Design of cabin with intent to move later ??

[radioman]

Ok, here is the scenario. My wife and I have plans ultimately to build a new house. However, we are not quite ready (on several levels). We have the land purchased, the power line in place, the road and house pad constructed. We need to sell the house we are currently living in, but we obviously will need a place to live while our house is being built. Financially, we are unable to begin construction on a new house until we sell our existing house. I know several folks who build a shop at the location of the future home and live in it while their house is being built but I would prefer not to do that (I have my reasons). Therefore, we are considering building a super simple, super efficient "cabin" on the same property we plan to build. Goal would be to live there a while (2-3 years) and then move it once the new house is constructed. I would either sell it to be moved, or move it to a location where we hunt and use it as a really nice deer camp. Which brings us to my question.

How would you construct a cabin if you knew from the very beginning that it would be moved some day?

- What dimensions - Maximum width for reasonable move
- What material - Im thinking steel frame and R panel walls and roof
- What foundation (Im thinking I-beam) (possibly on concrete beams)
- Even thought about pre-placement of moving beams

Any other recommendations would be extremely helpful. What Im looking for is information from those of you who have moved a cabin or had one moved that I can use from the beginning (design plans into construction) to make this as easy as it can be. thanks

Your wishlist is really a very tall order. If it something you want to build yourself, you have to ask yourself where are you moving it to? from your future site to another lot? then you will run into DOT overwidth issues. Here in NYS, anything over 9 ft (i think) is considered overwidth and will require permits. Are you thinking of moving your cabin on same lot ? do you have a road that can support all that weight? It needs to be level and no sharp turns.

I am thinking , costwise, you might be better off getting a MH or large camper that has resale value. If you are insistent on building it yourself, I'd go get a trashed trailer and save frame with wheels. Build your cabin off from that. Just keep in mind the weight when building.being super efficient will means 2X6 walls or something similar and that is alot of weight. logs is even MUCH heavier. Do you really want to spend the money on all that metal to support a skyscraper to build the log home just so it can be moved?! what will you move it with later? it might be more cost effective to disassemble the log home and move it piece by piece.

If you just need a place to stay while home is built, I would just go get a used camper, the largest one you can buy with a separate bed and table that fits your whole family. MUCH CHEAPER! It has a resale value and you can build the cabin in new shape with no problems that could arise from trying to move

 

[ultrarunner]

My brother lived in a 35' alpha gold 5th wheel trailer for 2 years and it was very nice with washer/dryer, genset, propane/electric refrigerator, two A/C units, queen size bed, etc...

He lost 2k when he sold it... spent a couple days really detailing it. He said he couldn't have lived better for less on site and it was the best $80 bucks a month he ever spent.

 

[FDuce]

this is exactly what my parents did when they retired. The cabbin was 16 x 20 and was I guess what you would call 1.5 stories. The first floor had a kitchen, bath, living area, and the open lofted second floor was the sleeping area. I was all wood construction with the outside walls being pannel sections (three per side). The gable ends were two pannels with the joining line running vertical. The roof used a ridge beam and rafters and the roof was metal. We did drywall to finish off the inside but it would make it more difficult to move later so I would recommend panneling. The cabbin was built on our back deck setion by section and then hauled on a 16' utility trailer 500+ miles to the location. With two people working on it we had it up and under roof within two days but there was a lot of pre-planning. We built a second one that is used as a small barn and that one has been taken down and moved three times now.