03/13/2018
Adding a new style of accommodation at my beach loft...
It was a very cold morning when I drove to a farm just outside of Brockville Ontario to buy a hay wagon. A HAY WAGON you ask?? What for? To build a pine cabin on it and park it beside our creek and waterfall.
Just across the road from my loft is a beautiful natural area with a meandering creek that comes from an amazing waterfall. The waterfall is the result of a Gristmill that was built in the 1800s. And the creek is the spawning grounds for the pickerel that are the main fish in Howes Lake, as well as Verona (Rock) Lake and Hambly Lake which are all connected. It could be a beautiful camping area and you can kayak all the way down the creek to Howes Lake and beyond.
So always thinking about ways to keep busy I’ve decided to begin grooming the area for eventually having some spots for “Glamping” (Glamorous Camping). But the municipality will not allow buildings close to any water ways except for trailers that are moved on an annual basis. So watching DIY TV I saw the idea of small houses and one episode featured a cabin on a wagon. Yowsers! What a great idea and it qualifies as a trailer and I can move it where it’s best.
So as you see with the picture of the wagon (below) this is no simple wagon. It is a wagon that can be extended to 20 feet long and has large heavy duty wheels and can hold a building weighing 12 tons. It is your HEAVY DUTY wagon, while at the same time can be maneuvered in tight spots easily with it’s long hitch and front wheels that can turn sharply.
I was able to mill several large poplar trees which I will use the 2X6 boards for floor joists which will be laid on two large beams rough sawed from 30 foot Ash trees. Wall studs will be the poplar as well. (See pic below.)
Plywood will be screwed to the bottom and waterproofed on the underside then 6 inches of fibreglass insulation – water vapour plastic then pine planks, the 1 inch planks, seen below, as the finished flooring. Pine planks will form the cladding on the exterior of the cabin with pine on the interior walls as wainscoting and white gyproc on the upper parts of the walls and ceiling. The loft will have a sky light window and be supported by pine posts and beams and railing. (See pics below.)
Stay tuned for more pics and more words about the building process…. After I complete this project I plan on building tree houses. Not your normal kids’ tree houses but large tree houses for a unique family vacation summer or winter, that will be built amongst the Jack Pine forest that follows the creek.
