5,000 on a shelter

**Fishernick** · 02-15-2012, 04:31 PM

I am thinking about buying a piece of land in Idaho after cost of that I will have around 5 grand to buy/build a shelter any ideas I am gonna be off grid and all I need is 4 walls and a roof I was thinking somthing a long the hunting cabin but think its a bit out of my budget. I have heard of storage containers going for 2 grand and that interests me but a lot of money to fix up Any ideas

**Bue** · 02-15-2012, 06:26 PM

Already bought your land? What natural resources are there to start with???? ie: rock and timber

**RICHFL** · 02-15-2012, 07:48 PM

You could look into one the FEMA trailers that are up for auction around the country. They come from in conditions ranging from being never used to a DIY typer. Best idea I know for fast return for your money.

**Composter** · 03-19-2012, 09:30 PM

I am working on a 20' container at the moment, and also have a 40'
For storage. Mine is primarily designed as a hurricane shelter. Adding
A good 3'steel door, which opens inward (in case something blows against
The door). Put insulation on outside to prevent it from becoming an oven.
The steel roof also looks like a great location for a solar collector.
Am also working on cast concrete foundations, with 1" threaded rod to
Attach to container corners.

**myakka** · 03-19-2012, 09:45 PM

I know around here you can find the connex container in 20ft for $1400 in rough shape, $2400 in really good shape. This would leave a fair amount of your $5000 for materials for customizing if you can do any of the work yourself.

**Diesel** · 03-19-2012, 10:07 PM

Think you'd be much better off with a nice used shed then re-enforce it. If this is truly going to be a cabin site where you come to hang out, get away from it all and want to be able to bug out.

You can find nice big used 1 and even 2 story sheds used on craigslist for 2k or less, use the rest to make it what you want

**Mangler** · 03-19-2012, 11:47 PM

Our cabin is 12' x 16'. We made it in 4' x 8' sections at home and hauled the sections to the site. We chose a metal roof and a south facing sliding door (for max solar gain). Total cost for materials was only $3,500. The site preparation including earth moving, 50yds of sand lift, and 10yds of gravel was $1,500.

It took three months of weekends to build the sections and three weekends to assemble everything.

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**JLBIII** · 03-20-2012, 12:21 AM

If you can do the work yourself you can build a nice cabin using store bought lumber, if your land has plenty of timber log cabins aren't really that hard to build plus you'd save your money for other items. You'd be surprised what you can do with a chainsaw, block and tackle , a little muscle with help from family and friends. I've done it with just two people and a whole summer of weekends but man the end result is fantastic. Plus the logs add a good insulating factor and can take bullets better than plywood sheathing.

Joe