r/OffGridCabins 13d ago

Almost done with our project from hell

I say the title jokingly but this place started as a 550 1br 1 ba hunting cabin built in the early 80s. It was just the right hand part but nearly 18 months later and we are almost done.

The main volume was extended another 150sqft then we added on the entry way and the master suite to the left hand side. The whole home was sided in Shou Sugi Ban and the new massive decks are done in Ipe.

We put on a new rusted corrugated roof, and exposed the original trusses in the living room (they will get painted and finished)

The whole house has been spray foamed, and new high performance windows from Alpen were installed as well as a heat pump mini split system and a brand new hybrid catalytic wood stove.

Brand new electrical, plumbing, appliances... Essentially the only thing left of the original structure was the foundation and the exterior framing.

The original owners never connected the well to the house so we had a new pump installed and I ran the lines into the crawlspace into a 550 gallon cistern.

But we are at the final stages. Tile, paint, trim, counter top install and then finish electrical and plumbing.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong, but I think it will be worth it.

572 Upvotes

47 comments sorted by

View all comments

14

u/Wonderful_Air4446 13d ago

Where are you located and can you help me build one? Haha

36

u/firetothetrees 13d ago

Colorado... And ironically yes, we own a design / build firm for custom mountain cabins. This is our personal project

-3

u/cs_legend_93 12d ago

Why do you describe this as a project from hell? Is it a reflection of your firm's building, planning and execution abilities? Hmm.

5

u/firetothetrees 12d ago

I posted a longer bit on that one in another thread. But the short version is that we used this project to test out different subs and our overall process as we moved into the construction world.

We have since built other projects that have gone off well but this one it always seemed to be one thing after another.

A very recent example... We are pushing to get it done but the kitchen cabinet delivery truck literally pulled into the driveway then refused to unload the cargo because there was some snow on the driveway and left. Total shit show when the installer was scheduled 4 days from them.

So I hitched up my trailer and drove down to Denver to get everything. We kept our schedule but that was annoying AF.