Ep.1 Small Cabin Expanded to BIG CABIN! - Humongous Off Grid Addition 

*My Nephew Holden posted his first video:* ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-344Buh62zwU.html

It doesn’t matter what project you show us Kevin. You’re so creative. I enjoy watching everyone of them. Take care.

Spray the slippery deck with borax solution? Check out surviving ringworm video from today.

Nice build going on. Thanks Kevin. Tell Don we missed him.

Fun to see you building on your things again

Of all your projects, the cabin builds are the ones I enjoy the most! Not that this matters to other people but since you read the comments, just throwing this out there! Thanks for the entertainment!

"Don's not here so I gotta get a machine..." lol

Love those milling and buildings from scratch videos. Hope you do a serie from start to finish. I'll watch them all.

I don't know what the Canadian equivalent of the Presidential Medal of Freedom is, but Kevin should get it

"Work smart, not hard." Amen!

You should nickname that auger bit Don, because it the work of 10 men. Resourcefulness is a skill that should be taught to kids. I look forward to future videos of your new project.

I live in high desert in Western Colorado and we’re all on rock. So jealous of your ability to drill post holes!!! Okay, you backing up your boards with your jeep…comedy! You are amazing! I can’t fathom all the things you are able to do!

I found two five gallon buckets full of nails that had got wet and started to rust (lightly) and were thrown out, I dried them out and threw them into evaporust for a week, now I have a lifetime supply of nails and all it cost me was the evaporust.

I find it funny that you needed to get a big machine to do all of the digging that Don used to do. What an amazing man! Tell him he is missed. I think putting the door where the window is located would be a smart idea. Why make another hole when one is already started? As far as what to do with the room... I'm thinking multi use furniture so that a table with seats can transform into another bed, nesting tables, and a ceiling fan. You always come up with great ideas, so I can't wait to see what you do.

Always admire your reuse of old wood and things that you find in your travels. I think the addition to the cabin will be great. Hope Don is OK and just Enjoying life

Haven’t been here for a while. Back and enjoying all the fun virtually hanging out with Kevin!

I am sure you have it covered, pun intended, but my only concern is the roof, given the pitch of the existing cabin, also i don't know about Canadian snow loads etc.

You're scary smart and such a hard worker! If I was your mama, I would be so proud of you.

Kevin I love watching your video's. For someone slight of build you are a very strong person and you have great imagination. I'd be saving as much wall space as possible and putting the door leading from the porch, you could eventually close in the porch/veranda and use it as a mud room as its not really big enough to sit out on and one day you could extend out the front to have a sitting porch, another project 😀 I also love how you repurpose so much, looking forward to the follow up. Lx

Growing family: need more bedroom space. Need a family room space in addition to the kitchen/dining area.

These are my favorite videos! I can’t wait to see what you do with this addition👍🏻 Great job Kevin! Thank you for sharing. Have a nice weekend🙂

Just casually making perfectly level cuts with a chainsaw. I love watching your builds.

This is the only digging a hole video I'll watch

I wish I had your skills my father in-law is a carpenter and watching him work is such a joy just like watching your videos.

Really enjoyed watching this. Can't wait for part 2!

Yippee!! Kevin is building again ! Say Hi to Don from us.

It's not the same without Don

Looks like a moist location. You’re not worried about all that moss and not treating the cedar? Place still looks awesome. Some serious work you’re putting in. As usual. 🐸🍺🔪🔥

This was the beginning - I happened to accidentally stumble across this build from the first or second video, years ago - I love the structure builds and am stoked that you’re revisiting the inaugural build! 👏🏻❤

Found your channel when you built the original cabin, stayed ever since for all the fun builds. Looking forward to this series, Kevin!

Wow! It's going to look amazing! The little cabin in the woods is going to turn into something extraordinary!

Absolutely love everything you do no matter what i am here for it

This is the first post from you I've seen in a long time

Love it! looking forward to your progress. It would be cool if at the end you priced out what you spent and how much you saved by using free materials.

Kevin you need to make a ball hitch for your tractor bucket to move your trailer. I built one that clamps onto my tractors front bucket to save my back moving trailers and boats. Then you wouldn’t need your car… John

"Work smart; not hard..." next, Kevin quits using a tractor and tries to back a cart to the build site. That worked as well as our trying to back a manure spreader that only had a tongue into place.

Kevin, great video man! The cabin looks really good from the tour that you took! (Great Build There) Like how you did the pallets to get the plywood very cool! I kind of like the idea of taking the window out from the middle and putting a door. It would be nice to enter the addition from the inside plus I would think a lot less cutting on that wall. Sounds like you have some really cool plans for the addition! Looking forward to the next one! Take care!

Hi Kevin 👋. I like your builds, they are interesting & relaxing to me. For the sunroom, I think two doorways are needed. One to go into the cabin and the other go outside. Well wishes to You, Don, and the Family.

Awesome glad your back

Omg, you went "full Kevin"😂!! thank you sir

I appreciate you making the American conversion on rain measurement for us. 😂

Great spot, and your kids and grandkids will love making memories there, and watching these videos someday to see how Grampa did it! :-) The baby trees growing out of the deck is a good omen for lots of life to come!

Very nice Sir! Looks incredible so far

Keven I tell people not to get old and they laugh at me and tell me that there's no way to prevent from getting old. But you pretty much summed it up when you said work smarter not harder. Becouse the more we damage our body makes us a lot older than we really need to be. Always ask for help lifting things that are to big Or heavy because later on in life when were 40/50 we don't want to feel like we're 80 and 90. Remember age does not mean you're old how your body feels makes you old

Free? Bonus! Suggestion - don’t lose that window. Also, tiny bathroom with the rest of the area with a big table for food, games, crafts and one or more two seater hide-and-beds. 😍🇨🇦

Glad to see you inproving the cabin, looks like you know what your doing and looking good.

nice to see you build cool things again.

I always look forward to a video to watch.

Grab a drink. Get some popcorn. Sit down and hang on...😂😅 This, is going to be fun! ❤

When I was 10, 11 I was all about building FORTS and TREE FORTS etc. I dreamed of building my own plane and glider. Maybe build a set from a Clint Eastwood movie? A zip line from the house to the tree fort. Everybody gets a walkie talkie. Kevin and Don are proof this does not need to end at 12. Now I just need to convince my Buddies Wives it is the right thing to do at 55. 🤣🤣🤣

love this vid thank you!!!!

Love to see you build at the small cabin again!

Glad to see you pop up again!

Very cool build!

This is going to be fun to watch

These construction videos are the best. I love watching you deal with irregularities on the fly. I've been watching you since the original cabin build.

Solar heat collector made of wood, polyiso foam, PEX, polycarbonate, & aluminum sheet. Maybe 12' x 24'. 600 gallon heat storage tank. Wood, polyiso foam, fiberglass insulation, & EPDM. 4' wide x 10' long x 3' high. PEX floor heat. 2 pumps. 1 pump for the heat collector & the other for the floor. No glycol needed if collector empties out when pump is off. No holes in EPDM. Pipes go over sides of tank. 10' x 20' EPDM will be cut to 10' x 16' for tank & 4' x 10' for lid.

Kevin, this is such an awesome addition! Hubby and I just watched on the TV. Commenting on phone! 🎉

Absolutely awesome that’s going to look amazing when you get done with it thanks for sharing

Kevin's free wood and rusty nail accommodations No 16" on center framing in Canada... is it 5, 50 or 500 on center there? Are there Canadian standard lumber, framing sizes or is everything an accommodation? Tons of work such a short amount of time (with the magic of editing around the rain) but if Don was there you'd have the whole living room built And he would've put in a basement We love you, Don

old builder here... I really enjoyed your ''out of the box'' build, sipping on my coffee...

I would add more loft area in the addition for more sleeping space. And a big stone fireplace.

Once you have enough plywood, will you sand and stain the floor? Or what? Love your videos keep it up I enjoy them! Thanks Kevin # Modern Self Reliance always and forever!

Awesome! BUT..... sheeeeeeesh I wish you woulda worn eye protection during the framing and floor installation. I know u are usually really good about that. Can't wait to watch the rest of the build!!!

Kevin Builds posted a new video 🎉 I have been waiting for years for the extension build!

If you want to see building with wet wood, check out Surviving Ringworm. That is all he uses. All done with chainsaw mill.

Never seen a pallet like that. The repurposing guru!!

❤Kevin your builds R awesome love your creativity, and enjoy your humor 😊 and u. A fan ❤

Kevin, too late now, but I would have matched the addition floor to the cabin. A step down is a safety concern to elderly people as well as younger folks. When I was shopping for a house, I hated the sunk in living areas...it made no sense to me. I would have had to raise the floor. Of course, I did not buy a house with a stepdown or a step up on the first floor. Good luck with the built. It is certainly an improvement to the cabin. I would also add an interior bathroom. don't work too hard. It can only get better!!! Take care.

A place for couch and coffee table to do puzzles on and above extra bedroom for family . You have the only cabin when trough that might be big enough to actually enjoy resting in when it rains. Great job

Looking good Kevin, where’s Don?? Hope he is feeling good. AND I vote for using the window cut out to make the door and then put the window on the outside wall of the addition...

You've got that rock crusher...why not throw some stone under the addition to minimize splash.

Too bad you couldn't attach the shipping "plates" intact, to the joists, in one way or another.

Game room. Pool table, dart board, shuffleboard and a bar. Craft room for the wife

Excellent. Love watching you build with wood. 🎉

It would make sense to remove the window on the side then place a wooden frame around the new opening for the extension. It depends if your gonna place a door there or not though. Then after the build is partially finished, it just needs some electrical work done with some outlets and wiring so it works with a solar power generator. That way you can plug a tv inside of the new room besides some lights then having the solar panel on the roof to the new room after it's made. Then you just gotta do the insulation and other things for it. Just an idea i have to have the room run independently on it's own power source so it's not putting a heavy power load on a single power source for the whole building and just having them separate instead. Especially for night time when the power generators aren't receiving anymore solar power during the day.

Watching you back that trailer in reminded me of that episode of Family Guy where Peter tries to back the boat into the boat launch lmao

Love the word keep it up, I've learned so much from you over the years it is amazing

Get you some more axe, mix it with water, hot water and spray it on the deck, and it won't have that slippery.Gooey, nasty mossy mess

If in floor heating is a concept I'd run a couple of conduit lines for electrical etc and then spray foam the entire underside to keep critters out.. or maybe line the whole thing in insulated garage panels lol. Still trying to find that level of reclaimed material in my parts.

Looking forward to this build!!!

Awesome! Garage door on the front! So you can open it and make it feel really open.

Little bathroom for the girls in your family. 🙂. They are more likely to come stay then, even if it is an off grid one

That laser level is great! I recently used it for leving out my fire pit area. Works great outdoors and the battery lasts for ever

Yessssss....I've been waiting for the update vids. Looking forward to updates on the early builds like the Cube, the Sauna, etc. Love all the builds! So many great ideas!

Thank you for sharing the video all the best.

I love watching you build Kevin..

Great build and still holding up after years of being build maybe you should throw some decent paint...!!!

Why didn’t you burn the ends of the posts buried in the ground?

A root cellar could be an interesting addition.

looking good so far. excited to see the rest of the project

Excited for this one Kevin

Very cool repurposing project.

So a great video lookin forward to da end

Hey Kevin, It's strange to see you working alone on a project this size. I was just wondering if you had any luck with that building demolition at King St and Ottawa St in Kitchener that I messaged you about. I haven't seen anything since about if it panned out? Thats a huge addition to the cabin. As you started the video and said you think it's 4 years since you built the cabin, then 5 maybe or 6 years, I thought, "WOW, I've been watching the channel that long!!!" So much has happened in that time. I think it might be 4, verging on 5 years. I think that because the place I'm in now is almost 2 years and I found the channel about 3 years before I moved here. Lots of builds in that time. It's great to see you revisiting and upgrading them. The basement idea would be interesting, but I'm not sure it would be practical. Plus if you put a basement in you would have to shore up the one side of the cabin and put some kind of jacks underneath it so it wouldn't possibly collapse over on the new edition. A little too much to get into unless your wife is making you move out of the house and you need a mancave for your comfy mancabin! Hahahahaha!!!! Hmmmm, a sunroom? Are you making it an all see through walls and ceiling, or more of a day room/ extra bedroom space? It might be nice to have the front wall be a total window so the pond can be seen from inside and make the other 3 walls solid. The one glass wall would let enough light in to warm it up inside, but not enough to make it into a Human EasyBake Oven, and would really create a different atmosphere inside. It would also bring more light into the addition which means less electricity needed for lighting. Are you thinking a pitched roof, a flat one sided roof leaning in one direction, or a low run-off roof? I think a flat one sided roof would give more space and make the roof less complicated. Plus you could pitch the lean away from the original cabin which would help transfer the weight of the roof onto the cabin wall your building up against? Also the one sided slanted roof would be potential space for more beds with a partial loft, keeping the bottom floor more for gathering and socializing rather than a bunk room. The space where you don't have the plywood to complete the floor yet, I would suggest keeping that space and put a stair in the outer front corner and build a door to exit / enter the sunroom so you have 2 exits. Depending on the intentional use of the sunroom an entrance/ exit could be a mud room kind of idea for anyone using the cabin and gathering in the BBQ/Trough Pool/ Pond area and keeping the main cabin cleaner from mud and outdoor mess outside. You could also enclose the lower staircase on 3 sides to keep weather from effecting the entrance by putting the roof over it and carrying the outer wall straight down the sidewall with siding boards. And it gives a little more character to the room There's some ideas I had as I was watching the video. I guess I'll know by watching the following videos about the build if you use any of those ideas. I missed Don in the video. Hopefully he's doing even better. Matt - Toronto

Hey Kevin! You should look into GRK screws for structural hardware. The big spikes you put in the beams looked a little short.

First!

Great video kevin👍

GREAT JOB AGAIN.

Kevin, door on opposite end. You dont want to make a walkway of entire kitchen area. Could make nice galley kitchen out of that. Add a nice backdoor/porch to new addition, as well as screened in front porch. (All the doors should be in this on general area, except back door. This is a space/wall saver.