How to Build Your Own Little Dream Home

Preview Copy. Click to buy full version.
Cozy Cabin
How to Build Your Own Little Dream Home
BY S TEVE MAXWELL
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cozy Cabin
How to Build Your Own Little Dream Home
Chapter titles are links. Click to go there.
Introduction
Chapter 1: Selecting Your Site and Clearing It
Chapter 2: Building the Foundation
Chapter 3: Framing the Floor
Chapter 4: Raising the Walls
Chapter 5: Raising the Loft Beams and Roof
Chapter 6: Installing Wall Membrane, Windows and Door
Chapter 7: Applying Cedar Wall Shingles
Chapter 8: Insulating the Roof
Chapter 9: Installing Skylights and Roof Shingles
Chapter 10: Insulating the Floor
Plans, Glossary of Terms and Extra Advice
A Word of Advice: Building anything involves physical risk. That’s why nobody ever builds anything without getting at least a
few cuts and scrapes. You might even hurt yourself seriously while building this cabin. I don’t want anything bad to happen to
you, so please be careful as you work. Research, learn and follow recognized safety precautions because they’re not covered in this
book. Tackling this cabin project means that you’re assuming all personal responsibility for design, plus your safety and those who
work with you. You’ll also need to check with local building inspectors to make sure this design is appropriate where you live. This
book is for your reference only. Reading further means you accept full responsibility for safety, outcome and consequences, as any
decent, self-reliant person would do.
© Steve Maxwell 2014. All rights reserved.
1
INTRODUCTION
Cozy Cabin
Plans, Directions & Videos for Hands-On Building
Before you read this book, Google a video of the song Maybe by
Thom Pace. I first heard it when I was 11 years old, as the theme for
the 1974 movie The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams. For
more than 35 years these words have stayed with me:
Maybe . . .
There's a world where we don't have to run
And maybe . . .
There's a time we'll call our own
Livin' free in harmony and majesty
Take me home
Take me home
I didn’t realize it as a boy, but I now know that a good cabin is a big
part of making this kind of compelling lifestyle a reality. Sure, there’s
a lot more to a life of freedom in beautiful, natural surroundings than
just shelter, but I also know that the cabin dream resonates with a lot
of people precisely because it’s part of something larger. Do you
know what I’m talking about? If you’re eager to make a real cabin
part of your real life, then this book is for you.
What you’ve got here is a detailed video ebook construction guide for
building a specific cabin in a high quality way. Interior finishing details will be up to you and your taste, but this book is your complete
(and I mean complete) guide to creating a strong, warm, beautiful, durable and weatherproof shell. The techniques
and building strategies come from my 25+ years of professional design and building experience, and the words, images
and videos I use to guide you come from the experiences I’ve gained since 1988 creating more than 5000 published articles on construction, renovation and power tools. Watch the video on the next page for an overview of the design of the
cabin and a tour of the plans.
Living the Cabin Life
Rays of morning sunlight peek through double-hung windows, easing you into wakefulness. Getting up from your
bed in the loft, you look over the railing and see everything you need for a simple, happy life: a pine table for meals;
a writing desk; a collection of favorite books on wall shelves just below the ceiling. There’s a wood box filled with
logs, split and ready for the woodstove. Built-in shelves are stocked with the kind of comfortable clothes that most
people only get to wear on weekends. And as you gather your thoughts for the day, you find something else here, too.
It’s the ease of knowing that your life isn’t caught up in the treadmill of vacuuming acres of broadloom while serving a monster mortgage. Your life is simple, it’s good and it’s paid for. This is the essence of the cabin dream.
2
Click above or www.youtube.com to watch the video.
A Guide for Actually Building
The first thing to understand is that this is a detailed guide for people who actually want to build. Nothing you’ll find
here is superficial. You can use these directions to build the cabin exactly as it is here, or pick and choose the design features you like, incorporating them into a variation of your own. Either way, I’ll help you visualize and understand how to
make key construction details happen properly, even if you’re not a professional builder. It’s the next best thing to having
me work alongside you. That said, your local building inspector has the final say in details, so get to know this person as
you build. Every inspector I’ve ever dealt with has been happier to answer questions early on rather than tell you to rip
something out and start again later. And while this guide will take you through every technical facet of creating a traditional, 16-foot x 25-foot cabin shell, there’s more you need to understand and it has to do with you.
If you’ve never built anything big before, you might be feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of tackling a cabin. Relax.
What seems like a process full of mysterious skills and secret knowledge is actually nothing but a bunch of simple jobs
done well that build one on top of the other. Countless generations of people before us built simple, durable, beautiful
shelters for themselves, and it’s only in our age of over-specialization that too many people believe the task of basic building is beyond them. And while I’m not saying that building a good cabin will be easy for you, I am saying that most people are far more capable than they believe themselves to be. This probably includes you, too.
Beauty is another thing I need to mention right up front. I believe that any good cabin should look and feel like a traditional cabin that might show up in a children’s story or a Thomas Kincade painting. That’s why I’ve done everything I
can to eliminate or conceal modern details that make so many 21st century buildings look out of place in a forest or lakeside setting.
3
Suburban architecture is fine as far as it goes, but I figure it shouldn’t creep much beyond suburbia. Not everyone will
agree with me on this, but my belief does explain why you won’t find anything overtly modern in this cabin design – at
least not visibly modern. While my approach offers all the rustic beauty of a traditional cabin of the best sort, the design
is also longer lasting, more comfortable and physically stronger than traditional cabins ever were. You’ll be cozy in this
cabin in any climate – no matter how cold – even if you only plan to heat with a wood stove. That’s because I haven’t
simply built like they did 100 years ago. Far from it. Where modern materials make sense, I’ve combined them with traditional design features that deliver durability while working invisibly behind the scenes.
By the time you finish this book, you’ll know exactly how to:
*Create an attractive, traditional and permanent foundation for your cabin.
*Build a floor structure that’s simple, fully insulated and solid.
*Frame and raise walls with just two people.
*Incorporate exposed beams with stud frame construction for an authentic interior cabin look.
*Raise a traditional rafter roof with visible wood on the inside as well as hidden, all-season insulation on top.
*Install a concealed, breathable drainage channel behind cedar shingle siding as a secondary
line of defense against water infiltration in walls.
*Install a maintenance-free, all-natural exterior wood siding that’ll last at least 50 years without lifting a finger to keep it finished.
*Create a bright, airy, well-ventilated loft space that’s comfortable even in hot weather.
*Understand the emotional side of tackling a project that may be outside your comfort zone.
Cabin Features At a Glance:
Total interior first floor area: 285 sq. ft.
Total loft area: 180 sq. ft.
Covered porch area: 90 sq. ft.
Foundation: raised stone piers
Wall frame specs: stud frame 2x6 wood frame
Insulation: polyurethane spray foam and rigid extruded polystyrene
4
Begin By Looking at Yourself
Before getting down to practical matters, start by assessing your skills. Although this cabin is simple as these things go,
you’ll still need to be fairly handy to succeed with construction. Either that or you’ll need to grow into the role. And whatever you do, don’t underestimate your ability to grow your own skills. That’s the way I learned how to build, so I know it
works. If you’re not familiar with construction, you’ll need to prepare yourself on the basics of framing and shingling
before you begin. After the shell is up, you’ll also need to figure out wiring, plumbing and interior finishing, or contract
that work out.
One excellent way to develop framing skills and confidence is by building a scale model of your cabin. This might not sound important, but
it’s quite helpful precisely because of the struggles it puts you through.
The model here is made with “lumber” that’s cut to scale for width,
but bigger than scale for thickness. This makes it less split-prone when
it comes to nailing the parts together, with no affect on the value of
the model. If you’ve never built anything big before, I strongly recommend you start with a model to gain a feel for how this cabin goes together. If you have trouble building the model, then it’s probably an
Building a model of your cabin and having
it on hand during construction is a huge
help for new cabin builders.
indication that you need more help than you thought.
Before you go any further, figure out if this cabin will meet your needs
for space. It’s not large, and if floor area is too small you need to decide that now. The floor layout I followed gives you a
good idea of what you can put where. Watch the next video for a closer look at what you can put where.
Click above or www.youtube.com to watch the video.
5
Do You Know How to Work?
Discipline is another thing you’ll need. You must know how to put full and efficient day’s work, day after day, week after
week if you want to get your cabin built in a reasonable amount of time. How long will construction take? That depends. An experienced pair of carpenters could finish the shell in two or three weeks, but an inexperienced, part-time
builder might take several years. If you’ve never built anything big before, the work will probably take more time and
end up demanding more effort than you expect. Will it be intimidating? Yes, almost certainly. But what worthwhile goal
doesn’t involve working past intimidation sometimes?
How to Use This Video eBook
Digital publication delivers more value than any paper book
ever could. That’s why I use it. Besides printed words and images, you’ll also find video tips in key places throughout, just
like the one you’ve already watched. These videos are the next
best thing to having me by your side, explaining things as you
build. Look out for the click-to-view icons within the text, then
watch and learn.
As an experienced builder, I know it’s rarely convenient or
Tackling a cabin will probably scare you. It also
involve risks, both emotional and physical. Rise
to the challenges and prevail, you’ll gain both a
cabin and a bigger self.
even possible to build with plans and directions displayed only on
a screen. Sometimes you need paper that you don’t mind marking up and getting wet and dirty, and that’s why I’ve created print-
able plan and illustration pages at the end of this book. They include the same visuals you I explain in some of the videos, except they’re grouped together for convenient printing. Do the bulk of your reading and video viewing on your
computer or tablet, then print out whatever sections, plans or detailed drawings you need for current work in the field.
Besides allowing me to teach you more effectively, digital delivery also means I can update this book easily as needed, incorporating corrections and suggestions sent to me by cabin-building people like you. Ultimately, readers are my best editors, so please let me know how I’ve done and how I can improve future versions of Cozy Cabin. Also, be sure to
spread the word about this book with friends and online. That would be a big favor for me.
Got something to share with me directly? I read and appreciate all comments:
Steve Maxwell
455 Bailey Line Road
Evansville, Ontario, Canada, P0P 1E0
Phone: (705) 282-2289
Fax: (705) 282-0796
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.realrurallife.com
6
The Cabin Back Story
My cabin experiences spring from the good fortune of being born into a family that owned a genuine log cabin. It was built by an eccentric bachelor ancestor of mine in 1923. Kenneth Malcolm Evans – Uncle Ken as he’s still called
today – lived most of his adult life on the shores of a great freshwater sea, in a
place that still holds my heart. Although he died a few years before I was
born, my experiences in his old cabin home began in May 1970, and they’ve
Steve’s cabin ancestor Ken
Evans (right) standing in front
of the log cabin he built in
1923 and lived in for 35 years.
left me with a lifelong attraction for country life that has always been more
than just theoretical. Sixteen years later, also in the month of May, I began
building my own first cabin that you can see below.
To be honest, it’s not a very good cabin, but this is where my
wife, Mary, and I would live in for the next five years until the
stone and timber home we built was ready to move into. Life
in that first cabin taught me the practical realities of successful, beautiful and durable cabin design and construction, but
like most of life’s important lessons they weren’t easy at the
time. Mistakes and inadequacies were many on that first
place, but as painful as they were, I count them all as blessings today. That’s because those early errors continue to serve
me well. They’ll serve you well,
too, because they’re part of
Steve and Mary’s first cabin when it was
new in 1986. Not very cozy and full of mistakes, it was their first home for five years
and offered lots of lessons.
what lets me deliver the insights
you need to steer you clear of problems while building your own cabin exceptionally
well the first time.
The eldest of our five children, Robert, was the baby that my wife and I had when
we were living in the cabin we built as our first married home, and the hereditary
Maxwell propensities towards cabin life seems to have rubbed off on him. Robert’s
grown up now, and the cabin design you’ll find here is what we designed and built
Cabin built by Robert
together. This place now serves as Robert’s first home – mortgage-free and especially
and Steve, and the design
precious because it was designed and built by both of us. There are certainly easier
that this book is about.
and flimsier ways to build a cabin than what you’ll find here, but none better that I
know of. One more thing. Some may question the robust design details we used, but each is included for a reason.
I can hear some wiseacres scoffing at the 8x12 floor beams, the 2x8 roof boards or the 12” spacing of the 2x12
floor joists. Yes, it’s possible to build a cabin light and flimsy, but doesn’t the countryside already have enough
saggy, drooping, short-lived shacks? I figure that the natural beauty of the earth deserves more honor than this.
7
Preview Copy. Click to buy full version.
CHAPTER 1
“Beginnings are always messy.”
-John Galsworthy, English novelist and playwright, 1867 - 1933
Selecting Your Site
and Clearing It
The first stage of a cabin-building project is enough to paralyze any thinking person. Your decisions about exactly where
and how your cabin sits will affect the way dozens of other people experience and interact with this place for generations. People not even born yet will see the world outside their windows in a certain way, from specific angles and in defined frameworks because of the decision you make right now. Location is vital, so what should you look for in a cabin
site?
8
What Makes a Good Cabin Site
Flat, well-drained, physically stable and beautiful. These are the four factors behind any successful cabin location. Added
to these considerations you should look at potential sources of household water (a well, lake or a river), access to power
lines (or the commitment to go with solar power or no electricity at all), and some kind of road or trail access. The site
Robert and I chose for his cabin is close enough to a tiny, private road for year-round accessibility, yet it’s completely hidden by trees. Power lines are about 150 feet from the cabin, and we hit a great underground water course with a well
drilled 120 feet into the limestone bedrock.
Slow Down . . . Look Around . . . Learn.
Do everything you can to gain experience observing your proposed building site over all four seasons before deciding
exactly where your cabin will go. Drainage issues, unexpected snow accumulation patterns and the interactions of sunlight and wind are all impossible to imagine properly ahead of time. A little patience with your building plans now
means you’ll probably never be disappointed by some feature of your building site that you didn’t know was there.
Tools for Clearing Your Cabin Site
Clearing land of trees and brush might prove easy or
difficult, depending on the kind of growth you’re dealing with and how thick it is. The work usually involves
the use of a chainsaw and the potentially dangerous
job of cutting trees and moving them out of the way.
Skills for safely using a chainsaw aren’t something I
have room to cover here, but let me leave you with
two essentials. First, always wear proper safety gear.
This hardly ever happens in the real world of amateur
chainsawing, but things are different at my place beThe complete chainsaw kit you’ll need for clearing your
cabin site and keeping it supplied with firewood.
cause of a lesson I learned in the late 1990s.
I was making firewood with my chainsaw, and after fin-
ishing a cut, I swiveled the saw away from my body with my left hand as the chain was slowing down. The still-moving
chain – razor-sharp from a fresh session with the file – whisked across my pants and cut through the fabric without leaving a scratch on my skin. That close call was enough to make me take chainsaw protection seriously ever since.
Nowadays, my boys and I always wear a forestry helmet with face shield and ear protection, work boots and safety chaps
when cutting. We’ve all got our own set of gear. Don’t wait for an accident (or near miss) to prove the importance of
these things to you. Also, there’s nothing like a thicket of small saplings to knock the chain off your saw while cutting.
Keep your chain adjusted taut at all times, but especially whenever you’re sawing through small brush and saplings. If
chainsaws are new to you, check out the best book I’ve seen on the subject. It’s called Homeowner’s Complete Guide to
the Chainsaw by Brian Ruth.
9
Before you start clearing, get yourself a roll of something called flagging tape from the hardware store. It’s florescent orange or pink plastic, it’s not sticky, and is especially made for breaking lengths off easily by hand and tying around trees
and brush in the forest. Use it to mark the outer perimeter of the area you’ll be clearing by tying onto the trunks of trees,
and ends of branches.
Chances are good that if you’re the kind of person to
build a cabin, you’re probably going to feel at least a little grieved about cutting down trees, trampling vegetation and turning what was a nice spot into something of
a mess. I know I had to come to terms with this issue
early in my building career and the process took many
years. Things would have been easier for me if I understood one thing that’s impossible to recognize without
help when you begin. The earth heals. It really does.
Of course your job is to inflict minimal injury on your
Cleared cabin site with foundation pier forms ready to
be installed. Beginnings are messy.
building site, while also setting the stage for your building site to become something more than it was before.
It’s not only entirely possible to do this, it’s actually eas-
ier than it seems. That’s because the earth possesses an amazing ability to partner with and enhance your own creative
efforts. Eventually, in a surprisingly short time, your messy, ragged, freshly cleared building site will heal around your
beautiful cabin, and all your worries about being a destroyer of the land you love will seem silly. Trust me. It happens,
and thank goodness it does. So go ahead and cut trees, move soil, push aside rock and partner with nature.
Beware of Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is vital, but it can also get the better of you. And when it does, impatience, mistakes and regret are crouching at your door. That’s why it’s vital to complete all construction steps in the right way and the right order before moving on. When you run into the road blocks that are an inevitable part of every building project – like running out of materials, or a tool that’s stopped working, or some construction error has become apparent – shift to some other part of
the work or stop completely until you can solve the issue properly before moving ahead. This pattern of work-stop-solveproceed is the secret behind every successful building project and every successful life. It’s the difference between slipshod
work and great craftsmanship. Achieving a stunning cabin is no mystery. It’s nothing more than a series of successfully
completed steps, one on top of the other.
Milestone#1: You’re ready for the next step when your site is free of brush and trees over an area at least 80
feet wide and 90 feet long. You’ve made decisions about where to get water, where water and power lines will run,
and the location of a driveway or path. Don’t underestimate how long all this will take. Be patient.
10
CHAPTER 2
You cannot dream yourself into a character;
you must hammer and forge yourself one.
- Henry David Thoreau, naturalist, writer, cabin dweller, 1817 - 1862
Building the
Foundation
When it comes to building cabins (or any other permanent structure for that matter), I’m completely sold on the idea of
creating for the long haul. If a cabin won’t last a century with minimal maintenance, then it’s not worth building. This
means working to at least the same standards of durability and beauty you’d apply to any full-size city house, even
though the style, size and soul of a good cabin is entirely different. The reason I’m big on maximizing durability is because it takes such a small amount of extra care, materials and money to yield a huge increase in long-term usefulness.
11
Building durably is actually an especially great deal when you consider the cost/benefit analysis. Any lapse from the durability mindset is simply a waste of time, money and resources. Although you can certainly build a cabin much more
quickly and less stoutly than the design here, the wisest use of resources often means going beyond what’s merely good
enough according to building code minimums. And while this might seem like a waste to some people, it’s actually good
stewardship.
The first and most important area where the quality mindset rules is with your foundation. The cabin featured here uses
masonry piers built to support the structure 16” to 24” off the ground, depending on how the soil happens to sit underneath the cabin. Our building site has flat limestone bedrock about 12” below soil level, offering the most solid footing
possible. In the interests of authentic good looks and strength, we built foundation piers out of limestone rock quarried
from the area, shaped by hand and assembled with mortar the old fashioned way. This is the approach you’ll find in the
plans, with more detailed stoneworking instructions later on.
Square and Straight Foundation Piers
Regardless of the type of foundation you choose, you’re faced with the challenge of creating an outline for your cabin
that has truly square corners. Measuring with a tape and your eye alone won’t deliver corners close enough to 90º. And
since the scale of the work is large, you need geometry to deliver accuracy. A carpenter’s square just won’t do it because
it’s too small.
In the case of the 16’ x 25’ footprint of this cabin, start by laying out one of the 16’ ends of your building, with one
spike or stake extending across one pair of corners. Next, grab two large tape measures and a couple of helpers to hold
the tape ends on the spike heads. You’re about to locate one of the 25’ sides of the cabin so it forms a square corner with
the end wall of the cabin you just marked as your starting point. Here’s how:
The overall width of the cabin is 192” (16’) and the overall length (including porch) is 300” (25’). And according to the
Pythagorean Theorem (remember high school geometry class?), the corners of this rectangular footprint will be 90º
when opposite sides are the same length and diagonal measurements taken corner to corner are equal. Getting opposite
sides the same length is easy, but what should both these diagonal lengths be? Here’s the formula, with places to plug
your cabin numbers in. The video on the next page makes the whole thing easier to understand.
Pythagorean Theorum:
Square root of the length of diagonal =
(Length of one side)2 + (Length of adjoining side)2
12