Average Cost and time to build a lean to shelter

[trainhopper]

I would love to someday build a lean to shelter similar to what is common on the AT. It would be your basic shelter with nothing special about it. My guess is that it would be a very tough process and cost a pretty penny. Any input on what I would be looking at would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Stir Fry]

If you did it in your back yard maby $700.

[kayak karl]

the old farmer out back built a 10-12 shed with material out of my dumpster. LOL. skylite, windows and door. very frugal guy. just start saving lumber.

[Bronk]

I built a small cabin with an ax, draw knife, hammer and saw in about 3 weeks with very little help. You can spend as much or as little money as you would like. If you are creative and look around you can get most of what you need for free. Find somebody who wants an old barn torn down and you'll get all the material you need.

[shelterbuilder]

working on the roof - 013.jpgEagle's Nest Shelter in Pa. cost us $4000 and 5000 man-hours in 1988. These logs were a bit large (12" to 14") and took 10 people to move one log!
The William Penn Shelter cost us over $14,000 in 1994, but close to $4,000 of that figure went into materials for the privy. This one has a sleeping loft that increases the shelter's carrying capacity. These logs were milled "D-style" 6"x6" logs and were considerably lighter then the raw logs used in the Eagle's Nest Shelter. WmPenn.jpg
Of course, if your tastes run toward the avant-garde, you could try a single (or multiple) unit constructed using Star-Plates and make a 5-sided structure. This double-unit cost less than $2000 in 1999 and used tar-paper and lath strips on the roof, and double thicknesses of heavy-mil plastic for the walls and windows, and included a 2-barrel woodstove with an oven in the upper barrel (sometimes, home-made can be incredibly efficient). This one, by the way, was NOT on the trail, and had some special modifications added to it to make it stronger than the Star-Plate designer had envisioned. StarShed exterior 002.jpg
You are limited only by your own imagaination...so start imaginin'!

[bobqzzi]

[QUOTE=shelterbuilder;1220766]Eagle's Nest Shelter in Pa. cost us $4000 and 5000 man-hours in 1988.
QUOTE]
50 men working 100 hours each? 500 men 10 hours each? I think you put an extra 0 on there.

[shelterbuilder]

[QUOTE=bobqzzi;1221039]

Eagle's Nest Shelter in Pa. cost us $4000 and 5000 man-hours in 1988.
QUOTE]
50 men working 100 hours each? 500 men 10 hours each? I think you put an extra 0 on there.

Nope - no extra zero, but you have to remember that these logs were about 12" to 14" diameter at the butt ends, and they required a lot of people to move from place to place. This project ran about 18 "calendar-months", but we shut down during the winter months, and some of this time was also directed into the privy, the side-trails, the lookout, and the tent sites. We had about 40-50 people working on this one.

[Pedaling Fool]

working on the roof - 013.jpgEagle's Nest Shelter in Pa. cost us $4000 and 5000 man-hours in 1988. These logs were a bit large (12" to 14") and took 10 people to move one log!
The William Penn Shelter cost us over $14,000 in 1994, but close to $4,000 of that figure went into materials for the privy. This one has a sleeping loft that increases the shelter's carrying capacity. These logs were milled "D-style" 6"x6" logs and were considerably lighter then the raw logs used in the Eagle's Nest Shelter. WmPenn.jpg
Of course, if your tastes run toward the avant-garde, you could try a single (or multiple) unit constructed using Star-Plates and make a 5-sided structure. This double-unit cost less than $2000 in 1999 and used tar-paper and lath strips on the roof, and double thicknesses of heavy-mil plastic for the walls and windows, and included a 2-barrel woodstove with an oven in the upper barrel (sometimes, home-made can be incredibly efficient). This one, by the way, was NOT on the trail, and had some special modifications added to it to make it stronger than the Star-Plate designer had envisioned. StarShed exterior 002.jpg
You are limited only by your own imagaination...so start imaginin'!

Generally speaking, where do you get the lumber, especially the large logs? And are they all pre-cut to length and for fitting?

[Bronk]

I mixed over 3 tons of concrete in a wheelbarrow one summer a few years ago, one 80lb bag at a time, and I hauled all the water in 5 gallon jugs as there was no well nearby...not the most fun thing to do in the world but it can be done. The logs were free...I had to cut down trees to build a road back into the building site and clear the building site as well. Like I said, you can spend as much money or as little money as you want...just depends on how resourceful you are...I was able to find free doors and windows and roofing material. About the only thing I truly had to buy was nails, and I found a 50lb box of them at a yard sale for $10.

[shelterbuilder]

Generally speaking, where do you get the lumber, especially the large logs? And are they all pre-cut to length and for fitting?

The dimensioned lumber was from lumber yards (like Lowe's). The logs for Eagle's Nest came from a local sawmill (a middleman between us and the loggers); the milled logs for William Penn came from a local wholesaler with ties to the club (his son was on the shelters committee at the time) and were purchased at cost. The Eagle's Nest logs were "Scandinavian scribe" cut, and the William Penn logs were milled into a "D-style" shape with a tongue-and-groove on the top and bottom, and were fitted "butt-and-pass" style in the corners. Lengths were cut on-site to match our drawings.

An interesting note: the work that is currently taking place on the Rausch Gap Shelter restoration project is something new for us as a club. We actually felled the trees that will be turned into the replacement logs for the shelter. These logs were all about 25' long, have already been peeled, and are waiting to be turned into the "giant Lincoln Logs" that will be used to restore the shelter to its former glory. As with the Eagle's Nest project, the work is being done "pre-fab" style at the club's property in Bernville, Pa. Once the pre-fab work is completed, the logs will be numbered, dis-assembled, and transported to the site, where they will be re-assembled and the roof will be added.

[moldy]

Materials alone will cost about 10,000$. That should get you kiln dried oak beams and pine floor planking and a metal roof. If you have to hire out any of the work like a stone fireplace or pay to transport material into a remote location the cost could double. In looking at the nice shelters in the smokies, I would say that it would cost at least 30,000 to build one in materials alone. Now if you want one of those crap 6 man jobs made of cement blocks that you see all along the trail it could cost as little as 2 grand.

[Pedaling Fool]

I don't know, but here's one link http://www.thruthewoods.com/

[sbhikes]

You can recoup the costs here in Santa Barbara by renting it out for about $1000 a month as a studio apartment.

[Mr. Clean]

I built a small 12x16 three-sided lean-to on the river bank behind my house about 8 - 10 years ago. I used all local rough sawn pine lumber, and put a metal roof from Lowes on the top. Back then it was around $600, I think.

[birchy]

Off the top of my head the average new AT shelter costs somewhere in the 7,000 to 10,000 dollar range.

[Doc Mike]

16 X 16 tree house using left overs from housing remodel and buying what else was needed like a metal roof. I have less than 600 dollars in it total. Buying everything it would be under 3000.

[Mags]

So apparently the cost is anywhere from $600 to $10k. :O

[weary]

I doubt if any of the 47 leantos built by the Maine Appalachian Trail Club cost as much as $10,000. Most were probably built for hundreds, rather than thousands, of dollars. An exception may be the replacement shelters at Horns Pond on Bigelow, where the timbers were custom sawn and flown to the site by helicopter.
Most were built by volunteers from logs harvested on site. “A Guide to (Maine) Log Lean-To Construction” is available for purchase for around 5 bucks from the ATC website.

[The Solemates]

i plan to do this on my property one day. I'm shooting for a $0 cost, which should be doable. Just have to be patient - will take a few years to collect free material.

[Doc Mike]

Mags could be more than that if you include italian tile roof, marble fire place, mahoghany flooring, cedar shake siding, solar panels and ipod rechargers.......