In the last few years I've been realizing more and more that the uncertainty this world forces upon all of us is a great source of stress to me. So, due to the fact that there is some uncertainty as to the future of our family holding onto this property, my little place in woods will be a limited structure. I will work within the confines of that reality, using it to my benefit, rather than seeing it as a burden. This will force me to work on a few of the personality traits that I find less than desirable in myself. Such as my eagerness to abandon undertakings which seem to present a good deal of difficulty in the future, and not trusting that things will work out regardless of my worrying about them, and finally my reluctance to let any project stay modest, (rather, I usually let ideas and projects stew in my head until I have built them up to some massive scale that is more often than not, unnecessary).
So, I have set out these conditions to work under;
A) $200 budget firm
B) Use mostly salvaged materials
C) Keep it simple (something I can mostly do by myself, with a hand here and there.)
D) Create a space that will encourage (or perhaps force) a way of life that will help me heal.
E) Get the building done quickly, so I can do the living, but do things with great care and respect.
So onto the stuff that is probably more interesting to anyone who may actually read this drivel.
The details:
I've been on a little quest to get some materials rounded up, so that when I get to Maine, I'll have a little heap of material to get started right away. My staple material so to speak, is going to be the shipping pallet. These things are easy to get a hold of in large quantities, and since getting in better physical shape is a goal of this experience, the labor involved in turning these into usable, and even ATTRACTIVE lumber is not a cause for concern.
Another material I plan to use a lot of, is used and/or broken furniture such as the entertainment centers, desks, coffee tables, etc. that our society makes in gargantuan quantities out of cheap MDF covered in pseudo-wood plastic. I'm going to scour the area for these things, rip them into uniform strips, and make a poorman's sort of tongue-and-groove out them. This I will use as wall and floor covering materials for indoor finishing.
Dimensional lumber I will try to acquire from construction company waste, Craigslist and Freecycle waste. A family member is also being a great help with that. Thanks!!!
I'll also try to get some bricks for free where ever I run into them, to make a a brick grill/cooking area.
I will buy new roofing panels made of PVC/Poly, and galvanized steel, as I am not keen on a leaky roof, and my knowledge of/ experience with roofs is fairly limited.
I predict I will also need to buy some longer pieces of dimensional lumber for framing. I spent a good amount of time on the internet, and found a lumber company that is local, harvests their wood sustainably, and I'll be happy to spend what I can afford to support such a business.
I spent about ten thousand years designing structures on Google Sketchup over the last few months. I have created so many structures, only to decide that they fail to meet one on of my requirements. Perhaps a dozen that I drew up piece by piece, until I found some reason it wasn't feasible. As is usually the way, I have been moving in a more Spartan, simple direction with each structure over the last month. To give an idea of the last stretch of design mayhem, (which involved several marathon 5 hour Sketchup sessions), I'm posting a few pictures of some of the ideas. Unless by chance I have some plethora of free materials fall into my lap, I believe I will go with a simple camp setup constructed of mostly pallets, with a simple outdoor solar shower, a solar oven, and brick grill to cook with wood, and a composting toilet in or outdoors. I've found a great little solar light that will be my primary lighting indoors, and I'll find the cheapest little patio solar lights that I can for the deck area.
For purposes of Building codes and obscene rural bureaucracy, I am building a "shed" that I will "camp" in part time. Among friends, I prefer to refer to it as my little hut or dwelling, simply because that suits my tastes more.
Here are some the simplest designs that are contenders for the title of zen-lumberjack micro-dwelling;
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| small cabin idea |
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| pallet pod |
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| Pallet camp structure. The top part of this is taken from Derek Deek Diedricksen's "UB 30" structure he built in VT. His site Relaxshacks.blogspot.com is a frequent stop on my daily website carousings. http://relaxshacks.blogspot.com/2011_05_01_archive.html |
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| MDF ripped from furniture into tongue-and-groove like boards with a table saw |
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| offset pallet box-wedgie like idea |
love it
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