Cabin Build in TX Hill Country
 

After months of planning and daydreaming I broke ground yesterday on my cabin build. At this moment only 5 piers have been poured with 13 more to go.
Overview plan is budget minded off grid build. Except for floor and roofing joist most framing will be recycled. Roofing and some siding will be recycled. Hot water solar panels recycled. Windows, recycled. Lighting will be solar led. Water will come from rainwater collection.
Cabin dimensions has been getting a little bigger to accommodate family and guests. Foot print will be 24x32 with 24x14 loft totaling 1104 sqft living.

Its always a great moment when build plans start to materialize, Congratulations.

Your off to a good start having 1/4 of the footings poured on the first day , Nice.

Good luck, don't be afraid to let your plans change along the way if get ideas as you go.

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google sketckup

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Rain collection and wood pile in one. I will be close to all the water I need to mix my concrete for piers.

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Progress near the end of day 2. For day 3 I rented a jackhammer and made much faster work of busting through the rocky ground and Finished the 15th pier and 4th corner.

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In the fall I hand dug 5 dams and swales to slow down the dry creek and retain more water for plants and wildlife. Now even a month after a good rain we have a babbling brook. There are abundant deer, racoon, as well as occasional fox, coyote, feral hog and ringtail cat. If our lakes ever go back to normal levels this should be 10 feet under water.

I love repurposing good used materials. An nice looking water. It is always a valuable drawn for wildlife.

Which direction from Austin ?
Live water would lend itself to generation of electricity & possibly Water-to-water Heat pump.

You can use salvaged rigid foam for insulation too, there are companies all over the nation that sell used rigid foam insulation from commercial roofing. Have you done any research into superinsulation? Air Selaing? HRV's? Manual J Calculations? REMOTE, PERSIST building techniques, OVE construction? All things that help make the most energy intensive portion of the home (HVAC) more viable in an off the grid situation.