Pole Shelter Building for Owner-Builders

By Dave Brock
Published on March 1, 1984
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Ready for use, several freshly cut and skinned pine poles wait to be hauled away.  
Ready for use, several freshly cut and skinned pine poles wait to be hauled away.  
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Young campers and their instructor work at putting together an A-frame.
Young campers and their instructor work at putting together an A-frame.
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A Forester butts its top-cat and ridgepole against a handy tree.
A Forester butts its top-cat and ridgepole against a handy tree.
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A completed A-frame awaits its new occupants. Here the tarp walls have been stretched inside the supporting posts.
A completed A-frame awaits its new occupants. Here the tarp walls have been stretched inside the supporting posts.
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A sturdy and rather elegant Hogan sports rope-tied fencing and a wooden ramp up to its raised platform floor.
A sturdy and rather elegant Hogan sports rope-tied fencing and a wooden ramp up to its raised platform floor.
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A modified Baker-style shelter makes a good pine pole toolshed (note the gravel floor, which provides drainage and keeps the area tidy).
A modified Baker-style shelter makes a good pine pole toolshed (note the gravel floor, which provides drainage and keeps the area tidy).
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Fig. 1, the Forester, and Fig. 2, the A-frame.
Fig. 1, the Forester, and Fig. 2, the A-frame.
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Fig. 5, the Hogan.
Fig. 5, the Hogan.
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Fig. 3, the Adirondack.
Fig. 3, the Adirondack.
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Fig. 4, the Baker.
Fig. 4, the Baker.

No doubt about it, prospective homesteaders have a passel of problems to overcome! After all, most would-be back-to-the-landers begin without any land to go back to, and must start out by finding a suitable plot to purchase. Then, unless the property includes usable buildings, the next step is to construct a house. Between the acquisition of land and the building of a home may lie years in which money, materials and skills are patiently accumulated, while the owner-builders struggle to work and pay rent in some other location.

But if you have access to a good woodlot (with luck, your own) and if you’re willing to tackle a little hard work and to rough it for a while, it’s possible to link up with “the good life.” Pole shelter building offers inexpensive, yet attractive, temporary lodging until you can afford to build a permanent home. Furthermore, you can do so with a few hand or power tools (you’ll need wood chisels, an ax, a good bow saw, hand drill, draw blade, ruler, and posthole digger to get under ways some very basic building skills (such as measuring, sawing, notching logs, drilling and nailing), and a friend or two to help lift poles into place, attach siding, and so forth.

Time-Tested Shelters 

Now I’m not saying that constructing such shelters is exactly easy, but I do know it can be done–because I’ve been building them for two years, with children for my work crew. As an outdoor instructor for a year-round camping program, I teach youngsters many aspects of wilderness living, including how to design and build their own shelters. In order for each camper to have an opportunity to put up at least one such structure during his or her camp stay, we intentionally design our shelters to last only three to five years. However, in the past fifteen years our school has found that these so-called temporary structures hold up pretty darned well, under conditions ranging from Florida hurricanes to heavy Vermont snows!

Pole Shelter Building Designs 

At camp, we utilize the basic designs listed below, each of which presents a different challenge to the student builder.

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