# Reclaimed Stick-Built Cabin



## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Hey guys! I just joined up and wanted to share my first large building project that isn't for someone else!

It's going to be a cabin for use later out at my place. once the house is done (5+ years away) It will be my woodworking shop.

When you get to the last of the photos the rafters will be set in an unconventional manner. It is to so i could get away with not decking the roof before i put my metal on.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

The Lumber hanging out under a tent.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

And here are the piers roughly set









Beams/Floor Joist going together. These treated 2x8's were all free from a job. The lady wanted to replace them all because they weren't pretty. (Cracking from weather sealant)









And here are some more nailed together. I used Galv Ring shank nails.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

So, In the last photo you can see a very large pile of beer bottles. This will be part of the rock and bottle wall for the skirting later on.

I had so many 2x8's i just went ahead and decked it with them! I left gaps because I will be putting a finishing layer of Ply.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

A few buddys came over to help me cut the nails off these 2x8's using a cutting wheel, which is the easiest way by far to remove nails. After about a day of work it was decked. We probably drank more beer than did work really.









Free windows I got at Shelter supply! When I was doing windows and siding I got this kind of stuff free.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Here is one of my more productive days. My brother and I framed these walls up and pieced the back walls together.








The Front door is going to be a french door, and there will be a small porch on the front.









By the end of the day we pretty much had the walls framed... If you notice the back two walls are pallets! They are oak vinyl siding pallets. I nailed up supports that kept corner posts level and racked the crooked pallets to line up, scabbed them together with scrap 2x4's and added a little up top to reach my top plate. The wall by the way are a bit tall. I made them 10 foot to add an older style feel to my building.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Here is my buddy Mikey prying 1x's off some pallets.









We then would place them on some saw horses and go to work chopping the rusty nails. I wanted to save as much money as possible, so i collected stacks of pallets, junk lumber and such. The decking process with 1x's is slow, but cheap. I used a decking stapler for it all (Some of the oak boards wouldn't let the staple pass haha)


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Here is a stack of 1x's. It doesn't look like much, but it is enough to deck quite a bit of this building.









Coming along slowly! This was the winter of 13-14. This photo was taken about 9 in the morning. It was 6 degrees fahrenheit. It was so cold i had to use a space heater to heat my framing nailer and decking stapler warm enough to shoot. After about 20 min of work I would go hang out with the space heater to heat the guns up and bring my fingers back to life!









From the front









I put strips of scrap coil stock over all of the cracks to create a more solid surface









The Holes left at the top are for the blow in insulation that will be coming later.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Luckily my brother came back out to help me throw some rafters up.









For the vapor wrap I stapled on old billboard signs from Siez sign Co! $30 a piece 12x34 rubberized super durable tarp material. I have five of them and use them for everything. They are completely water proof.









Here is the view from upstairs. Nice and solid.









Stayed up late and got it wired. I bought the Meter loop ofF of CL for $150, the breakers, outlets, switches, fixtures and wire for about $350. you can't see the large antiqued brass exterior lights in this photo because they are so bright, but I got them off of CL for $10.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

I am really starting to get excited at this point.

















This Is basically where the cabin is at this point. The poor thing is just tarped down for now because I am off on a work trip for the next few months traveling around. I wish I was back there finishing it.









If you look at the photos you will see the kind of odd way I designed the rafters/purlins. The reason I put them up this way was to avoid decking the roof. So, above the vaulted ceiling I used one big beam, above the front and back walls and above the edge of the 2nd story I used doubled up 2x6's. This may not seem like enough, but i will be adding a dummy wall next to that ridge beam post. So the only Rafter that actually spans the full horizontal projection is that one large ceiling rafter. you will notice that I put some lathes of 1x material on the inside of the ceiling. That is for the barn tin that I am putting inside. The walls will be vertical, but the ceiling horizonal. blah blah blah here is the last photo for now... Zack


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

Excellent. Wish we had cheap land in UK and easier planning permission. Good series on Discovery at moment showing a family starting from scratch in Alaska.
johnep


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

All in all the build has cost me four days of work and very little money. I bought the R-panel for the roof at SBI metal supply and everything else off of CL or collected things slowly. I had to buy nails, staples and drill bits.. But not much more. here is a run down of about what I have spent so far item by item for the cabin to this point.

Metal roofing, screw, ridge cap $425
Power $350
Fasteners $250
Fuel/ misc items $200


Total $1225


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Thanks Johnep34! Yeah, I'm lucky here in Arkansas. The land was bought on the cheap and is in the county. Cheap and easy. No permits required! On the plus for you though, you have healthcare! We are in florida right now and my Girlfriend is on a state health plan. She is having a severe allergic reaction to something and is in severe pain. we went to the ER and they couldn't do anything. They reffered us to an allergist to help her, but since we are out of network (out of Arkansas' approved doctors dictated by her "insurance") we are **** out of luck. He wont see her. I may have to fly her back to AR to see an approved doctor, but how many days would that be? Nightmares of the U.S health "system"


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

The NHS has many faults but here am I with a new hip and having regular CT scans for a chest problem. I have a multitude of tablets for my Blood Pressure etc. All courtesy of the NHS.

When it was founded, the NHS was envisaged as just for UK citizens and no system in place for patient payments. Air travel brought in Health Tourism. If you fall ill in the UK would often find treatment provided free. WE have HIV and TB imported from Africa and India and treated free. Also reports of plane loads of pregnant women from West Africa coming to have their babies under the NHS.

At the moment Eastern Europeans enjoying welfare and health care under Europe rules.

Our National Health Service has become 'International'.
johnep


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Same here... but check this out!

U.S healthcare spending Per Capita: $8362

U.K healthcare spending Per Capita: $3480

Sorry to bring up healthcare on a woodworking Forum John haha


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

So basically 2050 english pounds! I think I killed my post about my cabin by meandering off into health/political discussion.


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

Do you have plans to tie your outside walls together where there is no loft? Are some of your rafters spliced? Just another concern is having your floor joists sitting on the 2Xs and nothing holding them from rolling over on their side. I also would be a little concerned about putting anything really heavy over the 2Xs where there is no support to the ground. I am not try to discourage you nor am I trying to be a butt, just a few concerns that may be a problem to you down the road.


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## Admin (Jan 4, 2010)

I am going to love following your progress on this.


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## Dominick (May 2, 2011)

Cricket said:


> I am going to love following your progress on this.


+1 this is very interesting.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

jiju1943 said:


> Do you have plans to tie your outside walls together where there is no loft? Are some of your rafters spliced? Just another concern is having your floor joists sitting on the 2Xs and nothing holding them from rolling over on their side. I also would be a little concerned about putting anything really heavy over the 2Xs where there is no support to the ground. I am not try to discourage you nor am I trying to be a butt, just a few concerns that may be a problem to you down the road.


The distance spanned from the edge of the loft to the front wall is only about 12 feet. But before I add any weight there will be a beam there to tie them together, so yes on that. I didn't take a picture of it, but as I created scrap I cut gussets that run from the floor joist to the beams. So they can't roll. The rafters are spliced, but only the ones that are above load bearing walls. The edge of the loft on the bottom from the wall to the post will have a wall and under that rafter upstairs there will be a wall. The main rafter above the living room is 2 2x12's also.


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## drifterland (Jul 6, 2014)

Also, the beams are at every five feet or so and are 2 2x8"s sandwiched together on each one, then 2x8 on 16 centers, then decked with 2x8's. it's pretty darn solid


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