20X30 1&1/2 story cabin in No. Ca. coastal mt. range

[handyman]

My dream has always been to have a caobin in coastal mt. range of no. ca. I found an auction of old LP timber land with sealed bid and no realtor fees. After several unsuccessful bids, I finally bought 160 acre parcel surrounded by National Forest just after 9/11. Mine was the only bid and it was accepted for $42K. The property was logged in 2000 using silver culture method where only the largest trees were removed. There was a lot of slash but county road access,  good roads, a locked pipe gate and a great spring.

In 2003 I purchased the 20x8 ships cargo container and had it delivered to the site. I then put an old 20ft travel trailer and put them close together and put a tin roof with steel posts and the cargo container to hold it up. In 2004 I started to develop the spring but it is still not drinkable water because the bears keep using it as their swimming pool in the summer.

In 2007 I bought the 1 x1/2 story 20X30 plans and have started excavation for the footings. We towed a bob cat up the mountain and a friend dug the trenches for the foundation. After some hand digging and steel placement, we ordered 7 yards of concrete delivered. The driver said it was the most remote delivery she had ever made!!! MY son and his college room mate and I laid cinder blocks to 4 feet above grade on the downhill side of the foundation and about 18" on the top end. Last summer we filled the blocks with grout and bagged cement with an old Sears cement mixer and water from the spring. We used lots of steel ( vertical and hortizonal) because I don't want to build a monument to under engineering.

Once the snow melts in May, I can haul the lumber on my pickup to frame the floor, walls and roof. The plan is to have a weatherproof shell this summer. Double hung windows have been purchased off Craigs list and I am storing them in the cargo container.

I have been reading the builders forum for the past 4 years and have gotten lots of enjoyment and ideas from other peoples projects. I will be posting more photos as I progress on this adventure.

I as soon as I figure out how to load photos, I will send them on...

[Redoverfarm]

  handyman.  Sounds like you have a workable plan.  There is a section on the forum for using Photobucket.  It is really easy once you get it down.  As they say " a picture is worth a thousand words".  Keep us intrested.

[MountainDon]

Good to see you handyman. The photobucket tutorial is in the Forum News section. It's a sticky (near the top of first Forum News page.)