In September 2005 we featured the new barn built by Scott Shull from Radford, VA. Scott is a Certified Apple Technician and the Senior Repair Tech for the Technology Assistance Center at Radford University in Virginia. With the help of friends and family, Scott used our 24x30 two story Gambrel Barn House plans to build his 24x32 hunting cabin. Well, it started out to be a hunting cabin, but as Scott himself says, "My friends give me a hard time because when they see it they laugh and say not many hunting cabins we've seen have a washer and dryer, dishwasher and satellite TV!"

The cabin sits on the south bank of the Little River on their 213 acre property about half an hour out of Radford.

ith the site levelled and graded, Scott began by digging the footings and pier holes and setting up the 24x32 perimeter concrete forms....

....for the block "crawlspace" foundation. Even though the plans called for a concrete slab, Scott decided to do a raised perimeter foundation to get things up off the ground so he could insulate the floor.... it snows there!!

They set the main girder for the wooden joist floor. Note the brick chimney in the background.... all that's left of the old family farm house that burned down.

This is one of the sweetest, neatest, cleanest "crawlspace" foundations we've seen!!

With the wooden joist floor sheeted, the interior and exterior walls are framed and stood-up and the stairs are roughed-in.

Yeah Baby!! The first truss!! Scott said, "I have to say the best part of the whole project was making the trusses ourselves.... the plans were awesome!"

These guys aren't wasting any time!! All the trusses are up, the roof's getting sheeted and they're already applying the first coat of stain to the 5/8" T1-11 plywood siding.

The cabin's completely "wrapped", windows are in, roof's prepped and staining continues. It was right about this point that Scott's buddy, Shane Farmer, brought down his first "eight pointer" a couple hundred yards from the cabin!!

They added our Shed Roof accessory over the front porch and installed a really nice green metal roof.... smart in snow country! The twin-wall stainless Metal-Bestos flue pipe is mounted up in the gable end of the cabin and the front door is hung. Scott tore down the old chimney and saved the "antique" brick for later use. He turned the old fireplace portion into a barbecue!

Scott then turned his attention toward the inside of the cabin.... here's Scott! They ran all the plumbing and electrical....

....then completely insulated the walls and ceiling with R-13 rolled Fiberglas insulation.

Here's Scott and Shane, up a ladder, installing the 1x6 T&G to the interior walls and ceiling.... nice!!

Scott installed ceiling fans ".... to keep the air moving around up in the loft".

The stairs are finished as the handrail goes on.

Looking through loft railing down into the lower portion of the cabin.

The loft provides plenty of room....

....for sleeping quarters, or whatever!

Here's something you don't see in your everyday, hum-drum hunting cabin.... a full kitchen with refrigerator, stove, microwave and dishwasher.... Sweeeet!!

Downstairs 10X11 master bedroom.

Even an 8X9 full bathroom with washer/dryer hook-up.

This is one cozy little cabin!! Scott says, "Our main source of heat is a wood stove with electric baseboards in the bedrooms and bathroom. We were going to leave the floor plywood until one day I was going through Home Depot and noticed the laminate flooring was on clearance. We bought enough to do the entire downstairs.... the flooring looks awesome and keeps the dust down."

Here's is a shot of the back of the cabin and part of the 213 acres it sits on. Scott's going to wrap the porch deck around the end and across the back of the cabin next year.

Now that's what a front porch is for!! Scott used the brick he saved from the old chimney to run the pathway through that beautiful green lawn right up to the front of his brand new Gambrel Barn Cabin. Scott writes, "I have finished the cabin. With the help of friends and family, the whole project took about 5 months working three days a week, Friday thru Sunday, and cost just under $20K to build. It has been a great place to get away with family and friends. Thanks again, Dano, for all your time and help. I have to say the best part of the whole project was making the trusses ourselves.... the plans were awesome!"