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Small Cabin Forum / Cabin Construction / A plastic free cabin?
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fthurber
Member
# Posted: 20 Nov 2010 22:47
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I have been building sheds and small (10x12) buildings for the last decade or so without any plywood or OSB. I just use rough-cut boards from my local sawmill and the results have been rather nice. I am starting my first sleep over cabin and plan to do the same (with one exception see below); I am not sure how well it will work out.

Attached are some pix of a post & beam 100% plywood / OSB free studio for my wife's pottery work. What do you think?

The one place I will have to use plywood is the floor because a friend gave me about 110 sq. feet of solid cherry tongue & groovy flooring. Pretty bizarre to have a cherry floor on a cabin but heck I got the stuff free and it is suppose to have excellent moisture stability. I could end up with a cherry floor and atlantic white cedar siding!

Anyway here are the pix from my wife's studio
studio1.JPG
studio1.JPG
studio2.JPG
studio2.JPG
studio3.JPG
studio3.JPG
studio4.JPG
studio4.JPG


Gary O
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 00:53
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Outstanding, period.
The epitome of what a cabin should be.
Looks like the timbers are also rough cut, true dimension, correct?

Any issues with warpage?

Are those home built windows?

Again, really really nice

Gary O'

fthurber
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 11:06 - Edited by: fthurber
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It is all rough cut green pine from the local saw mill (the mill also had rough cut oak which I used ( a few beams) in my previous shed -- yahoo). The main beams are 4x6; I came home from work one day and there was a pile of these massive beams that my wife picked up on a whim from the mill and she wanted me to use them for her studio; took me a month to get over my "writers block" and get started; that is why the main beams are tan/gray.

We have not noticed any warp-age after it was built and my wife runs a hot pottery kiln. However during the construction of the beams I had to use a come-along to square it up (and then pop in a cross beam brace but it looks nice).

My wife did 2 homebuilt windows and the rest were bought. The skylights were high quality (don't want to skimp here) from our locally-owned building supply store and big doors are (as it turns out) crap from Home Depot.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the green rough pine is cheaper than the plywood or even OSB from one of the bandit Big Box stores and certainly smells and looks nicer.

The down side is that the planks are harder to attach and have gaps (which expand as the wood dries! Another downside is that planks do not add much strength compared to plywood.

Gary O
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 12:21
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Quoting: SquidLips
have gaps (which expand as the wood dries!

But that's what battens are for, right?
Quoting: SquidLips
big doors are (as it turns out) crap from Home Depot.

Yeah, I read your earlier thread on the interior doors. I too was sorely tempted at one time to use them on my shop, as the looked like solid wood, and was priced within reason, but talked it around.

Are the homebuilt windows four pane, or faux pane?
Really like the dado work on the main timbers.
dado and panes
dado and panes


fthurber
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 12:53
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The windows are single pane with a faux mullions; my wife's handywork. We do have one good double-hung window from the local building supply place (i.e. quality) and really nice sky lights.

toyota_mdt_tech
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 13:57
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Quoting: SquidLips
...The down side is that the planks are harder to attach and have gaps (which expand as the wood dries! Another downside is that planks do not add much strength compared to plywood.



You could brace the inside with beams run at an angle to give shear strength. It would look nice with all your large beam work. As for the gaps, cant you just use rough cut strips over the gaps. Nice work!

fthurber
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 15:47
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Ya we were thinking of battens but had a crazy idea. I wrapped the whole thing in tar paper (I think; I think I shied away from a vapor barrier since I did not want the vapors to build up and cause rot) and then another course of planks!? Bizarre but it is warmer than battens. I should have used some rigid insulation isntead of the tar paper...

fthurber
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 18:50
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My wife is very very happy with the results and her pottery students love it.

Using real wood is one extreme for building and the other extreme would have to be OSB from Home Depot (the lowest from lowest in my opinion). OSB might be a good choice for real quick construction but I would never buy it from Home Depot or Lowes. There is nothing quick or easy about my wife's post and bean studio; it takes me a whole winter and part of the spring but the fish are not running then so what the heck.

fthurber
Member
# Posted: 21 Nov 2010 20:26
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Here are some more picture show the one good window plus a picture of the screen latch and the far corner of the studio.
IMG_6726.JPG
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IMG_6727.JPG


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