DIY Home Building: The $300 Cabin Made from Recycled Materials

The tiny house movement has led to very creative use of space to meet our living needs and desires in a few square feet. That generally means fewer resources used for everything from heating and cooling to furnishing and decorating. But many who practice DIY home building don’t stop there: they also incorporate reused/recycled materials into their structures. That makes not only for an environmentally-friendly build, but also a low-cost one, as these materials are often available for the cost of picking them up.

Good buddy Jo Borras found just such a concept at Derek Diedricksen’s blog Relax Shacks, and shared it with his readers at Insteading. I don’t know that Diedricksen’s $300 cabin would work for year-round living, but it’s definitely a great DIY option for a getaway space. Take a look at Jo’s full post below, including the great photos, and let us know what you think: would you consider building a tiny cabin like this?

This Tiny, Off Grid Cabin Was Built for Just $300

Building an off the grid, tiny house style cabin is a dream for many Americans, but money is always a huge obstacle to putting up any building. At least, that’s the conventional wisdom. Derek Diedricksen, however, doesn’t subscribe to that notion, and built his tiny, off grid cabin for just $300 using recycled and found materials.

Really.

“the cabin was made with a large portion of recycled and free materials, and I was thereby able to build it for only $300 USD,” Diedricksen explains on his blog, Relax Shacks. “Counting all the decor and such- a few items I made, some Ikea stuff, and free and/or yard sale items- the decor budget was under $100. Its a mere 8′ by 8′, covered in a combination of metal and (clear) Tuftex polycarbonate roofing, and built atop a base of local cedar from (a local lumber mill).”

Diedricksen has built several tiny house type cabins throughout the US, and offers a number of workshops to help teach people the skills they need to build their own off grid cabins out of inexpensive- and, sometimes, free!- materials. His next workshop is in November …

Tiny House Workshop

… but if you’re not yet convinced that Derek’s site is worth checking out, take a few seconds to take a look at this $300 cabin he calls his “backwoods reading room”, below. If you can’t get enough of it, click here to check out even more photos over at Derek’s site. Enjoy!

Tiny Cabin / Backwoods Reading Room

Source | Images: Relaxshacks, via Off Grid World.

Tags: Derek Diedricksen, green building, north carolina, off-grid, Recycling, relax shacks, reuse, tiny cabin, tiny house, workshop

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