625sq ft I want your feedback on a cabin

1SlowVW said:

I have 0% interest in building with shipping containers. 

Glad to hear it! I think they're great for storing and stacking.. and that's all. 

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Shipping containers are good for giving ideas that are better severed by using traditional construction.

Stampie said:

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Shipping containers are good for giving ideas that are better severed by using traditional construction.

True, as are campers that were mentioned above. Even dare I say "tiny homes" which as far as I can tell are just silly.

John Welsh said:

In the small house, mobile home world there is what is commonly called a Park Model RV.  The dimensions have all to do what is the largest "trailer" you can legally move for height and width.  Most are a 399 sq ft footprint.  What I wanted to point out is that due to height requirement they make one of the bedrooms a "sleeping loft."  This then means a sleeping area that is too short to stand up in, sample photo:

What I wonder for you is does NB consider this type of loft to be part of the 625 sqft?  

Here is a randomly found sample of floorplans of the RV Park Models

 

And, don't forget that if that cabin had vaulted ceilings, you probably could stand up at the peak.

Just in case anyone wonders about my intense love of cabins, my specialty is designing cabins. I and my kids grew up in one. ]

In reply to VolvoHeretic :

What are you using to design these?

1SlowVW said:

Marjorie Suddard said:

In reply to 1SlowVW :

Gambrel materials cost is way more expensive--you're buying at least twice the roof--and you also lose usable floor space to headroom concerns on two sides rather than one. Then there's the cost of dormers vs. wall-mounted windows. Plus, it looks stodgy unless you're going for some sort of farmhouse chic (and please don't--the world has far too much faux shiplap already).

Margie

What if I want to be able to say my kids were in fact partially raised in a barn? 

I don't find single slant roof buildings to be very good looking,  gambrel doesn't bother me. 

 

 

Also, this thread got way more traction than I thought it would. Maybe diy camp/cabins are inhearently a bit grassroots. 

 

All kids were raised in a barn--it's why they never close the damn door.

Margie

In reply to Stampie :

That is AutoCAD Architectural 2004 although I am somewhat fluent up to 2019.

Edit: Amazingly, it will draw anything the new AutoCAD programs will. Unfortunately, it is too accurate and takes time to draw exactly.

Edit-24: The above cabin is just my dream. We grew up in this cabin.

I did notice anyone asking if the square footage was total or just the area that could be built on?

You could just buy this book to find something you like.

 IMO.Those barn looking gambrel roof things are just a shed. :0P  Not ment for an area as beautiful as the picture you posted of the frozen lake

Build this! Minnesota Dr Seuss House in Northshore, MN.

Here's a quick probably bad idea..

492sq-ft main, 125sq-ft upper per the sketchup.  obviously no wall thickness because quick an lazy.  room for Washer/dryer and 2 "full" baths.  one bath could be abandoned for closets/storage.

quick and dirty because SketchUp is fun.

Obviously all the rooms are on the small side.  Because of course they are it's only 625sqft

In reply to nocones :

Subby Brat. Nice touch!

I was just thinking how well treed is the property? Nothing says cabin quite like a log cabin.

In reply to Rons :

You can build a stick-built cabin with normal construction and bolt on half logs onto the outside and inside walls. It only has to have drywall on the vaulted ceiling.  Somewhere I have a photo...

All of these logs are non-bearing decorative cladding over conventional framing.

Plus the outhouse/hot tube/sauna.

nderwater said:

"In the province of New Brunswick building laws are strict unless you build under 625 sq feet."  Is that 625 sq ft... per structure?  Total habitable space on the property?

I.E., is it possible to build several structures, with only 625 sq ft officially designated as living space?  Like a stand-alone outbuildings for kitchen, garage, man cave, etc.

I thing that what you show would be called a fishing camp and would be verboten.

Rons said:

I was just thinking how well treed is the property? Nothing says cabin quite like a log cabin.

Yes, but log cabins are painfully slow to build, extremely laborious, thermally inefficient, and extremely difficult to maintain over the long term. There are also a lot of construction tricks of the trade to building one that are easy to screw up for a first timer.

nocones said:

Here's a quick probably bad idea..

492sq-ft main, 125sq-ft upper per the sketchup.  obviously no wall thickness because quick an lazy.  room for Washer/dryer and 2 "full" baths.  one bath could be abandoned for closets/storage.

quick and dirty because SketchUp is fun.

Obviously all the rooms are on the small side.  Because of course they are it's only 625sqft

I really like this. (Don't think the OP will like modern)

I really need to learn SketchUp...

One thing that caught my eye on that code is "usable floor space". So...that could mean that things like closets, counters, etc may not count. Where I'm going with this is that you could make your walls extra thick and hide all sorts of closets, etc in them, and provided they don't have a "floor" it might not count in your sq ft calculation. Hell, even a Murphy bed or possibly kitchen counters that open out, or into a bay window like structure might not count. 

My preference would be something like a 4 square structure, A frame, with roof dormers. 312 SQ ft of floor space per level, so 17' 8" inside dimensions on each wall.  Make the outside footprint 20' x 20' with those thick walls for un-floored closets, etc as mentioned above. 

Downstairs has a narrow "galley" kitchen and a wider living room; upstairs is two bedrooms and a jack and Jill bathroom. 

Edit: for that matter, do interior wall thickness, closets, etc count towards the "usable floor area"?  Stairs, as mentioned above?  

In reply to volvoclearinghouse :

Closets are usable. They store stuff.

Cabinet area footage is usable floor space. The cabinets sit on them. 
 

Wall thickness is not usable floor space. Both interior and exterior.  NB requires R17.42. That's 6" thick exterior walls. 
 

Stairs are usable, but usually only for 1 floor.  The stairwell on the 2nd floor is not usable. Debatable if there is storage under the stairs. 

Stealing some inspiration from container homes and utilizing a less than 5ft sleeping loft (where I am assuming that less than 5ft tall space is not counted in sqft)...  

Above is a 3 box design built with 8x20 boxes.  I envision 16x13 boxes which is 208 sq per box = 624 sq for 3 boxes.  The picture above implies that we are viewing the house from the water and just one story at the water-side.  I think the flat roof is illogical so I envision reversing this so that it is two stories at the water-side.  Then, is sort of a salt box roof sloping rearward.  

Box#1: 16x13 and is the great room.  This greatroom has a nearly 13ft ceiling.  

Box#2: 16x13 is then kitchen, bath, mechanicals as well as main entry door.  This box is also 13ft tall.  The reason is because the ceiling in this box is 8ft but also the entire box has a 16x13 five foot sleeping loft that overlooks the greatroom.    

Box#3: 16x13 sits above the greatroom.  It just has 8ft ceilings.  With the rearward sloping of the roof, there should be the ability to create some wedge shaped storage space that is less than 5ft tall.  Imagine that the back wall of this bedroom is a closet and in the closet is a short door that accesses this wedge storage area.  A good place for Christmas tree storage. 
Since floor #1 is 13ft tall, just expect more than usual steps to walk up.  Since you are under the 625 do your inside steps need to as wide as code?  If undersized, narrow steps that might make it hard to bring furniture upstairs.  A solution might be that you build some additional outside, proper sized steps that might lead to a second story deck off the bedroom. Furniture can be brought up these steps and put in the room via the door that leads from the deck to the bedroom.  These additional steps being outside probably are not factored into the 625 sq.   

624 sq of floor space with a bonus of 208 sq feet of sleeping loft = 832 sq of usable floor space.  Add a little more considering the free wedge shaped storage space.  My guess is this approach wont be cheap for 624 sq but is more reasonable if you consider it 832 sq.  

PS: I don't know E36 M3 about building houses but I have lived in them all my life.    

I'm not a fan of a 5' sleeping loft. It's doing unrealistic contortions to gain space that is not that useful. 
 

It's good for storage or closets, but not for sleeping. 
 

Besides, the whole point of the 2nd floor is for adults to enjoy the view. Adults won't like a 5' ceiling. The 2nd floor should be premium space, not compromised space.

In reply to John Welsh :

I disagree about the 2nd floor porch being illogical. I love the idea of a 2nd story outdoor space to sit and have drinks and enjoy the view.  Add a fire pit, or a hot tub and enjoy it in the winter too.

But the OP said porches may count toward living space. (I'd be surprised). If that the case, then you can't dedicate outdoor porch space to part of the 625 SF in a cold region. 

I would put a simple salt box cabin on pilings to get the elevation for the view. This is a tropical version, but it's pretty common around the lakes here. You can store boats, kayaks, etc under the cabin or hang hammocks for the kids.