Lot Cleanup And Cabin Plan

Some Context

If you caught the last video, you know I recently pulled the trigger on four acres of raw land in Western North Carolina with the goal of starting a homestead. But the place was a mess—piles and piles of trash. Cleaning it up one truckload at a time just wasn’t realistic, so last week, I hired a small crew with an excavator to tackle the worst of it.

Some jobs are just worth paying for. That said, there’s still plenty of smaller debris I’ll be picking up for months to come. But I can’t tell you how good it feels to see the land without all that junk. For the first time, I can actually take it in and start dreaming about what it could become. It’s tempting to jump straight into planning the whole homestead now that the weather’s improving, but my top priority is getting this shed converted into an off-grid cabin.

As For the Shed to Cabin Conversion - Here’s the plan:

Step One: Fix the water runoff issues.

This building sits right at the base of a steep hill, which means every time it rains, water, silt, and debris flow straight to the back of the structure and seep underneath. That’s a serious problem, and it needs to be fixed before anything else.

Step Two: Improve the foundation.

I’ll use a bottle jack to level the building and add extra piers for stability.

Step Three: Repair the exterior.

A lot of the siding is in rough shape, so I’ll be replacing what’s damaged and repairing the fascia, soffit, and drip guard.

Step Four: Deep clean, patch small holes, prime, and paint.

That should have it looking good as new.

Nothing to it, right?

Haha. If you’ve ever tackled a DIY project like this, you know things never go exactly as planned—but we’ll get it done. This is just the beginning. There’s a lot of work ahead, but I’m excited to get started.