View Full Version : Average Cost and time to build a lean to shelter
trainhopper
11-20-2011, 01:19
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
11-20-2011, 02:13
If you did it in your back yard maby $700.
kayak karl
11-20-2011, 02:21
the old farmer out back built a 10-12 shed with material out of my dumpster. LOL. skylite, windows and door. very frugal guy. just start saving lumber.
I built a small cabin with an ax, draw knife, hammer and saw in about 3 weeks with very little help. You can spend as much or as little money as you would like. If you are creative and look around you can get most of what you need for free. Find somebody who wants an old barn torn down and you'll get all the material you need.
Materials alone will cost about 10,000$. 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
11-20-2011, 11:14
I don't know, but here's one link http://www.thruthewoods.com/
You can recoup the costs here in Santa Barbara by renting it out for about $1000 a month as a studio apartment.
Mr. Clean
11-21-2011, 05:42
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.
Off the top of my head the average new AT shelter costs somewhere in the 7,000 to 10,000 dollar range.
Doc Mike
11-21-2011, 08:56
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.
The Solemates
11-21-2011, 10:14
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.
So apparently the cost is anywhere from $600 to $10k. :O
Doc Mike
11-21-2011, 10:41
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.......
Pedaling Fool
11-21-2011, 10:49
You guys that are talking about building for <$1,000 what kind of materials are you talking about? I don't imagine it would be too heavy duty lumber, like any of these. I know you can get some really cheap stuff, even free stuff, by scronging around, but I'm imagining you'll talking about making a lean-to out of simple planks, as opposed to logs. And would it be one type of wood or a hodgepodge?
http://www.thruthewoods.com/images/photos/leanto4.jpg
http://www.thruthewoods.com/images/photos/feature_leanto.jpg
Pedaling Fool
11-21-2011, 11:07
How about these the economical versions and it's greener for you'll that want to go green.
:D
http://www.wilderness-survival-skills.com/images/lean-to-shelter-21309687.jpg
http://practicalsurvivor.smugmug.com/photos/787406049_DAy4Y-M.jpg
Jim Adams
11-21-2011, 11:08
You guys that are talking about building for <$1,000 what kind of materials are you talking about? I don't imagine it would be too heavy duty lumber, like any of these. I know you can get some really cheap stuff, even free stuff, by scronging around, but I'm imagining you'll talking about making a lean-to out of simple planks, as opposed to logs. And would it be one type of wood or a hodgepodge?
http://www.thruthewoods.com/images/photos/leanto4.jpg
http://www.thruthewoods.com/images/photos/feature_leanto.jpg
Only cost here is hand tools, personal labor and roofing.
geek
Pedaling Fool
11-21-2011, 11:15
Only if you're talking about knocking down your own trees in the area. If not I'd like to know where you can scrounge up a quality logs for free, but then you got transportation costs.
You're talking some serious labor knocking down all them trees and cutting to fit...
Jim Adams
11-21-2011, 11:26
I have trees this size on my land...materials and no transportation costs BUT ......you gotta have the land!
geek
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.......
Give it time. The i-pod charger and solar panels may not be too far off in the future....
peakbagger
11-21-2011, 12:13
There are several vendors in the Northeast that sell prefab kits. If you want to build from scratch starting with cutting trees it takes a long time and requires special tools.
Feral Bill
11-21-2011, 13:01
I built a log house with trees from my property some years ago. It is hard work, especially peeling logs. Mixing cancrete in a wheelbarrow is doable but tedius, too. The main costs would be a decent chainsaw, roofing, and flooring. For a lean-to I'd figure a couple thousand bucks. That's assuming you don't hurt yourself.
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.
HERE IS A a piece from an article I found about the Rocky Run Shelter..... The original shelter was built in 1940 by the Civilian Conservation Corps (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Civilian_Conservation_Corps) (CCC) and completed in 1941 by the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club (http://www.whiteblaze.net/wiki/Potomac_Appalachian_Trail_Club) (PATC) which currently maintains 240 miles of the Appalachian Trail from Pennsylvania to Virginia and an additional 1,000 miles of trails elsewhere in the region. The shelter is one of 15 remaining shelters built by the CCC on the Appalachian Trail, and of even fewer made from logs rather than stone. After falling into disrepair, the PATC considered tearing it down and building a larger one. However, noting its historical siginifacance, the shelter was repaired in 2008. Volunteer crews also built another log shelter and a privy nearby. A new shelter costs about $7,000-$9,000 and takes 8–12 months of volunteer labor to build
shelterbuilder
11-21-2011, 22:32
14438Eagle'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. 14439
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. 14440
You are limited only by your own imagaination...so start imaginin'!
MuddyWaters
11-22-2011, 19:56
I built a small 10x16 hunting camp once. Pressure treated subfloor on concrete piers, wood frame walls sheathed with plywood, metal roof. It cost so damn much money and time, that when I got into another hunting lease years later, I bought a travel trailer to put there instead.
Dont underestimate the time, or the cost, or the value of your time unless you are retired with nothing else to do.
You can do a material takeoff and calculate the cost pretty close. Dont leave out anything, including gas to an from, food and water when there, etc. When I built the small camp I built, I must have made 12 weekend trips there to work on it, at a cost of $100 each time for truck gas/generator gas/food/bottled water, etc each time. About $1200 in miscl. costs I wasnt thinking of.
are you looking for someone to build you one? Ive always wanted to build one ( I even drew up my own plans). I work construction and carpentry in poughkeepsie. I may be available to take on this project soon, if your looking for someone to build it for you.
shelterbuilder
11-22-2011, 20:47
I built a small 10x16 hunting camp once. Pressure treated subfloor on concrete piers, wood frame walls sheathed with plywood, metal roof. It cost so damn much money and time, that when I got into another hunting lease years later, I bought a travel trailer to put there instead.
Dont underestimate the time, or the cost, or the value of your time unless you are retired with nothing else to do.
You can do a material takeoff and calculate the cost pretty close. Dont leave out anything, including gas to an from, food and water when there, etc. When I built the small camp I built, I must have made 12 weekend trips there to work on it, at a cost of $100 each time for truck gas/generator gas/food/bottled water, etc each time. About $1200 in miscl. costs I wasnt thinking of.
Muddy Waters is right - the costs can quickly escalate to the point where - for personal use - it just isn't worth the time and money that you've invested.
Now, if it's a "labor of love", or if it's some sort of "work in progress" that you'll do for years as a hobby, then just "have at it", and count the cost as an "entertainment fee"! Food and water costs don't really figure in, IF you're eating much the same way that you would at home. Generator gas, gas/oil for the chainsaw, travel gas (and time and wear and tear) and TOOLS are sort of "hidden" costs that can really put you over budget.
We had about a 10% cost over-run on Eagle's Nest that I picked up out of my own pocket ("labor-of-love"), but the 10% cost over-run on the William Penn project was a bit heftier and had to be covered through other sources. And the Star-Plate project (the design concept is similar to the Dick's Dome Shelter in Va.) was built for a specific event, but was also a full-scale model that was intended to solve certain proportional problems that I was unable to solve with my scale-models. (I deliberately tried to keep my costs under control by using "weird" materials that cost substantially less than standard stuff...and I STILL spent close to $2000 just for materials!!!!)
Watch your wallet....
[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.
Pedaling Fool
11-23-2011, 09:20
14438Eagle'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. 14439
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. 14440
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?
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
11-24-2011, 20:52
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.
No well? Well...try rigging tarps that will drain into 55 gallon barrels. It may take several weeks to several months (depending upon rainfall) to collect all of the water that you need for your cement, but it beats hauling 5 gallons at a time.
Or...if the trek isn't overly far, try running a gravity line from the nearest road access to the site. We used both techniques at the Eagle's Nest site. We didn't have enough hose to make the run in one shot (1/4 mile total), so we placed an intermediate barrel between the road and the site, ran a barrelful from the road to the middle barrel, then pulled the hose down to make the second half of the run. (By the way, the gravity line WILL make the water "run uphill" if the lower end of the hose is below the upper end! Once the hose is full of water, suction at the lower end of the hose - caused by gravity pulling the water out of the lower end - will force the water in the line UP and over any high points in the line.)
A bonus from both of these is that, while the water is moving itself to your site, YOU can be doing other things!
shelterbuilder
11-24-2011, 20:58
[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.
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.
shelterbuilder
11-24-2011, 21:20
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.
I helped build two shelters along the Tuscarora Trail in VA and WV with the PATC. The 6-9K figure sounds correct. All the labor is free and, sometimes, material is donated by individuals and/or businesses.