DIY Debt Free Cabin Build part 1- Piers / Subfloor

Part 1 of our journey building a cabin in the woods for our family of 6. pouring concrete piers. Building a pier and beam floor. With NO building experience. Stay tuned!

[@DMills-un1tl]

Was searching more for an actual tutorial on DIY pier footers but this looked cool.

[@texasrecycler9676]

amazing great start. Beautiful family. Keep up the great work. We have 60 year old cabin my son lives in on our property in central Texas. We recently replaced the aluminum feeder wire with copper. It was built with 4x4s on concrete blocks. Not code now but little shifting all these years even with a few severe storms and small tornadoes in the area over the years.

[@BS.-.-]

I like the palm sander idea for shaking the sono tubes.

[@jameschupp2230]

Thanks for your videos! You are playing a great part in the Re-Building of America, in giving Americans hope that they too can... Just Do It !!! Thank you for your hard work!

[@nameyourchannel7844]

Concrete guys use a vibrating probe to get air bubbles out. Great idea using the palm sander!

[@jamesseltenreich652]

Just happened across your build, I love what your doing And I subscribed, Thanks and God Bless

[@JeremyLucas1879]

It's impressive that you mixed all of the concrete to fill those Sonotubes! Beautiful property.

[@93AcreWood]

Jeremy Lucas it was the worst part if it! We have 33 or 34 tubes in all plus the 2 walls. Thankfulky we used a truck for the walls!

[@SuburbanJerseyDad]

Great start! can’t wait to see the progress. Thanks for sharing.

[@glick278]

Thank you infinitely! HareKrishna.GodBless❤️🙏😀

[@danielviaes9884]

Awesome, thanks for sharing, Sander/vibrator brilliant

[@sherrenebarnes2725]

Wonderful beginnings!

[@aurelelvisstan6605]

Hello / Nice work . I wold like to know how you did your water supply and sewer and how you prevent for freezing . Thank you .

[@doodybird5766]

How did you anchor the 2x6's to the concrete? L bolts?

[@2jays270]

Was wondering the same thing

[@bethwatts7166]

Just asked the same. Looks like it’s all floating 😮

[@nakiapeavy7806]

Smart way 2 use the sander 2 vibrate n settled the crete

[@pathfindergeorgia1117]

Hi folks just subscribed to your channel and I’m looking forward to watching your videos from the beginning today. Thanks for sharing

[@93AcreWood]

Welcome aboard!

[@bortnerfamilyadventures1369]

That is awesome , I am going to be building a A frame house , we are considering the pier and beam foundation as well , you guys looks great , how deep did you go with the piers in the ground and how far apart did you do them? Subscribing to you guys 👍🏻

[@93AcreWood]

Bortner family farm they are all 3-4 feet under ground level with a footing 2-3 feet wide x 12 inches deep at the base. Because of the dimensions of the house each row has a different spacing but they are all within 8 feet of each other. Thanks for watching! Good luck with your build!

[@mickeyjett9197]

@@93AcreWood they look amazing and plumb. What little tricks did you learn that made the work flow better for the post? Asking for myself as I am about to do a post and beam foundation instead having it poured or blocking it myself.

[@93AcreWood]

Mickey Jett buy a laser level. A string line is not sufficient for this kind of project on its own. We did both and the laser really helped a lot. If we were going to do it again, we would have got all of them set up, with more bracing, and had a truck dump concrete in all of them at once. This took a month for us to do, almost every day. 2-3 piers at a time. It’s a A LOT of work.

[@fishycamper]

​@@93AcreWood awesome job you guys did, did you guy put rebars in the concrete piers? I'm getting ready to build a shower house and going to use the same concept for my RV park

[@93AcreWood]

@@fishycamper yes. 4 vertical pcs for each pier with 8 horizontal pcs tying them all together at the top and bottom.

[@douglasteske9581]

Why were wooden blocks put on top of the concrete pillars under the floor supports?

[@jerrywilliams7353]

did you attach the beams to the concrete post with an metal fasteners or are the beams just sitting on the piers

[@1234meandu]

I'm curious about that too, is it required?

[@robertlundgren2881]

Awesome job, what is the size is the floor plan. How far apart are the beams? are your joists 12" or 16" on center? Will be starting my cabin build soon, so proud of you guys.

[@93AcreWood]

1000 sf bottom floor. beams are 8’ apart. joist spacing is 16”. good luck!

[@Paups86]

Hello, out of interest, could I ask what is the purpose of adding the timber blocks in between the joists and the cement piles?

[@93AcreWood]

The little blocks of wood are there because wood that sits directly on cement can rot over time. So we’d rather have little blocks rot than our big beams. We can easily jack up the house to replace the little pieces.

[@strokerace4765]

Did you put rebar in the concrete?

[@93AcreWood]

Stroker Ace yes. 4 in each pier top to bottom

[@bikeninja956]

nice. How did you fasten the joists to the cement?

[@93AcreWood]

Bike Ninja so far we have not done that yet. We have tie downs attached to the beams and buried in the ground, holding the house down same way a mobile home is . Then we have the joists fastened to the beams. Myles has an idea of welding custom fasteners for the cement/beams.

[@bikeninja956]

@@93AcreWood hmmm....ok...seems like an important thing to overlook though, pretty easy to just pop in some metal brackets while the cement is curing...

[@93AcreWood]

Bike Ninja we didn’t overlook anything. As I said, the house is tied down already the way we chose to tie it down.

[@SBecktacular]

@@93AcreWood Yeah well it’s total ghetto

[@kenkoh1724]

New sub. Planning to do the same for an Aframe build. Are the piers below frostline? And what kind of wood do you use for the beems?

[@93AcreWood]

Ken Koh yes. The 3 beams I believe are Doug fir. 3 2x8’s glued and screwed together.

[@93AcreWood]

Thanks for watching!!

[@unijabnx2000]

how did you secure the beams to the sill plates on the concrete columns?

[@justindeal2364]

That's what I'm wondering to.

[@shawndagenais2324]

Awesome project, I'm about to do the same. What did you use for your floor? 2x8 or 2x10?

[@93AcreWood]

2x10

[@bethwatts7166]

How did you tie your floor down to the concrete? Is it all just floating?

[@wafiqsalie571]

looks like its floating :(

[@waynesorensen7071]

those are some of the highest piers i've seen on a cabin build.... did you ensure that is ok from an engineering and also a stability aspect? The sonotubes i used say to not go over 3 feet out of the ground...

[@rafemaxwell4143]

Definitely not engineered. The leverage ratio from the floor to the piers at the bottom end in an earthquake would be huge. Third pier up the hill appears to be waist height on the builder, lower piers must be around 5' from the ground. I didn't see any rebar caging inside of the tubes either. Floor doesn't appear to be connected with any kind of substantial hardware to the piers and subfloor isn't sheeted correctly. Wouldn't take a ton of laterial force to compromise those piers and/or remove the floor from them. I wouldn't let my family sleep in this... sketchy. Folks, even if you don't plan on getting building permits, consult an architect for your building.

[@franciscomolinar5916]

@@rafemaxwell4143 much appreciated, I keep wondering about all these cabins seemingly held to the foundation by gravity…

[@jshepard152]

@@rafemaxwell4143 They did use extensive rebar in their 12" tubes. And I believe this is Oklahoma, so there's probably relatively little earthquake risk. I would definitely want my beams securely attached to the piers, but perhaps they found a way to do it later.

[@rafemaxwell4143]

@@jshepard152 Take a look at a seismic category map, OK is in a high risk zone. Wind shear is also a substantial factor in that state that you would want your home engineered against. Also, there isn't a proper way to attach a house to a foundation later. J bolts and heavier hold downs, which is what you would need for this, are mounted inside your forms during the pour. You can get away with drilled expansion bolts on deck footings or missed placements on a stem wall or something, but not an entire residential dwelling foundation with large spans between anchors.... For anyone reading this not highly knowledgeable in construction methods, buy a set of engineered prints for your builds designed for your geographic location or hire an architect, it matters.

[@cptechno]

Aren't you worried that rodents and insects might start eating their way through your flooring system? I want to build a house on stilts but I'm planning to have concrete panels underneath or I might pour concrete to have a concrete barrier between the space under the house and the inside flooring.

[@93AcreWood]

We’ve been in the house for 2.5 years now and have never seen a rodent or droppings.

[@justinovitt6720]

Thanks for sharing

[@zyu9974]

whats your guys use to level the string line?

[@LMJTJesse]

Did you guys take your designs to the city or did you have to take them to a design engineer first?

[@93AcreWood]

LMJTJesse no and no. Our county doesn’t require that. We live in a rural area. We researched and did all the planning /designing ourselves. No experts involved.

[@azhar9274]

HYE,How much you buy 93 acre land?plus all in to end process it build...

[@iselagomez1036]

Can you post instructions and materials used to build this pls

[@markpirri]

Great job. That music is annoying tho!

[@93AcreWood]

Mark Pirri 😂 oh I already know that. Lol this was my first ever video. I didn’t know what I was doing or where to find non copyrighted music to use. 🤷🏼‍♀️ lets be honest, I still don’t know what I’m doing!

[@jhonsmith798]

@@93AcreWood great music, i' fell asleep like a stone . . . . . Thanks

[@harleyacey9676]

What is the square footage for your cabin?

[@93AcreWood]

1400. bottom floor is 1000, top floor is 400.

[@jshepard152]

@@93AcreWood Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions. Very helpful.

[@adonian]

Question... How deep and how tall did you make the cement posts?

[@93AcreWood]

they are all 3-4 feet under ground level with a footing 2-3 feet wide x 12 inches deep at the base. they are all different heights above ground since it’s on a hill. The tallest about 4 feet, smallest is just under 2’.

[@adonian]

@@93AcreWood cool, thx.

[@andrewmoore6603]

@@93AcreWood I would like to use sono tubes to 4’ above ground which is over spec. How were you able to go this high? It looks sturdy.

[@93AcreWood]

@@andrewmoore6603 this house was supposed to be a tiny cabin that was not going to be our full time home. If we were going to start from scratch, with the house being how big it is now, we would not have used the sonotubes. The piers are holding up great though so we are happy with it. With a big enough footing and plentiful rebar, I think it’s fine.

[@lazguevara151]

can anyone point me to some sort of data in terms of what are the tolerances or recommendations for size peirs spacing as well as wood beam dimensions and spacing of everything? thank you

[@93AcreWood]

we didn’t hang on to the information we found when we started building 2 years ago. but everything we found was accessible in Internet forums. good luck in your search! thanks for watching!

[@disccop75]

How did you determine how many piers and the diameter of them?

[@93AcreWood]

Miguel T all I remember about how we figured it was they needed to be within 8 feet of each other.

[@danielcourtney7478]

@@93AcreWood There are websites that will tell you the maximum span for the size wood you are using.

[@93AcreWood]

Daniel Courtney yeah my husband scanned the Internet to find the info. It was a year ago so I don’t really know anymore. Too much info has went into my head, that old stuff had to go to make room!! 🤣

[@andreaslutz5246]

Did you used square foot concrete forms underneath the concrete posts?

[@93AcreWood]

There is a footing under each concrete post, yes.

[@andreaslutz5246]

@@93AcreWood thank you

[@KR-kf7fy]

Do you have a "How-to" video on this subject?

[@93AcreWood]

No. we try to not teach people how to do what we are doing because honestly we are just winging it. thanks for watching!

[@kimt.9684]

No rebars for the concrete piers?

[@93AcreWood]

Yes.

[@waynewells2421]

I was trying to find an email address for y’all, but maybe this will work. Can you tell me what you did to insulate the floor and plumbing if anything?

[@93AcreWood]

so far nothing. the plan is to wrap the pipes, box them in, then spray foam. winter is coming so we better hurry up!

[@mikeyjohnson1696]

That band was bowed pretty bad

[@jaybobuckner1]

wish they said measurements....

[@Kuntvaffles]

At current Joe Biden 2021 pricing, that little cabin costed about $134,599 to put up. You must be rich.

[@altpotus6913]

We live in Capitalism. Our woes are caused by greedy corporations.

[@marcelvezina2742]

Now , 2024 prices that will set ya back $324,999

[@LlamaMitHuten]

I did the calculations just the concrete post and pier will set you back $1.36 million

[@momma.mash.potatoes6335]

Lol

[@jshepard152]

@@altpotus6913 Everything you have is thanks to capitalism.

[@johnmarquardt1991]

Why piers? Pour a crawl space or basement. You've money, convenience, and time ahead.

[@93AcreWood]

John Marquardt it is extremely hard to dig this ground. It is pretty rocky, and solid so far down. so digging a basement would have been a lot more work than we were willing to do. We will store a few things underneath, Luke our kayaks on a trailer

[@jshepard152]

Piers are a very affordable way to build. Crawl space or basement would add a huge amount of expense.

[@johnmarquardt1991]

@@jshepard152 You like cold homes, frozen water pipes, critters living under your home?

[@jshepard152]

@@johnmarquardt1991 Everything has trade offs. Let's not pretend that those things can't be avoided.

[@MAGAMAN]

Should have leveled the ground first.

[@jshepard152]

Why?

[@bethwatts7166]

The point of the pillars is so you don’t waste extra money having someone level. Out estimate was $10k to have our land lvl

[@tobig3026]

I hate when music is use on a video, has no purpose other annoy people

[@PaulLadendorf]

How did you attach the beams to the piers?

[@93AcreWood]

we didn’t. the house is tied down into the ground with metal straps and anchors. the plan is to make our own brackets, adjustable, in the future because nothing available at the time worked like Myles wanted. we also have blocks underneath the beams with flashing so that our beams don’t rot sitting on concrete. replacing blocks made more sense to us than worrying about our beams rotting.

[@PaulLadendorf]

@@93AcreWood Thank you. I was wondering what the spacing is on your piers and what the diameter of the piers is.

[@93AcreWood]

@@PaulLadendorf these are 12”. Each pier is within 7 feet of another pier.

[@PaulLadendorf]

@@93AcreWood Thank you!

[@airbornestud3007]

What size pier tube forms did you guys use?

[@jshepard152]

Those are 12" tubes.

[@airbornestud3007]

@@jshepard152 thanks. Are they on 8' center or 6' center?

[@jshepard152]

@@airbornestud3007 Not sure on that.