A complete 'do-it-yourself' guide on how to plan, build and enjoy your small cabin -- in simple terms
This web site is a collection of personal experience and useful resources I have found when building my own small cabin in the wilderness.
It will be useful for people who want to do the same - to build a small cabin on their own - so they will have a quiet retreat or hideaway spot to enjoy their weekend or vacation.
We love outdoors. We had many camping and nature exploration trips, trail hiking, and just short visits to the nature conservation areas and wilderness parks.
Building a small cabin in the wilderness was really a natural extension of our outdoor pursuits. When I started to build my small cabin I searched for various bits of information, but could not find a one concise, clear and complete guide on how to build a small cabin or a small cottage using my own skills and resources. This web site aims to be such guide.
I do not promote any cabin building kit, material supplier, construction business or service provider, but I will mention particular things I used.I built my small cabin from scratch, using materials easily available from local building material suppliers, and without any special skills or training. But I did my research homework!
My main objectives when building a small cabin were:
- Easy to build yourself - no special skill required
- Use of easily available building materials
- Low cost
- Simplicity of cabin design and structure
- Short construction time
- No building permit required (optional).
- To have a feel of great outdoor living and wilderness experience.
- Selecting the right property
- Preparing and clearing site
- Building material selection
- Building cabin structure:
- Foundation
- Flooring
- Walls
- Doors and windows
- Roof
- Interior finishing and design
- Building additional structures, to feel more like at home:
- Outdoor summer kitchen
- Storage and firewood sheds
- Outhouse/toilet
- Veranda / resting area
- Outdoor Shower
- ...etc.
- Off-grid living
- off-grid power and water supply, small cabin heating options review
- Small cabin living / enjoying great outdoors
- Picture gallery
- Safety tips
- Discuss your own project with others like you - ask questions, share experience, and post pictures of your own cabin!
Please keep in mind - this small cabin site is a continuous work in progress - I am constantly adding new information, tips and experiences as I learn new things and continue building. I also aiming to add as much as possible comments and suggestions from the web site visitors - other small cabin builders.
Also, if you think of building somewhat larger structure, like a small cottage - conceptually it is similar to the building a small cabin described here. So you can re-use most of the information on this site. I.e. to build a small cottage you also need to know how to build foundation, walls and roof, etc.; except you may want to have more rooms, acquire services like electricity and require building permits.Use links on the left side navigation bar to dig into details, or follow page-by-page links at the bottom.
Start planning, building and enjoying your own small cabin somewhere in the wilderness... And don't forget to share your thoughts in our Small Cabin Discussion Forum - you may find many like-minded people there. I hope you will find this web site useful.
Happy small cabin building!