Techniques I'm using to build cabin alone

Walk-behind Billy Goat brush mower is my tractor

Garden cart fitted with 2x4 braces carries 4x8 sheets

Two-wheel dolly lets me move a bunch of 2x4s at one time easily

 We started from absolute scratch at our retirement cabin on Red Lake. As Brenda likes to  relate, we had to machete our way through the bush just to get out of the boat. This wasn't a previous cabin site that had some cleared land. It was virgin land, and as far as I can see, was never even a campsite by any of the First Nations that lived in this area for 10,000 years.

It took us two weeks just to clear a place to pitch a tent and make a trail leading to that spot. We then lived in the tent for two summers while we brought in a dock, made a secure landing on shore for it, and built what we call a Dockhouse, since it is near the dock, but will really be a guest cabin. It gives us a comfortable place to live while we build the main cabin, something we could have completed last summer had we not got run off by forest fires for nearly a month.

I have done all the carpentry by myself so far and probably will finish the project the same way. Ironically, one of the reasons I am doing it like this is because I have a bad back. You would think that would make me want to lean on friends and relatives all the more but the truth is I can work without hurting myself best when I'm alone. I go at my own pace which is admittedly slower than other people. 

One of the big considerations in avoiding back aches was how to get all the building materials from the boat, up the hill and 200 feet to the cabin. It started by making a plywood sidewalk to level the area nearest to the dock. From there our son, Matt, with a shovel and wheelbarrow, two summers ago excavated a bit of the hillside where the cabin was to be located and used that material to level an equal distance with soil and rocks. So, we have a pretty level trail all the way to the cabin site. That means we can roll things, rather than carry them. In fact, after bringing in an estimated seven tons of building material for the entire cabin last fall, I can say I never carried a single thing other than a short distance from the dock. Lumber, 4x8 sheets, I-joists, steel roofing and siding, windows and doors, all were rolled. The only exception was the 32-foot roof trusses. For that I had the help of Stan, Jan and Ben from Eagle Falls Lodge who had brought these ungainly items out to us in their 40-plus-foot pontoon boat. Thank you, my new friends!

We also got a big help from our friends the Moningers when they let me use their approximate 26-foot pontoon boat to bring out the lumber and sheeting. Thank you, Bob, Rosalie and Tom!

We've also had help bringing things up the hill from our cabin neighbours, Lee and Dale, and from Brian over at the camp.

And finally, thank you to Northwest Timbermart who not only loaned me a work boat to start the summer but also brought their Zoomboom machine to set material from the lumber truck directly onto the boats. Wow, what a time-saver!

The actual building, however, I have been doing alone. I'm finicky about the foundation. If that isn't right, nothing above it will be either. Our cabin site is sandy and for those conditions I hand dug holes for 18 foundation posts set two feet deep. Eighteen-inch foundation pads were put in the bottom of each, all leveled. Above this I placed 6x6 preserved wood posts, with a nub carved at the end to fit into the foundation pad depression. I wrapped the posts with heavy plastic that prevents frost from gripping on the sides and also stops bugs like carpenter ants from climbing up. The pad depth is shallower than what I would do when working in clay. There I would have gone 3-4 feet. Clay is known for spectacular heaving by frost.

People wonder what the frost depth is at Red Lake. In cleared-off places like a street, it is about nine feet! But under a cabin, especially one where the snow will be undisturbed (we won't use the cabin in the winter) it is just a couple of feet. In sand, which drains easily, it should be even less.

Brenda has said she has stayed married to me for the past 47 years because none of my buildings have mice! I thought that might be a good name for a construction company: No Mouse Cabin Construction. The trick is to have a secure foundation so the building doesn't "walk" with the frost, pulling wall plates loose from the floor. 

Another trick I have learned is to skirt-in the foundation so that all the foundation posts are hidden from the sun. In the spring, the warm sun will melt the ground on the south side of the building first. If any heaving has taken place over the winter, the south side will drop lower than the north and the building will start inching downhill. I have seen buildings without below-frost foundations move about a foot per decade. 

My foundation should be below-frost but just to be sure, I skirt everything as well.

I-joists in place

Completed cabin floor and roof trusses are covered for winter. Sides have temporary skirting

Also built a shed last summer. It will become the site for solar panels and batteries, as well as generator seen here under overhang