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beckster
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# Posted: 17 May 2012 17:06 - Edited by: beckster
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Hello 
Very enthusing reading about everybody elses cabin projects. Just what I needed to kick start my momentum.
I live in damp wet Ireland. I want to build a low budget cabin in a woodland, big enough for me to hideaway, have a little stove to heat/cook on, table, chair, bed. I'm thinking roughly 5m x 4m (16ft x 13ft) or whatever fits easily with standard sizes of materials. Its also an exercise for me to learn how to build and for my children to witness this so they know its possible in the future when the time comes for them to do so and avoid a mortgage etc.
The soil is clay. Winter temps at worst are generally -5c (23F) for short periods of a few days, although we had a freak winter 2 years ago which went down to for a couple of days (1.4F). The site is on a slight slope. I'd say a drop of 1ft from back to front wall.
I'd love to hear views on foundation options.
So far I've cleared a patch (willing friend good with a chainsaw), that was last summer. I just purchased a drill. I'm good to go. 
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cabingal3
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# Posted: 21 May 2012 06:20
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beckster-looks wonderful.good luck to u.i will enjoy waiting to see what u come up with.me and my mister built a cabin in our woods.we owned the land for so long.finally got to building.i wish u the best of luck.
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2012 13:01
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build cribbing out of treated materials, I have 4x6 creosote beams cut to 36 inches. Try to keep the cabin size to even numbers to save on supplies 16x 12, 16x16 that way you dont have to cut every sheet of plywood
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OwenChristensen
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2012 16:08
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So you have frost. You have wet clay. You will have a ground surface that will expand in winter. It sounds like the frost won't go to deep. Posts will work. Drainage around them is key. Do not backfill the top foot with clay. Use a porous gravel or sand. It will still freeze, but without water won't do a thing. I see rouge posts all the time. On decks and poll buildings. One bad one can ruin your day. At least with skids, a car jack and a shim cam put it back to new. Treated skids will work. On real soft clay, full contact works the best. On a foot slope you might consider a cross skid on the low end. That way you will have full contact on it, even if not on the long skids. Cement block can be used for leveling. In soft clay a larger pad is better. Two blocks side by side. As I've said before, use only two skids under the floor joists, set in about a foot from the edge. If you had a center skid, frost will stay under it longer than the outside skids in the spring thaw and bulge your floor or make it tippy until the shade areas thaws.
Good luck, there's several ways to skin that cat.
Many people might tell you to put down a gravel pad first, but it doesn't make any difference. It's what's under it that counts.
Owen
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