Another Newbie

[cabinfever]

Hi all!

Been lurking on the site for a while and decided to come out of the shadows. The wife and I are closing this week on 3.2 acres on Southern Vermont and I've got it in my head that I need to build a cabin myself. I've done some chair and cabinet making, but I'm a computer guy, so putting up a building will be a whole new ball game. The skeptical (but still supportive) wife and a 2 1/2 year-old on the job site should add to the fun.

I bought the little house plans and am contemplating starting with the 14x24, and then adding on to it later. The original idea was to buy the land and immediately put in septic and well (the wife's idea: To increase the value first in case something happens and we decide to sell), but I'm thinking that I might want to start off by building the cabin with a mulching toilet and add the well and septic later. The problem is that well/septic are going to be 20k together and that pretty much is my budget after the land purchase. The engineer can do additional tests in April to confirm the water table; if he finds it's lower than the soil coloring suggests, I might be able to move from 'mound' septic to conventional, and save myself about 5k, which would help.

So anyway, while New England is frozen over I'm combing these boards, playing with floor plans and reading up on framing. Every night I lay in bed thinking, "Whoa - am I nuts? Maybe I should go with a Shelter Kit even though it would cost twice as much," and every morning I think, "No problem - just like building a chair, only much bigger, and less exacting." Reading these boards, I know I'm certainly not the first guy to have thoughts like this...

[John_C]

 

[MountainDon]

   I'd say there's an excellent chance you can buld a cabin if you can build chairs that don't fall apart.   

[ScottA]

 

Some where on this forum you'll find complete instructions on how to build a house or cabin. Unfortunatly there is no table of contents so you'll have to read every post to get all the needed info. Unless you plan to tunnel you can skip Glen's underground cabin update thread. While it may be the coolest pad on the forum it would require alot of digging and some degree of insanity to replicate. This should save you a little reading. If you still don't find the answers you need you can always post a question.

[phalynx]

Welcome cabinfever,,,, from one computer guy to another.... you can do it.....  We did. 

[MountainDon]

And it works the other way around too; we've got house builder guys who have mastered computers.   

[glenn kangiser]

Scott, dude..... it's only natural.  More people are underground than any other form of permanent residence.  Now if only the boxes weren't so small....

to the forum, cabinfever.  If you can build a cabinet you can build a house. 

Scott can build a house and he's a plumber....

[FrankInWI]

Will you be living on the site?  If you're comuting to it: How far is it?  How often can you get up there to work?  Can you start out with some extended time on site to start with?  Can you get a buddy or brother-in-law to give you a hand?

Another idea to consider..... the trades are hurting bad right now.  I built a place with my son up to the second floor, and then got lucky and found a good framer with two assistants to help put the second floor up.  I got an AMAZING ammount of work out of them in 3 days, it was the smartest thing I did.  (my garage/cottage is on top of 25 loads of fill to get over river flood level, and the lower unit has 10' walls...so the second story was pretty high already)

[rwanders]

Two suggestions: 

1.  If you delay the well & septic, at least rough in the plumbing while framing---not too many $$ but much easier at that point.

2.  If you do not delay water & septic your wife will be MUCH more supportive of the project and you will be able to begin enjoying the property much sooner and you will find you can plan overnight stays while you continue to build on weekends with the family's participation.

[Pox Eclipse]

2.  If you do not delay water & septic your wife will be MUCH more supportive of the project and you will be able to begin enjoying the property much sooner and you will find you can plan overnight stays while you continue to build on weekends with the family's participation.

This sounds like excellent advice.  Having your wife on board justifies a significant expense.

[cabinfever]

I can't argue; when the wife if happy, I'm happy. The risk is that there will be well and septic but no money to build anything for a few years. Once we close on the land this week, I'll open up a topic under 'projects' and hit y'all with a bunch of questions to figure out how to move forward. Thanks in advance for the advice!

[NM_Shooter]

It is waaaayyyy easier to build a cabin than to build a chair.  More work, sure. 

Pound it to fit, paint it to match. 

-f-