THE GOAL: Construct a modern, efficient cabin/home on my family's old lake property

This is "The Lake." As a kid there were various places my dad or brothers or sister or me could have gone...The Lake was one of them...

"Where's dad ? He went to The Lake."

Located in Pike County Indiana, just outside of the town of Winslow, it was just about an hour and a half drive from our house in Newburgh. It played to host to countless weekends with my father, numerous camping and survival trips for Boy Scout Troop 305 and a few fun weekends with the other owners involved in originally creating The Lake.

The Lake was built on land that had been stripped mined for coal in the 50s or 60s. My father originally purchased the property and built the lake via the 'Little Lake Corporation' with four partners---the Shultze's, Kiley's, the John's and a family I can't remember. Over the years various partners dropped out. Mr John's had a heart attack while traveling and died---with the Kiely's buying his shares. The Schultze house burned down and their lot was left vacant. The family I can't remember sold their lot and house, however a few years later the new owner fell asleep smoking one night and burned the house down while he was inside. Their lot and the Schultze lot have since been purchased by two brothers whom I do not know. So as of late there are now three shareholders in the Little Lake Corporation, the Estep's, the Kiley's and the unknown brothers.

"The Shed"

In the beginning our property had one VERY rudimentary cabin. Basically a shed that was 8 feet wide and 18 feet long. It had a kitchen area one one bed. I guess in a way it was a 'tiny cabin' before tiny cabins became all the rage. However, my father had much grander plans for The Lake and sometime in the mid to late 70s began to construct a full house on the property. Located much closer to the actual lake then the 'shed,' the new house began with a cement foundation and cinder block walls. Using the help of my brothers and myself over various weekends, the new house took shape. The last completed step was putting down the subfloor for the second story atop first story concrete foundation. This made an excellent space to camp on during summer weekends when it was warm enough to sleep outside---it was elevated off the ground with wide open skies above for star gazing. Sadly, shortly after the subfloor was complete all construction stopped. I can't remember if it was my parent's divorce or maybe some health issues that caused construction to stall, but basically all worked stopped and the long downward slide into disrepair began. We still would spend a day at the cabin now and then, but we would never spend nights there again. And we would rarely---if ever---continue work on the place. It's sad to think that all of the concrete I mixed, and all of the blocks and my brothers set basically ended up abandoned.

The Foundation

All of the wood subfloor has long since rotted away, however the foundation is still in good shape. Some large trees have fallen and compromised a couple of the block walls but the damage can easily be fixed. My initial plan is to repair the block walls, re-lay the subfloor atop the concrete first story, and then construct my design on top. The size of the foundation is much larger than my floorplan, however, the extra space can be used as a wraparound deck. My only concern is how to cover it...

The red indicates the old driveway