Hillbilly Habitat....

Well , here on the mountain just past the kudzu patch we have decided to make us a hillbilly habitat. .an original old fashioned cabin in the mountains ,, a real piece of americana, an old fashioned barn (cabin) raising...

We have just taken on the task of building us a tried n true rustic cabin in the woods.. ....other than the use of a modern day chain saw, we are building the whole thing as it was done in the old days. .We have begun cutting down trees and cutting them into the proper lengths we will be needing for construction. .today we also began to strip the bark from the trees....

Now here comes the good part...

We are looking for folks to come and help us out in our endeavor.. Folks that would like a taste of the mtns of north GA.. Folks that may want to take a break from every day life and enjoy nature and help us to build a hillbilly habitat.. Folks that would like to come spend a few days building what to us is part of our legacy here... To help build a communal type place for hippies , travelers and hikers to come and hang out, get a break and get a feel for what good old mountain homesteading is about...

We cant offer to pay folks at this point in time for their efforts.However, with love ,kindness and some good old homestyle cookin and with some hard work by all, We will build ourselves a haven for folks for years to come when they just need a get away or way station...

Anyone interested in coming and helping us out please send me or hippyhillbilly a pm or sumthing and we will get directions and more info to ya...

luv n lite,
dilli

 

this is where we are at,, log pealin,,, only have bout 50 more to go til the next stage comes

 

Thats wild man, if I lived anywhere near ya I would be up in the hills with you right now. There nothing more satisfying than building something like that with your own two hands. Keep posting more pics as you progess, looks like an awesome project.

 

we got a good bit of log pealin done today, another 13 logs so we are at approximately half of the log pealing for the side walls..... got some brush cleaned up from the trees we already have down and salvaged a bunch of fire wood that could not be used for the cabin,,,,,

 

I must say its a pretty impressive undertaking!



How long do you think its going to take you?

 

yup tis quite the undertaking ,,,, but a really neat n kewl one if i do say so myself,,, makes ya really think bout how life was way back when in a verrrrrry different light ,,,, how hard the work truly is and was,,, and to think we are just doing it to do it and they generally had to do it to live ....

given that we generally only work on it one or two days a week and that their are only three of us working on it it is hard to say how long it truly will take ,,,,, but iffin it kills me it will be suitable for habitation by october 24 of this year .... although it may not have everything totally together n in shape then,,,,

 

i'll be in the east tennessee area in a year or so, so i guess if you still need help building i could help you out, i got a little forge here and can make door fittings and square nails, if i come and help build this would i be able to come spend time there very so often? you got a moonshine still up in them thar hills yet? if not i can get that running for you.

 

nah aint got no still up here in these mtns yet, but would like us one

will prolly be done with this cabin next year but am sure we will be workin on something else along the same line by then and yes would love the help,,,,, and of course all those that help in projects are welcome at any time,,,,, welll everyone is welcome here anytime anyway

 

i can make the still, not one of those trashy stainless steel reflux stills but a nice black pot copper pot still with a coil, or somthing like in the foxfire book with the cooker puke box thumber mash heater and condenser.

 

well it has been a lil while since an update on the cabin,,,, but we have pretty much continued workin on it when we have time,,, with the exception of a campin weekend, a lazy weekend and a sick weekend,,,, however we have been piddlin the entire time,,,

after the first day of constructin

after the second day... i think we all have thought that this would be goin a bit faster than it is.... just gotta say that i am dang glad that we dont have to have this cabin built before winter to survive through it....

beginnings of our state of the art plumbing,,,, welllllllll state of the art for 1784

 

Absolutley wicked, I'm so jealous of this project.

 

lumber for the floors and roof


the floor skeleton is in now and ready to get covered with temporary plywood so that we can finish the cabin,, when the outside of the cabin is done we will then floor the cabin with the lumber in the first picture.


the cabin after our third saturday of building it... as you can tell it is a verrrrrrry slow and altho not real hard work it is tedious and sorta boring in a way ,,,, but all in all we are happy with the progress we are making on it and will continue workin on it til it is done and we are beginning to plan the next project albeit on a bit smaller scale

 

Damn it! My message has been lost 3 times! I really wanna post on this topic, I have a lot to add. Maybe I type too slow. Well, as I tried to say the last time I tried to post, "this time for sure!" to quote Bullwinkle The Moose. I'll copy/paste it from my OE.
I'm really disapointed to see that you're going for the traditional log cabin look. Come take a look at the post and beam efforts that I have posted at:
http://www.freewebs.com/stonethegardener/construction.htm I have yet to post a pic where I can send it here, I gotta look into that. Here at the ranch, I'm building shelter anyway that will get me out of the weather. I have a chainsaw, so I use it. when I first started my house, I had only hand tools, so hand tools is what I used. Now I'm using a chainsaw to create lumber. I wanted to ask what you are doing to prevent damage that is going to occur to any untreated wood that is in contact with the soil. As you'll be able to see from my pics I'm using treated material for my posts, the entire structure depends on those not rotting. I have a source of free plywood, a local moving company kicks down wore out moving crates. Some times it's better to be dry and warm than to be a purist. Well, I'm looking forward to seeing your house go up, maybe you'll come here to see mine. Send me an invite, I'll come by when I can.
Wow! I took too long writing my letter, I see that you allready dealt with my concerns, with the treated framing under the floor as well as the plastic vapour lock to prevent the floor from melting away. Also the chocks under the log walls are a good idea too. I hope you put a solid foundation down, I use concrete blocks which I'm able to leave uncemented. Peace, Stone

 

Hey hippie friend, I must say by your "I'm really disapointed to see that you're going for the traditional log cabin look." that id much rather have the trad. cabin look than a bunch of mis matched poles stuck in the ground. The hh pics I just looked at shows of quality however thats just my thoughts at the moment.

 

dissappointed???

but do you truly have reason to be dissappointed at the cabin style that we chose is my question to you???

we have visions of building several different out buildings here on the property only one of which is this cabin... the old cabin style was chosen primarily cuz it is something from the american past (something that we intend to keep on doin is making our rendition of different housing from the american past),,, second tis my dream home,,,, a hand cut hand scraped and all hand built by me and my hands and hard work, sweat and hell yea even tears,,,, three,,, because we have had the pleasure of having a brother here that knows what he is doing with a saw and also knowledge in buildin the things... ..i guess we all have our own reasons behind doing what we do and to hear that you are dissappointed in something that is making us very happy is kinda disheartening, atleast to this lil ghetto smurf..

now as to your other questions , queries n statements,,,,, everyone including you has an open invite to come on up n visit n chill out or help out with homesteading or help out with the cabin,,,, cabin work is every saturday n an occasional sunday when we got the gumption....

the corners n stuff are on treated, giant something by sumthings,,, i am female i dont do well with intricate things like this n it aint sumthi females gotta know,,,, dont think it will rot out in my lifetime atleast so i aint real concerned about it honestly..
the floors system is also on treated lumber,,,, then will be havin the plastic down ,,,, as for the other worries bout rot n bugs n such,,,, we will treat it with whatever we figger out is best for what we need to do,,, we try to minimize our expenses as much as we can,, bein in construction trade in babbletown, we get to raid trash bins commonly,,, we are using our our trees as well ,,,so no cost with those either,,,,

but some of the things we aint got a choice but to buy in order to finish it in a timely fashion,,,, iffin we waited to barter n trade n scrounge for all things we could be twenty years in buildin this,,,,,
so as ya can see ,, we all do things to suit our individual needs, wants n wishes.... and do things in the way that best suits us and then we all come n get on our lil computers come to sites like this n discuss, debate n hopefully learn from others..
by the way aint never heard of yonder family before now,,, would like to learn more bout yas all n yes indeed head on down sometime n see family... keep in touch luv n lite
dilli

 

ive been following this project for a while, and i like it. i think i would go for something um... easier i guess you would say. not so time consuming anyway. but i have a few questions i was wondering what you were using for sealing between the logs? what i believe is commonly known as chinking (not sure about that). why no cross pieces next to the door? will the wall have enough support there or are you planning for a real thick door frame for support? and lastly what are the dementions like floor space and how tall are you building it? id like to know about the roof aswell but i will wait for that its fun to check in for updates and new pictures. good luck with it and be safe.


peace, bob

 

You're right, disapointment isn't really the appropriate thing. I was expressing my frustration at my inability to post. It really does look good.

Peace, Stone

I'm really excited to see progress on the land and encouragement would be the more appropriate expression of my feelings.

I know how difficult it is to complete a project and the idea of anybody getting that much effort into a project with winter coming and other demands on ones time, left me concerned for you. I hate to see anybody take on more than they're ready to complete.

Out here at the ranch I've seen a lot of projects start up full steam ahead and peter out. If you-all have somebody who actually knows what he's doin', you-all are on firmer ground than out here where we've had to reinvent the wheel at every crossroad. Again, I'm totally excited for you!!

 

well we didnt really start out to go whole hog on our first actual from scratch buildin project , just sorta happenin that way so guess we aint gonna fight where we are being led to,,,

for chinkin we are using foam insulation to start with and then when it settles on down we are going to use the expandable shrinkin chink they use on modern log homes or if that is way over our meager budget then will use concrete..

bein that the cabin is only 10 ft x 12 ft inside it doesnt need anymore support than the logs themselves provide along with foot long spikes,,, the main level of the cabin will be bout 6 1/2 ft then their will be a loft about 6 foot wide up top that will be for sleepin n cloths spot and probably will just be able to sit ....

everything right now on the cabin is rough cut and later on when it is closer to bein done will frame in the windows and doors and such, get the rough cut floors in and then roof it hopefully with cedar shake,,,,

the whole thing is sorta like an adult playhouse in a weird sorta way, not meant to be fancy or nuthin just someplace relaxing n quiet where folks can come to unwind

tomorrow i will be takin more pictures and posting them and you will be able to see the whole thing a bit clearer i think as we go

 

ah we dont generally peter out on anything we start ,,, n hhb n i have done bout 80 percent of other buildings n such on our own we also know what it is like to have step backs kor spots where we just aint got the time or temperment to be messin with them,,, and really nothing we do really is something that absolutely has to have a time frame,,, i guess we figger that when we try n put a time frame on things,,, they always get screwed up messed round with and changed n then we get depressed n grumpy n all that jazz sooooooo,,, we do better off just finishing things when we can finish them and if we get to a spot where we gotta leave something for a while due to finances or time etc, then we move on to other lil things that we can get done,,,,,

anywho i am burnin my dman corn bread n i get grumpy when i burn things so gottsta git,,,
luv n lite

 

excellent, excellent. cant wait to see more pics. id really love to help if it was more convinient for me.



peace, bob