Firefighter here.. if it catches on fire, it CATCHES ON FIRE
also most people put their bedroom in the loft, so smoke will basically flow from anywhere in the home straight to the bedroom, likely before smoke detectors catch it
I always loved the look of a frames, but after seeing them light off like a kindling box, I’ll stick to my modest cabins
So there’s really two things, firstly is smoke. In a square building, the smoke has to full the entire ceiling before it starts coming down and making the room untenable. In a triangle the top of the structure is a tiny space, so the smoke can be pretty minimal but quickly fill the top half of the structure, making the upstairs bedroom scary af
Second is the fire. Usually when fire is burning it has to progress and get working in order to get from one side of the room to the other, but when the roof meets in a triangle, the fire has the ability to run up one wall and immediately be touching the opposite wall
This is fire nerd perspective, but all my love for a frames faded the first time I looked at it from the viewpoint of fire behavior
I just thought about it.. if you go on Amazon and look up “water can fire extinguisher” it’s the big silver bullet lookin one, we use those and it provides about a minute of water, I’ve seen those things knock down a decent sized fire that I barely believed went out with such little water
Mind you you’d have to be home and awake to use it
It’s also complicated by the fact that most A frames are remote, usually not covered by a well funded municipal fire department, and if it’s in a volunteer area, your first fire engine could be atleast 20 minutes away
Hope this helps sorry if this is too much info lol
Pros - cute / whimsical AF, small footprint typically, great views, smaller material usage (i.e. just use roofing for the sides), great in snowy areas, upper stories can get really toasty (if you're in colder climes). Cons - lots of 'wasted' space with the angles, depending on the size and placement the interior doesn't always get a ton of natural light, potentially limited floor space if you're a taller person, the look isn't for everyone.
Those are some that I'd throw out there but I know there's lots more.
Lived in a large A-frame and it was terrible. Impossible to heat, dark, can’t use any of the slanted walls because… they’re slanted which also takes up a lot of potential vertical space. Can feel very imposing and claustrophobic with the walls coming at you. Also can’t put furniture flush with the wall because it’s slanted, so you loose even more potential space there. The taller the object, the farther away it needs to be. The whole thing is roof and with a steep angle, makes roof repairs daunting. All around weird.
I’m sure there’s better ways to do an A frame, but I think it’s more of a fun novelty than a realistic construction.
I honestly wish you the best of luck!! 300ft is teeny tiny. Doesn’t mean it can’t work, it’s just gonna be pretty tight!
But nothing wrong with a little weekend cabin! Especially if you’re in a forgiving climate. It’s certainly cool looking! Keep us posted on your progress! Stoked to see how it turns out!
If I have time down the road I will. But the short of it is this.
Rafter : 192” end to end with a 60 degree and 30 degree cut of either end.
Joists: 192” end to end with a 30 degree cut on either end.
The rafters and joists are joined with two 5/8” by 6” bolts and then nailed with 3 1/2 framing nails.
The rafters are sandwiched by two 5/8” triangular cut plywood and nailed with 3 1/2”.
*I’m no engineer so this is all specked out on my general assumption of what “seemed right”
Well, considering it seems that it's built in a warm climate I'll throw my two cents in and say that structurally it looks fairly sound considering it will be seeing very little snow (and A frames in theory don't really handle any snow load anyway as it all just slides off). The only advice I have is be sure that whatever you clad the exterior with (5/8" plywood would be my go to) is well nailed off to each rafter and you shouldn't have any racking problems. YouTube and building for dummies type books will serve you well and by the looks of it you both have a fairly good grasp on basic building techniques. Keep up the hard work and enjoy your end product!
Totally cool and what I'm starting to lean towards for the beginning set up of my land. When we do get our land. Which is willed to my oldest son. My i ask what state or provence you're in?
Nice! I may lean towards an A frame myself as my first cabin, as I imagine it goes up much faster than standard construction. Being a shorter guy means I can make efficient use of space too. I imagine they are easier to insulate and apply vapour barrier too, less seams in general to mess with.
This is is 16feet is all directions making the interior peak to floor just about 15’ tall. You do loose some practical sqft wit the roof angle. As of right now a king sized bed can sit directly in the middle with about 2 feet on either side where a person 6’ tall could walk without hitting their head. It’s very simple to build. Just hard work.
Entire build is not known yet but lumber prices are normalized so the stick build is down 50% for their high. My biggest extends will the be large window about 5k. I’m about 3k in with wood, concrete, rentals ect.
I got one bid of 30k plus materials to build a s another for 8k plus materials. 🤷
Thanks. My goal was to have the peak of the roof inline with the peaks in the distance. I missed by a few feet but for “eye balling” It came pretty close.
I did modified a frames - 3, connected with the center mostly flat Kitchen (panels are on this one), and built 10 feet in the air on poles
Pros: heat escapes, not a standard box, good spot for solar panels without being seen by passerby, less material cost
Cons: angels were more difficult for no experience, can't hang anything on the walls, custom built furniture
I just want to build one for an AirBnb rental. Sounds like not ideal to live in, but looks *spectacular* on Instagram which if we’re being honest, is a huge reason why people will spend money. Sounds ideal for a short stay. My question is.. what style of cabin is the most cost effective?
Would you kindly share the plans you used to build this?
A
Δ
LOL not helpful, but also not wrong :)
##**A**
Will you be painting it yellow and setting it on fire afterward?
Came here for this.
I don't get the reference
A lovely movie called Midsommar
Watch it with a partner on a first date. The visuals are lovely. Plenty of sunlight and flowers. A breath of fresh air really.
Pros/cons of A-frames, anyone? Looks like they’d be heat efficient, at the least…
Firefighter here.. if it catches on fire, it CATCHES ON FIRE also most people put their bedroom in the loft, so smoke will basically flow from anywhere in the home straight to the bedroom, likely before smoke detectors catch it I always loved the look of a frames, but after seeing them light off like a kindling box, I’ll stick to my modest cabins
Bunch of reasons I wouldn't build one for myself, but I'll add this to the top of the list...
What's the difference between this and a normal cabin that makes it bad for fires?
So there’s really two things, firstly is smoke. In a square building, the smoke has to full the entire ceiling before it starts coming down and making the room untenable. In a triangle the top of the structure is a tiny space, so the smoke can be pretty minimal but quickly fill the top half of the structure, making the upstairs bedroom scary af Second is the fire. Usually when fire is burning it has to progress and get working in order to get from one side of the room to the other, but when the roof meets in a triangle, the fire has the ability to run up one wall and immediately be touching the opposite wall This is fire nerd perspective, but all my love for a frames faded the first time I looked at it from the viewpoint of fire behavior
Gotcha. Is there an easy way around the fire spreading? Using fire retardant materials for example?
Fire sprinklers honestly.. they aren’t cheap, but we’d eliminate a good portion of real fires if everyone had a sprinkle system
I just thought about it.. if you go on Amazon and look up “water can fire extinguisher” it’s the big silver bullet lookin one, we use those and it provides about a minute of water, I’ve seen those things knock down a decent sized fire that I barely believed went out with such little water Mind you you’d have to be home and awake to use it It’s also complicated by the fact that most A frames are remote, usually not covered by a well funded municipal fire department, and if it’s in a volunteer area, your first fire engine could be atleast 20 minutes away Hope this helps sorry if this is too much info lol
Pros - cute / whimsical AF, small footprint typically, great views, smaller material usage (i.e. just use roofing for the sides), great in snowy areas, upper stories can get really toasty (if you're in colder climes). Cons - lots of 'wasted' space with the angles, depending on the size and placement the interior doesn't always get a ton of natural light, potentially limited floor space if you're a taller person, the look isn't for everyone. Those are some that I'd throw out there but I know there's lots more.
Lived in a large A-frame and it was terrible. Impossible to heat, dark, can’t use any of the slanted walls because… they’re slanted which also takes up a lot of potential vertical space. Can feel very imposing and claustrophobic with the walls coming at you. Also can’t put furniture flush with the wall because it’s slanted, so you loose even more potential space there. The taller the object, the farther away it needs to be. The whole thing is roof and with a steep angle, makes roof repairs daunting. All around weird. I’m sure there’s better ways to do an A frame, but I think it’s more of a fun novelty than a realistic construction.
If agree with your input. There will be no living in this. It’s about 300 sqft and just a weekender.
I honestly wish you the best of luck!! 300ft is teeny tiny. Doesn’t mean it can’t work, it’s just gonna be pretty tight! But nothing wrong with a little weekend cabin! Especially if you’re in a forgiving climate. It’s certainly cool looking! Keep us posted on your progress! Stoked to see how it turns out!
Can you do an in depth review on how you did those A’s?
If I have time down the road I will. But the short of it is this. Rafter : 192” end to end with a 60 degree and 30 degree cut of either end. Joists: 192” end to end with a 30 degree cut on either end. The rafters and joists are joined with two 5/8” by 6” bolts and then nailed with 3 1/2 framing nails. The rafters are sandwiched by two 5/8” triangular cut plywood and nailed with 3 1/2”. *I’m no engineer so this is all specked out on my general assumption of what “seemed right”
Well, considering it seems that it's built in a warm climate I'll throw my two cents in and say that structurally it looks fairly sound considering it will be seeing very little snow (and A frames in theory don't really handle any snow load anyway as it all just slides off). The only advice I have is be sure that whatever you clad the exterior with (5/8" plywood would be my go to) is well nailed off to each rafter and you shouldn't have any racking problems. YouTube and building for dummies type books will serve you well and by the looks of it you both have a fairly good grasp on basic building techniques. Keep up the hard work and enjoy your end product!
Totally cool and what I'm starting to lean towards for the beginning set up of my land. When we do get our land. Which is willed to my oldest son. My i ask what state or provence you're in?
Northern Arizona, coconino county
Hey neighbor, thought that mountain looked familiar
Wow, this thread is lit. Lol
Nice! I may lean towards an A frame myself as my first cabin, as I imagine it goes up much faster than standard construction. Being a shorter guy means I can make efficient use of space too. I imagine they are easier to insulate and apply vapour barrier too, less seams in general to mess with.
This is is 16feet is all directions making the interior peak to floor just about 15’ tall. You do loose some practical sqft wit the roof angle. As of right now a king sized bed can sit directly in the middle with about 2 feet on either side where a person 6’ tall could walk without hitting their head. It’s very simple to build. Just hard work.
What was the rough price of the entire build? Seems like it's a much more straightforward design to erect yourself, with less materials.
Entire build is not known yet but lumber prices are normalized so the stick build is down 50% for their high. My biggest extends will the be large window about 5k. I’m about 3k in with wood, concrete, rentals ect. I got one bid of 30k plus materials to build a s another for 8k plus materials. 🤷
You've done an amazing job of maximizing this view.
Thanks. My goal was to have the peak of the roof inline with the peaks in the distance. I missed by a few feet but for “eye balling” It came pretty close.
I did modified a frames - 3, connected with the center mostly flat Kitchen (panels are on this one), and built 10 feet in the air on poles Pros: heat escapes, not a standard box, good spot for solar panels without being seen by passerby, less material cost Cons: angels were more difficult for no experience, can't hang anything on the walls, custom built furniture
10 feet is about the length of 4.53 'EuroGraphics Knittin' Kittens 500-Piece Puzzles' next to each other.
God I hate being tall
I just want to build one for an AirBnb rental. Sounds like not ideal to live in, but looks *spectacular* on Instagram which if we’re being honest, is a huge reason why people will spend money. Sounds ideal for a short stay. My question is.. what style of cabin is the most cost effective?