The Pisgah Project - Part Five (2025)

 TLDR: Began work on the main (tiny) cabin. Shadetree survey work, lots of digging and a bit of shadetree concrete work. Lots of pics.

The main cabin will be a 16'x20' A-frame. I decided to locate it a few feet from the deck, as there is a large red oak tree down the hill that ultimately limits the usable space on this part of the hillside.

Scoping out the area:

A view from the oak tree, looking up towards the deck.

I framed a template to designate the perimeter of where the cabin would be located, which would help lay out where to dig and build the piers for the foundation.

The slope drops over 8' along 20' of run...

...so, I carved out a shelf a few feet down into the hillside which will lower the entire structure and require shorter posts when framing up the base of the cabin.

I then dug the first three (of nine) holes for the piers. Since this "shelf" is relatively flat, I have a reasonably good shot at lining these first three piers up straight, and can use that as a reference point for the remaining six piers. Square-ishness is the goal.

3' deep, tamp down a few inches of gravel:

Drop in a 30"x30" frame for the concrete footing, and rebar for the footing and pier:

Mixed the concrete in a large mortar pan and shoveled it in.

Then, a few days after the concrete footer set, I mortared in some concrete blocks (CMUs).

After hoofing a half-ton of concrete bags down the hill on my shoulder (80 lbs at a time), I feared my back wouldn't last much longer to finish off these three piers, much less the remaining six. I decided to fabricate a dolly to help me roll each bag of cement down the hill. A few friends have asked how many concrete bags the dolly can carry. One. Any more than one, and there isn't enough traction to control it as it drags you down the hill.

After about a week, allowing the mortar to cure, I returned to fill and cap the CMUs to finish off the piers. First, backfill the holes...

...then fill and cap each CMU pier.

With the first three piers in place, I then relocated the perimeter template to lay out where the next 6 holes would be dug. From there, I dropped a plumb-line to center each pier, locate the frame and rebar for the footer, as I had done for the first three piers. Lather, rinse and repeat.

Voila! Piers are complete.