Part One: Sub-Floor & Installation
What's this blog series all about?
Zinc Studio provides ruggedly aesthetic, off-grid, prefabricated cabins, offering a customisable and high-quality product to customers across the country.
In this blog post series, we will follow a Zinc Studio cabin build from start to finish. From the initial sub-floor and framing phases to the final finishing touches, we'll provide an in-depth look at the entire construction process, highlighting the quality and attention to detail that goes into every Zinc Studio build.
Whether you're considering a prefabricated cabin as extra room for friends and family, a vacation home, rental property, or permanent residence, this blog post series will provide valuable insights and information about the process and possibilities of working with Zinc Studio.
If you haven't already, check out the Zinc Studio cabin design here.
The Sub-floor (wait, what's that?)
(Pictured: Steel Skid)
You can think of the sub-floor as the foundation on which a cabin or tiny home is built. The Zinc Studio cabin uses what is known as a 'steel skid' as it's base. 'Hang on, I thought they were built on a trailer!?' I hear you say. Your run-of-the-mill tiny homes generally are, but there are a number of benefits to building on a steel skid instead, including added structural integrity, and more importantly, almost 50% more space!
To build a cabin or tiny home on a trailer and tow it on the road, that trailer has to be registered, and a registrable trailer has a maximum width of 2.4m. This is a pretty limiting dimension and often ends up with a very narrow floor plan and only one possible layout - sleeping in the kitchen, and hanging out on the bed... no living or dining space.
The extra metre of width gained by using a steel skid (3.5m total) significantly increases the ultimate usable floor space and how the areas in the cabin can be arranged. This allows us to create both a dedicated living space and separate sleeping area in our cabin.
(Pictured: Cross beams being fit to the heavy-duty bearers)
(Pictured: Cross beams being fit to the heavy-duty bearers)
Delivery & Installation
If you can't tow it, how do you deliver it? Tiny homes or cabins built on a steel skid have the benefit of more structural integrity over a traditional trailer. They are simply delivered via flatbed truck and towed into position on location. They are fitted with a single axle draw-bar with 2 wheels to assist with manoeuvring into position (this draw-bar and wheel set is later removed).
(Pictured: Steel skid with cabin framing) For installation, 6 holes are pre-dug roughly in line with where the footing legs will be attached to the cabin. The cabin is then towed into position on its temporary wheels and manoeuvred to be above the holes. The legs are then bolted to the skid (at this point, picture the legs attached to the cabin but floating within the pre-dug holes). Then we simply pour concrete into the holes, allow it to cure, remove the draw-bar and wheel set and voila! Your cabin is in position, on its 6 legs and ready for guests! If you ever want to move the cabin, simply re-attach the draw-bar and wheel set, unbolt the legs and tow to another location.
DRAFTJS_BLOCK_KEY:10pijFor installation, simply pre-dig 6 holes roughly in line with where the footings will be attached to the cabin. The cabin is then towed into position and manoeuvred to hover above the holes. The legs are then fitted to the skid (at this point, picture the legs attached to the cabin but hovering inside the pre-dug holes). Then we simply pour concrete into the holes, remove the draw-bar and wheel set and
(Pictured: Installed steel skid with leg set in concrete)
Up Next - Part 2: Framing
Stay tuned for the next instalment of the Zinc Studio Build series where we will dive into the framing of the cabin and see it really come to life!
Are you interested in getting your own Zinc Cabin?
If you haven't already, check out the Zinc Studio cabin design here.
If you'd like to know more information, send us an email at contact@zincstudio.com.au or hit the button below!
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