I've been offered an opportunity to use a hand built log cabin in the mountains (moderate US climate). It measures 14 x 14 and has two large doors in the front, a small window on each side. Solid in the back. I have my own ideas but wanted to hear from this great bunch of minds on suggestions of how to take care of various needs such as toileting, showering, cooking, arrangement of furniture, etc. I'm thinking along the line of a sawdust toilet behind a screen in one corner and a camping shower with a shower pan and recycled kitchen sink that drains to a dry sink several feet away. I'll use a small wood stove for heat when needed. There is an electrical connection and water bibb just to the side of the cabin. The view is out the front doors. Any and all ideas welcome. I'm anxious to see what you come up with. :)
Make as much outdoor living as possible. Cooking off a deck or patio, vs. needing a kitchen. Same with toilet and shower. Look for ideas in RV's and large boats.
Enjoy the outdoors while having a safe haven to retreat to.
Keyhole
Any chance of getting some photo's Epiphany? Sounds like a neat place. A few pix would help with the ideas. :)
Roughly the same size as a 20 foot travel trailer. But the square shape makes it so you can't look at their floor plans.
There are several kinds of camping showers, from the black plastic bags you lay out in the sun for a couple of hours (I have friends who love them--I don't), several brands of propane/battery pump water heaters that will at least sort push water up to shower height. Any will work for dishes. Or clothes, if you must.
Where you shower might be a bit of a problem. Not near the road, not in view of the neighbors, etc. Down by the barn we've put in fence posts and a tarp to enclose a sawdust toilet, but it would be a hassle to do that for a shower. And you may not be able to put in fence posts--they're hard to get out.
Sawdust toilets are great, places like Cabelas' or Bass Pro Shops have toilet seat tops for 3- or 5-gallon buckets. You have to be really slovenly about keeping them up to make them stink. But consider how you are going to compost the results. (Urine is pretty sterile, peeing in the woods is acceptable maybe even preferable, most places.
I am not using my sewage system here, so for the little cooking I do, I do wash dishes outside.
How long are you going to be there?
Here is a link to Cabelas: http://cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/index/index-display.jsp?id=cat20097&navAction=jump&navCount=1&parentId=cat20075&parentType=category&cmCat=MainCatcat20075
These will give you some affordable ideas!
Sounds pretty cool, I would like to see photos too. Keyhole...why don't you join up?
I'm afraid of being Googled up. :P
Ha Ha.
Actually, I think I might be joined up. Bought enough plans I ought to be anyhow. Wish I would of gotten The Big Enchilada on the last spending spree.
So busy living life that I havn't learned to run a computer that great.
One of my Goals, after watching the SEAHAWKS win, is to get some note book binders and learn to run and navigate this beast. Everything I learn doesn't seem to be retained long enough for me to use before being lost in the many cobwebs of my teeny brain.
However, I'm a big fan of this site. Have been for a couple years or so. My diversion and Dreams are small cabin related. I own and run a small soup and sandwich shop and am a wanabee builder dude.
Some day, I will start to hammer down.
keyhole
Either of these you?
keyhole (http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=viewprofile;username=keyhole)
keyholefarmhouse (http://www.countryplans.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?action=viewprofile;username=keyholefarmhouse)
Those are both me. When I click either one I get an error code that says I must register to use this feature. I believe I have twice, which explains why I've used both names.
A while back I couldn't post a reply either. I e-mailed John and he corrected it? I can at least post a reply or forum now. He reset my secret code and said that this has happened before.
Maybe it's just me.
keyhole
well at least now we will all recognize you again ;)
Here's an attempt at attaching a photo - can't seem to do it.... :'(
I have it in an email - perhaps I could send it to someone who could post it for me. I'm with you Keyhole, can't figure these darn things out.
It's just a small cabin, built as a practice cabin for the "big house", with a metal roof. A window will be installed on each side.
Perhaps I might use it full time at some point (in my dreams) I will probably just use it on weekends. There are neighbors - so private things in public won't be allowed. There will be a compost pile, I believe and access to laundry in town, if I use it full time. I figured I would use a "compact LP cooker" which has two burners, so I can heat water for dishes and showers.
Yippee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I did it!
I see the edge of a neighbor cabin's roof (I think) on the right side of the pic. Looks to be pretty close.
Can you add a door off the back? How tall are the front doors? Will help judge size. They look to be about 6 foot tall. You could add a private "outdoor shower area" behind it with some inexpensive pre-built yard fencing pretty easy I think. 6 foot by 6 foot square area over an appropriate base would do nicely.
Far out, Epiphany. Groovey. ;D
It looks like a nice start.
Cool dude. Looks like a nice pad... :)
Cool man - nice place to crash.
Lets see; BBQ grill, fire pit, hamock, picnic table, 6-8 lounging chairs, horse shoes etc..
For fixtures; waterhose, extension cord, 5 gallon bucket. :D
keyhole
I think you're on the right wavelength, Keyhole.
Glad you were able to get that picture on... I have problems posting some of that stuff too - but I have my own "know-it-all" ;) :-* who can figure out most anything...
Your cabin is "out-of-sight!" Looks like it is way out in the wilderness - so even if it isn't, you can pretend it is!
Well, "my" Indians in Mexico took a biggish tub inside when they wanted a real bath.
If the "compact LP cookers" are those things from Northern Hydraulics or equivalent, they are very rough chinese jobs. The camp stoves, especially an older Coleman if you can buy it new, might be more powerful, run on the same thing (grill gas bottle and a long hose/adaptor), and you don't have to buy a regulator. And seem to require a lot less fussing. I have used both.
Have you seen the Rinnai portable propane cookers? Model with and model without broiler.
http://www.rinnai.us/products/cooking/
http://www.ecovantageenergy.com/catalog/items/item1975.htm
Or how about this mini Franklin (heh, got it right this time! ;) ) direct-vent soapstone gas stove for single room heating?
http://www.woodstove.com/pages/minicottage.html
That little soapstone jobbie is cute!!!
And vented. and maybe about right for a 14x14 cabin (very roughly 2.5 meters on a side) with its 8000 BTUs.
(can Epiphany put a hole in the cabin?)
I'd like it better if it were wood burning, but....
It's still cute. and as far as I'm concerned cute counts. Generally for good.
(why are they showing it up on a stand? so they can have the drawing of the guy watching it as if it were the TV?)
I'm sure that the Rinnai cookers are much better than the Northern Hydraulics ones.
Ouch. It was also at least twice what I thought it would be. Hey, it's hand made soapstone from Vermont.
http://www.oldhouseweb.com/stories/Detailed/13855.shtml
Since I'm "borrowing" the cabin for free, I'm going to let him choose the wood stove. I'm sure it will be a wood stove because there's LOTS of wood, for free.
I'll see if I can do it twice and attach a picutre of the lp cooker I was thinking of. From Lehman's, and it's only $79.95 for two burners.
(//)
Thats a cute lil cooker! Where will it go though? Just on a counter top? Or does it need something more because of the heat?
Probably doesn't need too much underneath it (and it looks a lot better than the Northern jobs). But if you have to get a regulator for it, go for the camp stoves--current crop of match light ones (sub-50 bucks) has something like 11,000 BTUs per burner, integral regulator, runs on a grill gas bottle with an adaptor hose. The more BTU's the better, up to the point when it won't be certified for indoors--those turkey fryers are outdoors only.
I've used the camp stoves (10,000 BTUs/burner) on a metal toolbox for long-term use, just on somebody's table once when there were about three of us doing stir-fries, and they were fine. One of those decorative tempered glass jobs sold as cutting boards might be nearly perfect as a protective surface.
As far as a shower...
when I lived on a sailboat we used the "little black shower bags". However, we found that they lack pressure and always have to be above you. As well, they weren't very durable.
An excellent alternative was to buy an unused pump style bug repellant sprayer, black plastic.
You just put water in it, set it in the sun for an hour or so, and when you're ready for a shower pump it a bit to give you pressure and you have a nice shower. It proved VERY durable, and still is one of my favorite showering experiences out in the open.
j
Lifting a full black bag job up to a tiny hook way above your head can be problematic as well.
There are also a couple of different little propane heater/battery (D-cell or rechargeable) pump water heaters. The pumps do tend to be wimpy, though.
So a tank you can pressurize either heated in the sun or filled with water heated elsewhere may be the best alternative.
Sometimes I have the warm water in a 5-gallon bucket, and a small plastic bowl (in rural Mexico it might be a gourd) to pour the water over myself.
J(Guest)
Great idea! I'm buying one of those pump and spray (ahem, shower) units right away.