There is a lot of value in going small in the lodging you build. This is particularly true if you invested your money in more land rather than more things. The smaller the abode, the less area you have to heat, and the less you have to light, and the less furniture you have to buy to fill it. The smaller the space, the more likely you'll want to get outside and enjoy nature.
My aha moment came when the Army had sent me on a long TDY and I had brought along more of my stuff than I actually needed to stay comfortable. I started looking at how small a space I was living in comfortably. Combat Veterans have lived in even smaller spaces than that for months on end.
I do suggest that you assess your space needs before you start building your small home. If you go too small, cabin fever is going to set in quickly. One trend I've seen is people building their small home on a trailer. This greatly restricts the width of your abode, and makes it more of a hallway than a room. I would suggest that 16'x16' is plenty small while still allowing you room to move around. And I recommend planning your building on 4' lengths and widths. This will maximize the efficient use of construction materials. Plywood comes in 4' x 8' lengths, so 16x16 would mean 8 pieces of 3/4" tongue and groove plywood, with basically no waste. Before you start buying plywood, you're going to want to identify the site.
Living in the Wild means you're going to want some basic tools including an axe, sledge hammer (splitting logs), a wheelbarrel, round and flat tipped shovel, rake and pickaxe. You'll also want a good quality chainsaw (gas operated), leaf blower, circular saw, 30' and 300' tape measures, cordless drill, a hand winch, a 100ft/12 gauge extension cord and 20ft/10ga multi outlet extension cord, hammer, and good old fashioned handsaw. While living with ready power, few would reach for the handsaw, but when you have to power up a generator to run it, the handsaw is quicker and easier if you only have a small board or two to cut.
The question of a foundation is going to come up fairly quickly. A poured slab may be a good idea for some, but that means you're either going to be mixing a lot of cement (which gets old quick), or have a cement truck pull up to a site that you have prepared. It also means that your house will be on the ground. There are certainly some cost savings in this, but there is a value in being off the ground.
The first thing you want to build is a set of sawhorses. Cut five 8' 2x4's into 32" lengths. (Alternately, you can reuse the wood of a pallet for this.) Nail (or screw) 2 sets of 3 32" boards into an I beam and nail 4 legs below the top of the I beam, two nails into the bottom of the I beam and two into the top of each leg into the upright of the I beam. One nail is a pivot, two holds it in place, and three secures it. Five, in this case, just weakens the boards. Stain your saw horses. They may be cheap and easy to build, but they're invaluable to have around the place. The top board of the I beam is going to get cut up, so you'll want to screw it rather than nail it, so you can replace it as needed.
Stake out the footprint of your foundation with 8 stakes, which means you have a straight string running across each wall and two stakes on each corner, outside of where you're going to dig. It's not enough that they are just 16' long on each side. You'll want to pull measurements from corner to corner in both directions. If these aren't the same, your foundation plan isn't square. Getting things square, and level will make everything above easier, throughout the process.
Pour a cement pad for a pier every 8 foot (9 piers and 9 pads). You can probably get away with just the corners, if you buy big enough lumber to set on it, but that middle support will do a lot to keep your floor from bowing. Use piers of two blocks per row on the corners and single blocks for the middles. I recommend using a 6x6 or at least 4x4 runners under 2x8 floor joists. Mark your runners on 16" centers and toe nail your joists to them. Flush the top edges of the boards, as they won't all be the exact same dimensions (7 1/4"). This will give you a very sturdy floor. Make sure you get them on 16" centers. Double up the two end joists, and any other joist that will support a weight bearing wall. Pull measurements from corner to corner again. Make sure it is square. Adjust it with hammer or sledge to get it right.
Pop a line across your joists, 48" out from your rim joist (the one you nailed all the other joists to). Cut two pieces of plywood at 32"/64". Run two full pieces of plywood face down beyond the 48" line. It's best to run the groove side to the line side and tongue on the rim joist side. As you'll be flipping it, that means the groove side is next to the chalk line. Now you can safely walk across the plywood and put glue down on the joists. Flip the first board, adjust it to the line and screw the outside 4' length (every 8-12"). Pull your 16" centers and screw the plywood at the groove side (not through the groove). After you have first one in place, on the line, and screwed to 16" centers, you can run the next board, screwing the inside 4' length first (tight against the first board), with screws matching the ones on the first board. Pull your 16's, making sure you stay on your chalk line. Screw down the rest of the two boards to the joists, every 16". Often, framers will wait until the floor is down and run the rest of the screws, but this increases the chance that you'll miss the joist, or that the glue will begin to set before you get the screws in. If you choose to wait, you can pop a line on the plywood marking the location of the center of the joist.
The next row, start with a 32" or 64" board, factory edge to the inside. The rest of that board will go on the opposite side, with a full piece in the middle. The row after that, you'll start with the opposite (64" or 32") and your last row will be full sheets. You'll want a piece of scrap 2x4 (3' to 4' long) to bang the sledge on in order to force the tongue tightly into the groove from the groove side, and will likely need to put some weight on the tongue side to get it started. Rarely will you be able to get the entire length right from one spot of sledging the beater board. More likely, you'll need to get one corner right, put a pivot screw in, and then do the other corner. Make sure it splits the board. If you read the print on the plywood, it will tell you that it is sized for an 1/8" gap. That also means that it isn't truly 4', and you're going to end up with a small portion on the 8' lengths that doesn't have plywood over rim joist. Whether your gap is nil or 3/16", make sure it is the same along the entire run.
Now, if you build this thing quick enough, a drop of rain will never touch your plywood, and it can be dried in, in a day, if you're very efficient, but for many, that's a lofty goal for the average individual. I recommend that you invest in a 5 gallon bucket of Cabot wood sealant/stain, and you buy the plywood that is designed to be exposed to some weather, but keep it as dry as possible. In no way is it required that framing be stained/sealed, because it shouldn't be exposed to much weather, but it will certainly make it last longer, if you seal all the wood you use. For joists and studs, it's easiest to do this after they're cut and before their used. For the floor plywood, it's easier to stain it, once it's down. It's a one coat system and it will repel the second coat. Give the wood all the stain it'll take, but don't leave puddles. Hit the seams and screw holes well. It's not a bad idea to have a piece of plastic ready to cover it up after it dries (a day) if you have to walk away from the project for a few days, along with any other wood you have on site.
Now, if you've exercised a decent amount of perfectionism in square, plumb, level, and centers, the rest is going to be easier. If you were sloppy about it, the building is going to fight you to the bitter end. Your walls are next, and what you decide to use for siding will determine some of how you build them. If you go with metal, you'll want to use firring strips. If you go with vinyl siding, it'll be plywood or osb (or possibly a mixture of that and rigid insulation.) You also have to decide between 2x4 studs or 2x6. If you go with 2x6, you'll be able to fill it with R-19 insulation. If you really want to make it energy efficient, you can go with 2x6, with exterior foam insulation.
Continue to Walls and Ceilings. Remember, your local building codes may require some changes to these concepts, and there are some serious punishments for not having a permit, or inspections of your work.
The Basics you need in tools are squares, levels, hammers, and pouches. If you never plan on building again, the cheap cloth nail bag may be enough. If you want to put together a tool belt that will last for years and keep things organized, what's below will work well, and allow you to walk on to a professional crew. You want a leather, wide belt to hold it up, you'll buckle in the front and hang your hammer in the back, with two pouches on the side. The hammer holder is designed so that you don't have to find the hairless hole and the two pouches allow you to balance the weight. (It'll get heavy quick.) Leather is best.
The two big pouches at the bottom are for nails. The speed square goes to the top. The pouches will quickly fill with chalk lines (which will inevitably open and spill chalk), utility knives (keep it closed or it will cut up your pouch), tape measures, and the like. Having a tool belt will make you more efficient, because you won't be reaching for the hammer and then wondering where you left it, while you're holding a 2x4 at the max reach of your arms, on top of a rickety old ladder. Chances are, that if you're "living off the land," you're going to have a lot of carpentry in your future. And if you're thinking about carpentry as a career, you'll want to get some wear and tear on your bags before showing up on a jobsite.
The hammer is the heart of a carpenter. The bigger hammer theory states that everything can be fixed with a big enough hammer. A hammer is a lever. The longer the handle and the heavier head, the more of the work it'll do for you, if you use it right. If you don't use it right (such as choking up on the handle), it will wear you out.
Swanson is the premier maker of speed squares, but when it comes to rafter squares, few buy steel anymore. Steel takes more to bend than does an aluminum square. Rafter squares are prone to being bent out of true, so I prefer steel.
When it comes to levels, You mostly need two, a four foot level and a small one to put in your pouch. If you get an aluminum level, there's a good chance it will get bent, and you could end up un-leveling things. If you get wood, that's less likely. Either way, you'll want to take care of it. Lay it flat on the floor when you're not using it. The one shown before is more precise and stronger than the average level, but you can pick up a good wooden level at any homebuilding store, and it'll probably come with a case.
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