{"id":1165,"date":"2022-08-06T11:19:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T11:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catmantravels.com\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2024-07-09T00:21:10","modified_gmt":"2024-07-09T00:21:10","slug":"how-to-diy-build-a-suspension-bridge-for-cheap-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catmantravels.com\/index.php\/2022\/08\/06\/how-to-diy-build-a-suspension-bridge-for-cheap-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW TO DIY BUILD A SUSPENSION BRIDGE FOR CHEAP (PART 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As mentioned in the previous homestead blog, the reason we were able to purchase our land so cheaply was that access to the majority of the land was cut off by a river. How did I plan on getting across this river? My plan was to build a bridge, of course. I watched about five videos on YouTube of people who built their own bridges; it seemed easy enough…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Choose your fighter… errr, I mean the type of bridge you want.
<\/strong>Upon researching the various options (watching YouTube videos), I settled on a suspension bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main reasons why I chose to build a suspension bridge were:
A) Suspension bridges look pretty friggin’ cool.
B) Suspension bridges seemed like the only type of bridge I could build with my bare hands without using heavy machinery.
C) The narrowest part of the river I could find required a bridge that would span 75 feet.
D) They’re fun to walk across (most important reason).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Spend hours drawing and perfecting your design.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Done.
<\/strong>
Step 3: Purchase the required materials<\/strong>

A) Rigging hardware from e-rigging.com (this isn’t everything but it’s most of the important parts, some I ordered from amazon\/ebay if they were cheaper)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

B) 4 of these bad boys to use as main supports (I purchased mine from my favorite store in the world: Tractor Supply Co.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

C) Way too many Quikrete cement<\/a> bags and a bunch of 2×6 wood <\/a>from Home Depot (you’ll have to calculate for your own bridge width and length)
In my case, I needed cement to fill a 10″ wide hole that I dug about 6-8ft deep for the posts and the anchors. You can use this handy dandy calculator for all your cylindrical filling needs: https:\/\/www.omnicalculator.com\/construction\/concrete-cylinder<\/a> — I also purchased an auger on ebay<\/a> because I didn’t want to spend 20,000hrs digging a bunch of holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Here are some pics of us collecting materials to build the bridge exactly like the same way I would in the game Valheim, and yes our cat Coco played a crucial part in helping build the bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve since lost all my receipts – but I want to say the total cost of all the required materials came to under $2000, with the most expensive part being all the required 2×6 wood to use as the stepping platforms. Still much cheaper than paying someone $20,000 to build one for you, however.

Step 4: Start Buildin’ <\/strong>

Since this post is getting a little long, I will continue the process in the next blog.
I would like to however give credit to the many videos I watched on Youtube that helped me with the process below:

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5Z2YzfkHFeE
<\/a>https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6AHMgD5Maws<\/a>
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AqtngcFdRFM<\/a>
https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rYOC_3H27Yg
<\/a>
See you in the next one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As mentioned in the previous homestead blog, the reason we were able to purchase our land so cheaply was that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homestead"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t