Step by step shelter building for long term?

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K1CKtheCHICKEN

Joined
Oct 21, 2012
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105
I made a shelter with a few friends of mine, a long term shelter. it was 12x12 once completed, log cabin style, but still slightly unfinished. I do not have videos or pictures of all of it, but i'm sure if some of you would like i could explain it and post some pictures, just wanted some input so i dont waste my time. Have a great day!:thumbup:
 
Beard, Daniel Carter, "Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties,” Diver 2004. Shelters simple and complex explained and shown by B.S.A.’s first “Chief Scout.”
 
Why not? Sharing experience and knowledge is how we learn. Pictures are pretty important, however.
 
I'd certainly like to read and see more about it.

My current shelter project is a very simple and half-assed tarp lean-to out in the woods behind my house where I can slip off for a few moments of quiet dirt time.
 
The thing is that your pics and any commentary might help others with things they're not sure about.
On the other hand you can present your own issues and ask for pointers here too.

That's the beauty of this place, you're always find someone who can share their knowledge with others!

So please, post up some pics
 
Often times books do not cover problems and solutions or longevity. Or if one would build another?
 
I'm convinced. My only question is how I should approach posting the pictures. How do you make the picture just pop up here, or would it be easier to put it in google docs and share the link?
 
Bo T,
This shelter took a long time, as it was a log cabin style shelter. I do not have the time now to build another as we were working 3 days a week at least including both weekend days from sunrise to well after sunset
 
K1CKtheCHICKEN said:
I'm convinced. My only question is how I should approach posting the pictures. How do you make the picture just pop up here, or would it be easier to put it in google docs and share the link?
Click to expand...

You can't put the pics directly here. You have to upload them to a sharing site (e.g. photobucket)and then use the links from there.
 
If you're not going to post pics a lot mebe email them to a moderator. One of those might pin them up for you.
 
Thank you, Cougar, for posting that. I've been looking for a place to read it.

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This is the start of our shelter. or rather, the frame. We built this template by hammering stakes in the ground. We also started the foundation here.

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Here we finished off the stone wall, and also added the first layer.

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Added some more to it, with my buddy Jacob inside.

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It was a cold morning, as you can tell by the long sleeves. We added another layer, and I took pictures as we finished up lunch.

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We're done with the walls right? nope. We realized it would be best to notch the logs, it would be more stable. So, off all the logs went and we started notching away at every log. Eventually we came up with this...

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Ah, much better. It was very stable at this point, we actually ran into the walls to make sure they were sturdy, and needless to say it felt like a brick wall.

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We used the tops of the trees for the roof, and did this all the way across. We also cut the door with a saw, and braced the frame with small wooden blocks that we notched. Here is a picture of it looking more complete.

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You can see the door partially, but it doesn't go all the way to the ground. We didn't need it to go all the way to the ground, and It started getting difficult to cut, so we left it how it was. We finished off the roof with more beams, and added some pine boughs to the top. This is the last picture I have of it, but we added about 2 feet of leaves to the top, which made it very close to waterproof in the rain. We left the walls as-is, but could be finished at any time. I built a fireplace inside, it was like a modified dakota pit. I dug down and made a square hole for the shape of the fireplace. i lined the sides with rocks and a big one for the top. I then dug a trench out of the shelter, and covered most of it with rocks and sealed it with mud until the end, so we had a chimney. I built a small wall out of rocks around the chimney to block the wind from pushing smoke into the inside. I then dug out the front of the fireplace so that you could put wood in, and so it could get enough oxygen. We tested it out, and it worked like a dream. This was now the fall, and it was starting to get cold out. We slept out one night that got below 30 degrees, and we stayed warm with the fire going and a sleeping bag.


Any questions you have will be answered.
 
Can you see my pictures? Many of the pictures here on BF don't show up on my screen, just a little icon with a page on it. That is what my pictures look like. If you are wondering, i did upload them to photobucket and uploaded them with the URL
 
You linked to individual pages with an individual image on each. You only need the address of the image not of the page.
 
That is pretty neat little cabin and this is a very interesting topic. Are you done with the construction? What other improvements do you have in mind?

I ordered the book "Shelters, Shacks and Shanties" from Amazon last week. I've been getting interested in semi-permanent shelters lately and I've heard that the book is a good intro.
 
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