PDA

View Full Version : shelter construction



Texasgirl
10-17-2008, 16:13
I fell in love with the shelters at Baxter State Park. I have a little spot of land with trees and a dry creek where I'll be building a house in several years. In the meantime, I've picked a spot overlooking a the gulley where I want to build an AT-type shelter. I've only been to Baxter (I really want to go to the David Lesser Shelter in Virginia though) and seen many others on WB photo gallery, but since it's just being built for me (not a crowd), the one at Baxter seemed perfect. I don't plan to use logs, so need to design it for 4x4 or 6x6 posts and 2x4 or 2x6 for walls.

Anyone ever built a shelter on an AT maintenance project and maybe have a set of plans, suggestions, sense of cost, ease, etc. I didin't take measurements while I was there and I'm at a loss on ceiling height and slope.

P.S. I posted this in the Non AT forum, and I noticed it never appeared in the Today's Post list.

Stir Fry
10-17-2008, 16:21
Check this one out I stayed in it last week as part af a shutle service. Nice grill out front. and a place to eat.

http://www.mvshuttle.com/parkorstaywithus.html

Pedaling Fool
10-17-2008, 16:23
I know this is not the answer you're looking for, but I'd save the money for your house. In a strange way, this shelter seems like it's just a luxury, but a house is an investment. Unless of course you're independently wealthy, then I'd...

celt
10-17-2008, 16:28
I know you said you're not going to use logs but the MATC has a very nice manual for constructing log lean-tos. Maybe it will give you some good ideas for your chosen building materials. You can buy it through the ATC's Ultimate Trail Store:

https://www.atctrailstore.org/catalog/iteminfo.cfm?itemid=112&compid=1

Texasgirl
10-17-2008, 16:37
Check this one out I stayed in it last week as part af a shutle service. Nice grill out front. and a place to eat.

http://www.mvshuttle.com/parkorstaywithus.html

Hey, that's cute and easy to throw up. Thanks.

Texasgirl
10-17-2008, 16:41
I know this is not the answer you're looking for, but I'd save the money for your house. In a strange way, this shelter seems like it's just a luxury, but a house is an investment. Unless of course you're independently wealthy, then I'd...

I sat out there several hours last weekend pondering your very suggestion myself. Ultimately I decided to do the shelter cause it'll be a fun place to hang out for my kids and grandbabies, as well as just to sit out back and watch the hawk and red birds and listen to the coyotes away from "civilization" around the corner. I'm not wealthy, but my sweat equity is worth a fortune.

Texasgirl
10-17-2008, 16:43
Thanks Celt!

budforester
10-17-2008, 16:43
Here's a plan I turned up: link (http://www.tomstrong.org/bsa/adk.html). Google "adirondak shelter" and you can probably find many more.

sheepdog
10-17-2008, 18:54
I've been thinking about building a replica shelter in my basement for overflow sleeping. Two tiers high, double beds, room for all the grand kids.

Your shelter will be a great place to sleep out with those grandkids. Also some nights it might be nice just to get out of the house. I say build it.

mudhead
10-17-2008, 19:09
Consider open sided gazebo type structure. Drop down bug netting, and/or canvas type stuff. Those leantos can be hot and stuffy.

I would want something with headroom.

Hard pine for the floor, minimize pressure treated wood that you may have skin contact.

In the short term, look for a big, roofed screen house. (Like a big cabin tent.)

Pretty cheap, for what you get.

Texasgirl
10-17-2008, 22:02
Thanks guys.

Bob S
10-17-2008, 23:13
I know this is not the answer you're looking for, but I'd save the money for your house. In a strange way, this shelter seems like it's just a luxury, but a house is an investment. Unless of course you're independently wealthy, then I'd...




Houses are not investments, they are liabilities, liabilities cost money (and a home does this every month you own it for all the time you own it.) It’s a necessary liability, but it is none the less a liability. Investments produce money every month you own them. With few exceptions homes cost.

drastic_quench
10-18-2008, 03:30
Houses are not investments, they are liabilities, liabilities cost money (and a home does this every month you own it for all the time you own it.) It’s a necessary liability, but it is none the less a liability. Investments produce money every month you own them. With few exceptions homes cost.
A house is the largest investment most middle class people ever have - because they can't throw that amount of money into something that doesn't put a roof over their heads.

My middle class folks have owned/ lived in seven houses over thirty years (average five years a house). Every time they've sold one house to move and purchase another they've turned on profit on their original investment by doing nothing more than keeping up with maintenance and not being hard on their homes.

Jaybird
10-18-2008, 06:02
I fell in love with the shelters at Baxter State Park. I have a little spot of land with trees and a dry creek where I'll be building a house in several years. In the meantime, I've picked a spot overlooking a the gulley where I want to build an AT-type shelter.


Yo TexasGirl,

check this out: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~aja39/hiker.htm
If you dont feel quite adventurous...contact your local hike club or Trail maintenance folks...they could put you in touch with some folks that have some experience building shelters in your area....

YES, I agree David Lesser shelter is a NICE one!:D

TJ aka Teej
10-18-2008, 06:26
https://www.atctrailstore.org/catalog/iteminfo.cfm?itemid=112&compid=1

Good find, Celt!

Texasgirl
10-18-2008, 07:36
Thanks Jaybird.

Mrs Baggins
10-18-2008, 07:48
A house is the largest investment most middle class people ever have - because they can't throw that amount of money into something that doesn't put a roof over their heads.

My middle class folks have owned/ lived in seven houses over thirty years (average five years a house). Every time they've sold one house to move and purchase another they've turned on profit on their original investment by doing nothing more than keeping up with maintenance and not being hard on their homes.

I can beat that - we've owned 9 houses (lived in every single one of them - none were bought for "investment" purposes) in 9 states in 29 years and two pieces of property. Made money on all of them. About to put house #10 on the market and we're in area that did not suffer the crashes of other places and houses are still appreciating (slowly, but they are appreciating) and selling, so we expect this one to sell at a profit as well.

beeman
10-18-2008, 08:48
Well, that sure looks like an architectural student's design Jaybird. As a carpenter for 30 years, I would say turn it inside out and it would be better. It could then be covered with a less expensive roofing that would protect the framing. Use half the wall pieces and it would be more economical as well. Then I would say it is a first class piece of design work

Bob S
10-18-2008, 12:00
A house is the largest investment most middle class people ever have - because they can't throw that amount of money into something that doesn't put a roof over their heads.

My middle class folks have owned/ lived in seven houses over thirty years (average five years a house). Every time they've sold one house to move and purchase another they've turned on profit on their original investment by doing nothing more than keeping up with maintenance and not being hard on their homes.

Go read the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and it will open your eyes as to what an investment is and isn’t.

weary
10-18-2008, 12:32
Houses are not investments, they are liabilities, liabilities cost money (and a home does this every month you own it for all the time you own it.) It’s a necessary liability, but it is none the less a liability. Investments produce money every month you own them. With few exceptions homes cost.
My home and 2 acres cost $2,950. 48 years later it is worth around $500,000. Yes, I've spent a lot fixing it up and rebuilding over the decades -- but far less than rent would have cost me.

Even if my estimate of current value is high, I think it was a good investment.

BTW my wife inherited a few thousand dollars worth of stock from her Dad a decade ago. It's lost 30 percent of its value in recent days. Our debate is whether to lock in our losses. Or wait for -- and if -- the market rebounds.

Note: The Maine shelter directions envision cutting logs for the construction. Usually trees are more valuable on your land as trees, not as building materials. Instead, look for a small custom mill in your area and have it produce some rough sawn timbers instead. MATC used rough sawn timbers when it built the new shelters at Horns Pond on Bigelow.

Weary

NICKTHEGREEK
10-18-2008, 13:15
Anyone remember the PBS special about that hardcase old man who built his cabin in Alaska and lived alone there? Now there's sweat equity and inspiration.

I used an alaska mill a carpenter pal had to side some timbers to 10x10 and got some fine flitch sawn boards clear of the heartwood. In about 10 hours of sawing and setup I had about 3 grand worth of wood ready to dry and about 100 episodes of being scared $hitless.

McCulloch
10-18-2008, 13:36
As my first post here on WB I'd like to offer the youtube link to Dick Proenneke. I could watch this again and again. Amazing guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsfB6oJ55wM

NICKTHEGREEK
10-18-2008, 14:23
As my first post here on WB I'd like to offer the youtube link to Dick Proenneke. I could watch this again and again. Amazing guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsfB6oJ55wM
Exactly! Welcome and great post!

sheepdog
10-19-2008, 14:40
As my first post here on WB I'd like to offer the youtube link to Dick Proenneke. I could watch this again and again. Amazing guy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsfB6oJ55wM
That was great. Welcome

Toolshed
10-19-2008, 16:43
Go read the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and it will open your eyes as to what an investment is and isn’t.

Harrumph!!!
I've read RDPD and one of Kiyasakis points (sp?) is that with Real estate, you can insure against loss. Try doing that with a stock or bond.
He makes it very clear that real estate is a wonderful way to make money as an one investment strategy within a broad portfolio.

shelterbuilder
10-19-2008, 21:18
...The Maine shelter directions envision cutting logs for the construction. Usually trees are more valuable on your land as trees, not as building materials. Instead, look for a small custom mill in your area and have it produce some rough sawn timbers instead. MATC used rough sawn timbers when it built the new shelters at Horns Pond on Bigelow.

Weary

I agree that, for the money, going to your local sawmill for rough-cut timbers and lumber makes a lot of sense. You'll want smooth-milled lumber for the flooring, but the rest of the structure could be made from rough-cut stuff. If you want smooth interior walls, you could ask for "smooth-one-side" lumber, and turn the smooth side facing in.

A couple of years ago, we had to "re-build" the privy at the Rausch Gap shelter here in Pa. The siding was purchased from a local sawmill in wide widths. We spent a few mornings running the boards through a table saw to get the widths we wanted, and finished the structure with a vertical "board-and-batten" technique. The rough lumber gives the structure a "rustic" look, is cost LOTS less than lumber from one of the chain stores, and because it was purchased locally, we helped to keep a local guy in business. (If I did this correctly, there should be a picture of the finished privy showing the siding technique.)

BTW, building with logs is something that you don't want to try unless you have LOTS of time, and lots of help! Even the smaller diameter logs are tough to move around without help.

Smile
10-20-2008, 16:26
Sounds like a great idea, and good way to get to 'know' the land, maybe even before you build. Tree houses are pretty cool, and today I came across this interesting link for hanging houses made of wood.....http://www.inhabitat.com/2008/07/25/retreat-to-an-ewok-eco-spheres-in-trees/

Texasgirl
10-22-2008, 18:50
Thanks for the advice - on the shelter design as well as the economics and investment strategy of home ownership.

I'm still building a shelter - a simple one and I'm really in love with that one log out front, a little distance from the sleep floor, where a person can rest a muddy, wet hiking boot. Thanks for the design and construction tidbits and links. I'm gonna look for reclaimed wood (be eco minded if I can).

le loupe
10-22-2008, 19:24
Yo TexasGirl,

check this out: http://www.pages.drexel.edu/~aja39/hiker.htm


this was my design for the same project- it would have been cold, dark and wet...

My father built a shelter type structure on his property in a hidden location. sort of a summer sleeping porch.

don't get caught up in convention. Stay away from standards and proportions that are used in house construction.

don't be afraid of short walls, low ceilings, etc. These are the features that make that kind of shelter comfortable and reassuring

le loupe
10-22-2008, 19:27
If you want and you have some time to get it together, I might even be willing to draw plans for you.

You'd have to promise to send me lots of pictures of course...