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I'm building a cottage in the woods. Well, i'm kinda 2 years into building a cottage in the woods? (checks notes... I picked up the shed kit nov 18, 2020) We'll come back to the story of why, and where, and all of that later. Here's the goals: - Cheap - Privacy - Air Conditioning - Internet - Toilet - Stealth The plan that worked out, was to buy the cheapest shed that had enough headroom for me to stand up in from Home Depot, then build around/inside that. The biggest problem in the PNW, is moisture. (and oh boy, this ends up being a problem..) And to add to the complication, I live in Chicagoland, not Seattle. That means this had to be done in stages that I can do "a few days at a time" every couple months. I say "the plan" but a lot of this was "I'll cross that bridge when I get there", and while it's worked out, I wouldn't recommend going that way. I'll put posts, on mostly a visit by visit basis, later. But here's a general overview of how it went. - Clearing the space - Making footings - Building the platform - Erecting the shed - Framing the shed - Waterprooding - Insulating - More waterproofing - Mold remediation - More waterproofing - Replacing the roof - Running power and water - Framing and tabbing for drywall And that's kinda where we are at the moment. The first post on this, is going to be "the story".
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Jul 23, 2022 14:34
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| # ? May 5, 2024 19:37 |
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Ok, the story. Of how I got here, and the place this thing is being built. I got involved with some people who were into Belegarth. http://www.belegarth.com/ This lead to me helping them build yurts, and other things for the sport. They showed me how to beat people up with foam swords, and to enjoy a bit of the medieval life, and I showed them the wonders of an angle grinder. Life caught up, families were made, people moved on... so there's about a 10 year gap in there. So a few years ago, I got re-connected with that group of people. ... They had moved across the country, and set up on 20ish acres on the side of a mountain in Washington. Amusingly, one of the yurts I had built, moved out there with them! I got invited to come visit, it was a birthday, or a holiday, or something, and very quickly they started joking that "he's gonna move out here." We'll come back to that thought in a bit. For now, lets talk about the property. They had bought a mostly unimproved bit of land. And when they moved out there, they went to establish "some space to live". The first person to move in, did so mostly with a generator and a yurt. Their first two years, were mostly dealing with mud, living in fancy tents, and building their first structures. Those being a shower house, and a 10x10 building to do remote work from, and as a demarcation point for power. When I say "they" there's two families, and two family friends who live there. It's.. about a dozen people, give or take. Mostly a really good group of people, happy to be removed from really bad situations in the midwest, and building a nice life for themselves where it doesn't get to cold, or hot. The initial intent moving to the property, was to go from tents, to a permanent, conventional, house. Welp, the county screwed the native people, and broke the treaty. What that means for our story, is they couldn't get water rights, and without water, you can't build a permit to build a house. At least, a permanent one. The county suggested they build something temporary, and so long as whatever they build, can be moved in 30 days or less, they're in the clear. Cue, a house built of containers. I'm not going to show you to much of the house... becuase it's "their" house. But I can share some "around the edges" imgry. Sitting in the living room, looking up at the ceiling.  The sins of a temporary solution lasting seven years. That insulation? I helped put about a third of it up. And a bit of the outside, from when I was trenching to bring power to my cottage.  The container house is three containers in a U shape. Bedrooms, a washroom, and a kitchen were carved out of the containers, and a platform was put in between making up a large living room. Jokes of me moving turned into a "You should have space here for you. A Nerohut or something." And that's where ~this~ story starts. Nerobro fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Aug 25, 2023 |
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Jul 23, 2022 15:08
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There's a lot of problems trying to build a bedroom in the middle of the woods. Unless you want to live like it's the 1890's you need to get power there. You need to find a spot clear enough of trees, and flat enough to build on. You need to make sure it's not going to be in anyone else's way. And ideally a spot that won't flood. (The home I own in illinois, turns into an island once a year due to flooding.. It's good I don't have a basement.) At some point I'm going to need to come up with a nice phrase, or internet names to call the people on the property. They picked out a spot for me, that was flat, and had easy access from one of the trails. And was at about the middle of the property, so I'd be as far as I can be from anyone else. I swear, this ground is flat. And there's no "big" trees there. That said, I did buy a chainsaw that visit....  Lets start there. November 2020. With the help of a weedwacker, I cleared out a spot that was 16'x16' in the woods next to the access road on the property.  Armed with some masons string, and stakes, I laid out where the cottage would go.  Space cleared, string in place. The string is leveled too, so that's the height I'm going to build to.  As it turns out, this was a mistake, but here are the blocks I setup as the foundation for my cottage. ... I wonder where that shovel went. Did I buy it? Did someone on the property borrow it and not return it?  This platform needs some things said about it. First, it's technically "ok" according to the calculators I used. But, I like firmer floors than most people do. It is however, square, and as flat as you can expect this sort of thing to be. That's also 3/4 inch ply as the flooring.  That's all I completed the first visit. I was... determined, but I was also working full time at the same time. So I had to pack things up so they'd be fresh to work with next time. This is the solution I came up with.  It worked. Nerobro fucked around with this message at 23:24 on Aug 25, 2023 |
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Jul 23, 2022 15:45
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i hate to be a debbie downer but my understanding is that cinder blocks are weak when laid on their side like that...the holes should always be facing upwards.
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Jul 23, 2022 23:56
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Some Guy From NY posted:i hate to be a debbie downer but my understanding is that cinder blocks are weak when laid on their side like that...the holes should always be facing upwards. You're right, they are. We'll come back to that later. However, in this case, I decided the floatation was more important than load carrying capacity. It's worth noting that the minimum strength for one of those blocks is 1700psi, and they're typically around 8000psi. Pretending that just the middle web is doing any good, each block is going to be good for nearly 7 tons. If the whole thing weighs 2 tons by the time I'm done, I've done something very, very wrong. Nerobro fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Jul 24, 2022 |
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Jul 24, 2022 01:51
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One of my friends was interested in doing something like this and we're out in the same region so I'm curious how yours turned out.
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Aug 9, 2022 21:41
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Jackard posted:One of my friends was interested in doing something like this and we're out in the same region so I'm curious how yours turned out. I'll get the next installment up soon. Uh... don't buy the absco shed to do it. It's an Australian company, and it's built with the expectations of Australian weather... Also.. make sure you've got 7' of headroom. I'm a short mf-er so the headroom in this shed isn't a problem for me. Also.. do it with a slightly higher budget. I'm right at the $2000 mark on this thing. I expect it'l be $3 or 4k by the time it's all done and ready to be lived in.
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Aug 10, 2022 04:26
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Current state of the cottage: * Has electricity * Is bone dry * Has internet * Has permanant lighting * Has heat * Has drywall installed * Has a lock on the front door * Has a laptop and webcam.... so I can spy on myself? Last visit I made my windowframes. But due to weather ran out of time to paint or install them. But I do have the glass, glazing compound, points, and all the other misc window stuff.
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May 4, 2023 22:51
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So.. How about some new photos? The last visit, I got the windows painted, glazed and .. installed.  It's nerve wracking cutting holes in your weatherproof cottage. But.. here we are.  In anticipation of continued climate change, I got an a/c unit installed.  This.. felt good to stand in and look at.  So... in about a month, I'm going out there to finalize things. I'm excited.
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Aug 25, 2023 23:23
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Well shoot. We have drama. The property owners are building an actual house. And there's a bunch of wetlands to manage. That's where the drama comes in. Evidently the center of the property is wetlands. There's another resident who built their cottage ~right~ on the stream. And they have to move. I'm flying out this weekend, to rectify that situation. Our initial thought was to move it. But... they... didn't... build... it... well... The executive decision was to just build them a new one. I'm flying out this week to build them a new cottage. Photos to follow. Hopefully I'll get time to work on mine too.
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Sep 22, 2023 19:05
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| # ? May 5, 2024 19:37 |
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Jackard posted:One of my friends was interested in doing something like this and we're out in the same region so I'm curious how yours turned out. Still dry. Still stable. And now it's 3 years deep. I even used it as an office last trip. Big lessons learned: Make sure the roof is right for the environment. The roof that came with the shed was designed for Australian weather. And trees. The drains gunked up and soaked the cottage the first few months, so I spent a couple trips unfucking that. Edit: didn't read my own posts Nerobro fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Sep 22, 2023 |
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Sep 22, 2023 19:12
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