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Perm Shack Floors


DuckBlind

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There are some great posts on here about building a perm shack. I am starting my own house right now, it will be a project that spans out for some time but first thing is first and that is the floor.

I was wondering if we could get some ideas on here as to what works and what doesn't. This would be for a shack on skids, not on a frame. There is so much into the floor that I was hoping to get some pictures on here from some of you. It seems like when you look online someone always wants you to pay them to see their plans.

I am interested in learning more about what to use for skids, support for the flooring, where to put the holes, etc.

Treated? Not treated?

Also is it a good idea to insulate the floor or is this not needed...I will be putting carpet in the house. Weight is a big concern for me too.

So if you have any ideas for the floor or pictures please reply.

Thanks much.

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Well you've probably seen all my posts then but here is my quick list what worked for me. I'm sure you will see many opinions, all have good points usually. Weight was issue for me, from everyone who has helped move it say it's the lightest one they've seen.

The floor grid was 1x6 treated wood, about 3/4 weight of using 2x4's.

Then covered with 1/2" exterior glued plywood, screwed down, not nailed. If I had to start on my again from the beginning I would have used thinner plywood and sandwiched 1" pink foam between 2 sheets.

I made the corner holes 18" x 18" for auger clearance and 16" x 16" on other holes along the wall. My eskimo auger fits great and so did my friends jiffy.

Going up from there I did 2x2 wall studs on 16" centers just like a house. And 2x2's across the top, side to side. The roof was covered in galanized flashing tin. Way stonger than it sounds. When the top was screwed down I'm sure I could have safetly walked on the roof, but I didn't try.

I used old aluminum siding which really helped on the weight. Insulated it with 1" precut styrofoam from menards that fit right inbetween the 16" centers, both sides and top. I did not finish the interior, just left the white styrofoam showing.

Hope this helps a little, I'm sure you will see many responses. But mine is very light for it's 6x10 size.

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do not build your floor into your skids.make sure you can remove the skids with out tearing into the house work.as for the floor i wouls use treated ply wood.do not put carpet or paint the floor.if you paint the floor it will get slippery.if you put carpet over time it will stink and rot the floor from water.we have treated ply wood on our house and it works great and drys very fast.

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When you say do not build the floor into the skids...? How would you go about doing that? And for what reason...just in case it freezes in to the ice on the lake? Is that what most people do? If so, does anybody have any pictures or ideas on how to do this?

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Without mnhunter to answer yet.... I have seen 2x8's that were bolted to the sides, the bottom of the 2x8 is lower down than the floor. As far as the skids freezing down, as long as you block up the corners with pieces of 2x4 or 4x4 it should never freeze down.

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Houses freezing into the ice has been a long time battle. Guys that don't make it out to the shack for a week or 2 because of snow deeps. Water coming up into houses and frezzing. Years back guys would use 30-06 to shoot holes in the ice to break the house free.

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I used 2X8's for the skids and 2x4's for the floor joists. This makes the bottom of the joists sit 4 inches off the ice. I used green treat for the joists and white wood for the joists. The whitewood will last quite a while if they are not directly in contact with the ground when being stored. Green treat is better but I was using what I had around the garage and was trying to build on a budge.

I put a chunk of 2x4 under each corner of the skids when on the ice so it doesn't freeze down. The only issue with getting froze down is when the snow used for banking melts and freezes on the sides of the skis. A few chops with the chisel and its loose.

Like Ron said, be sure your holes are large enough that you have enough clearance to get your auger in the holes, especially the corner ones. If your not going to be sleeping in the house I wouldn't bother with insulating the floor. Definately screw the flooring down rather than using nails.

Just a tip, if you are builing this in a garage be sure it's going to fit out under the door when you are done! Mine was VERY close.

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I saw a bunch froze in about 3 weeks ago. The ice was up about 2 inchs on the walls. Looked pretty nasty to have to get out.

The only time it happened to one of mine was around 1997 when 20 some inches of snow fell over 2 days. I could not get out there until after. Solid ice totally across the floor about 4 inches deep, not fun.

This year I'm up on 3 2x4's on the corners. The first 2 are now frozen in. If the ice/water gets any higher I will move up another block higher.

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With the 2x4's running across the bottom for support do most guys just screw them into the 2x8's or would it be better to use some sort of brace like you would see holding up a deck?

The holes are another problem to solve. The house will be 10x7 (inside) and I fish A LOT with 3 other guys. That seems just fine to me for size for 4 guys but we all like to fish out of 2 holes. A lot of houses I see this size only have 4 or 6 holes...would 8 holes make for any problems? Also instead of having the holes in the corners and along the walls we were thinking about setting it up so if 4 guys are in it we all sit in the corner facing the center of the house with 2 holes right in front of all of us...(hope that makes sense).

Has anybody set the holes up like that in their fish house?

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You are asking for a lot of line tangling by doing it that way. By putting the holes in the center, and not on the sides, you tightened up the area you can fish from. I would leave them along the outside of the house. Just put two holes closer together for each angler, and spread each set of two away from another pair.

For the floor, I would definitely use the decking braces. It will make for a better floor, and last longer.

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the reason for not building the skids into the house is you might have to replace the skids sometime down the line.if you built them into the house it will be a pain to replace those skids.as for freezing i have had my house feeze once and i will not let it happen again.i block it up.liek now there is lots of flooding going on.so i check my house when im up there 3 times a day to see how far the water is rising.if its to mch then i will jack it up and put more blocks or just move the house.

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I was thinking tangling might become a problem, would 8 holes be a good idea for a house this size or would 6 be better? It is hard for me to know what is too much because the perm shacks I have fished out of were HUGE 8x20 houses on Mille Lacs or Red so I don't know what is too much for a house that is 10x7.

Also, I see a lot of those circle plastic hole covers. I am thinking about putting carpet in my house and it looks like they help keep the carpet secure. Plus they look pretty sweet...but again this is ice fishing so that doesn't matter so I am just wondering if they are worth the money.

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If you choose to go with carpet, get the thin indoor/outdoor kind. We had it in our last house, and it held up well. It also dried out faster than any other kind. A forced air furnace helps in the drying time because you can direct the air flow to the floor. For the problem with the amount of holes you want, I would wait until you figure out all the equipment that will be in the house to stay, and plan the hole location from there. The holes is the last thing that we did when we built out house.

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Thanks...

This is going to be bare bones, no boxes, tables, bunks, etc. Some shelves but they will be head high and out of the way. I want as much room as possible in there for up to four guys.

Going back to the skids...does anybody have any pictures of their floor being put together? It would help to see how things are planned out. A picture of the skids that come off would be helpful, not sure if that is what I am going to do but I am guessing they will take a lot of abuse so they it would be nice to replace them over time.

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  Big Buck Buster said:
The holes is the last thing that we did when we built out house.

We cut out our holes at the very end too. Everything else was done prior to cutting out holes.

Also, we notched out our skis at all the floor grid crossing points. So we built our skis into the floor. Again, don't have any pics during the building process, sorry.

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  RonWBasser said:
BassMan25 , Did you try your heater out yet?

Yes I did!! Got my house out for the first time tonight. Heater worked well, except that it shut itself off a couple times. Brand new propane tank, so I'm not sure if there were air gaps or what the deal was. Had to restart it a couple times after it quit but it ran fine after that. You had any problems like that with your heater?

My friend caught a 23" walleye tonight and we also picked up two rock bass, which I hate, but it was SOME action nontheless. We were out for about 3 hours. Pretty slow, but like I said it was the first night on the first spot.

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  mnhunter 3815 said:
do not build your floor into your skids.make sure you can remove the skids with out tearing into the house work.as for the floor i wouls use treated ply wood.do not put carpet or paint the floor.if you paint the floor it will get slippery.if you put carpet over time it will stink and rot the floor from water.we have treated ply wood on our house and it works great and drys very fast.

mnhunter,

I am curious as to what you mean by not building your floor into the skids. I have thought about it and cannot picture what you are saying. If you use treated lumber for the skids they should last longer than the rest of the shack does.

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Quote:
Heater worked well, except that it shut itself off a couple times. Brand new propane tank, so I'm not sure if there were air gaps or what the deal was. Had to restart it a couple times after it quit but it ran fine after that. You had any problems like that with your heater?

I would say air but once it has run a little it should stay on.

My regulator froze on me once this winter though. I was having trouble right out of the blue with it staying on, then when it did I had a weak flame also I could smell the gas by the regulator coming from the little hole they have in them. Somebody told me to bring it home and let it thaw out and dry out, it worked good again after that.

23" is a nice fish!

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yes! i like my c.atch c.overs, im going to buy the sleeves they make next.

it gives a nice clean appearance, and are easily covered when you want to transport your house, keeping the road grime one the outside, instead of on the floor inside, but in your case with the house being on skids it would keep the snow out when dragging across the lake.

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  Bergmanus said:
I am thinking about using those Round Fish Hole Covers instead of just cutting a hole in the floor. Are these worth the extra money?

They are worth the money, but watch what one you purchase. I have the Catch Cover brand with the handle in the center. A friend of mine got the cheaper ones that ice castle sells, and had the handle break off of them already. He was not happy, and purchased the same as I have, and has been happy ever since. It is still personal preference.

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  Caleb S said:
Originally Posted By: mnhunter 3815
do not build your floor into your skids.make sure you can remove the skids with out tearing into the house work.as for the floor i wouls use treated ply wood.do not put carpet or paint the floor.if you paint the floor it will get slippery.if you put carpet over time it will stink and rot the floor from water.we have treated ply wood on our house and it works great and drys very fast.

mnhunter,

I am curious as to what you mean by not building your floor into the skids. I have thought about it and cannot picture what you are saying. If you use treated lumber for the skids they should last longer than the rest of the shack does.

you do not want to use treated lumber for skids.treated wood is soft and it will wear or tear faster.i would use solid oak skids.oak skids should last about 8 yrs depending on how much you move it.as for the floor being built into the skid.i have seen ppl cut notches in there floor joices and lay there joices and screw them down on the skid.you do not want to do that cause if you need to replace the skids you could have a big problem.as for the heater going out you have air in the line.mine did that every time i changed the tank but i also have propane lights and i turn on the farthest light and bleed the line till the light lights up.then i know the heater will stay on.

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