[outofstater]

My cabin i put in 1993 consist of a amish built storage building 12x20 cottage style 3 cheap windows and steel entrance door. I did it back in the day of a shoe string budget but still had it quite nice for what i could do. I started by insulating well walls and ceiling, 100 amp service, 3- 1k watt electric baseboard heater, sink base with dry sink but have abucket underneath to catch dishwater, 1 wall cabinet, 1/2 table, small bathroom just commode, comm. carpet with heavy padding, paneling on walls, and ceiling tile. Sounds neat but little cramped in 12x20 also a double bed.
Now what i would like to do is have a shower cant stand myself after a few days. I would like to add on a 12 wide 16' deep the only option i have is go like L shape on one end. The left side keeping me from going that way is my utility pole, plus my water and sewage line. The other side woods in way, grade, and water on oppisite side along with commode, etc. I was pricing a building that size just shell and they want 2,500.00 i know i can do the same shell myself much cheaper. Looking for tips inside im a 1/2 but carpenter and wanted to be efficient most econimic way. One thing i only turn heat on when im there i just pour anti freeze in commode and my main water suppy is a yard hydrant in bathroom with 2 small garden hoses coming off. One hose is hooked to commode other one is just there for my regular water usage. Has worked well in last years. I used a luwan paneling back than everyone telling me that would be the best since i didnt have heat all the time. Has anything changed to this aspect? Is there any truth to things not working right since heat iant there all the time? What does everyone else do for interior walls and need plubling tips along with what hot water heater. Im always by myself so dont need much. I figured since i was doing al of this i would go ahead and hook up sink.

 

[RonM]

2500 is not that bad a price, get one and make it into a T shape. Acouple photos would be of help, it this in Allegh Cty, MD or in Pa. one of those Amish bldgs is what I want to do as soon as I find a piece of land......

 

[outofstater]

Pa. Bedford county. My 12x20 in 93 was 1,200.00

 

[comblockshooter]

whats the price for an old semi trailer. a guppie trailer should be about 28X12

 

[47studebaker]

any plumbing you install should be "pitched" so all you have to do is open a drain at the lowest point. No antifreeze needed.

 

[outofstater]

I have a well of course but inside my little bathroom i have a yard hydrant simple lift handle you got water close handle it actually closes off 3' down and drains out. Off of it i have a y fitting with a small piece of garden hose with fittings running to commode. On the other side a short piece of house just to fill pans of water. I only put anti freeze in commode in winter months im not there. My future plans are to be little more modern.

 

[Clearfield12]

If your on a super tight budget what Id do is...
Start off with new footers
frame the walls
frame the roof
sheath them
use propane wall heaters
use a propane on demand hot water heater
use pex for all plumbing
do a little at a time and you will have a better built longer lasting product

 

[outofstater]

Not really on tight budget now 19 years ago yes, but still dont want to over spend. Interior walls was my main concern.

 

[Clearfield12]

frame them up and insulate, then rockem....or use tongue and groove knotty pine and go floor to ceiling.

 

[Clearfield12]

Personally I cant stand paneling.
You spend more for paneling than sheetrock.
For your plumbing use PEX lines and fittings. Its a piece of cake.
For hot water get an on demand propane hot water heater.
You can buy them now for under 300.

 

[outofstater]

Remember in my original post years ago told when there is no heat can cause problems with some materials? How does dry wall or the pine you mentioned fare to that.

 

[Clearfield12]

I have both sheetrock and pine and my heat is off all winter. I don't have any problems. My ceiling and walls are insulated

 

[outofstater]

I think i could do the sheet rock myself, uses to do auto bidy work years ago.

 

[pumpgun]

2500 won't buy a lot of lumber these days when you really price it all out. framing, siding, floor, roof, shingles, nails, etc. that said, i would rather spend a little more and do it myself because most of these amish-type shed/barns i've seen are cheesy framing sitting on 4x4's. ok for 10 years or so but then things are going to start sagging. if you have the ka-ching, i'd sink PT 6x6's into concrete and frame the deck with PT 2x8 on 16" centers with a 3/4 plywood floor and conventional 2x4 framing from there on up. it would give you more flexiblity size-wise too. check out 84 lumber. they have some garage kits that have all the fixin's.

 

[reeltime]

I would build my own -vs- buying something premade, you have a lot more control over options.

a few things to think about.

1. best layout to gain the most advantage of space with the least amount of destruction to prep the new addition.

2. build as much as possible before penetrating the existing building. you want to keep the existing weather tight and secure as long as possible.

3. not sure how the existing building sets, is it on a gravel bed, piers, posts, runners? I would probably match the existing or you may have problems down the road. what I mean is if the existing is on runners and you add an addition that you sink posts or piers for IF you get frost lifting the existing building thats on runners you stand a good chance of breaking something, one is going to move and the one on posts will not.

4. If you are going with 4x4 or 6x6's do not cement them in. our code here is 42" thats what I did mine at. then poured about 6" of dry concrete mix in the hole. next I put a 4"x8"x8" ( 4x8x16 that I cut in half) solid cement block in the bottom of the hole. made sure the block was fairly level then set the post and backfilled with dirt.
the reason you do not cement them in is that pressure treated is supposed to be able to "breath" if its encased in cement it cannot allow water to escape and the post will rot off right where the cement ends.

5. if you are going to be up off the ground with the floor framing I would use pressure treated on the bordering frame and support framework and would use conventional construction grade lumber for the floor joists. if you are close to the ground or in a wet environment then use pressure treated.
*Just remember IF you use pressure treated floor joists you will have to use nails treated for use with pressure treated wood or use deck screws.* if you use just common nails or screws in todays pressure treated wood the chemical they treat it with will deteriorate the metal.

6. I would use advan tech 3/4" tongue & groove for the flooring far superior to conventional plywood for water contact. sturdi dry or sturdi floor are 2 other brand names of that type of flooring. just a fyi the coverage width is only 47 1/2" when you allow for the tongue & groove to lock. so if you are going more than 3 sheets wide remember to allow for that shortage or you will end up with a narrow band along the exterior wall where you want at least a foot of stable flooring to nail your bottom plate for the wall.

7. plan your lumber usage, when I did my place I didn't need to have 8' ceilings, so it was either buy 2x4x8 or precut 2x4x92 5/8" and cut them to length I wanted. so I bought 2x4x14's cut them to 7' and saved about 10 cents a board with no waste.

8. we had already planned on knotty pine inside so we sheeted the entire interior with 7/16"osb. floor to ceiling and wall to wall on the ceiling. then caulked all the seams and corners. bee's and those asian ladybugs can get in the littlest crack! I spent 18 years vacuming them up in the old camp fixed that problem this time!

drywall will by far be the cheapest wall covering for the looks, I drywalled our entire house here and I wanted something different there so went with the pine, that certainly wasn't the cheapest option!

9. windows, get what you can afford, sometimes you can get misorders or refusals at the local lumber yard or lowes / home depot for a really good price. its best to have them before hand so you have the rough opening sizes, and you can do a floor layout. just don't skimp on the quality you want a good window at a good price not a cheaply made window at a cheaper price that will not keep out a draft.

10. if you are going to run electric in the new part and are going to do osb and pine I would use old work boxes, I made a cut out jig that worked great! and putting the pine up after devicing out the electric was easy and fast! much faster than trying to cut out nail on boxes. now if your doing drywall then I would do nail on and then cut them out with a roto-zip.


I guess I better stop here or I will be typing all night,,, sorry for rambling on. hope some of this was a help for you.

 

[outofstater]

Much appreciated the effort and info from your post. You 2 pumpgun appreciate. My currrent so called cabin is sitting on gravel 4x4 runners with treated plywood. Worked good last 19 years and not a bad way. I agree build on the same way due to heaving. Yes i did a cost of estimate not counting trusses if i go that route but the shell including 3 double pane windows im at around 1,100.00 So if i would have 400 more in few trusses and shingles which i dont think i will but round off at 1,500.00 thats still 1k under cheapest quote. My time i dont care im off in winter months unless it snows. Thanks again guys great responce.

 

[pumpgun]

i have heard about not cementing in the PT 6x6's but i have a deck that i cemented them in in 1992 and they are still solid with no sign of rot. one thing that i forgot about is that now when i do that i coat the part of the 6x6 that is in cement in roofing tar. i only started doing this about 5 years or so ago though. the dry mix cement and gravel fill is good too though. if you're really worried about that, use the cardboard tubes filled with concrete for the pillars and frame up from there with PT. you can buy the galvanized anchors that secure the frame to the pillar with bolts or Tapcon screws. sounds like a fun project. i love doing stuff like that. i learned a long time ago though to go heavy on the framing for the long haul. when my dad built my camp in the 50's he didn't do the floor framing too good and i am dealing with that as we speak. much easier to do it beforehand than the way i am now doing it, believe me.