And the hits juuust keep on coming... all the piers in place but for the last one that I ran my single water run of 3/4" Pex B inside of 2" ABS to prevent rodent cjew 2.5' under ground and my 3'4' black iron gas line run that was tested, before and after placement that took 5 helpers to lower in unison into the ditch 2' underground. Last pier in place showing wrapped water & gas lines coming up inside the pier...

Septic layout. Far end is 'end of line' cleanout, also to be used as RV black water dump. Nearer is toilet riser up into the cabin through another pier w/separate cleanout for it. 3" ABS. Green stake denotes the 5' mark past the cabin footprint for hookup. This point has to be 55' from property line & 35' from easement line. For anyone wanting a well (we are not), ANY part of the septic HAS to be a MINIMUM of 100' from a well.

This was my main water line coming in. My tanks are in a 20' conex box. Reason: they're too spendy to sun rot & I don't care for unintentional hydroponic growth. I dug my trench over to the last pier to be installed. Ran my 3/4" Pex B through the 2" ABS. Turned it up through the bottom of my conex box & made it rodent tight again by finishing with an ABS water closet flange anchored down to the floor. IF I ever had an issue, I could run/pull a new line through from beginning to end. Being underground 2.5', water stays cool even in a hot summer.

Gas (LP) line run. I dug my trench 2' deep from far side of the second conex for 2 reasons, the tank size denotes a need for a 'blast shield' from the dwelling. Code requires it hold a minimum 7psi for 15 minutes. Mine held 15psi for 24 hours. 'Nuff said. It took help from 5 others to raise & lower into the trench with no twisting. I re-ran the test afterwards again to make sure, good to go.

We got to our vacation home last weekend after a few weeks and guess what?..the lock had no power :/..the keys were back at home. I thought my husband had packed them, he had thought I had and we managed to argue about it despit both having forgotten to check haha

A spare key is coming with us next time. That part is on us for sure! For those of you using smart lock somewhere you only visit ocassionally, what do you do about the battery between trips? Do you charge it before leaving regardless of how much is left? I have also seen ads for the v159+ solar smart lock (desloc) and I wonder whether anyone here has used one throughout winter. They say it charges from ambient light too. Or entrance gets good sun in summer but much less in winter and so I am like unsure how much charging it would actually get.

Interested in hearing hhow often you still charge yours manually, especially with a covered entrance. Trying to work out whether solar would help enough here or whether we just need a better routine with the current lock.

Had anyone ever rented their space for a long-term rental? Did you encounter any legal issues? Trying to figure this out in Burke County, NC

ANYONE know where or HOW to MAKE the BAGS THAT HOLD THE dirt ?? I’d Love to build a HOME a STUDIO after I FIND #RURAL strategic land for preservation. I Have a Plan. If everyone’s buried on THEIR OWN LAND…!

We bought a seasonal vacation cabin last spring, and I'm using the winter downtime for some upgrades and repairs. One of my bigger tasks is to replace the existing water system along with the current shower setup. The "bathroom" area sits on a concrete slab, and I don't have a practical way to run plumbing underneath the slab. I'm sure there's a way to do it, but I don't have the energy, so I'm planning on having all the plumbing over the top of the slab. The previous owner installed the shower over a plywood deck supported by 2x6's, but the drain and drain pipe (which leak pretty badly) were glued in place, so repair isn't an option. I think the main reason the drain is leaking is that the plastic floor pan was placed on top of the plywood deck without a support base of mortar, so it flexes quite a bit when in use. My plan is to replace the deck, plumbing, and reuse the shower unit (if possible) with a better execution of the existing design. I want to make the deck out of pressure-treated wood, use a mortar bed under the shower pan, and install the plumbing correctly as opposed to gluing everything together with silicone. Is there a better way to do this? I'm not a plumber, and all my experience comes from home repairs, so I'm worried that there is a better or simpler way to do this. Is there a commercial product that allows for an above-floor install? Everything I've seen online involves drilling through the slab to run the drain underground or carving a huge trench out of the concrete, and neither of those options appeals to me. Thanks!

Pioneers and many people in general built with green logs straight after cutting. Wouldnt they mold like crazy at the places where you stack them on top of each other? Especially something like the scribed design that no doubt leaves some larger voids between each log?

Looking for an efficient vented propane stove/fireplace-prefer one that looks like a burning fireplace, not just an eye sore- for a 1400 sq foot home that can be used during power outages in northern maine?

I have SLOWLY been building a 16x20 cabin over the past year in PEI, Canada. The cabin sits on 100 acres of mostly forested property. The cabin is located in an area I cleared in 2022. Installed metal roof 2 weeks ago. Next weekend I’m installing chimney and a wood stove . I can access it in winter, so the focus this winter is to insulate and finish the interior with tongue and groove pine. Siding will follow in the spring, I’m still undecided on the exterior finish, open to suggestions!
I power the cabin with an EcoFlow Delta Pro and an extra battery, with 3 - 495w panels.
Looking forward to getting more done this winter!

These are my thoughts about why I went with a dry cabin. It's why I do a lot of things the way I do. The principle is worth considering, even if you don't agree with me on running water per se. The size of your cabin doesn't matter. Of course, building codes might matter.

...

Running Water Isn’t a Necessity, It’s a Waste

Why I built a dry cabin, haul jugs, and resist indoor plumbing—inspired by Jevons Paradox and voluntary simplicity.

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“If you put in an uphill cistern, you could easily plumb running water into your cabin,” said “Wayne.”
“Yeah, I know,” I said, dismissing the idea with a smile.
“No, really!”
“Nah, don’t want to.”

...

What Wayne didn’t get is that I had a reason—a specific, intentional, and frankly stubborn reason—for building what’s called a “dry cabin,” the kind without plumbing. It wasn’t because cisterns are too expensive. And it wasn’t because there’s no municipal water out here on the Mesa. (There isn’t, but that’s beside the point.) I could have done it. I knew how. I had options. But I didn’t. Because it was never about what I could do. It was about what I shouldn’t.

It was about restraint. About minimizing water use—a self-imposed limit in a life built around walking a little more softly on this trampled earth. Better to haul jugs from the community well than ape the habits of suburbia just to feel civilized. As Thoreau put it, “It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil.”

A lot of my lifestyle is about that. Keep it small. Keep it simple. Don’t make it too easy to live big, or pretty soon your life bloats with bills, bullshit, and a bigger carbon footprint than a dually doing donuts in a Walmart parking lot.

...

And when it comes to water, America is certifiable. The average American uses around 100 gallons a day at home. Here in the Southwest—where water is scarcer than humility in Congress—people somehow use more. Arizonans average 150 gallons a day. In Utah, it’s closer to 200. And in red rock country—Washington County, Utah—folks hit over 300 gallons per day, building their Zion of green lawns and splash pads in the middle of the damn desert.

Those numbers are bananas. So here’s some perspective.

Back when I lived in the van with my little Chihuahua, Coco, I used about a gallon and a half of water per day. That’s 1.5% of the national average—and yes, that covered drinking, cooking, cleaning. If I needed to wash more than my pits, I’d wade into a creek, no soap, just a sandy scrub.

Nowadays I've settled down at Hippies End with Sissy, my sixty-pound pit mix and full-time reality checker. We average around 2.5 gallons per day between the two of us—that’s about 2.5% of what most Americans use.

I’ve even got a rain catchment system my neighbor and I built: gutters to four 50-gallon barrels, plus two big 275-gallon IBC totes for the overflow. Right now, that’s only backup and gardening water, but if I wanted to filter it, that’s even less I’d be pulling from the community well.

And no, I’m not dried out like jerky. I’m not trailing dust like Pig-Pen from Peanuts—except maybe my feet, a badge of honor for any true sandalero. If I stink, nobody’s said anything—not even Sissy, who’s got a sensitive nose and no compunction against barking her mind.

...

But look, I’m not Mr. Discipline. I’m just as wasteful as the next fella when it’s easy. When I’ve lived with running water, I’ve used more. It’s tempting to linger in a hot shower, or let the faucet run while you argue with a podcast. When water flows freely, so does our waste.

Economists have a name for this: Jevons Paradox. It says that when something gets more efficient or easier to use, we tend to use more of it, not less. So make water cheap and convenient, and people behave like it’s infinite.

Same thing happened with LEDs. They were supposed to save electricity. And per bulb, sure, they do. But instead of using fewer lights, people just bought more. Now the urbs and 'burbs are lit up like a casino parking lot, and total electricity use for lighting? It went up. Totally ass-backwards.

...

That’s why I don’t have a cistern piped into my cabin. Not because I hate comfort. Not because I’m a Luddite. (Okay, maybe a little.) But because the simplest way to use less of something is to build in a limit. No heroic willpower needed. Just don’t make overuse an option.

I learned that trick back when I was a junior manager at an international megacorp. (Different life. Long ago.) The company didn’t control spending by micromanaging every line item. They just capped headcount. Because every new hire comes with hidden costs: office space, tech support, dental, lawsuits, birthday cakes. Limit the bodies, and the budgets stay in check.

Same deal here. I kept my cabin small—96 square feet. Not for magazine spreads or tiny house hashtags, but because it keeps my life small. And small keeps me sane. A big house demands more: furniture, heating, cleaning, insurance, maintenance, headaches. A small house caps the chaos, limits the cost and carbon footprint.

...

Same with water. By limiting how much I can easily access, I limit how much I use. It forces me to pay attention, reuse what I can, adapt where I must. I don’t have to make noble decisions every day—I just made one smart design choice up front.

And that’s the quiet beauty of structural limits: they’re passive. They don’t require daily discipline or moral acrobatics. They just are. And that makes it easier to live right—even if you're a little lazy, like me.

...

CC BY 4.0

Located in the very northern tip of Menominee county in the U.P.

Got a steal of a deal to buy a remote 40 acres, a few years ago. It is completely surrounded by state land. I finally got some free time to build my cabin.

I have been building for the past month.

12x24.

What is your favorite cabin?
Mine has to be the bear lake cabin... will be by far my biggest inspiration for mine!

I’m planning on building a bushradical style cabin this spring/summer. However this fall I have the luck of getting a friend with a skid steer to help do some dirt work on the property, and also use his auger attachment to dig all the post holes for the foundation.

My question is, should I build the insulated foundation this fall since the holes will be dug or wait until the spring to do the whole build all at once -ish?

My concern with building the foundation this fall is that I’m in the northern Midwest and would need to cover the foundation with a tarp for the winter. Don’t know if that would be enough to keep a winters worth of snow/moisture off of the surface. Or again, should I just wait for spring to do it all at relatively the same time.

Pics are not mine, only for reference

Has anyone tried or thought about a dugout? There have been a number of historical periods in various places around the world where people successfully lived in dugouts. I feel like the biggest reason people aren't living in dugouts today is because of legal restrictions and group think.