$1k cabin

$1K CABIN

A guest article posted earlier.
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Sometimes I restate the obvious and everyone cheers, inheritances are offered, I must sadly decline females wishing to birth my offspring. Other times, everyone looks at me like I farted in the church pew. It’s usually hard to say which way it’s going to go. Today we talk of a cheap cabin. We do because very little is happening on the economic meltdown front and because we just talked about firearms and if I do that too often I’ll look like Mel Tappon and that my fine feathered friends, simply will not do. When I slink off into the corner to play with my gun ( this is my rifle, this is my gun… ) I try not to talk about it with others. Also, if I keep talking about how wonderful it is to live in a travel trailer you get all huffy and take your marbles and go play at another survival site. So here is the answer to all your problems other than that purported inability to perform sexually that we heard from the UPS guy that heard it from the wife, a cheap shelter. You can get really cheap shelter with a tent or with a beat to crap trailer or even by putting the kids out in a tent and renting their rooms, but here is a more conventional shelter. The Super Deluxe Wonderful Cube Cabin. Cheap to build and easy enough that mechanical morons such as myself can slop it together over a weekend.

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The cube cabin eliminates everything fancy. Interior space, ascetics, you name it. It also eliminates high cost and the need for building skill. With a stick built cabin it is pretty hard to screw up. I know, you know, and Ross Perot knows that none of you will want to live in a space so small. Most of you have a mudroom/laundry room bigger than this. This is just an option for a “vacation” home on your “vacation” lot. If you ever need it for permanent occupancy it is ready for you. Cheaper than a trailer and not as easily towed away. You all won’t live on junk land, but consider it as a back-up. If you buy a piece of land for two grand, build this cabin for one grand, and have a grand in wheat and bolt guns, even someone on minimum wage can be prepared for a long meltdown. Yes, you could go cache some buckets and when the time comes just pick a nice spot to dig a pit and cover it with a debris roof and your total cost is in the hundreds rather than thousands. But here I’m trying to give you something the wife will loathe with all her being but at least it is NOT a tent or trailer. It is much better at keeping the critters out and the heat in. But it is still very affordable. Anyone can give you advice on how to throw your money away. I’m trying to offer the lowest cost, in case that is all you can afford.

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Your cube is going to be an eight foot measurement. This eliminates almost all cutting so you don’t have to worry about the lack of power on your land. Believe me, cutting a piece of plywood with a hand saw sucks. Get yourself those cast cement blocks that have the middle hole that holds a four by four beam. They are roughly $5 each. Get a dozen for the corners, the middle of each side, and a center floor support going both ways. $60 total. You can get four by fours, but it will be cheaper to get two 2x4’s and nail it together ( four corners, and in between each corner on all sides ). Eight of these posts will cost $40. You are up to $100.

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Nail horizontal 2x4’s to connect all the posts, top, middle and bottom. Lay a center beam ( you can reinforce the boards with more cement blocks if you wish, and you might as well since the basic block is $1.50. Add about $20 ) for the floor both ways, forming an +. The floor and roof can be a conventional one foot spaced stick wall. The walls can be also if you desire, to make rolls of insulation easier to install. I’d just loosely hang the insulation between posts since your interior walls will be more insulation. Call the walls $6 each before insulation, for a total of $25. The floor is $30, as is the roof 2x4’s. Total, $75.

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You will need two sheets of plywood per side of the cube for twelve sheets totaling $120. Roll insulation is about $10 for thirty feet, or about $3 per strip per wall, or $25 a side for $150 total. Interior rigid board insulation is $120 ( place horizontally as the roll insulation was vertical. The two will criss-cross and eliminate most heat loss ). The floor rigid board insulation can go up underneath the floor boards rather than on top of the floor, but securing it would be problematic. Total cost here is about $400.

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You could jerry-rig a roof, but I’d just go with shingles to get a better lifespan. I have no idea how many you would need, as I plan on having a sunken pit and the roof a few layers of plastic with an inch of dirt covering it. But figure a good three packs for around $100. Throw in a window and door for at least the same Benjamin. Total, $200.

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You are up to $775, give or take with whatever price fluctuations you find. Call it $800. Throw in a few solar panels, a small propane stove, etc. Within reason, a one grand cubed cabin. Obviously, this is just a “big picture” idea. Not a step by step instruction to be followed religiously. I’m just trying to illustrate how easy and cheap a basic, well insulated shelter can be. Yes, it is tiny. But yes, you can add to it as cash becomes available. You’ll need other odds and ends, but this is a great place to start. You could save even more and build a geo dome:

http://www.strombergschickens.com/starplate_building_system?gclid=CIO5-enu9awCFYYaQgodMQSDTg

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This cube was just to give you a price guide to how affordable it is to live in something that won’t cost you the same amount of money EVERY SINGLE MONTH. Enjoy.

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My e-mail is jimd303@netzero.com
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