We’re finally back to the off grid cabin build project after a few months focusing on other projects on our finca in Spain. In this update we get to work on the roof, installing the light steel frame I beams.
Using Light Steel Frame to build our tiny house has proven to be quick and fairly simple so far. The metal framing is easy to cut to size and screw into place with metal to metal screws, without too many fancy tools. And the tiny house roof installation went well, without issues.
Why are we building a tiny house from Light Steel Frame instead of wood?
Well, it’s light but strong, and simple to construct. Light Steel Frame house construction is so fast and easy, and costs about 30%-50% of the price of wood, depending on which country you’re in. Plus, you only need a few good quality tools to build a cabin with LSF!
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We’re building a 2m x 4m cabin, to serve as a temporary home as we renovate the stone almacén in Spain into the tiny house of our dreams.
Subscribe to our channel to watch our journey here on YouTube, as we document the full build process of our cabin, the barn conversion tiny house build in Spain, and establishing our homestead using regenerative agriculture and permaculture techniques.
And follow us over on Instagram for more behind the scenes snaps and clips too – @smithsdale_farm –
[CATCH UP]
– CABIN BUILD SERIES PLAYLIST:
Check out some of other videos and playlists about buying land in Spain, and the property we’ve purchased to build our off grid tiny house, as well plans for the barn conversion and regenerative agriculture on the land:
– WINTER-PROOFING THE STONE BARN ROOF:
– PLANTING A LEMON TREE AND AIRL-AYERING FIGS:
About Us:
We’re Danny and Kate. In 2015 we moved from the UK to Barcelona, and after a few years enjoying the busy city, sunny beaches and snow-capped mountains it’s time for a new adventure. We’ve recently bought land in Spain, in the mountains of Catalunya, to build a mortgage free tiny house and start a self-sustainable off-grid homestead to live off the land.
Music: Artlist.io
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Are those kind of buildings legal on rural land? As far as I know they have to meet some criteria in orther to be legal, like max m2, I guess you made sure of that?
Hello to you both from the Loire valley France, we're both enjoying your vlogs 👍
One thing I would do to your cabin is something I've done to metal partitioning for years is to fit timber inserts into the vertical struts for your entrance door n window, this will ensure a firmly fixed door casing and window frame and further strengthens your frame work,
And vapour barrier on the roof with an air gap between this and the galvanized sheets, probably use 25mm thick roofing battens placed in the opposite direction to your roof beams, this will also give rigidity to the structure and gives you a good fixing for the roofing and a bit of sound deadening for the rain !
Take care and keep motoring on,
And yes get a van, but one with windows for the Spanish mot !
A bientôt Mark and Alison
Looking good guys 😄 bet you don’t need the gym anymore Danny!
Nice to see your progress on the cabin and how your land is looking as time moves along. As far as structural support for lateral canting goes, I think your roof beams are enough for the front to back support, along with the external siding and roofing installation without further action. For the side to side (the long side of the structure) you could place (which you have sort of but placed on the outside) temporary diagonal braces on the interior walls to help you square it up and then place the outer siding which will become the permanent structural bracing to prevent canting followed by removal of the interior braces for the remainder of the wall construction. The boxes formed by wall studs, exterior and interior siding become very stiff units which support each other in a complementary way. Looking forward to seeing your completed structure with your finishing touches on it, it sounds like it should look quite interesting how it blends into the landscape. Thanks for taking the time to video your endeavours to bring us along on your journey, I am enjoying your work and progress. All the best for the future, take care.
If you consider change the car to a van, get a model that is often seen in the streets, has lots of spareparts and is a few years old so that the price is lowered.
see ya
in case it helps, "Modern House Cabin" is a channel that has made a house like yours and is now making a second one, in case you can take any questions
Things are looking good there, that was a lot of rain to get in a short time, amazing! Looking forward to the next installment to see how the cabin comes along.
Here in Australia the go-to farm vehicle is the ute, called a pickup in some places, no idea what it would be called there, maybe "mini-lorry"? It can carry bigger things than a van can, and is also good for bulk materials. A 4×4 ute is great for moving stuff around, a big, sometimes inconvenient, wheelbarrow. I suspect your terraces might limit it's utility 😅 The downside is you need to tarp anything that might be affected by water, and strap down loads more carefully. The van does give you secure storage, protected from the weather, but you wouldn't want to collect a tonne of compost or rocks in it, but it would be heaps easier to collect the groceries in. If you need a different vehicle to go to town the trailer would probably be better at this stage, it has the advantages and disadvantages of the ute, but won't cost the earth in extra rego, taxes and upkeep.
The cabin is looking absolutely brilliant! You're doing a fantastic job! xxx
Maybe a 5 euro tarp instead of a 50 euro day rental?
Great to see you back. Trailer or van? I'd go van for the reasons you stated in the video, extra storage and mobile workshop
Great to see you guys back working on your building. I think a trailer would be a great idea, leave it on the land and use as needed. Good progress and a nice long video, thanks. 👍🏽😎
Nice…
Good job you guys loved the updates on the things you’ve shown us before 👍🪴😎
🥰
For trees planted even on small slopes, a semi-circle of one layer of rocks will keep water slowed enough to remain in place for the trees. It's a way to stop the "water fall effect" on the stone walls too. Semi-circular stones just 30 CMS above the lip of the wall will slow down any possible erosive behaviour and hopefully keep the water on the land, improving soil fertility.
Resourceful…girl! Getting any orange trees? Great idea to get a work van with hookup for a trailer option 👍.
Very nice and long episode with lots of action, love it! Great job with the cabin roof!
Looking great, guys! ❤️
Hazel ☘️ …
Maybe another tip … the MDF you had to buy is thin and can warp … I believe if you ensure the glue you use on the cork tiles will keep this more sturdy … so use the glue quite liberally … now this is based on normal MDF … I wonder does this apply to water treated MDF ?
I just pass on things I have done or been told to do when renovating … not sure if it’s kosher info … all I can say is it worked in my experience
🙏☘️😘
Hazel ☘️ …
To make your wind break a more permanent structure … if you take a few of the longer end bits … twist the green sticks (not break) the twisting makes this flexible … to allow it to bend it back and weave back a bit …
This will stabilise the ends of the fence and as the wood dries it will firm up the whole fence with shrinkage … you do not need to do this every end row … about every three or four
Great progress .. thank you for the reminder because perhaps with your absence of vlogs the bell icon had switched to ‘personalise’ rather than ‘all’ .. so I didn’t receive notification !
Tiny structure looking great … very sturdy and I imagine you’ll decide to keep it and reuse it for a long time, rather than counting it as a temporary structure …
Have a good week … 🙏☘️😘
Hi folks…Great work….I would be putting corner to corner struts within a good number of the vertical panels, particularly the comer ones on each side. Also corner brackets on all four top corners and bottom assuming your floor is raised for insulation.
Good job on the windbreak I might copy that on my windy allotment!