420 sq ft Cabin in Northern Minnesota

Started by jaransont3, March 18, 2013, 04:50:16 PM

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jaransont3

I followed MtnDon over here and thought I would share our little cabin project.

My wife Jill and I have been working on our cabin for the last 10+ years. It started out as a 16x20 one room summer lake cabin that a friend of the family had. When they decided to build a retirement home on the same site as the cabin, my Dad, my brothers, and I moved the cabin on to our 5.5 acres about 4 miles away. The original cabin was gutted to just a shell. An 8x12 bedroom addition was added on to the back and a 6x20 foot porch was added to the front. Windows were added and some of the originals raised up to the correct height. One 5x6 corner of the cabin has been walled off for a future bathroom. It has been insulted and drywalled. I restored a small cast iron wood stove for heat and a small cast iron and tin propane fired cook stove.

We are off-grid running on a new Honda EU3000i generator. We will eventually put a small inverter and a deep cycle battery for a few lights at night and the occasional cycling of the compact frig when the generator is off for the night.

We finally got a functioning outhouse last summer and spent our first nights in the cabin this past Thanksgiving. Still lots of work to do, but we are having fun.

You might ask why it took us 10 years to spend the first night in it....the biggest thing is we are about 830 miles, one way, from the cabin. We get there 2-4 weeks out of the year. We are also doing all of the work ourselves....when we are there.

Here are a few pictures....


Adding the porch.


Porch mostly complete.


Bedroom addition.


Adding some dormers.


Wood stove for heat.


Our privy.


Restored propane cookstove.


This past Thanksgiving. Closed up til the next time.


Our full-size murphy bed.



I have enjoyed surfing around this forum. We are looking forward to sharing more of our cabin experience and contributing to the forum.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

duncanshannon

Awesome little place... id love one of those.  Darn minimum footprint covenants on my land!  I've got 0 sq ft so far :(  800 minimum.
Home: Minneapolis, MN area.  Land: (no cabin yet) Spooner, WI area.  Plan: 20x34 1 1/2 Story. Experience Level: n00b. 
Build Thread: http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=10784.0


mnboatman

It looks very nice. I'm glad to see more Minnesota projects on the forum. What part of MN are you located in?

rick91351

#3
830 miles has got to be a record and for ten years.....  WOW   w*

Well there is UK4X4 and where ever he is at now....... and there might be one or two others...... but you have got to your 'sky miles' card filled out.   ;)

Sort of ashamed to complain about our 60 mile drive..... are we there yet?  Ya we are here but that is not there!

Nice place and I like the work you are doing to it.  Keep on posting.....
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

jaransont3

Thanks for the welcome. It is a bit of a haul when we go, but we always drive it. Only 14 hours our so one way. We are on the Iron Range, half way between Duluth and International Falls. We get back up there 3 or 4 times a year for a week at a time usually.

I will post some more pictures later.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN


rick91351

Ya I was just kidding about the sky miles.  We had some very good friends from Texas.  They and their kids about our age to would visit, vacation and fish that area every year for a couple weeks.  Their annual trips were always filled with a major adventure or misadventure of some type.

Any idea how old the cabin is?  Did you move it yourselves?     
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

jaransont3

Found some pictures from 10 years ago when we moved the cabin to our site....


Jacked up on cribbing at the original location.


Backing the trailer underneath.


Making sure everything is strapped down.


Starting the 4 mile or so trip.


At my brother's place for staging while we finish the foundation. This is about 1/4 mile from the final site.


Almost in place. We lowered the cabin into the logs and used them to skid it in place over the pressure treated post foundation.


Getting ready to jack it up, get the logs out, and the beams in.


Some minor tweaking with the backhoe of the position of the cabin.


Finally settled in place. You can see the posts for the future porch sticking up in front.

The cabin was originally built in the late 50s/early 60s.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

rick91351

Thanks for posting!  Great to reuse a building that has a lot of time left in it!  Around here you seen a lot of that being done.  I had a 20 x 24 foot shop moved from my dad's to my place.  He sold the property and they were going to demolish it.  They gave it to me if I would move it.  I hired it done because I had no time plus the permitting and all.  It all went real smooth.  Now they mostly jut use a excavator and crush and load it into trucks and it all goes to the landfill.         
Proverbs 24:3-5 Through wisdom is an house builded; an by understanding it is established.  4 And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.  5 A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength.

SouthernTier

Quote from: rick91351 on March 19, 2013, 01:05:09 AM
830 miles has got to be a record and for ten years..... 

Sort of ashamed to complain about our 60 mile drive..... are we there yet?  Ya we are here but that is not there!
I'm lucky with only a 50 mile drive.

But I am sure some folks here may have followed this cabin-building blog:

http://www.mvr1.com/timberframing/timberframecabin.html

really great read if you haven't.  This guy lives in Lincoln Nebraska but has his cabin a mile from the continental divide in Wyoming (Sierra Madre Mountains). 

Quite a ways, but actually I just checked on Google maps and that is still under 600 miles, so it looks like jaransont3 still has him beat.

Now that I looked that site up, I will have to post an image for Mtn Don's roof snow thread


UperJoe

Re-use.......man, it really doesn't get any better than that. Grew up on a farm house that was 143 years young, built and then added on to by 3 generations using trees from the land. ..... they salvaged all they could from it in the 80s when the farm was sold off. The pocket doors were between 3.25 and 3.4 inches thick, 60" openings,  and 8' tall, harvested from the black walnut trees that were on the property. I never saw them when they were actually removed but as a grown guy I was dwarfed by them. 3 sets of them in the place.....someone somewhere is mighty blessed to have salvaged all they did from there. Lead windows, hand made walnut cabinets and furniture.... makes me wanna cry.
I wish it had been me - but I was 1800 miles away and didn't see it coming. Learned of it 2 weeks after the salvage and burning of the rest of the place....

Keep the pics coming as this evolves in days ahead. Well done! [cool]


speedfunk

Thats a cool project ya got there.  thanks for sharing! c*

new land owner


jaransont3

Heading to the cabin for the next week! Lots of projects planned.  Will see what we actually get accomplished.  Supposed to be a bunch of snow up there, so I might be spending the first day just digging out. We have our new maple sap gathering buckets and stuff.  Temperatures look like they will be ideal for the sap to be running.  Going to try our hand at making some maple syrup.

I will take and post some pictures.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Got up to the cabin late Saturday night.  Spent the night at my Mom's place since the road in was still unplowed.  Lots of snow up here.  Had some good friends and neighbors with a small bulldozer plow out the 500 foot drive into the cabin this morning.  Then I spent the rest of the day shoveling the critical paths to the cabin, the wood pile, and the outhouse.  I also shoveled off the entire roof.  Got the vehicle unloaded and the generator hooked up.  Staying at Mom's one more night since we visited my brother and his family this evening and got back late.  Here are a few pictures from the adventure so far....













Looking forward to getting the batteries and inverter/charger hooked up tomorrow.  Going to play around with the Kill-A-Watt some to.  Then it is sanding and painting drywall, installing the hardwood flooring and a few other projects.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN


jaransont3

oh yeah, we are going to tap a few maple trees tomorrow too.  Sap should be running.  Will be fun to see what see can collect.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

C.Oden

Despite the near perfect weather for the sap to flow heavily we have collected less than 5 gallons in 2 weeks off 17 spiles I have set up. I know the trees in past have really kicked out so not sure if it is just the weather or more likely trees have dealt with a lot of stress (lack of water etc) the past couple of years.
Freezing nights - days into the high 30's to low 40s should really have it running but not so far.  ??? d*

jaransont3

Yup...no sap at all here yet....

However, we getting some stuff done...


Generator Power!


Sasha is fitting right in with the cabin life.


Luggable Loo is a nice luxury in the middle of the night instead of running out to the outhouse.


Getting ready for the Brazilian Cherry hardwood floor.


First few course installed....


Getting there...


This is enough for the first session.  About 5 hours to get 3-1/2 feet x 20 feet installed.  Lots if 1-1/2" wide sticks.

More tomorrow....
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

Made more progress on the flooring today.  Got about half the main cabin done now.

Got to this point...



and had to move the pile of trim boards and remaining flooring to make room for more progress...



Then had to raise the stove up and get the new flooring under it.  Was an adventure with the fire still burning in the stove...


Got to here and called it a night.  Time to move more stuff to be able to continue...


BTW, still no sap running up here. :(
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

jaransont3

We are back home after spending the last week up at the cabin.  We had so much fun and got so much done.  We really didn't want to leave...but we both have work today.  Although I am getting a very late start since we got home at 3am.:)  On to the pictures....


My beautiful wife, Jill, installing more hardwood flooring.


Our sister-in-law, Janet, putting the first batch of cookies ever in our restored cookstove. We had to let the stove cook for an hour or so first to get the paint and insulation to outgas completely, but after that it was fine. Cookies were wonderful.


She even got almost all the walls in primer. One gallon was not quite enough.


Me installing more hardwood floor...


My brother, Todd, getting the electrical panel all straightened out and ready for the battery back-up system...


Here is the Tripp-lite inverter/charger and pair of 6V golf cart batteries all wired up. This system worked great for lights and such at night. Need a proper sized fuse for it to handle the frig. This set-up is only temporary. I will build a box to hold it all and make for easy transport and install.


Finally all of the hardwood flooring installed. 1.5" wide Brazilian Cherry tongue and groove. can't wait to see it sanded and finished.


Another shot with the murphy bed re-installed and lowered.


Speaking of the murphy bed, I built a fold down desk into the bottom of it. This is the desk folded up...


and here it is folded down. I need to come up with a better folding side support and put one on both sides. Next trip.


Outhouse is now official.....it has the moon shaped screened window in the door.


Installed our "mail" box and the porch light I modified. The light still need the electrical hooked up.


Jill had a great idea to use some of the left-over flooring for the kitchen countertops. We brought some home to build them here and bring back next time.


Everything cleaned up and put back into place....for now.


Our Luggable Loo worked out great. No smell, easy clean-up, and much more convenient in the middle of the night than a trip to the outhouse. Only temporary until the bathroom is done, but it was great.


Last night at the cabin for this trip...


aaahh..... the cabin life. Snuggle under the blankets with one dog in the bed and the other sleeping in the corner. Yes, Jill is under there some place.


Everything packed up and put away until next time. Moth balls are scattered about.


A little light snow to say good bye...


Heading home to Dearborn....
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

Building Bob

Hey neighbor, I live in Redford Twp. Nice job on your cabin. 830 miles one way would be a killer for me. My build is a little over 200 miles.


C.Oden

Crazy times for sap. Saturday we got maybe 2 gallons of it from 3 trees and they shut down totally again.
Not a drop today again - tapped 2 more this morning that looked like they had started to show promise with wet bark near the lower limbs but no go.
Lets hope this week brings better weather


jaransont3

Forgot to post this picture. 



These are the custom grates I design and had cast for out cook stove.  Seaport Casting in Toledo did them for.   They turned out excellent. Still looking for a way to turn them dark brown or black.
John Jaranson
Home: Dearborn, MI  Cabin: Iron Range, MN

MountainDon

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Abbey