A-Frame repurposed materials cabin

akmyilee · #1 10/18/13, 08:46 AM

Okay - so - I have been looking all over the internet for the information that I need to build this cabin and I figured it was time to finally come and ask the experts.

It has been a long time since I have posted on HT but have been a member and been dreaming since 2008. It is finally time to mine all of you all's wisdom but in real time with practical application.

We have bought our land - YEA!!!!

It is 6 acres in the sandhills of South Carolina. Not the perfect situation but ours and I am so excited.

Now on to our cabin.

I am not entirely sure why I want to build an A frame, probably because it will make a nice loft area for the kids. It also has to be only 120 sq ft to keep it from needing a building permit. It is going to be completely off grid - no electric or plumbing, so I feel pretty confident that we can do it ourselves. Completely rustic, made with repurposed materials, as much as possible, and mostly just for fun for my husband and I to see if we can do it and to get more experience. We also want some where to stay out there (it is about an hour from our house), that is better than the tent.

Best case scenario we won't be working on the "big house" until next spring.

So anyone have any great ideas for us?

frogmammy · #2 10/18/13, 08:51 AM

Well, 120 square feet would be a touch less than 10 x 12, so it will be larger than most tents!

I think I'd try to figure out how to incorporate it into the house you plan to build. Maybe as an entryway, later on?

Mon

1shotwade · #3 10/18/13, 09:00 AM

120 ' isn't much. If I just wanted a place to lay my head 'till the house was built i'd just get a small camper. If you want to do this for "practice" before getting into the construction of the main dwelling I would first figure out what the eventual use for this building should be. Once the house is built will you need it for a tool shed,goat barn,chicken coop? With that in mind build a design that will be easy to convert to it's new use when the time comes.

SimplerTimez · #4 10/18/13, 09:14 AM

If you run an ad in your local free shopper and craigslist that you would tear down and remove an old barn or out-building for the lumber, you may get some response.
Here, many of the Amish-style storage shed builders burn their crooked or otherwise defective lumber, I've gotten truckloads just for asking.

**Roadking** · #5 10/18/13, 09:15 AM

Ideas for a plan at http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-abe...gplans/housing . #5184 is 10x14, not an A frame, but there are a lot of other plans. Free downloadable PDF files from North Dakota U.

Matt

akmyilee · #6 10/18/13, 09:31 AM

Using it as part of the house later is a good idea. . .not for location that we want to put it in though. We have cleared a spot way back in the woods.

We aren't doing a camper because the fun of making the building and we couldn't get a camper back to the spot I want to put it.

Thanks for the link to the building plans - cool.

We were also thinking of doing 4 ft walls out of concrete blocks, we have some laying around and then an A frame on top of that. Not sure how that would work? or if it would?

glenn amolenaar · #7 10/18/13, 09:42 AM

We built an A-frame when first married 1970), the biggest problem is wasted space if we had it to do over it would be a conventional building.
glenn

1shotwade · #8 10/18/13, 09:50 AM

If you build it as a standard stick frame building it can be built on 4x4 treated runners and moved if necessary to a permanent location when the time comes.

**Roadking** · #9 10/18/13, 09:51 AM

Good source of material s pallets. Have seen articles where people have built houses with them.

Matt

Harry Chickpea · #10 10/18/13, 10:24 AM

Your chiropractor will love you. You'll help him buy a second home.

||Downhome|| · #11 10/18/13, 10:34 AM

this might help, I always liked the "Grow-Home" concept.
Think that would work better then the A frame, I never really liked them so I may be biased.

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainabl...for-today.html

http://archive.org/details/SecondHomesForLeisureLiving

I can't find the plans for the one I had in mind, but its designed to grow in stages.
Basically you start out with a deck and a small structure on it (gable rise towards the front or unused part of the deck) then you add on in stages till the decks covered.
Basicly having a Skillion Roof. the intent also was you could then do another structure same way but building towards the original and have the tow roof meet to form a peak and effectively double the size.

If it was me though I would do something like the 3 stage beach house in the links above, two,three or even four 10x12 structures situated around a central deck.

I wonder if you could get away with building the deck and have a roof over it with out permits. then do your "sheds" around it and frame in windows between the decks roof line and the sheds. effectively making a 4 season kind of room.

Of coarse you don't let the officials know thats the intention.
Just get cleared on the deck part and the other buildings you know your good.

||Downhome|| · #12 10/18/13, 10:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roadking

Good source of material s pallets. Have seen articles where people have built houses with them.

Matt

I do a lot with pallets and yes I have seen houses built from them, in fact my cousin built a garage out of them but the code enforcement made him tear it down.

One thing I do is "sister" thinner boards together, You can make some formidable timbers that way. from even the shortest of boards.
Not much different then what they call engineered lumber really.

Just don't want any one break in a layer lineing up with any another break in any of the other layers.

Imagine those 3/4 boards on the pallet deck, lay out what length you want,then on top another layer , staggered, nail together,repeat for the total thickness your after. I also like to face off the sides.

You will be surprised how strong they are!

Appalachia · #13 10/18/13, 11:29 AM

A 10x12 ain't very big, a 10x12 A-frame is tiny. I'd go conventional and you can still include a loft.

akmyilee · #14 10/18/13, 11:57 AM

Yeah, the more stuff I look at I am moving away from the A frame. I can't really say what made me want one anyway. . .it isn't like I have to worry about snow loads or anything. . .

Thanks for links DownHome - very helpful.

John_Canada · #15 10/18/13, 12:21 PM

The largest cost in a build like that is the foundation system, siding and roofing. For each of those you can use re-purposed materials from used building supply place or just look on Kijiji/CL for free materials. Use a pressure treated lumber foundation, most cities allow for outbuildings or use piering to raise it up a bit out of the mud. Also, check your local codes as you may be restricted with height on non-permit structures. We have an 8'2" limit and being 6'4" that makes a tight rafter system with sloping roof for snow. No way second floor without permit here. Could be better there. Btw, pallet wood is ok but the time involved to get to a useable product can be better spent. But if you do, find a "denailer" air hammer....makes short work of removing nails. Also, I have been on this site many times...good webboard and designs. http://www.small-cabin.com/

akmyilee · #16 10/18/13, 03:15 PM

John_Canada - that website is PERFECT!

What do you all think of using the concrete footers on sandy soil?? We were planning to do post frame.

BlueRose · #17 10/18/13, 07:14 PM

I am following this thread with real interest. Thanks for the sites especially the small cabin build

Batt · #18 10/18/13, 08:06 PM

I think the cabin will be bigger than 120 s/f. It will be 120 s/f less than the area needed for a permit...If I read it correctly. So what size will that be?

ETA: I guess I read it wrong........Yeah, I agree 10x12 is pretty small.

wharton · #19 10/18/13, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akmyilee

Yeah, the more stuff I look at I am moving away from the A frame. I can't really say what made me want one anyway. . .it isn't like I have to worry about snow loads or anything. . .

Thanks for links DownHome - very helpful.

Good decision, I've built homes for the last thirty and have never met an A frame owner who ever said, "yea, it's a great house, practical and useful". My best friend raised his family in a 16' x28' A. Before they even bother to think about hatching the first child, they put a conventional bedroom, bath and living room wing on. Even at that size, the upstairs "bedroom" in the A portion wasn't much more than a pointy hobbit hole, and the bank balked a bit about calling it a real bedroom, when they sold it. Unless they are absolutely gigantic, they are a tight, difficult house to live in.

farminghandyman · #20 10/18/13, 09:53 PM

use a barn shaped roof, (straight wall over the slanted any day of the week), if you extend the side walls to 10 to 12 feet and then us a gambrel roof you will have full size loft that is usable, in this instance it would be much like a tall walled garden shed.

With the taller walls the upper room would look some thing like this,
see picture.

I would suggest a balloon type framing with the studs running from bottom plate to top plate with the floor joist Attached to the wall studs, with a ribbon board cut in for support,

ribbon board in picture