My 15.75 x 30 Jemez Cabin

[MountainDon]

You aren't in Pinon Pine are you?

Thanks for the kind words and the welcome John.

Pinon Pine is here and there... partly depends on elevation and rainfall. The are none in the area where the cabin will be, (too wet, too high) but where our urban home is located, NW of Albuquerque, some 40 miles slightly west of due south of the cabin site (as the crow flies, the road adds 25 miles), we have pinon scattered about. They are also found more or less all over the NW corner of NM and throughout UT. East of Albuquerque, over the Sandia Mtns, there are many Pinons. Unfortunately some areas have been hit hard by a bark beetle. And yes, they make absolutely wonderful firewood.  

[jwv]

I want an RV and a jeep or motorcycle to escape the heat for about 3 mos in summer.

Thanks for the info, I'll save the link for later.

G/L and when you figure he's done enough work, let the poor guy have a look at my Jeep page  

OK, we got the CO and I showed him your 4W porn page-he's speaking some foreign tongue with lots of numbers and letters and talking about people I don't know-Mickey Thompson?!?   :-/

Judy

[MountainDon]

Mickey Thompson?!?
Judy

Mickey Thompson was the first American to go over 400 mph on 4 wheels. (406 in 1960)  He also founded an organization that oversees off road racing. He's been dead since the late 80's (murdered) but his name lives on in a brand of off-road tires. He was involved in a wide variety of motor sports.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Thompson

http://www.unsolved.com/UD0204-Thompson.html

I think that's about as far off topic as I've ever been, but that's okay. It helps keep the brain cells doing their thing.

[speedfunk]

Nice lot don.....  The driveway will defininity keep the sales people away ..

[desdawg]

Don, you might like a Quad. Mine is like a modern day packhorse. But you only have to feed it when it is being used! And mine hasn't had any vet bills. It is a 700cc Polaris. It is loaded with the philosophy that I would rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.   I carry an axe, shovel and have a basket on the back where I can carry a chainsaw without dripping bar oil on the bike. It also has a trailer hitch if you can't carry enough on the bike. I see lots of riders who think that the motor isn't running unless the back wheels are spinning and it is sliding sideways. I don't find it necessary or desireable to ride that way.

[MountainDon]

Nice looking ATV Desdawg.  8-)  I have been thinking of one. Yours looks to be carrying enough stuff you're likely glad you got a 700 cc. For use in the back country you must carry all that stuff to be safe. I carry all kinds of survival gear, parts known to break easy, water, etc. etc. in my Jeep. Is that a rifle case? Loooks like the chain saw mounted across the back end?

[desdawg]

Actually the chainsaw sets in a black milk crate that is bolted to the back. This picture is from the wrong angle to see it very well. I cut out a couple of the vertical pieces to allow the bar to protrude. There is enough room in the basket for the saw, a one gallon gas can and a one gallon bar oil bottle. Dripping bar oil falls to the ground behind the machine. When I am not using the chainsaw I carry an extra two gallons of gas in the basket in case I get carried away. You know how that works. "I wonder what's up that road? Never been there. Hmmm...."

[empirevideo]

Hi I saw your plan and this is the type of home that I would like to have someone build for me but on a slightly bigger scale - say 1200 to 1500 sq feet (bathroom and kitchen would probably be built in from the typical home setups).  Open design so you can do how you like inside.  Can you give me an idea of what it cost you to build your design.  I know that everywhere is different (I am in south florida) and I have to contend with building to meet hurricane specifications but the set up you have is exactly what I want to do in the Redlands, Homestead area of Florida.

Any advice or help you can give is much appreciated.  Thanks.

[MountainDon]

Thanks for looking empirevideo. I am a fan of open spaces, especially when they are small to begin with. The first home I owned had slightly over on e half of its 832 sf, open  with a wood burner Vermont Castings stove more or less centered. Two bedrooms and bath were closed off as in most homes.

This cabin is yet to be built.   We hope to be able to finish clearing away deadfall and widowmakers in mid April - May. As soon as that's done we'll be breaking ground. The time table is largely dependent upon the speed of the snow melt.  :'(  We had more snow this winter than in most of the last half dozen years or more.

The floor plan has morphed some, but retains the openness and general size; the wood stove will likely be alcoved off to the side or one end. Keepan eye on this thread, it will breath new life this spring.  

[Woodswalker]

Yo Don,

I like your plans a bunch.  I'm building a 16' x 20' in north-central WA, near the Canadian border at 3K elevation.  No septic, well, or electric either.  Also plan to use an RV propane fridge, and wall-mount light.  You may want to consider building an outhouse, rather than hauling blue containers.  I built one at home (Olympia) to fit in the back of my pickup, and then hauled it 6hrs to the cabin.  If you're interested, I can give you info on some good plans - with comments on my modifications.  Also can send pics of it beng built and in place.  Neighbor with an excavator dug the pit just right in 15 minutes, and also hoisted the privy from the truck to the site.

Have posted some descriptions and pics of my cabin under construction.

Woodswalker (aka Steve)

[MountainDon]

Hey Woodswalker; glad you dropped by. Welcome to the forum!  

An outhouse is under serious consideration. My nearest neighbors uses one except for night-time / cold-weather needs. He has access to a back-hoe via his brother. I have a couple plans but would be greatly interested into seeing another. I'd love to see pictures. You could start a new thread/topic. Others would be glad to see as well.

OH! I just had a look; you're the 1 man cabin guy. Here's a blow by blow I hope you can follow on the phorobucket thing
[1] In photobucket there are three code tags... use the bottom one. clicking on it should copy the code (or to be doubly sure you can rt click the code and copy)
[2] come back here and in the compose field, place your cursor where you want the image to be. Look at the button selection and hover the cursor over the top row, third from left  "Insert Image" appears.  Click the button.
[3] Press Ctrl+V (simultaneously). That pastes the code you copied into the correct spot.
That's it.

Give it a try. 2 more forum hints... [a] you can always modify one of your own posts if it didn't work as intended. Look at the right side of the top line of one of your posts. You will see the modify link.   And there's also a remove link there as well

[glenn kangiser]

... the above is correct except that if you copy the IMG tag from the bottom of photobucket, then you don't have to use the 3rd button above -- photobucket already puts the IMG tag there.

Use the 3rd button above only when you only have a file name like if I copied a picture location from this site and it said [highlight]glenn.jpg[/highlight] then highlighting that file name and clicking the third button would put img tags on both sides of it , or I could click the button then paste the filename in the middle to make it show here.

Point is it should say "[img ]glenn.jpg[ /img]" or "[ IMG]glenn.jpg[/IMG ]" (spaces added for viewing.)

[desdawg]

I bought a premade Porta Potty like you see at swap meets, concerts and different events. Darn gophers dug a hole under it and chewed the bottom off the tank. I guess it's an outhouse now. Oh well, there wasn't a pumper around for miles anyway.  8-)

[glenn kangiser]

He was probably after some of that corn chowder you had stored in there.

[MountainDon]

... the above is correct except that if you copy the IMG tag

Hmmm. How 'bout that.   :-/  both ways work in getting an image posted but the right way (per Glenn) is quicker.   :-?

[glenn kangiser]

The other thing is that you will get an extra img tag outside the picture if you use both - it will display the extra letters, img on one end of the text by the picture as it will double the tag. Make sense?

[MountainDon]

that's why my image insertions aren't as neat and tidy as yours   .... (we need a " hang dog" look emoticon)

[MountainDon]

Well preschool is almost over for this school year, Friday is the last day. We're going to move the RV up to the mountains over the weekend and see if we can agree on the cabin placement.. We have two favorites, mine and Karen's. 

There's still a little ground clearing to do and I'm looking for someone up there with a machine to dig holes for footings, or a man with a shovel who works cheaper than I do.     I may disappear from here for a week or so at a time as at present I have no internet connection up there, although I am going to cruise the village 2 miles distant to see if I can find any unsecured wireless connections. If I'm away longer than a couple weeks it may mean I've been locked up for suspicious activity.

Below is a nearly final floor plan; it has evolved some since last fall. A few details aren't illustrated, like there is a porch at the front door filling in that "outside corner". The wood stove will be a Vermont Castings Aspen.



...and a footings/piers/girders plan

[glenn kangiser]

Plans look great Don.  We'll miss your bright shining face here so don't be gone too long.

Quite a few numbers there I see.  Nice.

[MountainDon]

Plans look great Don.

Almost makes me want to show them to the CID (construction industries division)

Quite a few numbers there I see.  Nice.

LOL  

[Sassy]

Have fun & take lots of pictures!  

[John Raabe]

That should be a nice sturdy place Don. Best wishes on it!  8-)

[fourx]

Looks great. Fingers crossed everything goes easy for you- Are there going to be pics of the choice of sites pre-groundbreaking, Don? I mention this because I think in the last twenty years the fact we lived in a caravan (aka trailor) for six months on site before I laid out the final floor-plan and dug the foundations has saved me thousands in heating, cooling and general maintance costs....
I notice that, if I read your very neat plans right, the piers are 8 foot spacings- everyone said, when I did this, I would have flex in the flooring, but it has worked fine. Is 8 foot standard? ( It's six foot here.)

[glenn kangiser]

Method of building can strengthen the beams also.  If the joists run overtop of the beams an 8' span will be much stiffer than if they are hung from hangers at the same elevation of the top of the beam, if the joists are securely fastened to the top of the beam and cross unbroken across the beam.  The joist and floor sheathing become a bit of a truss if used in this manner, stiffening the beam similar to what a composite deck/concrete floor does if Nelson studs are welded to the top of the beam.  (Used in large building construction.)  What happens if that since the sheathing can't compress above easily, it makes a strongback like the top chord in a truss and helps to stiffen the beam below.  Make sense?

Joists hung from hangers have a weakening effect as all weight hinges from the beam and causes it to flex. :-?

[MountainDon]

Pete, we'll do lots of pictures of everything. The plans that this was derived from (John's Little House) called for 4 foot spacing on the piers and smaller girders/beams. I queried John on the change to 6 foot spacing to avoid digging as many holes and he suggested 8 foot spacing, using 6x12 built up girders.

The floor joists are planned to be 2x10's on 16 inch centers. Partly for the insulation space, partly because we're planning on ceramic floor tile. The joists will be full width, installed on top of the girders, nailed and blocked.

The floor sheathing will be 3/4" T&G plywood. When it comes time to tile there will be a 1/4" underlayment installed.

As John said, it should be a nice sturdy place.

Leaving tomorrow AM.  

[edit]Pete, thanks for the saying the plans were (drawn) very neat. I had some engineering drawing training a long time ago; one of my life's abortive career starts.

The Brits use the term Caravan as well. When I was over there they also used that term to cover self-propelled campers, what we in the US & Canada refer to as RV's. Is that the same downunder? I had a Bedford Dormobile over there in the early 70's... popup top somewhat like a Westphalia VW.[/edit]