Cabin Building

[Jwade]

In just a few short years I will be building a cabin and I need all the addvice I can get , so if you know how to build 1 please share your ideas with me.

Thanks,

J.Wade

[Thatch]

Bit wide open there J. Care to let us know where your building? How big you want to go? What you want in the finished structure? How you'll be using it? And what natural resouces you might be able to tap in it's construction....


J

[Mawna]

hummm, will it be log or timber? We spent years researching log. Had our hearts and minds pretty well made up. But the more we studied we did not like all the maintenance it would take on the up keep of log. The chinking has and restaining has to be redone every so often. And the maintenance of just keeping the logs pest free really frightened us.

So we have chosen to go timber. Our timber is all locally cut and rough sawn at the local sawmills. That has saved us TONS in lumber cost alone. But we are spending several years building, so we actually have the time it takes to completely dry all the lumber, before used in the building process.

And many of you will think this absolutely crazy BUT you would not believe the fantastic timbers and galvantized tin roofing, we got from this. Here in Arkansas TYSON is a BIG Deal. This is the state of their head-quarters. We found out a perfectly great chicken house was wanted to be removed by TYSON. We went and torn the entire thing down for them and was given all the timbers and such. We build the entire first floor from these timbers and guess who has free roofing??? Now we will simply go back and spray the Cerama-Tech product I mentioned to you all on another post, over the tin and we will have a beautiful insulated roof. WITH NO COST BUT OUR LABOR. Can't tell I'm proud of that HUH???

Good Luck and Hope you get a Ton of Ideas!!!
mawna

[cookiecache]

For log building, it would be hard to beat the information in Tom Walkers book, "Building The Alaska Log Home".

[Thumper/inOkla.]

We have a small wood frame cabin (16x16x16) that I designed to be a shed in OKC and be dismantled into large sections (8x8) then rebolted together on our land.
{The 2nd story was stored in sections our garage in OKC}

It is quick, rather cheap, housing until we are ready to build the big underground house we want.

We have added a 12x16 green house to the south side, a battery room (4x8) to the east side and a walk in pantry (4x12) to the west side, on the north side is a 8x16 stckade fenced mini-yard with a wood fired hot tub.

[Jolly]

Everybody's different, but 'twere me....

Something about 30x20, with standard framing...board&batten on the outside, or maybe the T111-looking Hardiboard (50 year warranty). Roof pitch would depend upon location. There were some plans kicking around here a few days ago that would have worked well.

I'd certainly build it with the idea of a possible addition in the future...of course, if the durn thing was 3000 square feet, I'd probably plan for an addition in the future...

[Wildcrofthollow]

DW and I are building a cabin the old fashioned way, axes, broadaxes, the whole bit. Yes, we use a chainsaw as well, but mostly just for taking the trees down and bucking them to length.

We are using only materials that are already on the property, trees, cob for chinking etc. But I am going to spring for a nice metal roof.

The learning curve for building a cabin is pretty steep. I already had a lot of experience with and axe, but I can tell you that I have a lot more now and am in for much, much more than that.

For me, the whole process is nothing but big fun. But it is an awful lot of very hard work. We do not have tractor or horses and moving those BIG logs by hand is very difficult.

We are hewing the wall logs on 2 sides. This is necessary here because I am using tulip poplar for the logs. The sapwood will rot away too easily, so you need to hew the sides or they will rot anyway.
It takes me about an hour to square up one side of the log and another hour to use the broadaxe on it. Then 3 hours to rest up to do it again.

So for each log that I do, I have to cut down the tree (usually get two 21'6" logs and one 17'6" log out of a tree), take the bark off, measure and mark and hew 2 sides, then use the broadaxe to make it all pretty. It takes all of a day and usually more because I am not man enough to do it all at once. And I still have not notched or put it on the cabin!

We have really just started this process, we have cut 6 of the trees, squared up two of the logs and one of the sills is complete (red oak, hewn 3 sides). It takes a long time to get your infrastructure ready. You need timber cart, peaveys, cant hooks, broadaxe, polled axe, saws. The axes need to be SHARP not just with a file, with a stone, so sharp you can shave with them. If it is not that sharp YOU can use it, but don't hand it to me.... a dull axe is like an unloaded gun... not worth anything to anybody. This will become apparent to you if you spend all day swinging one.

If this sounds like what you are after pm me and we will chat more about it. But I'm still learning too, so don't expect me to have all the answers, I spend a lot of my time sitting on a log wondering how I'm gonna manage the next stage.

David

[Jwade]

Well I would like to build 2 rooms down stairs,kitchen -kiving room,don't know about a bathroom yet and i would like 2 bed rooms up stairs about 10 or 12 feet wide and 20 feet long.

J.Wade

[Firetrail]

Hello...

Several years ago I took an extensive on site Log Home Building course offered by: "Skip Ellsworth". He is a Master Log Home builder of North America.
Do a google search on Skip Ellsworth, and browse around his web site. There is a lot of information there about how to do it yourself, what mistakes to avoid etc.
I believe he still offers his course also.

You wont want to ignore this site......check it out before you begin, and the BEST of luck and perserverance to you.

Firetrail.

[Alex]

Here is a post of mine from June 9 2005, you should really check the archives, i.e., do a search for your topic first IMHO:

Here's some of mine, from another post:

We cut our own 12 to 24" diameter logs, skided them back, fitted them, and rolled them up inclilned planes, NO CRANE. Slow and safe as can be is how you roll them up. In no time at all you have a log cabin.


Four Year Old Gretchen At Tripod in this old re-touched photo, Used Tripod and Come-Along to Lift First Few Logs Onto Rocks or Foundation


Two Logs Up Me With Cant Hook, Notch, and Poles. I Tied a One-Inch Rope Around the Log On the Ground, Fixed It to The Cabin, And Pulled From The Other Side, Each of Fifty Logs Rolled Right Up


Six Logs UP, Me With Cant Hook



Our Log Cabin Today, with Porches Front And Back, Raililngs at Back Are From Cut Logs From Top Deck French Door, Big Posts At Front Deck are From Cut Out Large South Window

Good Luck, Go For It, No Worries

So what now, how long will this go on for?

It was and is fun building and living in our log cabin -- it amazes us that we did this, wow.

Alex