Pondering an off grid remote think pad

Something else to think hard about...

Make sure your wife is on board with the idea for the LONG term. 
 

Don't kid yourself. This will take many years, and become a bit of an obsession. 
 

The dream spots shown on HGTV will NOT happen. You wife has to be prepared to E36 M3 in the woods, cook on an open fire, and sleep in a wet sleeping bag. For YEARS.   It will become part of the fabric of your family, and many memories will he made there. E36 M3ty experiences sometimes make fabulous memories. 
 

In my case, my wife was on board. For quite a few years. But eventually, she realized it's just not her thing. It is now "my cabin", not "our cabin". My kids have great memories about it, and now the grandkids are starting to come. But my wife really isn't into it anymore. 
 

She DOES appreciate what it does for me. She says I am always in a better mood after I spend a little time there. It's amazingly cathartic to go over the mountain and realize that my cellphone won't ring for a few days. 

I've done a lot of timber frame construction, and I agree with Antihero. I think you will regret it from a time management perspective. 
 

Unless you hire skilled timber framers to do that part. 
 

Or, you could limit the quantity of timber frame. Just have one gathering room with some timber frame elements, and maybe a porch. 

Couple of tips...

First off, fix the road. Spend the money to pay a pro. You WILL have times when you have to deal with washouts, or other weather conditions that stop or slow you. Very frustrating when you've got 16 hrs worth of travel. Don't tempt fate. Fix what you can. 
 

Also, every time you go, have at least 3 separate projects you could work on. It will become frequent (and annoying) that you forget something stupid (like the nails or the paint brushes), and you WON'T want to make the 2 hr round trip to come off the mountain and go to Lowes. 
 

Become really good at making lists. I have a running list "Next trip to the mountains"    and I write down stuff I want to bring every minute I think of it while I am there.

I love this community. I leave for a brunch with some friends and come back to fantastic thoughts to ponder. It reminds me of when I started the Camaro project. So much experience and sound advice to give peace of mind. 
ironically I am clearing vines on a piece of property in SC with an eye out for gators today, so I will give this some considered thought and reply on my next break. 
 

I strongly second the statements about fixing the road, I live in the northern panhandle but have traveled a good bit of the state, and in a lot of the sparsely populated areas you can go an hour down the road with no cell phone signal, so even something like dropping a wheel off the shoulder and getting stuck could become dangerous if you can't find help.

After college, I worked for a company doing katch kan installations on drilling rigs, and got lost somewhere southwest of Clarksburg while trying to find the rig that wanted us. The few locals I saw didn't seem happy about my truck being on their roads, and when I finally found what I thought was the well pad road, it climbed a hill so steep I was looking at sky through the windshield, and when it finally leveled out at the top I realized the gravel had ended and we had just pulled onto recently bulldozed clay and mud, we buried the truck trying to get out. Someone happened to come check on the equipment on that hill and pulled me out with a dozer. Obviously no phone signal up there.

McDowell is a pretty area though, we drove through on the way to VA so my friend could buy an old Land Rover. WV is full of little interesting pockets and towns, including Thurmond which despite being an Amtrak station location has a population of roughly 12. Also, depending on what elevation your property is on, I would plan to visit knowing you could experience 4 seasons in a matter of hours. Sounds like an exciting project!

This sounds like the type of you tube channel I'd subscribe to.  Good luck with your project and thanks for bringing us along

I probably wasn't super clear in the beginning. My plan really is just to have a 24x24' shelter. A shell really. Maybe a sleeping loft,, but just one common room. 
As per the poop question, the most intense I would go is composting toilet. 
The spring is delicious. 
This would be a place to stay a week at a time. Basically camping.

I have a couple of books of timber frame and I have a couple of cabin books. I live in an ancient timber frame so I'm pretty familiar with them, although I've never built one. I have made a lot of furniture and mortise tenon construction I get. 
 

Building a timber frame on site there would be pretty impossible time wise, but I was thinking I could build at home, take apart and transport. I was think erecting something this small would go pretty quickly, especially with a metal roof. 
 

That said, the multiple points on having an architect  are heard loud and clear. I have a friend who is one and designed the addition on my ancient home and did a great job of making that work. Although this is going to be a box with windows, I will give him a ring. 
 

The other thing I will do is call the county and see what they require. That said, this is remote. Remote. 
 

I'm a little romantic about this right now, so I really appreciate the practical feedback. 

In reply to jh36 :

It's more remote when it snows. 

Man you guys are good. 
ok, regarding fixing the road, I own the top of the mountain, but not the side that has the road....but there are a couple of families there that can guide me on who to talk to. 
Regarding cell signal, correct...there is t any. But that's actually part of the allure to me. I'm pretty connected at all other times. 
 

Regarding 5-9 and time....I work some long hours, but I also have never slept a ton, so it works out. I do a bunch of work with Asia, so I zoom a ton from my shop and make use of the time between late night calls to work on the cars. I worked crazy hours last year but found time to build a race car...I'm thinking maybe this is the year of building the cabin between meetings?

One other key element, my oldest son is really into this vision and wants in. He is my most woodworking oriented offspring as well. So that helps , along with my wife really encouraging this. 
 

sorry for the ramble....I will call zoning. I will call my architect. I will think about this a lot before starting on a journey that can't be completed. Thank you for coming along for the ride!

In reply to SV reX :

Yes it is. Early childhood memory was going to sleep up there on a beautiful autumn evening and waking up to a foot of snow. Stuff changes quickly up there. 

In reply to jh36 :

If you've read all those books, then you know who Tedd Benson is. I was hired by him at one point. 
 

Unless you are cutting in a computerized shop similar to his which is large enough to fully assembled the entire house, there is always going to be on-site fitting (which is really slow). Plus, timber frames are usually assembled on the ground as an entire bent (section all the way through the house), then raised as one entire piece. Even a small structure like you want to build will be way too heavy to lift without a LOT of help. 
 

But it's a cool idea. If you've got your heart set on it, I say go for it!  Just know it will take significantly more time than you think. 
 

To put it in perspective, back when stick built framers were framing for $3.50 per square foot (that's a LONG time ago!), the same framers were timber framing for $22 per square foot. That's pre-cut timbers, not site cut. 
 

7X labor is a good factor to work with. For a 24 x 24 simple structure, that may not matter. If you can precut the timbers, watch the weather, and get 20 friends to show up, you can probably raise it in a couple days. 
 

When you're ready, I'll volunteer!  (Serious offer)

In reply to dannyp84 :

That's awesome. This is near Iaeger, which used to be a town. The Higginbothams and Addairs (my kin) were prolific around this part of the world. Blue field, a little way off was basically my great great grandfather's farm. It's sort of all in my DNA...cool that you know that area a bit. A little bit scary and treacherous, but thrilling a beautiful. Sort of like racing? 

SV reX said:

Couple of tips...

First off, fix the road. Spend the money to pay a pro. You WILL have times when you have to deal with washouts, or other weather conditions that stop or slow you. 

Become really good at making lists. I have a running list "Next trip to the mountains"    and I write down stuff I want to bring every minute I think of it while I am there.

Awesome. And I love lists. Like...I love lists. Thank you. 

SV reX said:

Something else to think hard about...

Make sure your wife is on board with the idea for the LONG term. 
 

Don't kid yourself. This will take many years, and become a bit of an obsession. 
 

The dream spots shown on HGTV will NOT happen. You wife has to be prepared to E36 M3 in the woods, cook on an open fire, and sleep in a wet sleeping bag. For YEARS.   It will become part of the fabric of your family, and many memories will he made there. E36 M3ty experiences sometimes make fabulous memories. 
 

In my case, my wife was on board. For quite a few years. But eventually, she realized it's just not her thing. It is now "my cabin", not "our cabin". My kids have great memories about it, and now the grandkids are starting to come. But my wife really isn't into it anymore. 
 

She DOES appreciate what it does for me. She says I am always in a better mood after I spend a little time there. It's amazingly cathartic to go over the mountain and realize that my cellphone won't ring for a few days. 

So....my wife is into it...for me. She supports it and wants me to do it. I seriously doubt she will spend much time there, but that's ok. She also wants it for my kids to have later on. 

I spent about 6 months near Bluefield. Beautiful area. 

How old are your kids?

You will need to figure out how to integrate them, no matter how young they are. 
 

For your wife, this means she will have to go there, and support what is happening. Maybe not every time, but frequently. For example, if you are having a timber frame raising party, she needs to be there, perhaps organizing food or something. 
 

If she disengages, you might as well give up on this idea. Your kids will grow up seeing it as Dad's weird obsession, and view WV as the place that robbed them of their father. 
 

Please think hard about this. I'm not exaggerating. 
 

My kids enjoy my cabin partly BECAUSE their Mom came. She never once raised a hammer, but she came. 
 

And no age is too young to start. My kids have been on site when still in diapers. 
 

I know this sounds dramatic, but it's really true. It's either a family place, or Dad's obsession. There is no other option. 

I haven't read the whole thread yet, but I'm going to drop this link about a reddit build because that's immediately what I thought of when someone mentioned building out of a pre-made shed structure.

In reply to jh36 :

Just looked at your birthday. I will assume your kids are grown. You may even have grandkids on the way. 
 

My comments still stand. It's either a family place that everyone participates in, or the thing that divides relationships for an extended period of time. 

SV reX said:

I spent about 6 months near Bluefield. Beautiful area. 

Cool that you spent some time there. Yes....it is pretty there. The mountain of which I speak is about two hours north and west. It's all a pretty spot of the world...lots of different textures. 

In reply to SV reX :

The kids are mostly grown. One grandchild and number two on the way.  I think it will be good with family. We are a strange lot. We don't need to be around each other constantly, but can be. This was my wife's idea. And she loves to go racing with us. So...I think we are good. I appreciate your comment. Family is first in this camp. 

jh36 said:

In reply to maj75 (Forum Supporter) :

Yes, I have thought about harvesting timber there, dragging a band mill up and going for it. The only problem with that is time. I could move faster building the frame, numbering it, taking it down and moving it. I think. 
If I didn't have a 9-5 (or more like a 5-9) I would do that exactly. 

You just described how log homes get built, build in a yard number the pieces disassemble the reassemble in situ. As seen on tv and a place 20 minutes from where I live.

Here is an off the wall idea 

Helicopter......

Stage all the material at one place and have the copter  bring in parts at a time , 

No idea what a copter costs for a day , but it gets a lot of material moved in a day.....

californiamilleghia said:

Here is an off the wall idea 

Helicopter......

Stage all the material at one place and have the copter  bring in parts at a time , 

No idea what a copter costs for a day , but it gets a lot of material moved in a day.....

I believe it was about 2-3k an hour when I asked awhile back

In reply to jh36 :

So, let me start by saying that I don't really know anything about this company, but this was an ad that popped up on Facebook the other day and it caught my eye. The ad was for DIY pergola kits, but something along these lines might be applicable to what you're trying to accomplish. No idea if you can turn one of these into a livable structure, but it might work as a simple shelter that would be easy to assemble in a remote area and facilitate (at least) some enhanced camping. 

https://tojagrid.com/
 

Woody (Forum Supportum) said:

In reply to jh36 :

So, let me start by saying that I don't really know anything about this company, but this was an ad that popped up on Facebook the other day and it caught my eye. The ad was for DIY pergola kits, but something along these lines might be applicable to what you're trying to accomplish. No idea if you can turn one of these into a livable structure, but it might work as a simple shelter that would be easy to assemble in a remote area and facilitate (at least) some enhanced camping. 

https://tojagrid.com/
 

 

 

That looks like what Keith built!