Something a little different. Skiddible 12x20 room

[Cowboy Billy]

   My Dad Brother and I have 120 acres in Michigan's Eastern UP. It adjoins 240 acres of my uncles and 80 acres of my cousins. My Dad and I have had 40 acres of it for 20 years or so. Then in 2006 my Dad and Brother bought a adjoining 80. It was the best thing my Dad ever did. It brought our whole family together. We all go up spend time there and work together on it. We had to build a 1/4 mile of road across our uncles property just to get to it from a dead end county road. Its off grid and will stay that way.

   I wish I had found this form before I built it. I had no plans just a idea of what I wanted and built it as I went along. It will probably become a shed or a place for friends to stay when we build a cabin.

   The property is all woods and we had to build our own roads trails and openings for buildings. It was so thick it was hard to walk through and we had no idea where we wanted to put our permant buildings. 2007 we got a 26' travel trailer to stay in while we developed the place. That winter my Brother and I went up. We left late at nite so we would be there in the morning (its 6 hrs from where we live) It was supposed to be 2 deg f but went down to -9f. We had to snowshoe up then we couldn't get anything to start to clear the 1/4 mile of road in the cold. The propane furnace would not keep the trailer warm or get our wet cloths dry. And for the first time in our life we went home before we had to. And we decided to build a room with  to put a wood stove in.

I planed on making a 12'x20' deck with the 8x8x20 beams then deck it with 1.5" lumber. Then build a 12'x16' foot room with a 4' over hang in the front.

Wow just lumber for the deck will be pricey so I cut my own wood

I run heavy equ for a living and am laid off in the fall. I got my slip oct 2008 and went to the farm to start logging.



Loading a spruce that will become a 20 long 8x8. 





Little Kub-ota with a 12' log. I was surprised at what that little 21hp tractor could lift:



At the stock pile with the farmall 130 and logs.



Once the wood is out of the woods I needed to make it usable. My friend Gary Stec came up with his wood-mizer to do some custom cutting for me. While the weather was great while I was cutting the trees down and hauling them out. It turned bad after while we were sawing. Gary's little boy was sick and it was cold and raining when sawed the wood up for me. Its great to have good friends that will come out and help out when you need it.

My friend Gary sawing a 20' long 8x8



Me and the cut and stacked wood.



This was about a 1/4 of what I cut and hauled out of the woods. But it was all I needed for the entry way for the trailer. I want to build a 12'x20' deck with four 8"x8"x20' long beams under it. So I can move it around after I build it. It will have a 12'x16' building built on it too with a hallway going into the trailer.

I hope to get the rest of the wood cut up this winter. I have some nice knotty red pine That I want to use for paneling inside the room.

My Dad had four mini-strokes Nov 1st. While I was up there working on it so I had to pack things up and go home and take care of him. And didn't start building until Nov 2008. Dad came through with no problems and is taking better care of himself and says he feels better the the last few years before his stroke.

Billy

[Cowboy Billy]

   Now to oct 2009. Laid off again for the year. Dad and I went up to do some work on the pad for the pole barn we want to put up. Dad had some personal days he had to use up or loose. So we went UP and were planing on staying 2-4 days we ended up staying almost two weeks!  We had three good dry days and got a lot of work done on the building pad. Then it started raining and it was too wet to work on it. So we started working on our equ up there and fixing things we had been putting off because we did not have time to work on it.

   It was still too wet to work on the pad so we decided to put up our entry way. It was going to to be a 12'x20' deck with a 12'x16' room and 4'x12' deck on it. Built on 8"x8" spruce beams so we could drag it around with the dozer and use it for a shed when we didn't need the camper any more.

   Building the deck on 8"x8"x20' spruce beams. The decking is 1.5" spruce broads. Screwed and glued down since it need to be strong when I move it. I have been told it wont hole up if I try to move it but I guess I will find out when I do.





  Checking the window height for shooting.



   Looking out the window (to be) up the property line.



   Getting the sheeting up on the roof. I may put a gamboral roof on it and have two upstairs bedrooms on top. But until I decide its just a flat roof.



    Standing behind the trailer looking down the road to our property



   Well it was wet muddy and a pain to work in but I am happy with what we got done. Dad used up all his personal days for the year. Dad had to be home to go to work friday. So thursday we got up before sun up and started working. We had to get the roof done as the weather was turning bad again and will be snowing before we get UP again. By time we got done everything packed up and put away and locked the gate it was 11:00 pm. And the start of a six hour drive home. Actually I did not have time to go home and have dad get to work on time so I had to drop him off at work then come back and pick him up when he got off. All in all I was up over 22 hours strait with out a nap and I am not 26 any more. It could only have been the excitement of getting done what we had to do that kept me from falling asleep on the way home as I did all the driving so Dad could sleep before going to work. Needless to say I slept all day friday except for picking Dad up from work.

  Two weeks latter My Dad both Brothers and I went back up to work in it.

   From the left. Me both my brothers Timmy and Tommy and then Dad



   The roof is about 1/8 thick plastic. It is liner material for a landfill. It is used to contain all the water and chemicals inside a landfill and keep it from leaking into the ground.



   The inside is all sheeted with 7/16 osb. With osb sheeting inside and out it should really stiffen up the structure for when I move it.



   The floor is three layers. 1.5 inch thick spruce boards then one inch foam R-7 board then 3/4" thick chipboard. We will finish it with vinyl flooring.



    This building could not have been built with out the help of my BIL Bob. He got me a Sirus radio to use at the farm. And I would have went nuts trying to build this without it :!:  :!:

Billy

[Cowboy Billy]

All in all its a comfortable little building. And the old Round Oak stove will heat us out of the place. If I were to do it different I would have made it 16' wide. It would have make it a lot better to put our cots and chairs in and be able to walk around better.





Billy

[Sassy]

Great story, Cowboy Billy!  Just finished your thread.  Pretty area, lots of work done.  I like your Round Oak stove - we have one too & it works wonderfully!  Looking forward to the continuation of your story 

[glenn kangiser]

Very cool, Billy.  Thanks for posting this, I say while sitting in front of our Round Oak M16 from Dowagiac, Michigan.

One of the best wood (or some coal with the grate in them) stoves ever made.

Andrew (Ernest T Bass) is also in the U.P.

[Cowboy Billy]

Thanks Sassy

  Right now I am thinking of closing up my house and moving up there. Trying to decide if I want to build house around 1600 sq ft the will be for Dad and I and have room for all the family when they come up or build a small house and a few guest cabins. Right now I am seriously considering building a 26x30 garage with rooms up stairs and live in that for a year or so.

  The Round Oak is awesome but way to big for that little place even with the windows open. Its a D-16 made sometime between 1900 and 1904.

Thanks Glen

  I still live down state 6hrs from the farm but hopefully not for long. I love it up there there's always something to do. I'm surprised at how many Round Oaks are still being used.

Billy

[duncanshannon]

 

[glenn kangiser]

The Round Oak is about as near air tight as you can get for a stove made of castings.  Very high quality precision casting work.  Also, ours has under fire, mid fire and overfire air.  Necessary for the best control of the fire and how it burns the wood.  I built stoves for a while that were invented by a friend, and learned how to tell a quality stove.

Ours is Estate of PD Beckwith, so near as we can tell it is around a 1920 model or so.

[MelFol]

Great looking area and project.  We are located days away from our build, so your six hours sounds good to me.
RE: Moving the shed around. Looking at the OSB inside, and on the outside....  I see some glue or caulk tubes in one of the pictures.  Did you glue the OSB?  Without seeing all the detail I doubt that box will come apart with some easy skidding.

[Cowboy Billy]

Thats good to hear Glen

   I have a crack in the main burn chamber (center section) I need to fix. I am afraid to try to weld it I am worried I would just burn a big hole in it. And I have no idea if I tried to braze it if it would melt out. Its near the bottom in the center of the flare out (dimple?) I was told that there was someone in MO I think that I could take it off and send it to that would make a exact replica.

   I just started reading your under ground home thread Awesome! I am thinking of building a hobbit hole building for my niece and nephews to stay in when they come up to the farm. And will be reading more of your house for ideas. I have been running dozers and excavators building landfill cells for 11 years so I am used to doing dirt work.


Thanks Mel

   I couldn't imaging having to drive for days to get to our place. I built it pretty sturdy I think it will hold up too. I may make axle to slide under one end and pick and carry the other with my wheel loader.

Billy

[glenn kangiser]

As a get by for now fix, there is a black paste in a tube that could fill the hole in the stove, Billy.  It is stocked at Ace hardware and others I assume in the wood stove accessory section for sealing stove pipe and stove joints,or possibly some of the automotive muffler repair kits will take the heat.

Hope you find something useful in our thread. 

[Turkeyhunter]

good read---and nice camp

[Cowboy Billy]

I tried that Glenn. But it would only hold up for a week or two the metal must be expanding at different rates and breaks it off.

I have been finding lots of good stuff on your thread!

Thanks TurkeyHunter

  We have a great time up there.

Billy