We moved to the cabin the very next day after I retired… I plan on this thread to be quite lengthy Mainly, my thought is to use this as a secondary place to park my jottings and thoughts in regard to our cabin build and the actual move to the cabin, off grid. It’ll be another book one day But I’m in no rush Comments, questions are encouraged Anyway We bought our land back in ‘99 The first few years we’d sneak away (300 mi south) when we could, and gently clear the land in places for our cabins, utility buildings and places for our vehicles We tried getting there in winter, but found snowshoeing in four feet of snow a bit more arduous than we cared to experience more than once I cannot create a design on paper The angles so vivid in my mind do not readily transfer from brain to nib So I build scale models to prove structural, practical and esthetic thoughts We’ve maintained one rigid rule, and what has become our religion, to not use huge equipment or other folk’s help in preparing our place I always wanted to build an A frame Loved the look That changed after living in one for awhile But I'm getting ahead of myself Here’s some pics of the model and actual build;
Very nice craftsmanship! I can't imagine living in town and then retiring in the mountains these days. I left the mountains, 1990, where I built my own 1100 square-foot log and rough-sawn lumber cabin with my only power tool being a chainsaw. I learned to sharpen my own handsaw after sawing several 3/4" plywood subflooring by hand. I even built my own cabinets by hand. I left because of all the subdividing and recreational folks coming in that brought in all kinds of problems. It has been more peaceful living on the outskirts of town. If I had my health, I would buy a small ranch in sagebrush and juniper country. Less chance of being crowded out by recreationists and hipsters. Looking forward to hearing more of your experiences.
My 200 sf cabins were 'cabins' Fine lady, at 1100 sf, yours was a lodge Now THAT I admire I had a generator that powered my sliding miter saw
What do you use for water and for waste disposal? Do you have a well and outhouse? If so, how do you power your well?
Water; We discovered a long abandoned well on the south end for the property. (just a pipe sticking outa the ground) Plumbed it with a line and a large nut Got wet at 14' Bottomed out at around 40' Pulled water out with a hand pump Asked an old well digger about getting it tested He said 'taste it....that's yer test' Whoa......best ever Took considerable water to prime it Couldn't keep the prime with the hand pump Got a Home Depot elect pump Ran if off a 300w genny Built a well house off the sea container, since the container was so close Used the leftover roofing from the cabins Bought a low heat propane heater for winter (a life saver) Best water I ever tasted 37°F year round Lore has it there's an underground lake (from Crater Lake?) Never went dry, even in the last of a dry summer Only thing it's around 100 yrds from the cabin water is....heavy Good exercise, however
The Loo; We built it a ways from the cabin Knowing water table was only around 12-14', I chose to not just dig a hole I created a 5 gal bucket situation The seat In winter (temps around -37°F) we learned to wrap the seat with strips of foam (Trying to unfreeze yer hind end from the seat gets a bit tedious) It was quite comfy as I'd put the height in just where we liked it I was rather proud of the door decor Looked like Jacob Marley would reply to a knock
Tedious things or What we do with you know what; This is what I learned from a guy down the path that had been composting his family of five's 'stuff' for six years. Build a bin Approx four feet cubed Posts in the corners and 3-4 inch wide by half inch thick boards 2-3 inch spacing Initially leave one side open with one or two boards at the bottom. Start with a generous layer of pine needles or the like. A layer of straw on top of that does not hurt. Empty your pail of you know what, including TP, and well...pee. (no wipes, won't break down) Pine needles and straw on top of that, about 2-3 inches. Add boards as needed. If you experience an odor, add more straw and needles. (if you experience an odor after saaay a foot of pine needles and straw, change your dining habits or see a doctor) Once the bin is full, proceed to the next bin and start the process anew. Let the first bin 'rest' for 12 months. Happy birthday, you now have compost. Somebody told me to never mix in the urine, or I’ll learn the hard way About the urine; This 'compost' will not go into our garden. Bushes, shrubs, maybe trees, if anything. My intent is to just break down the 'stuff'. So, the explanation of 'learning the hard way' prolly doesn't apply in our case. I'm just getting somewhat weary of spending a goodly portion of whatever is left of my precious time here on irth boiling poopoo. At first it was fascinating. The lighting ceremony. Stirring the caldron. Tossing on more...and more.....and more fuel. Not sure when tedium recognition took place, but, by end of winter the allure had transmuted to some kinda sordid monotony. This led me to the quick and easy aspect of composting. But to extract urine from the other stuff, or to somehow divert the stream 'tween urges? Not bloody likely. Then again, if we were to be so bold as to use our loo-made urineized compost in our veggie garden after a year of resting, well, those fine neighbors down the path have been doing it for years now and they seem normal.....good color, no hair loss, good muscle tone....minimal itching.... But, like most aspects of living off grid, the very real things, procedures of day to day life, get rather nitty gritty. None of it can be diverted or in some cases postponed. This ain't Disney out here. Even the simple task of bathing can be an adventure, especially in winter. Back on topic; I've never been a member of the white toilet bowl society, nor a proponent of the decorative hand towel display. The one so ornate one is given to wiping their hands on their pants or flapping them dry to avert messing up the obvious feng shui of accoutrementle aura. Thing is, most of us, when on city water, never give where things go a second thought. The only concern is when the water keeps running after flushing, causing your water bill to compete with your electric. It's either accepting the fact that you must train all family members how to successfully jiggle the handle, busying yourself by looking at your facial flaws in the mirror until the water does in fact quit running, or just standing there, staring at the swirling eddy in the bowl, daring it to keep running, or, eventually lifting the tank lid, reaching into that mystical area and fixing the darn thing, feeling a bit heroic, showing everyone that you, you are the master of the house, you got this. But, When the outhouse becomes the facility, whatever you ingested just hours ago eventually becomes an ever present, heaping menace. And the question looms, what on earth do we do with this, this festering mound of blind eels? Having mastered cleansing these aging vessels of ours, and maintaining a controlled command of the laundry, especially thru the winter months, we are on task to turn these flourishing keester cakes into a form of harmless humus, of which we can merrily cast forth, back to muther irth...where it belongs. Seems our society has taken the unglamorous facets of living and, for the most part, hidden them. I mean how many of us (sans septic tanks) know where sewage goes? Oh sure, we see the treatment plants, and have read about how everything gets converted to biodegradable glop, but what about the really horrible stuff? I do believe it's good...'xcuse me, necessary to git yer hands in it, see it, learn how to give it back to muther irth in a relative form of whence it came. Same with garbage, another topic, but the same thing. Some societies have no garbage, yet we (most of us) feel just fine about putting anything undesirable in a can because once a week a large noisy truck makes it all disappear. I have too simple (lazy) of a mind to get into all this, but even us simple guys can take heed and comply with the nature...natural process of things. Fresh notes on this; Winter 2017 It snows here, lots The compost bin is many paces from the cabin I chose to devote my snow trekking energy to drawing water....many paces from the cabin. So, Back to burning What I came to learn last winter was it takes considerable time to tend the barrel. As much fun as churning the cauldron seems, it’s not one of my favorite pastimes. This, our second year, I stayed on top of everything. Water Wood Propane Gas Diesel Food Small building supplies, nails, screws, brackets All stocked All the time No surprises Winter has its own surprises, so it’s best to keep the odds of getting in a bind to a minimum. Give yerself a running chance. I incorporated poopail duty into my aggressive maintenance schedule. Turns out, less burns quicker. Every other day is around a quarter pail of moist paper, pine needles at the bottom, and eight meals worth of mud bunnies. We gathered four pails of pine needles back in the fall. Best ever at layering the bucket. Much much better than sawdust. Worried four pails wouldn’t be enough. We have two pails left, and it’s, what, March? Anyway, I’ll twist the old ashes with a farmer’s fork, pour a cup of diesel/gas/used oil mix fetch the bucket dump it in the barrel (temps at 0°F and below require the tapping of a hammer near the bottom of a tipped bucket) twist that a bit with the fork or, at low temps, poke heck outa it with the farmer’s fork pour a generous amount of the volatile cocktail (2-3 cups…a tin can’s worth) twist a sheet of newspaper, soak the end light it flick it into the barrel run light heck, screaming FIRE! FIRE! Jus’ kidding Put the screen on And go about yer other business for 20 minutes Note; If, for some reason, the barrel does not go ‘whoooosh!’ Do NOT! hang yer face over it to determine the matter (...another thing I came to learn) Jus’ do the pour, paper routine again Best to treat the barrel like poking a cornered puma during this procedure. Synopsis; It takes around an hour to reduce raw alley apples into powder of grey Poupon when tending ever 20 minutes Bon marché
I would probably compost it anyway just to preserve the value of the "humanure". I have posted previously about a homesteading family here who had a pee bucket that they kept on the porch outside the door, and all family members used it, then put it back outside to freeze. They had an outhouse that was in the ground, so it was mostly for convenience and to use the urea that was generated. When the bucket was full, they would bring it back in until it thawed just a bit, then they took it out and upended it over the garden space on top of the snow. By spring, their garden looked like a garden of yellow lumps, but when it thawed, it soaked nicely into the ground when it all thawed and they had a very green garden. Pine needles usually don't compost very well, so if you can find some deciduous leaves, they would work better as compost fodder...or straw if you have livestock.
I was just reading about that foam-on-the-toilet-seat trick elsewhere. I think the guy cut a piece of styrofoam to shape. You lose zero body heat when you sit on it. Ingenious.
I hope Gary won't mind if I butt in, but he and his wife moved back "to town" after several years in the cabin. As far as I know they have actual indoor plumbing now. (Unless something has changed, Gary??)
No deciduous trees up there I did finally buy a bale of straw to compost The pine needles were just a thin layer for the bottom of the bucket
Funny thing on that We were so happy to have indoor plumbing While we were moving in, the city was blowing out the city sewer pipes on the street right in front of our house (an annual thing) Our toilet and all drains became geysers! I got 'em to shut down and blow out the lines in another direction After mopping up, I rented a rooter and cleaned out our sewer pipes The city came back the next day and finished their job on our street with no unsettling events I did have to remove the shower drain and snake it out as it was draining slower than I thought it should Happy to say, two years later everything is still flowing/draining smoothly BTW @Beth Gallagher I'm very attached to the hand held shower head Whoever invented that should be awarded a Nobel