Well house mini cabin.

[Angus 1895]

Hello I am thinking about putting a prebuilt shed on a cement slab. I want the well in it, heat, big enough to sleep in, solar power batteries and it to be rodent proof.

Any advice?

Thanks

 

[buckdeer1]

Are you building or buying prebuilt

 

[mtholton]

I have a similar setup, no well. Bought it from a guy that had it built for his land. I had it shipped a couple hundred miles for a reasonable price.. I have it just sitting on a prepared class five pad on blocks. Spray foam and fully finished on the interior and wired. We use a Ecoflow battery unit that lasts us a whole weekend of use (just lighting, ozone and charging our phones etc). Outhouse for bathroom.


It came with a wood stove which we use periodically. We had a direct vent propane heater installed. Very easy to start/use vs the stove and great for our application. We’ll leave it on the lowest setting while hunting and it’s a real treat to come back to a warm shack. Can quickly heat/maintain the temp regardless of the temp. A couple of 20 lbs propane will last the hunting season. We just use it as a place to sleep/change upon our arrival. My land is only an hour away so we don’t use it like a traditional cabin per se, just a basecamp to hunt out of that is warm and dry. Typically never stay more than a night, two max. Often might put kids to bed, drive over and sleep at shack so I don’t have to get up and drive through deer infested roads at 3 am. Or I’ll drive over my lunch hour, finish working day at shack, then hunt evening. I added a cell booster to the roof and use that for wifi (good enough for zoom etc).


There is a lofted queen bed. We just had two closets built to keep our clothes hung/dry/ozone and a lofted bed over them. Floor space is at a premium in a small place so looking forward to the closets vs bins all over. Also have a pull out couch. Could sleep 3 adults no problem or more if kids were bunked up, but it would be cramped to do much more than sit around and sleep (which again is all we use it for).


We added a basic ikea kitchen counter/unit and a folding desk for working. Also added a few different ways to hang clothes inside and options to hang bows etc.


We’ve loaded the exterior with bait traps. Lots of traps inside. Knock on wood, haven’t had any mice yet.


Debated where to put it, but decided to keep it close to road, that allows access in winter for us and a set of eyes on it (neighbor).

 

[SD51555]

Go bigger and cut it in half so you have some garage. Length doesn't cost much. It's the doors and windows that get you. I got the biggest one I could, and I upgraded everything to residential quality, and had it sprayed foamed and an all steel exterior. The shed factory that made mine wanted to do story about what I did with the shed after they delivered it. Have a peek.

From A Shed to An Off-Grid Cabin | Northland Sheds

In this blog post, you can read how one innovative customer turned a large shed into an off-grid cabin with minimal time and money invested.

northlandsheds.com

 

[SD51555]

Man, now you got me watching my old buildout videos. The shed promo guy chopped up my videos to pull out my excellent choice of music. If you wanna see the slightly extended version of the delivery and buildout, here are the originals I made.

How I built my cabin in one day

Who wants to spend a year or two building themselves?

rumble.com

4-Day Cabin Buildout

Once the building was delivered, it was 4 long days to take it from delivered to ready to move in.

rumble.com

I've added stuff since the initial marathon buildout to get it opened and functioning. I've upgraded from a single propane burner to a 17" countertop blackstone griddle. I had the initial propane installers put a T in where the gas line comes into the building so I could run a line to the garage when I got caught up on cash. I've moved the single propane burner to the garage now and it sits on my 6' game cleaning table. I also put a ceiling fan and furnace in the garage. My first solar stand on 1/2" galvanized schedule 40 pipe snapped like a toothpick in the winds up there, so I had to re-do that too.

Those tiny spruces on the far side of my fire pit that were 16" in the video are 12' tall now. The guy in the pic is my neighbor. I have him come get the surplus tomatoes out of the garden if I can't make it up there.

 

[Ikeman]

For whatever you choose, make sure your ceiling above the well casing is high enough (with a straight shot to an exterior door) to pull the pump/pipe for maintenance or replacement.

That task is MUCH easier now that most wells are installed with poly pipe instead of metal pipe sections, but you will need enough space to not kink the pipe on removal/insertion.


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[T-Max]

For whatever you choose, make sure your ceiling above the well casing is high enough (with a straight shot to an exterior door) to pull the pump/pipe for maintenance or replacement.

That task is MUCH easier now that most wells are installed with poly pipe instead of metal pipe sections, but you will need enough space to not kink the pipe on removal/insertion.


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This is great advice!


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[bigboreblr]

How many people will be there reguarly. How many on an ocaasional hunting trp with others?

Coworker who retired recently sells premade buildings as a retirement gig. Yo can build better for less.

How many years does this shack have to last. Whats your plans on the property? To buld a house later.

 

[birdog]

As an alternative I have seen wells piped into a prefab 6x6x5 concrete basin similar to a septic tank. Everything that you would normally have inside either a well house or in your basement is in the underground tank which is insulated with rigid or spray foam to protect against freezing. From there you plumb to the cabin.

 

[Foggy47]

I have a 12 x 20 log cabin that we use to warm up and do lunch, etc. The floor has been spray foamed and the roof has two inches of foam to insulate. Heats easy. We have not slept there....but I suppose it could work.....and would gladly have used it for such in my younger days. My home is only 15 minutes away.....so we sleep and bathe there and enjoy some family time during our rifle season. My cabin is very well insulated and I have grid power for lighting, TV, microwave, coffee pot, a small refrigerator, and electric heat via a smalll wall unit. We have a separate outhouse. I shut down the heat after hunting season. This building sits on two blocks to keep vermin from nesting underneath. I have a separate 30x40 pole shed.


My shallow sandpoint well and pump sits outside and I disconnect it for the winter. One thing I would like is to have a small heated separate building (on concrete slab) to contain my well pump, a kitchen sink / with game cleaning area, refrigerator and a separate toilet room in this building. I would place it close to my current cabin.....for bathroom convenience. I likely would leave this building heated for the winter.....thus having a warm toilet and kitchen facilities in the winter. Not sure I will get this done.......just a dream at this point.

The reason I bring this up......is that you could always do things "incrementally".....to keep the project(s) affordable.

 

[bigboreblr]

The old way of putting a well / tank in is to drill a drainback hole or drain valve on the pump hose roughly 20ft below the top of the well. The tank would not have a bladder, the air in the well pipe line would be the cushion for the tank. IF your well isn't in, you can talk to the driller, he might be able to setup like the older homes had with uneated basement crwl spaces.

 

[birdog]

The old way of putting a well / tank in is to drill a drainback hole or drain valve on the pump hose roughly 20ft below the top of the well. The tank would not have a bladder, the air in the well pipe line would be the cushion for the tank. IF your well isn't in, you can talk to the driller, he might be able to setup like the older homes had with uneated basement crwl spaces.

This is how mine is set up. Mine short cycles which is hard on the switch and the pump I was told. Plus my pressure is a little low inside my mobile home. Great pressure at the hydrant but I literally had to take the long way around the barn to get to my mobile home so that hurt the pressure.

 

[birdog]

If I lived in the mobile home then I would need to change my setup. Right now it is just my hunting "cabin".

 

[Doublewide]

When hunting in Canada and using the outhouse they had a 2" thick sheet of styrofoam with a hole cut out to sit over. I couldn't believe when I sat down in freezing temps that the seat was warm. It would be worth it for you to do until you get that room heated..

 

[spaniel]

I have a 12X20 cabin, prebuilt finished and wired from a local company using Amish to build them. Quality was good, brought it in on a truck and drove it up on my pad with a remote control "mule". Put in a 4000W inverter, 400Ah of batteries and a 800W solar array. I can run 1-2 days without sun depending how conservative I am, I run TV, a cell booster, and Starlink. Also a Keurig and a microwave a few minutes a day (microwave drains battery bank 1%/min). The thing is tight, no rodent issues.

Do you really use it enough to need a well? Then you have the power draw on your solar for the pump. I've got an IBC tote and half the roof feeds into it, way more water than I can use even using it to spray my plots. I've got a pump which feeds a faucet on the sink and a spigot outdoors for spray filling etc. For toilet I use a self-contained camp toilet; I have an old outhouse on the property where i can dump it every few days. Worst case I take it home and dump into my septic.

 

[Foggy47]

^ I've got a shallow well we use in the summer....but we never drink the water. Never tested it. Use bottled water to drink and make coffee. I've got grid power...and have as much as 400 amps available. Love power. We have an old log outhouse.....it works, but... I've always wondered what a portable chemical toilet costs / year. Anybody?

 

[Angus 1895]

I plan on grazing livestock so I need the water.
there is a pressure tank already. The actual well is outside of the building.

i have 20 acres that can be split 4 ways. I need some buildings removed and a building constructed.

I would trade land for removing or building.

I would use it for elk hunting

 

[Foggy47]

I plan on grazing livestock so I need the water.
there is a pressure tank already. The actual well is outside of the building.

i have 20 acres that can be split 4 ways. I need some buildings removed and a building constructed.

I would trade land for removing or building.

I would use it for elk hunting

I'm not sure if I am on the same page here regarding what you want / need.........but at one point I had planned to find an old chest freezer with the door on top (for service). I wanted to cut the bottom out of that freezer and place it over my well pipe and pump. I planned to heat the inside of the box with an electric light bulb (or maybe a small heat lamp). I was told you do not need to insulate down from the sides of the box as that ground would not freeze if it is kept warm on top. Evidently freezing does not travel laterally - to the sides.....from what I was told.

I don't have enough use for water in the winter so I gave up on the idea and just disconnect my pump and drain my stand pipe each fall.

 

[Angus 1895]

I once was hunting late archery in Montana. I stayed in leadore my property . A storm came in and nearly froze a stock tank to where it was pointless to chop it for water.

i expect my mules and horses to work…….they must be able to drink.