Solar Cabin in the Woods part 1 - Hi-Def!

Ongoing project. I'm building a 16 x 20 cabin powered by solar. The cabin sits about 1500 feet from the access road. The property is uncleared land that I am turning into a tree farm (mostly loblolly pine, with some cherry bark oak and ornamental trees). The north part of the property I will keep mostly native to preserve the view from the cabin.

The ground was covered with 12" of packed clay. The center supports are augered 3 ft. and anchored with concrete. The outer supports consists of a 16 x 16 pad with 8 x 16 cinder blocks on top. there are 4 additional supports for a total of 13, on top of which rests the 4 x 6 beams. Total ground support area is about 15 sq.ft.. Allowing for 40 lb/sq.ft. dead load, makes the ground pressure at the supports about 5.9psi, which is substantially less than the 13 psi limit for red clay (you want less than 1 ton per sq ft on this soil).

On my next video, I may show my plans if anyone is interested.

Original music is written and performed by John H. Clarke. "The Most Evolved". His web site is http://www.johnclarkemusic.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• solar
• cabin
• woods
• solar power
• cabin in the woods
• farm
• tree
• design
• john
• clarke
• music
• building a small cabin
• small cabin
• project

[solarcabin]

Very nice!

You can see my solarcabin channel for my 14x14 solar cabin and ideas for your power system.

[DavesTreeFarm]

@solarcabin

Lamar, thanks for watching. I've seen your videos and like them. Feel free to post a video response. Take care,

- David

[bilko1971]

Nice video.

Great music.

I enjoyed the drive, no tear-assing around.

[DavesTreeFarm]

Thanks.

[BSB8484]

Hey, nice work! just wondering if you joined the support beams to the cinder blocks, and if so how, and if not, why? cheers

[DavesTreeFarm]

The beams are set on top of the cinder blocks and are not secured into them. The center supports are set into concrete augered into the ground and these are secured to the center beam. I felt that this was adequate to secure the structure. Thanks for the comment.

[tomperanteau]

2:23 is where the video starts.

[DavesTreeFarm]

I'm planning an update soon. The small solar set up I have now is temporary and only enough to power some lights. You can see my 43w kyocera panel at 2:28 above that green shed. Inside of the shed is a samlex 600w pure sine wave inverter and a couple of "combination" deep cycle batteries. New system is 600AH 24v and 3x 205w panels hopefully by end of year. I'd like to see your project.

[JimNation2008]

I am at step one of doing the same thing you are. Your project looks great and will be alot of fun. I would like to see your plans and your solar set up as I need ideas myself. Thanks. Great Video!

[DavesTreeFarm]

Thanks. Current solar power system is a small experimental setup that runs up to 600W. I'm planning a stand alone system in the next few weeks that is substantially larger. (I'll document as I go along) For now, when I need to use the compressor or power saw I use a generator.