, low toxicity, flame resistant,...  What's not to like?