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Karen.I don't know of any sources for what you're after. Maybe someone will have some info/ideas.One thing to remember a lot of the older plans will no longer be buildable if present day building codes have to be observed. That's not meant to discourage you, just information.One of our members is designing a panelized 16 x 24 cabin. We're all watching and waiting.
Is the Summer House you're referring to the long narrow house with built in bunks in the 2nd bedroom that each have a bubble window at the head?
I don't know how practical it would be to do a practice building in the method I want to use for the "real" house, which I plan to build with straw bales. Can anyone give me an idea how long it would take to assemble such a building once you get it to the site? I think the Summer House has 30 pieces including the roof, floor, loft beds and door.
No idea on the time. Some folks can do amazing things in a short time with regular stick construction too. Have you see what Willy (Mark) did alone?
I do like that Summer House. (snip)Anyway, the design does look very simple. Just 1/2" CDX plywood on 2x3 24" spaced studs built on a 10x10 post supported platform with a 45deg rolled roof. They say the windows are just stretched plastic. I can't imagine that would look at all good for more than a month or so but it is cheap and easy. No good in winter/spring/fall but with bare 1/2" plywood walls you're not building for anything but summer anyway
There is a neat picture on page 124 that really shows how much you can fit in a 10x10 space. I played around with estimating how much it would cost to build today but stopped at "not much". 16 sheets of plywood, around 50 2x3x8s, 200sqft of roll roofing, at least 4 2x6x10s, 2 treated 4x4x8s, probably 10 2x4x10s, and interior furnishings. I'm not sure how the panelized roof and floor would work. That might complicate things.
I asked at my local library and they only keep Family Circle for three years, but it may be available via inter-library loan. The plans for Jeff Milstein's bolt together house are available on countryplans.com, I think they got those from an old original scan of the Family Circle plans. Probably someone out there in internet land bought these plans 28 years ago and has them in an attic, but really the design is so simple you could reverse engineer everything from the pictures in just a few hours.
As to the time question... I put together a panelized 8x10 shed in about an hour with a group of three other guys. The roof was more shed like and the platform was already in place, but I don't imagine it would take more than a few hours if you plan things well. Man, now I have the cabin bug again!
reason why we moved out of caves (small, damp, uncomfortable etc)
Hello all, (big snip)In his excellent coffee table cabin book "A Little House of My Own" Lester Walker features his so called "living cube" cabin design, 64 square feet with a modular design (snip)The cabin is an 8x8 cube with a shed roof with posts sitting straight on the ground for mobility (both from site to site and from vertical to horizontal in the unlucky event of frost heave or an earthquake). (snip)64 square feet is really quite small, but with a desk under a lofted bed and a tiny little camping sink / cutting board and a camping stove I think the design could make a great little writing/coding cabin in the woods or housing for one or two volunteers. You would of course need outside toilet facilities. Using the parts list provided I priced out the lumber at around $500 not including such things as doors, nails, roofing, etc. The ability to take it down and move it around depending on the season and need is a great draw for me. Any comments? Anyone seen this design built or done something similar?Chris H.
Robbo, we have moved out of caves? I don't think so, Robbo. The world is too scary for us to move out from the comforting bosom of mother earth. As I sit here typing, under the surface of the earth, roses, parsnips and swedes grow aimlessly toward the sky overhead. How could I leave this for a flimsy above ground crackerbox just waiting for a forest fire or strong wind to destroy what I have so feebly nailed together with tiny pieces of wire and sticks, covered inside with a thin layer of gypsum sandwiched between cardboard and paper?Covered outside with a layer of cement and paper fiber board, plastic and dioxin, or concrete is better than the soil held together firmly with the roots of majestic trees and gentle flowers? A thin layer of tar sprinkled with sand is superior roofing to a fine garden filled with flowers, wildlife and food? Chemical filled modern surface treatments and health damaging substances, silently oozing invisible toxic fumes from glued pressed waste wood board, foisted on the homeowners by large corporation lobbyist and the industry complicit government would slowly suck the life out of my family-- so subtly that they didn't even notice until they mysteriously develop respiratory problems and begin growing mysterious cancers.No... I think I'll just stay down here below the unsafe outside world until the end of my life. The folks in Coober Pedy have it right, Robbo. Just yanking your chain, Robbo and anyone else I may have offended. I have been a surface dweller before. Continue if you must.
Interesting attractions in Coober Pedy include the mines, the graveyard, and the underground churches. The first tree ever seen in the town was welded together from scrap iron. It still sits on a hilltop overlooking the town. The local golf course - mostly played at night with glowing balls, to avoid daytime temperatures - is completely free of grass and golfers take a small piece of "turf" around to use for teeing off. As a result correspondence between the two clubs the Coober Pedy golf club is the only club in the world to enjoy reciprocal rights at The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
Quote from: MountainDon on May 02, 2008, 05:58:11 PMNo idea on the time. Some folks can do amazing things in a short time with regular stick construction too. Have you see what Willy (Mark) did alone?How big is Willy's cabin? It's very interesting the links you have suggested...both were in Washington State (where I also live) and one is a single-handed builder (which I will be). However, I am like the person on the thread for Willy's cabin who said he's only good for about 5 hours. I have worked a couple of days on a Habitat for Humanity house with some folks from my church, and I start to run out of steam about an hour after lunch.