Building woodland shelter

[Hunter]

I would like to have some advice, guidance and tips please

I plan to build a shelter in our wood, nothing fancy and it will not have a door.

I want to use a trees/ timber from the wood and plan to build it over 6-12 month period or even longer. I have never built a timber building before but I am a DIY kind of person.

After some internet search I decided to go for something similar to three walls horse shelter may be 16x12 feet or slightly smaller.

I will try not to fell any tree just for the building and this mean it will be build for different tree species but we have few blown away and leaners of Oak, beech, ash and wild cherry and beech.

The roof will be metal corrugated sheets. I have bought Chinese alaskan mil copy to help with beams and blanks for the wall. I also plan to buy makita battery operated tools etc.

Can such building done with a single person, can I use different wood some of it old and other green.

The pictures below to give you an idea about the kind of shelter I want.

But instead of square posts and beams I prefer it to be unfinished wood like the second picture but not sure one person can carry such large logs.

Anybody built similar thing or got any plan/ pictures to share.

[Hunter]

This the kind of shelter I am after but with unfinished logs

[agg221]

Quite a few questions in there.

 

Firstly, yes, one person can do pretty much anything (albeit slowly!) if they have some way of lifting and moving things. You get pretty good at working out how to prop/wedge/manoeuvre things on your own and it can be done with wedges, levers, jacks etc. rather than machinery. Similarly, the whole lot could be done with hand tools rather than battery operated tools if you need to. A bit and brace isn't that bad and decent quality hand saws (I use Japanese ones) are reasonably quick. Power tools are undeniably faster though.

 

You will need to decide on the biggest thing you think you can lift, or get all the main frame sections together first and then get in some help for a day to get them up, which will be a lot quicker.

 

Think about the base - anything in contact with the ground directly will rot relatively fast (even oak) compared with putting it on something to keep it off the damp.

 

If you want a 'raw' look but the timber is too large a diameter, look at halving or quartering it and leaving it rough on the face. This will also give you a flat face which makes building a lot easier.

 

I would try to use oak (heartwood) for the main frame, particularly anything structural which comes down to the ground and the biggest timbers. If would use ash (or cherry) for the structural members higher up such as the roof, where they will stay dry. For the cladding, if you plan on making this it will take a while! I would be inclined to buy in larch or western red cedar for this, but if you are going to make it yourself from your available timbers, I would be very heavily and repeatedly treating it.

 

I would avoid using the beech completely as it has no durability outside.

 

Alec

[Hunter]

Or something like this without the concrete floor but not sure if you just dig a hole for the posts or better to use post mix. Also how to comment the roof to the wall posts?

Edited February 11, 2017 by Hunter

[agrimog]

yau can build anything you want if you think about how too, look into A frame lifting systems, using a tripod and beam, and riging a skyline for methods of lifting heavy roof beams and bits, same with corner posts, dig a hole and slide the post into it before using an a frame to pull it vertical, have a study of the "old" ways of doing things, theres nearly always a way to do something without modern tech being required.

good luck on building your woodland shelter, youll have fun, and if you build it right, years of enjoyment out of it

[Hunter]

Quite a few questions in there.

 

Firstly, yes, one person can do pretty much anything (albeit slowly!) if they have some way of lifting and moving things. You get pretty good at working out how to prop/wedge/manoeuvre things on your own and it can be done with wedges, levers, jacks etc. rather than machinery. Similarly, the whole lot could be done with hand tools rather than battery operated tools if you need to. A bit and brace isn't that bad and decent quality hand saws (I use Japanese ones) are reasonably quick. Power tools are undeniably faster though.

 

You will need to decide on the biggest thing you think you can lift, or get all the main frame sections together first and then get in some help for a day to get them up, which will be a lot quicker.

 

Think about the base - anything in contact with the ground directly will rot relatively fast (even oak) compared with putting it on something to keep it off the damp.

 

If you want a 'raw' look but the timber is too large a diameter, look at halving or quartering it and leaving it rough on the face. This will also give you a flat face which makes building a lot easier.

 

I would try to use oak (heartwood) for the main frame, particularly anything structural which comes down to the ground and the biggest timbers. If would use ash (or cherry) for the structural members higher up such as the roof, where they will stay dry. For the cladding, if you plan on making this it will take a while! I would be inclined to buy in larch or western red cedar for this, but if you are going to make it yourself from your available timbers, I would be very heavily and repeatedly treating it.

 

I would avoid using the beech completely as it has no durability outside.

 

Alec

Thanks for the top advice. Yes I thought about halving the logs to use less trees and help with lifting. I am not sure how I can keep the posts off the ground? And would appreciate any ideas. Can I use post spike? Or the whole building will be blown away?

[Hunter]

yau can build anything you want if you think about how too, look into A frame lifting systems, using a tripod and beam, and riging a skyline for methods of lifting heavy roof beams and bits, same with corner posts, dig a hole and slide the post into it before using an a frame to pull it vertical, have a study of the "old" ways of doing things, theres nearly always a way to do something without modern tech being required.

good luck on building your woodland shelter, youll have fun, and if you build it right, years of enjoyment out of it

Thanks a lot. Definitely will explore this.

[scbk]

I built a shelter 32ftx19ft (roof) on my own, apart from a mini digger at the start.

There's some photos of it, and other peoples structures, in the 'show us your log shed' thread in the photos forum

 

Unless you have far too much spare time I would be tempted to buy ready cut timber for the basic structure from a good local sawmill, only a few hundred £.

 

I used old hydro/telegraph poles for the uprights, but peeled bark trunks of a suitable species would do.

[Hunter]

Thank Scbk. I had a look and it is massive. Well done.

[Daniël Bos]

 

I built this on my own, all joints with chainsaws only.