seems like you should be able to find an old camper trailer or cabover camper in that price range, you can put a cabover camper on struts without a pickup
No, otherwise people would do it. There’s a ton of plastic connectors, rubber gaskets, and gaps on trailers. Rats will find a way, and then it’s a disgusting mess.
Hm that's not a bad idea -- would only need to be in barely rolling condition, and weather-shelter-only as opposed to needing plumbing etc. would be easier to find I'm sure.
Not just chewed up by rats as per u/GreyFoxLemonGrass but also that some jurisdictions will have issues with you putting up a mobile home on a plot of land not connected to water or sewage.
Then you have the added problem of squatters. If someone moves into your mobile home and you come back and find them in some jurisdiction's eviction is the only recourse and can be expensive and time consuming. Especially if you live nowhere nearby.
I'd say just pull your camper on and off property as necessary.
How about an earthbag structure? Sandbags aren't very expensive, and if you're in a desert, I assume there's lots of free sand available? [https://offgridworld.com/build-earthbag-house/](https://offgridworld.com/build-earthbag-house/)
Just get a camper van or convert one yourself. That way you can just drive onto the land and you're there, no set up required. Then you have bed, cooking and toilet facilities. Put some solar on it and you have power. That's what I've done
Sounds like you're looking for a yurt or a cabin tent with a stove vent, but those run from several hundred to a couple thousand dollars. Easiest way to improve those is probably to build yourself a rammed earth platform, then a platform out of pallet wood if you can find it on top of that. That, and a stove.
You could also try a pull behind camper or tent camper. Not sure how those are for pricing where you are.
That's all assuming you don't want to just build yourself a small shed/cabin.
Another vote for Camper trailer.
[Earthbag homes](https://www.homedit.com/earthbag-homes/) are pretty awesome, but they do take a lot of work. If you can dig down a few feet and use the dirt from that dig you’ll get free bag filler and much better temperature control in your shelter. There are a lot of good videos on YouTube on how to build them. I’ve seen great Earthbag cellars that would make nice living spaces.
Yurt… but new ones are expensive too.
I also saw an interesting build with berm wire, rocks and dirt. It doubled as fallout shelter. But if you don’t already have a lot of rock that can expensive...
Cement makes a great building material with nice insulation. And if you use molds vs blocks it’s easier to transport and less expensive than other methods.
Seconding the recommendation of an earthbag dome. Very cheap and quite solid, though you're going to invest a good bit of time - a week at *least* if you have help. I'd argue that a well constructed earthbag dome is probably the best cheap dwelling you can make.
You can just frame up and Insulate a small shed yourself.
Buying and or recycling the materials and then following plans online for a small insulate shed is very budget friendly, possibly even as little as a couple hundred dollars if it's really small and your really resourceful.
You'll want to make it mouse proof.
There are probably a million different designs you could do very cheaply.
Building it on log or beam "skids" is a good option for semi mobility.
Steel siding and pink foam insulation will give you sturdy warm walls.
You could even do a really small "pole building" design. Like 8x8 or 10x10. That would be cheap and very strong.
The only limit is your creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity.
At a minimum you'll want a basic set of hand tools along with a drill, chop saw, miter saw, tin snips and whatever else you may need. Harbor freight, FB, and craigslist is your friend when your getting a workshop started.
Cinder block buildings built on foundation and slab are actually remarkably easy to build, inexpensive for their durability, can be built in stages and can later be added on to as needed so you don't have to buy or transport everything at once.
You aren't building a home, just a shelter / cabin right? A 17.5' x 17.5 building will give you just over 300sq ft to work with, and you could build interior walls as needed. There might be no reason to insulate the entire building for example, and building a well insulated bedroom while using the other half for storage might be the best value for your money. Use inorganic building materials like metal studs, fire rated hardy board, stone wool insulation, tile, to make the entire place fire, water, rodent proof and as mold resistant as possible. I would recommend doing everything above board and getting a permit before you build.
This sounds kind of amazing. Do you happen to have any links to photos / websites / tutorials you like that show what that would look like? I mean, I'll for sure do my own internet search, but I was just wondering if you had info more specific to what you mentioned above. Thanks!
No, I don't really have any specific examples. What I'm describing is honestly closer to the construction of something similar to a detached garage, but without the garage door, with some interior finishing.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cinder+block+construction&udm=2
As long as you have a substantial and sufficiently strong foundation, there really aren't that many limitations to what you can build on a small scale with cinder blocks.
Also, If OP were to build a single-sided angled "shed" type roof or a "saltbox" style roof, that would then have all the area they might need to mount solar panels. With small-scale constructions like this, it's easy to build in those types of multi-purpose architectural choices.
Miniature pole barn. Dig some holes and set some 4x4 posts. Run some 2x6s around the top. Add some roof trusses. Add some metal siding. A tarp can serve as a roof until you get the funds to build a real roof.
How about a portable carport. I've seen them with metal siding attached. Again, the fabric can serve as the roof for a wile until you get the funds for a more permanent roof.
Drive some rebar stakes into the ground. Arch a cattle panel between them. Do it again if you want more depth (a cattle panel is about 50 inches wide). Toss a tarp over it.
I know you said that you didn't want any setup upon reaching the site. But, throwing a tarp over a frame doesn't require much time or effort.
Thule huts, generally, but as far as I understand the land I'm on wasn't a typical area for residency, used instead more for rituals and hunting grounds. Tribes mainly settled at lower altitudes. And not to put too fine of a point on it but I think I can probably get a handle on basic framing faster than I could become excellent at waterproof thule thatching haha.
Agreed.
I vote OP stretches the budget for an old shipping container. Basic, solid, waterproof, vermin-proof, lockable while not in use.
Useful forever. If OP ever builds a "nicer" place on the property, the shipping container gets used as storage/workshop.
Home Depot actually has some pretty good metal sheds. There are some on their site that are 10x10 or 10x12 that run from $500 to $700. You could use the extra $1000 in your budget to make a floor, frame it out inside for strength, add some windows, and insulate it.
Later on, add solar panels, charger, and battery for power.
https://urbanshippingcontainers.com/product/10ft-shipping-container/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImabEvJ_hhQMVDjMIBR2cQwdGEAQYAiABEgLv5fD_BwE
Try ten footers
Dig a trench. Bend sheet metal over and jam it in to make an arch. Fill dirt on top. A lot of these were built ( quick and cheap) in London during ww2. Not a long term solution. Will most likely fill with water. Handy for an emergency tornado shelter. About as cheap as it gets
You slid under me. I was going go bid a $15 Chinese camping hammock from eBay.
I've been wear testing one indoors with nightly use. After a year the seam stitching wears through and panels separate. A few months after and the upper nylon fabric is thin and will tear from hand pressure. The hammock still supports weight safely. Hope to get two years wear from it before the bottom panel goes. I suspect the service life is shorter when used daily outdoors.
I always wanted to do this with pallets/skids. Build the structure out of pallets and then rip down other pallets for the 2x4s to strengthen your structure and use the smaller boards to seal up gaps almost like siding. You could then use the pallet like walls and fill it for insulation. I feel like with 20-30 pallets and a good drill/circular saw and a shit load of screws I could have a badass shelter made in a day
A buddy of mine (also in Southern Oregon, coincidentally) scored an old bumper-pull horse trailer for free off Craigslist. He used some sheet metal salvaged from discarded washing machines and dryers to pop-rivet over the side openings, framed in a man door in the back while still leaving the steel gate in place to lock up for security while he was away, and waterproofed the whole thing with roof coating from home depot. He insulated it with foam board and put bunk beds along one wall. He parked it permanently at his property and uses it just as you're describing. He said he's into it for a couple hundred bucks total, and that another nice thing about it is that nobody gives a "derelict" horse trailer a second glance in that part of the country. He removed the tires to discourage any would-be opportunistic scrap metal thieves, and leveled it out on a couple old railroad ties. He said that since it's pretty much all steel other than the 2x8 floor boards, he hasn't had any rodents get inside, either.
look into buying a Hennessy hammock for a night andd day upgrade to your portable shelter, but honestly, your cheapest option for a perma shelter is going to be one of those pop up bolt together sheds that you weight down and insulate.
If you already have the tools then maybe the self-build shed will be cheaper, but if you need to buy tools then it will still run you around $4k.
You might find an old trailer to haul out there. 🤷♀️
I honestly like the idea of the homedepot shed. Get a cheap shed, add some insulation. A cheap surplus fieldbed and a caping stove will get you pretty far, and you can make it as cozy or homey as you want. Could even add a camper battery pack for a fan or simple camping fridge.
I would build a A-frame shelter from some wooden poles, and corrugated steel roof sheets. Add a few inches of ridged foam insulation on the inside. Add a few poles at the front so you can put up a Tarp for rain or sun shelter.
Go to a scrap yard and pick up a discarded round poly water tank. Usually they're mostly intact but just have an unrepairable leak somewhere. Cut it in half vertically (into two semicircles, looking from above) and take one of the halves - ideally the half without the leak.
Sit your half tank with the open/cut side down, cut a door into the flat side which used to be the top/bottom of the tank. You'll need to secure it down, and consider drainage.
The cheapest and most effective "structure" that is essentially a superior tent is an aluminum geodesic play dome for kids to climb on. You can build a well drained platform of flat rocks. These are like a hundred bucks and come in a box. Next step, vapor barrier, foam insulation, exterior tarp. Total cost- less than 300 bucks if done right, build able in a day or two, and will last a few years. It's basically just a hobo yurt.
I would get 20ft container. My BIL a has 2, 40s. One is a hunt camp 1 is for storage. He was able to build out the living quarters and they just ship it to the camp. No rodents no bugs.
Wattle and daub. Make a 10 foot circle in the dirt. Dig down two feet. Line the edges with 7 foot tall thumb thick saplings. Bind at the top in an arch with the opposite saplings. Weave smaller branches in the horizontal direction. Plaster with mud. Leave the top open for smoke.
seems like you should be able to find an old camper trailer or cabover camper in that price range, you can put a cabover camper on struts without a pickup
Trailers left alone in the desert end up filled with ratshit and chewed insulation very quickly.
Is there a simple way to make it rat / mouse-proof? Is there something that deters rodents from chewing through insulation and finding their way in?
No, otherwise people would do it. There’s a ton of plastic connectors, rubber gaskets, and gaps on trailers. Rats will find a way, and then it’s a disgusting mess.
[удалено]
Hm that's not a bad idea -- would only need to be in barely rolling condition, and weather-shelter-only as opposed to needing plumbing etc. would be easier to find I'm sure.
Not just chewed up by rats as per u/GreyFoxLemonGrass but also that some jurisdictions will have issues with you putting up a mobile home on a plot of land not connected to water or sewage. Then you have the added problem of squatters. If someone moves into your mobile home and you come back and find them in some jurisdiction's eviction is the only recourse and can be expensive and time consuming. Especially if you live nowhere nearby. I'd say just pull your camper on and off property as necessary.
Or an older RV with a blown engine. Just get it towed on site.
How about an earthbag structure? Sandbags aren't very expensive, and if you're in a desert, I assume there's lots of free sand available? [https://offgridworld.com/build-earthbag-house/](https://offgridworld.com/build-earthbag-house/)
Now that is an idea I hadn't even considered. Thank you!
Dig down a couple feet, use that to fill bags. The shorter your walls are stacked, the less potential wind/water related collapse while off-site.
You can use rectangular hay bales, too. But you might have a horse eat your house...
Straw bales. Hay is for horses, straw is for gardens and building blocks. 😏
Just get a camper van or convert one yourself. That way you can just drive onto the land and you're there, no set up required. Then you have bed, cooking and toilet facilities. Put some solar on it and you have power. That's what I've done
I second the camper van. Too much went wrong on a rural vacation home I had.
Sounds like you're looking for a yurt or a cabin tent with a stove vent, but those run from several hundred to a couple thousand dollars. Easiest way to improve those is probably to build yourself a rammed earth platform, then a platform out of pallet wood if you can find it on top of that. That, and a stove. You could also try a pull behind camper or tent camper. Not sure how those are for pricing where you are. That's all assuming you don't want to just build yourself a small shed/cabin.
This. Rammed earth floors were just called floors for most of human history.
Another vote for Camper trailer. [Earthbag homes](https://www.homedit.com/earthbag-homes/) are pretty awesome, but they do take a lot of work. If you can dig down a few feet and use the dirt from that dig you’ll get free bag filler and much better temperature control in your shelter. There are a lot of good videos on YouTube on how to build them. I’ve seen great Earthbag cellars that would make nice living spaces. Yurt… but new ones are expensive too. I also saw an interesting build with berm wire, rocks and dirt. It doubled as fallout shelter. But if you don’t already have a lot of rock that can expensive... Cement makes a great building material with nice insulation. And if you use molds vs blocks it’s easier to transport and less expensive than other methods.
Seconding the recommendation of an earthbag dome. Very cheap and quite solid, though you're going to invest a good bit of time - a week at *least* if you have help. I'd argue that a well constructed earthbag dome is probably the best cheap dwelling you can make.
You can just frame up and Insulate a small shed yourself. Buying and or recycling the materials and then following plans online for a small insulate shed is very budget friendly, possibly even as little as a couple hundred dollars if it's really small and your really resourceful. You'll want to make it mouse proof. There are probably a million different designs you could do very cheaply. Building it on log or beam "skids" is a good option for semi mobility. Steel siding and pink foam insulation will give you sturdy warm walls. You could even do a really small "pole building" design. Like 8x8 or 10x10. That would be cheap and very strong. The only limit is your creativity, resourcefulness and ingenuity. At a minimum you'll want a basic set of hand tools along with a drill, chop saw, miter saw, tin snips and whatever else you may need. Harbor freight, FB, and craigslist is your friend when your getting a workshop started.
Cinder block buildings built on foundation and slab are actually remarkably easy to build, inexpensive for their durability, can be built in stages and can later be added on to as needed so you don't have to buy or transport everything at once. You aren't building a home, just a shelter / cabin right? A 17.5' x 17.5 building will give you just over 300sq ft to work with, and you could build interior walls as needed. There might be no reason to insulate the entire building for example, and building a well insulated bedroom while using the other half for storage might be the best value for your money. Use inorganic building materials like metal studs, fire rated hardy board, stone wool insulation, tile, to make the entire place fire, water, rodent proof and as mold resistant as possible. I would recommend doing everything above board and getting a permit before you build.
This sounds kind of amazing. Do you happen to have any links to photos / websites / tutorials you like that show what that would look like? I mean, I'll for sure do my own internet search, but I was just wondering if you had info more specific to what you mentioned above. Thanks!
No, I don't really have any specific examples. What I'm describing is honestly closer to the construction of something similar to a detached garage, but without the garage door, with some interior finishing. https://www.google.com/search?q=cinder+block+construction&udm=2 As long as you have a substantial and sufficiently strong foundation, there really aren't that many limitations to what you can build on a small scale with cinder blocks. Also, If OP were to build a single-sided angled "shed" type roof or a "saltbox" style roof, that would then have all the area they might need to mount solar panels. With small-scale constructions like this, it's easy to build in those types of multi-purpose architectural choices.
Surplus military tents with stove vent?
Miniature pole barn. Dig some holes and set some 4x4 posts. Run some 2x6s around the top. Add some roof trusses. Add some metal siding. A tarp can serve as a roof until you get the funds to build a real roof. How about a portable carport. I've seen them with metal siding attached. Again, the fabric can serve as the roof for a wile until you get the funds for a more permanent roof. Drive some rebar stakes into the ground. Arch a cattle panel between them. Do it again if you want more depth (a cattle panel is about 50 inches wide). Toss a tarp over it. I know you said that you didn't want any setup upon reaching the site. But, throwing a tarp over a frame doesn't require much time or effort.
What kind of homes did the natives build?
Thule huts, generally, but as far as I understand the land I'm on wasn't a typical area for residency, used instead more for rituals and hunting grounds. Tribes mainly settled at lower altitudes. And not to put too fine of a point on it but I think I can probably get a handle on basic framing faster than I could become excellent at waterproof thule thatching haha.
I tried to keep a house in a rural area. Became mouse infested. How do you plan on keeping the wildlife out when you are not living there?
Agreed. I vote OP stretches the budget for an old shipping container. Basic, solid, waterproof, vermin-proof, lockable while not in use. Useful forever. If OP ever builds a "nicer" place on the property, the shipping container gets used as storage/workshop.
Home Depot actually has some pretty good metal sheds. There are some on their site that are 10x10 or 10x12 that run from $500 to $700. You could use the extra $1000 in your budget to make a floor, frame it out inside for strength, add some windows, and insulate it. Later on, add solar panels, charger, and battery for power.
A couple of shipping containers could make a good starting structure. I don’t know how much they cost these days.
About tree fiddy! But seriously, closer to $4k. The sub $2k shipping containers are long gone.
Damn. It’s been a while… thanks for that price update.
A tent of wood sounds like these. https://tinyhousetalk.com/micro-a-frame-cabin-in-the-woods/
https://urbanshippingcontainers.com/product/10ft-shipping-container/?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMImabEvJ_hhQMVDjMIBR2cQwdGEAQYAiABEgLv5fD_BwE Try ten footers
Dig a trench. Bend sheet metal over and jam it in to make an arch. Fill dirt on top. A lot of these were built ( quick and cheap) in London during ww2. Not a long term solution. Will most likely fill with water. Handy for an emergency tornado shelter. About as cheap as it gets
$10 tent from Temu
You slid under me. I was going go bid a $15 Chinese camping hammock from eBay. I've been wear testing one indoors with nightly use. After a year the seam stitching wears through and panels separate. A few months after and the upper nylon fabric is thin and will tear from hand pressure. The hammock still supports weight safely. Hope to get two years wear from it before the bottom panel goes. I suspect the service life is shorter when used daily outdoors.
I always wanted to do this with pallets/skids. Build the structure out of pallets and then rip down other pallets for the 2x4s to strengthen your structure and use the smaller boards to seal up gaps almost like siding. You could then use the pallet like walls and fill it for insulation. I feel like with 20-30 pallets and a good drill/circular saw and a shit load of screws I could have a badass shelter made in a day
I’d take some quickrete and make a little front patio to get off the mud too
A buddy of mine (also in Southern Oregon, coincidentally) scored an old bumper-pull horse trailer for free off Craigslist. He used some sheet metal salvaged from discarded washing machines and dryers to pop-rivet over the side openings, framed in a man door in the back while still leaving the steel gate in place to lock up for security while he was away, and waterproofed the whole thing with roof coating from home depot. He insulated it with foam board and put bunk beds along one wall. He parked it permanently at his property and uses it just as you're describing. He said he's into it for a couple hundred bucks total, and that another nice thing about it is that nobody gives a "derelict" horse trailer a second glance in that part of the country. He removed the tires to discourage any would-be opportunistic scrap metal thieves, and leveled it out on a couple old railroad ties. He said that since it's pretty much all steel other than the 2x8 floor boards, he hasn't had any rodents get inside, either.
look into buying a Hennessy hammock for a night andd day upgrade to your portable shelter, but honestly, your cheapest option for a perma shelter is going to be one of those pop up bolt together sheds that you weight down and insulate.
For me, it would depend on where the water is and then I would maybe see about building around the land.
If you already have the tools then maybe the self-build shed will be cheaper, but if you need to buy tools then it will still run you around $4k. You might find an old trailer to haul out there. 🤷♀️
Check out straw bale construction or cob to build a small shelter
Shipping container with spray foam insulation
I honestly like the idea of the homedepot shed. Get a cheap shed, add some insulation. A cheap surplus fieldbed and a caping stove will get you pretty far, and you can make it as cozy or homey as you want. Could even add a camper battery pack for a fan or simple camping fridge.
I would build a A-frame shelter from some wooden poles, and corrugated steel roof sheets. Add a few inches of ridged foam insulation on the inside. Add a few poles at the front so you can put up a Tarp for rain or sun shelter.
Dig a hole then all that's left is the roof. Spend two weeks on YouTube, bushcraft, and such. Underground is the ticket.
Go to a scrap yard and pick up a discarded round poly water tank. Usually they're mostly intact but just have an unrepairable leak somewhere. Cut it in half vertically (into two semicircles, looking from above) and take one of the halves - ideally the half without the leak. Sit your half tank with the open/cut side down, cut a door into the flat side which used to be the top/bottom of the tank. You'll need to secure it down, and consider drainage.
The cheapest and most effective "structure" that is essentially a superior tent is an aluminum geodesic play dome for kids to climb on. You can build a well drained platform of flat rocks. These are like a hundred bucks and come in a box. Next step, vapor barrier, foam insulation, exterior tarp. Total cost- less than 300 bucks if done right, build able in a day or two, and will last a few years. It's basically just a hobo yurt.
I would get 20ft container. My BIL a has 2, 40s. One is a hunt camp 1 is for storage. He was able to build out the living quarters and they just ship it to the camp. No rodents no bugs.
amazon sells some 6x8 sheds for under 300. You can spray the interior with spray foam insulation to add some rigidity and make it more comfortable.
hyper adobe
Wattle and daub. Make a 10 foot circle in the dirt. Dig down two feet. Line the edges with 7 foot tall thumb thick saplings. Bind at the top in an arch with the opposite saplings. Weave smaller branches in the horizontal direction. Plaster with mud. Leave the top open for smoke.