anyone build cabins?

[Car Nut]

 

[diymirage]

It looks like you are building not a guest cabin but an entirely separate living quarters. Is that how you would expect it to be used? Your guests won't have to come see you at all and they can simply live out there for possibly weeks. That would be more like a "mother-in-law" quarters.

I'll suggest that a real guest cabin is more like a hotel room that is used for sleeping only. No cookstove or dishwasher. Guests would come into the main house for that. You might also consider it as a kid's bunkhouse that can sleep 4-6 teenagers. Which would mean adding more single beds and less livingroom space. Keep the bathroom and make everything else into sleeping areas. Maybe keep one enclosed bedroom for a pair of consenting adults is all.

You also need to make allowances for housekeeping such as a vacuum cleaner and cleaning supplies storage and extra towels and sheets and trash cans. As the host, you will be cleaning and preparing the building between guests and you should make it easy for yourself.

Designing this is fun, but be sure to think it through, who is going to use it and how you are going to maintain it on a day to day basis. And don't forget it will need both heat and air conditioning. The days of folks guests being satisfied with just opening windows is pretty much gone. One more thing...plan on being able to drain the water lines to prevent freeze so you don't have to pay for heating all year.

going by your definition, the term "seperate living quarter" would be more appropriate
i did not consider a dishwasher, but i do want a functional kitchen (did not think to include a washer and dryer)

great points on the heating cooling, i will have to give proper consideration to that before we fully build it

I like that post and beam approach you showed. I think I've seen that video and it was a great build.
The 2x8 deal gives more room for insulation and allows wider stud spacing (24 vs 16) to reduce thermal bridging (where the stud acts like a heat sink). It doesn't so much as save cost as it doesn't increase cost much, but gives a better result. A layer of foam insulation around the outside before siding can also break the bridging too though. There's more than one way to skin a cat..

For siding, depending on the look you're after, wood slat would have a classic look and give you a little more freedom on sizing vs panel siding like T111. Find a local sawyer and you might even be able to find off cuts to make a faux log look.

cool, if/once this gets going i will go with that ledger idea
for siding, i really like the look of shiplap, which, if i understand it correctly is basically tongue and groove, not to much easier to work with then that
(the t1-11 would be great and a lot easier if i were going with shorter walls, but the way this is working out, im thinking i wont be able to get the sheeted walls up but myself anyway, so i think siding it after it is up makes more sense

Another option to consider is to build it in a mini barn/storage building style where you build a 2x6 floor system on 4x6 runners. You then set the building on concrete blocks. This style of building isn’t considered a “permanent structure” and therefore isn’t held to the same standards as far as property tax and coding in a lot of areas. Would also give you the option to move or sell it in the future if you wanted to. This is personally the way I would build a tiny home/small cabin.

thats a good point, any time i can keep taxes and other pointless expenses down im all for it

in this case, i would have to pour footings for it though, because the ground slopes too much, i dont think regular blocks would do

i wonder if i could install posts and slide cinder blocks around them?
there is a thought

Thanks. I know a couple that do great work but nowhere near there.

cool, i think i want to build this thing myself, but if for some reason i got money to burn and dont need the head ache of building it, im gonna see if you can throw a few names my way

Love the idea, but the width concerns me. 12' is not enough room to have two exterior walls, bathroom, interior wall, room to walk around the bed, and finally the bed. By the time you add the walls all together and the bathroom width you're only left with a 6' wide bedroom. If you want to be able to walk around a bed and access to the shelves as shown in the layout the only option I see might be a twin bed and it will be tight even with that. I wish I had a guest house as it would make life so much easier.

Tom

this is why im posting here, feel free to toss up a better design
(im not sure how much wider i could make it, but im open to suggestions)

im not looking to build a hide out or a hunting cabin where a murphy bed would do, so if we can figure this out in the design stages, that would be cool

 

[valiantwagonguy]

Yes they are. Right before Christmas I had 16k in cash I couldn't find anything to put the money down on. Most everything down here that I'm seeing about an hour outside of Tampa is around 80 to 100K for a third to a half an acre with a mobile home that needs a complete and total Rehab on it this is insane....

I was looking at Sierra Vista AZ and what was 130,000 is now 200 and the interest rate thing puts me right out of the market . Looks like retirement is going to be up in the Adirondacks in the snow and freezing cold.

 

[Ironracer]

I was looking at Sierra Vista AZ and what was 130,000 is now 200 and the interest rate thing puts me right out of the market . Looks like retirement is going to be up in the Adirondacks in the snow and freezing cold.

Wow, ugh.... that's a Lil rough! Sorry to hear that. I think Florida's turning into the new California I swear the States ruined at this point

 

[PROSTOCKTOM]

While this 26'x20' Adirondack Style 2-Bedroom Cabin might be more than you're after it's still worth looking at to get some ideas.



I've watched this video a lot and always wonder where I could build one at.

Tom