Wanted to pick your guys brains on building a cabin out in the boonies. Idea is buy 5 acres near a lake, build a 2 bed 1 bath cabin, well, septic, and solar power. Id like to do as much as i can of that. Im an electrician now but was a framer for a short time. Main questions are:
>can it be built for less than 50k?
>are there any shortcuts like building plans for sale with parts lists?
>what bits are best left to the pros?
Has anyone here done a similar project?
>>1002925
In b4 shipping container...
>>1002929
Yeah no. Actually thought about that but want something family friendly and doesn't look like shit.
>>1002931
nothing stops you from putting up drywall inside and a nice wooden exterior.
>>1002925
>>can it be built for less than 50k?
Yes, as long as your fine penny pinching and not having the best, or even best looking.
>>are there any shortcuts like building plans for sale with parts lists?
Yes, but you should be able to figure it out for yourself. If you know your dimensions you could draw it out yourself.
>>what bits are best left to the pros?
Depends on your abilities.
>>1002981
My guess is plumbing and septic done properly are beyond my abilities. Thinking maybe a 20'x20' with a loft should do it.
>>1002993
Some lumber stores sell kits for buildings, usually storage sheds, that come with all the materials. You then put it together yourself.
This might be what you want. You would only have to figure out the interior.
>>1002925
If you are not in a big hurry then I suggest you start looking on craigslist for building supplies, I collected free or cheap lumber on CL for six months before building my storage building, I spent less than $300 to build an 10'x8' structure that would have cost a whole heap more if I had bought all the lumber at the lumber yard or home depot.
I got the idea from an article about a guy who bought/collected all the left over bricks, blocks and other building stuff people had left over from projects and stored them in a container he kept on his land, then he built a house with them and then just covered them over to hide the fact they didn't match, he got a brick built house for a fraction of the cost.
>>1003006
I like that idea. Also thinking the habitat for humanity store might be a good place to pick up stuff.
>>1002997
I've found a couple of sites that sell plans and material lists, but this would be a viable option.
>>1002925
Architect here
>can it be built for less than 50k
Definitely
>what bits are best left to the pros?
If you do it right very little, perhaps only the plumbing.
Do you have access to a wood-recycling yard near you? What sort of materials can you get cheaply (or free?). I'm talking about old bits of wood, old windows/doors etc, shipping palettes etc. I could design a basic idea for you, this kind of things is really fun for me.
>>1003062
Also, with regards to costs. We had to do a similar project for uni with a 4k budget and the most expensive part were the solar panels (price per unit-wise obviously not in total).
>>1003062
>wood-recycling yard
I had no idea such a thing existed. I think that may be something like the habitat for humanity stores i mentioned. My idea was something like a vaulted ceiling in the front where the living/kitchen area would be and the back lower half is the master bed/bathroom with the loft being possibly 2 separate rooms for my kids. Probably a porch out front.
>>1003063
I figured as much. Starting find that something just to power a fridge is north of 3k.
>>1003070
yeah, solar just isn't worth it yet until batteries take a large drop in price
>>1003062
>Architect
>thinking his opinion is more valuable than a builders/engineer's one
Go suck a dick faggot
>>1003092
Angsty STEM student much?
>>1002925
Hey OP. Check out Cob houses. They are typically built on budgets $100-$10,000. They are FANTASTIC temperature insulation, you just have to make sure the roof overhang is wide enough to prevent rain from hitting the exterior walls.
>>1003069
HfH are sort of like that. Wood-recycling yards can save you a shit-ton of money so I suggest you google to see what's in your state. Our local one is amazing it has a detailed inventory of all the bits of wood they stock, photographed, priced and online. Even if you don't have something like that your local junk yard can be a gold mine.
I know palettes are a meme in DIY circles but if you use them cleverly you can make pre-assembled wall panels with insulation, water-proofing, internal/external cladding and a vapour-barrier and then bolt each panel together and seal them with insulation tape. The result would practically be the same as you'd get from far more expensive pre-made timber panels used to build houses.
I like the sound of your design, double height spaces are always cool. Have you factored in things like the sun path, the local prevailing wind etc? e.g. If your kitchen/living area is facing south it's a good idea to add a covered porch (or deep eaves in the case of windows) to avoid overxposure to the summer sun.
>>1003153
IMO cob brick houses are more interesting than plain cob houses. You get the sustainability and cheapness of cob without the annoying Hobbit-house building forms that it limits you to, since you can actually build the same way you would with normal bricks.
>>1003157
>Have you factored in things like the sun path, the local prevailing wind etc? e.g. If your kitchen/living area is facing south it's a good idea to add a covered porch (or deep eaves in the case of windows) to avoid overxposure to the summer sun.
Haven't ever had to be concerned with that stuff so I have no idea.
>>1003158
Not crazy about the look. Honestly stick framed sounds the most reasonable to me. That looks like a lot of work for something that looks like shit, at least from what I'm seeing in Google images.
>>1003173
I agree cob houses look like shit. Cob brick houses on the other hand just look like any other brick house once you plaster and paint the walls.
Since you have experience in joinery I recommend the palette wall construction. Source as many of them as you can, and then all you need to do is fill them with insulation (there are many types of dirt-cheap insulation based on recycled materials), staple damp proof and vapour barrier membranes on either side of the palettes' interior, fill with insulation and nail the exterior and interior cladding (can use planks or shingles for the outside and particle board for the inside). Then you just carry as many of these finished panels on a truck to your site and assemble them. All you need to do on site is put up the basic timber frame and then bolt these panels on. I can draw you how to make that at some point.
>>1003171
All you need to do is look at your plot of land on google earth and look at where south is, or if you want to get detailed about it, use one of the many browser-based online sun path calculators to make a sun path diagram for your site. Also google "prevailing wind (your location)" to figure out where the wind blows from, most of the year. Make sure to keep that in mind when deciding which way to face things like your porch so (you don't want wind blowing in your face when you sit outside) or your ventilation inlets (you want them to be windward to make it easy for fresh air to come in).
>>1003229
I wrote fill with insulation twice lol. Ignore the first mention.
>>1002925
Timber-frame it and save money by felling and hewing the timber yourself.
5 Acres near a lake with no improvements on it what-so-ever is probably going to be substantially more than 50k... unless it is in an extremely undesirable area for some reason.
Anyway good luck with that... as far as helpful information... cabin my family owns on a lake needed mound septic put in due to building codes, I believe the mound system and the pump out tank and the work to install was about 30K. So look into zoning and such first to see what you can get away with before purchasing any land.
>>1003451
i believe he was referring to construction costs, not the cost of land bro
The short answer is if you're asking here then you're not going to be able to do it.
Situation and laws differ by state and county. You really can't get a single answer.
For starters depending on where you buy it, land is fucking expensive. The ones you can afford (relatively cheap enough) are REALLY fucking far out, like hours away unless you happen to live half way there already. This applies to most of us because most of us live in urban areas and if you do only live like an hour away from this land chances are you already know one or two people that have done this and don't need to ask here. On top of that, land by a river or lake drives the price up a ton because it's desirable. The really cheap shit in my state for example, the 10k for 2-5 acres, is in semi desert land. You can't really grow shit and the water table is deep as hell, like 100+ feet so it costs like 10k+ just to get set up for water.
I live in the Western continental US. Unless you have a decent wad already you're not going to find land under 2 hours away for 50k. If you do it's on land that hasn't been permitted for building, on a steep ass slope or some other reason richer folks haven't bought it yet.
So this applies to the west coast. I know things are far less dire in the rest of the US.
So my suggestion no matter where you live, spend that entire 50k and buy the best and biggest parcel of land you can (don't forget to factor in taxes) and a cheap ass trailer or mobile home. Park it on that land (this usually isn't a problem law wise but you'd still want to check to make sure, but lots of guys do this for makeshift rec and hunting situations) and while saving up another wad of cash come up with a plan for what you want to build.
>>1003456
I can see how you can come to that conclusion but unless OP clarifies I'm not so sure since it's clear they don't have the land yet.
It feels like OP might be underestimating the price of land.
>>1003451
30k for septic, you pleb just do it yourself, the tanks and installation is less than 4k its the excavation and drainage field that they charge you out the ass for and you can do all that on your own. Hell you can buy a third hand backhoe/excavator and the gravel and piping and everything for less than the 30k and essentially end up with a free excavator from the project just by doing it yourself.
Fucking plebs everywhere.
>>1003459
>The short answer is if you're asking here then you're not going to be able to do it.
Fuck you pleb. In america there is very very little you cant do on your own. And nobody knows how before they learn. And anyone can learn.
Do a YouTube search for "Primitive Technology".
>>1003092
This guy may know more things about building than you ( as a builder/engineer ) and you may know more things about physic/materials ( as a builder/engineer )
Why do you think it exists so many kind of jobs ?
Why are you a stubborn, anon ?
Look at one of those sawdust composting toilets, just a hole over a pit with some nice bacteria doing the deeds
>>1002973
>All the work of building a cabin
>Still a shitty old container that limit you in what dimensions you can build in.
Unless you just happen to have a few containers over that are free i can't help but wonder why?
How did this horrible meme start and how did it manage to go mainstream?
At the most i would use one as a tool shed or small workshop.
>>1004070
Using container units in situations where a temporary structure is desired such as disasters is perfect, because they can be assembled in a controlled environment and then delivered to the site by truck. That makes them really efficient and cheap and so it makes sense to use them that way.
For anything more permanent, (even tool sheds or workshops) it's stupid, adds unnecessary limitations and has more disadvantages than advantages.
You just need to know how/when to use them.
Pic related is one of the stupidest examples I've ever seen, it's a guy (an architect no less) who spent a shit-ton of money to make a house made out of containers that he then proceeded to alter so much that he lost any of the advantages that a pre-made unit like a container has. He could have just made a steel frame building and would have been much better off.
>>1004160
Meant to mention more examples: disaster shelters, building site sheds, outdoor gigs/festivals/events, promotion stands etc. Basically anything temporary where the structure will be used somewhere else in the future.
Is OP still on this thread?
>>1004160
It's not about an efficient or cost effect construction process, it's about having the dankest meme at the cocktail party.
>>1004225
He spent £16,000 on this carbon bath tub.
>>1004854
Just know that human compost isn't used (commercially) on plants fit for human consumption.
>>1003623
Not up to health and safety regulations in most areas anymore. Usually you need at least a concrete vault for waste to sit in, that gets pumped out when full.
>>1003062
This is what all Architects are like.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EGzT-4Cyho
>>1002931
tincancabin page is a good example of something workable, but owner used short containers and had deep pockets so he paid too much IMO.
There are plenty of cabin plans on the net, and you can find a variety of CAD programs to design your structure.
Plumbing is easy. Study and have at it. I suggest, and use on my homes, drains at the lowest point so you leave very little water in the system when not in use. Also great for maintenance, and I put shutoff valves before every faucet or other typical wear part. When I repair old pipe the first thing I connect is a shutoff so I can use the rest of the system.
Septic is best outsourced because equipment and permits. Check with a variety of contractors.
>>1003485
30K for septic isn't everywhere. Assume nothing. Check YOUR location. Many prices are regional.
>>1004070
Great workshop and reasonable accommodation IF you copy industrial and military containers and DO NOT try to invent shit yourself with no experience because you must cure ignorance first. Not hard if you persist. If you aren't dedicated then pay someone who is.
Everything you can reasonably do with a container has been fucking done, but cunts won't internet unless it's a porn hunt.
The meme is from stupid people who confuse "shell" with "finished building" and would rather be blinded with a scalding penis than use a search engine.
I have a container shop and would live in a military/industrial container like Sea Box makes, and they vanish in woodland with camo on the sides. (Use a military pattern unless you actually have artistic talent.)
If you weld and fab and have an industrial background containers are nice to work with. If you don't, you can learn by using a 40' High Cube for a shop. How you configure it will vary by climate.
Containers are used from desert to oil rig work as tough modular workspace and housing. If you are interested /diy/ will NEVER be the place to learn what you need. /diy/ is only a place to direct others to better info.
Might be a bit off topic but is there any way to essentially retrofit a standard/suburban house to be off the grid/sustainable? I want to buy a house eventually and tearing it down just to build a new sustainable home or homestead would probably be more expensive and violate codes. And as much as I would love to live in a rural or semi-rural area full time, there are too many things I like and need to do in the city. I know you can make a regular house a passive home by adding solar and windmills. Adding new and better insulation is also an option but that seems like it could be expensive and I'd rather go with something more eco friendly. I also like the idea behind earthship's water filtration system that ultimately results in a sustainable garden. So how do you beat this system without trying to escape?
>>1002925
Leave the foundation to the pros, but plumbing and electrical is easy
>>1002925
Have you done a ground-survey yet or do you have an idea of what the ground conditions are? Like the other guy said, get a pro to do that and recommend or even lay the foundations (if the same contractor does all that and gives you a warranty you're golden, don't worry about paying a little extra for that) and after that you're good to go.
Also, is it going to be on or off-grid in terms of electricity and water supply? Did you figure out the orientation of the site yet?