Hi all, I am officially done clearing out trees and plan to start the building process on a 12x16 mini cabin. The cabin is going to be in the northern part of lower peninsula Michigan. My question is foundation related for budget and simple diy. I have 3,000lbs of bagged paver base and was curious if 12-24x24” holes lined with geo fabric and filled with compacted paver base with a deck block would suffice if I used rebar to anchor the base from uplift. The ground is 100% sand after the first 2”, but I still worry about frost heave. I understand this will not meet code, I’m just trying to use what is available to me because carrying 80lb bags of cement to fill sono tubes seems like a lot and a vehicle can’t currently get close enough to the build site.
Any advice is appreciated.

I have lived off grid for 32 years in an older mobile home that runs off solar with a backup generator. The mobile home has become difficult to heat so I’d like to build a simple cabin around 24 x 36 with an open floor plan.I have some experience building small outbuildings and enclosed porches. Does anyone have experience with any of the home designer software that costs less than Chief Architect products? At a minimum I need something that generates framing so I can estimate materials. Laying out plumbing and electrical would be icing on the cake. I’d also prefer a software purchase rather than subscription.

Hello all, waiting to close on an off grid cabin in a couple weeks, currently powered off generator, but I am wanting to limit the noise and such of running a generator so considering all the usual suspects as far as power banks, jackery 5000 at the moment is out front. Question I have is on the Jackery it has a 30 amp plug and a 50 amp, wondering which I should use and why?
I intend to put the jackery inside the cabin so I don’t run into any issues with the cold, and as such will put a plug in the wall hooked to the electrical panel in the cabin with an interlock.

A little TLC on my Maine hunting cabin, sits on 40 acres with views of Mount Washington with an incredible sunset view.

I am currently building a 16x36 5/12 roof off grid single story cabin in Maine intended for sporadic year round use. Climate zone 6. Havent insulated or sheathed the inside walls yet and am not quite sure of what to use for sheathing or vapor /moisture control.

I am trying to build this camp to survive long term. I am 35 years old currently and don't want to have to be replacing a bunch of rot when I'm at retirement age. So far I've splurged/invested in azek trim, composite decking and standing seam roof. Only thing I may have to do is reshingle the cedar shingles in a few decades. I really don't want to make the wrong choice now and have everything rot out prematurely.

I am wondering whats the best way to mitigate /control moisture and ventilation especially in the bathroom.

The exterior wall construction is 1/2 Advantech on 2x6 spf studs with hydrogap house wrap and cedar shingles. I will be using rockwool bats (unfaced) in the exterior walls.

There is one main room 16x28 and will have a woodstove and chimney. Metal roof with insulated vaulted ceiling with vented ridge.

The north end has a 16x8 foot room with a flat ceiling for a loft I will put a water tank on for head pressure.

I plan on dividing that 8 foot room into a 8x5 foot bathroom in the northwest corner. There is a 4x2 foot casement window on the west wall of the bathroom.

I plan to install a shower stall and a compost toilet in that room. I am most likely going with a Sunmar Excel NE non electric compost toilet. This requires a 4 inch vent stack through the roof from the toilet for natural convection air flow from the intake slots in the base of the toilet.

The plan is to pre wire the cabin for 120v from a generator and maybe someday a house battery and then solar panels down the road. For the first few years I don't plan on having 120v, just propane appliances with piezo or battery ignition.

I plan on putting a ceramic propane indirect vent heater in the bathroom as well as a camplux 2.64 on demand propane water heater in the bathroom. Unfortunately I don't think I can run a direct vent on the water heater since those models require 120vac for the vent fan. I plan on using an "outdoor" model that will vent into the bathroom. For my limited water supply and quick showers and a window in the room I think I should be fine. There will be airflow through the roof via the toilet, as well as a the 2x4 window. Propane heater will only be on while bathroom is occupied.

In the main room I will install another propane ceramic indirect vent heater for a supplement to the woodstove as well as having a pilot lit range/cook top and a propane refrigerator. With these propane appliances I know I will be producing a lot of moisture in the building, mostly from the propane fridge as well as the stove pilots.

Summer months I obviously can have the windows open for ventilation, and winter months the woodstove will be cranking out plenty of dry heat to offset propane exhaust moisture. Spring and fall will be a little of both.

There will be many months a year where the building will just be closed up and pilot lights/fridge won't be burning.

Anyway that's a long enough overview of what I am doing. The main things I haven't decided upon is what is the best way to control the moisture in the bathroom from the water heater, shower and propane heater. I am thinking I may use purple board sheet rock in the bathroom. Should I use poly sheeting under the rock? Or a smart vapor retarder like Certainteed MemBrain? Or forgo any. I know the building should be constructed to "breath", but I just don't know the best way to do that.

For air outlets the 6" chimney in the main room and the 4" vent of the compost toilet are the only openings to the outside.

For the vaulted ceiling in the main room I will probably use tongue and groove pine. Unsure of the interior wall sheathing yet and am open to suggestions. I don't think I want sheet rock in the main room but am open to it in the bathroom. The "back" room will probably remain unsheathed but insulated until I finish the solar and battery system down the road.

Should I put a vapor barrier or retarder on the inside walls? Does the answer to that depend on what type of sheathing? Rock or wood?

Should I put a barrier or retarder under the insulation in the ceiling above the tongue and groove pine? (Will have a light gray color standing seam metal roof above it with vented ridge.)

Should I come up with some type of additional vent system completely to get some air exchange for the moisture from propane appliances?

Or should I just not worry about it and slam up whatever I decide on for walls with nothing but unfaced rockwool behind it?

Should I build it "loose" and let it be drafty?​ In the cold months I wont be too worried about having to burn a little extra firewood.

I still need enough air admittance to let the woodstove draw and the compost toilet vent properly. They even mention in the toilet manual that competing appliances like a woodstove can reverse the draft through the toilet stack. There should be 2 closed doors separating these though.

There will be CO and smoke detectors installed, of course.

Thanks for making it all the way to the end.

I need some advice on how to build the door jamb for my cabin. I have a reclaimed solid pine door and my cabin is sided with cedar board and batten. The door is a left out-swing to provide more internal space and to work with prevailing winds - so in other words the hinges will be on the exterior side of the cabin. From inside to out, the wall is: T&G (¾") > 2x4 (3 ½") > zip (7/16") > airgap (¾") > board (⅝") > batten (⅝"). My question is how wide should I make the jamb (on a typical house its just the width of the framing plus the drywall thickness + siding thickness), given that the hinge is on the outside and the extreme width of the exterior siding and airgap. Was thinking I could remove the b&b and air gap around the door and frame the jamb to that width and then then just finish? add the B&B and gap back? what are the pros/cons? any alt ideas?

Before and after staining our new outhouse exterior

Finally yesterday I got my little off grid cabin in place. After the delivery truck the neighbors tractor and a tow truck all got stuck the excavator rescued everyone and I couldnt be happier. The flooring and kitchen cabinets are next week sometime. Once its all done I will write up a good description and break down of all the costs for anyone interested..Thanks

Here is what the inside looks like now, after adding some decor and finishing the paint.

The first 2 are after staining inside, the last 2 are before.

Hello,

I was hoping to get some advice from my fellow off grid cabin owners on this. I have 35 acres that I use for camping and hunting, and the next thing that I want to do is build a cabin.

I have a large and close knit family, and several of my uncles have been helping me do things like install a gate, rebuild an old logging trail into a passable driveway, etc. They have also offered to help out with the construction of my cabin, but I was wondering if it might be better to have two or three smaller cabins?

My original plan was to build a 24x24 cabin that was designed to sleep 6 adults comfortably, but I’m starting to lean towards either building two or three smaller cabins so myself and each of my uncles would have their own places. I also plan to host summer holidays like Memorial Day and Labor Day there as well, so more cabins would give me more sleeping options.

Has anyone ever encountered this type of situation before, and which way would you recommend going?

Last night at the cabin. Crazy dancing lights!

I'm building an off-grid cabin in Maine and through the land clearing process dug up huge amounts of boulders and stones. I'm curious what use folks have used these for?

I have some things in mind.

What are y'all using for flooring in your off-grid cabins? We built a new kitchen in Northern Ontario which currently has a plywood floor. We've figured we can't use hardwood due to wide fluctuations in temperature and humidity over the year. One family wants engineered hardwood and the other wants vinyl planks (LVP). Anyone have success with either or can suggest a better material?

The foundation and subfloor are in, starting on the walls next week. I've been thinking about skirting the foundation and am wondering about using cordwood (I have lots of downed trees). Any thoughts? Also, if cobwood skirting is viable, I have plenty of sand on the property, but no clay. Is it possible to make a mortar with sand and hydrated lime? Menards has inexpensive bags of lime.

My buddy and I made a quick trip to continue working on the outhouse. We leveled the base and built up the ground around it with rock base and dirt. Put in a french drain-ish thing on the back side of the build area. Built the frame and attached thin ply under it.

Not pictured is insulated the floor with stone wool insulation. Put on 3/4" subfloor (hole was cut as well). We also putt a roll of linoleum over the subfloor to water proof it.

Next step is to cut a vent hole in the floor and install a PVC connection for an exhaust pipe. Put peel and stick "nice vinyl" in enough to install the toilet stem. Then it should be usable and can support a few nights while we build the walls and roof.

Bought a wood lot in eastern Canada 5 years ago, and just last year finally moved forward on building out the bunkhouse.

There’s no other structure on the property yet, so we’ll use this accessory building until a later time when we can build the main cabin.

Powered by a Bluetti battery bank and no running water. I’ll be installing a rain barrel (for the eventual outdoor shower), building out an outdoor kitchen, and setting up a composting toilet in the small outbuilding out back.

So my Dad has a cabin that has an old well with decent water flow, but he has limited power. I am thinking his water system is about due for an upgrade but can't directly pull from the well regularly.

Current process:

Use a Gas pump at well to push the water to a water tank about 300M away and 25M up. He fills an approx 1000L storage tank and tops with a bit of bleach. Then uses an electric boat pump to pull from tank into the cabin but only for washing not for drinking which he hauls in from town.

I'd like to switch the process to eliminate the bleach in the holding tank and add a water filtration system at the cabin for essentially on demand drinking water. The water was tested and is considered safe to drink (if a tiny bit earthy tasting, which I think a carbon filter would fix), except for the bleach he uses in the storage tank.

Chemistry is not my strong suit, but what issues do I need to be aware of with the storage tank holding water and exposed to sunlight. And would those issues be fixed with a modern UVC LED filter combined with a carbon block filter. Is bleach necessary in this process or is my Dad making his own life difficult?

Thanks

I'm looking at building one, it's going to be 4m x 6m(13ft x 19ft). It's using ribbed Kingspan panel, hoping for the floor too where others might use timber. And I'm wondering how I can make the floor and wall joint structurally sound but minimize any cold bridging. It has to be strong enough to transport the whole structure afterwards too.

I've had some recommendations to carry the metal all the way to the outer edge to give the walls solid metal to stand on, but I'm not a far of the inside metal working as a cold bridge from outside to inside. Another suggestion was to strip the top metal of the floor where the walls are going to sit, and make a butt joint in the PIR foam. While great from a insulation perspective, it does make me worry about structural integrity, especially once it is crane lifted and transported.

Has anyone had experience with doing a similar build?

I spent my Labor Day weekend giving the old outhouse a refresh. 💩🏠