Received some help from my son and friend this weekend.
I moved a 20’ shipping container up there. We also got the knee walls and roof rafters up on the cabin.
There is a 6’5" clearance on the upper level in the middle. There is a loft on both sides, one side for a sleeping area and the other side will be for a small water supply and storage of dry goods. Where you don’t see rafters, I will put a dormer for additional light during the day.
12 Likes
First class accommodations. Are you going to wire it for 110AC as well as low voltage DC LED lighting?
2 Likes
that’s a good question. I have a whole bunch of LED 110 volt lights that I can run off my power inverter. do you think a 12 volt system is still necessary?
Probably not if you have 110 LED’s.
1 Like
By all means, what you already have puts you that much farther ahead. If you had an old RV ready to go to the scrap yard, you could bone out all the 12VDC wiring and fixtures. If not, I’d definitely go with the LEDs.
1 Like
Wow Bill, Been a while since I checked in, you have made some great progress. Did I read that right you are moving there in September? I had not realized you were moving so soon. Do you have a water supply?
1 Like
Jim, glad to see you’re back on DOW. We made the decision after Argos to move up there Sept 1. I need my house sold first but shouldn’t be a problem. We won’t be completely set up but should be good enough. I hope to have a well drilled before winter, but if not, I have plan B. We will have our basic needs met for a year. I’m pretty excited for this new way of life.
10 Likes
Definitely exciting! Maybe to the point of producing a “reality” show??
3 Likes
Hi Bill,
Very nice workmanship. The roof rafters located directly over the wall studs is absolutely correct for compression loading. Double top plate on walls is great. You wouldn’t believe how many do-it your-selfers don’t double them up. Are those the finished headers over the small openings? I know they are a short span, but any downward deflection might affect the operation of the unit (window, door) installed in the opening. This is especially apt to happen on walls with the roof framing loading. Are you planning on using metal roofing. I did and the snow load slides right off with the steeper pitches like yours. With asphalt shingles the snow load can just sit there and gradually begin to deflect at the weaker spans. I know this may take years and may seem like overkill, but it’s just my 2 cents. It may also be a code issue in some areas.
Pepe
1 Like
Thanks Pepe. It’s been fun learning. Don Mannes has been generous sharing his knowledge with me. I did install headers after raising the wall. I’m actually glad I did because I had to raise the wall myself and those 2x6’s get heavy when all nailed together. I am going with steel roofing for the purpose of shedding snow. Believe it or not, both the wife and I appreciate the sound of rain on a tin roof.
We have to pay for a building permit but don’t have codes to follow unless it’s electrical, septic or a well.
I’m building this smaller cabin for one to have something quick. Secondly, as a learning platform.
6 Likes
Looking good bill,allways fun building new things,wood or steal,just dont make it too fansy,or the tax man wiil turn you back intoo a slave out in the woods.Its a dam shame its that way, when i bought my trailer i ask the tax man if i built a garodge, how much the taxes go up , he said 200 bucks less a year if i used slider doors VS rollup doors, my doors slide.
1 Like
I talked to the tax man already. With this building on 40 acres, my taxes will be $115 per year. I’m okay with that
3 Likes
Glad too here you checked it out,not bad at all,michigan has allways seem too be a high tax state.its not so bad as it was before the houseing bubble busted.The jobs just arent too many here, or traditional factory type jobs.kids now days seem too be heading too army for job,Not good thinking when you see the reasons for war.
By my math, you’d only need to process roughly 750 lbs of wood for your truck to “pay back” the taxes based on the cost of that much Dino juice that you’d be saving. Considering that I hear some folks processing more than that of wood scraps in day’s work, I’d say you’re doing well. 
1 Like
Due to the time restraints of getting everything put together up north and all the excess 3 year seasoned Oak available at my current residence, I decided to haul it all up north. It’s a total of about 2+ cords. That should be close enough to get me through most of the winter. Whatever else is needed can be found up there. I also needed my yard cleaned up to sell this house.
9 Likes
A big relief for me today. I was able to get my Chinese Honda clone inverter generator to run both my plasma cutter and welder. They didn’t make it easy for me though. They used European receptacles on the panel to plug into. The circuit breakers are set for 20 amps and they used 14 and 12 gauge wire behind the panel.
I removed the factory receptacles and replaced them with a twist lock. I also made a 3’ extension to plug into.
I tested the welder first and it didn’t work. I then tried the plasma cutter and it worked well. I went back to the welder and fund the grounding clamp was corroded. So I cleaned it up and put a new bolt in it and now works well. I welded on some 1/4" stock scrap left over from my chunker.
Now I need some input. Is a welder hard on a generator? It is a pure sine wave generator so it should be okay for the welder. I’m worried because the welder may be constantly be pushing max capacity when in use. It does have an ECO switch so it idles down with no load. I do understand I will need to use this with gasoline only because wood gas may not provide enough the way it is.
Anything else I may have over looked?
3 Likes
It will draw current as needed; the welder never uses its rated amperage unless you’re welding on max heat settings. Most of the time it should be well below the rated amps. You can probably weld gasifiers all day long and it will never notice.
3 Likes
Thanks Chris. I guess I should have reworded that. I meant max capacity on the generator. I have pushed this welder hard but haven’t exceeded it’s duty cycle. I suppose the circuit breakers will pop before any internal wires would fail?
2 Likes
HI Bill S just wondering how good that cuts 1/8" miled steel under 5K watts.I am surprized it cuts at them lower watts.I see your getting the fort up,looks good and sturdy.
2 Likes
I’m really not sure about the milled steel. I imagine the same? It went through the ¼" fine.