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Looking for ideas on log home construction

Started by customcutter01, November 28, 2017, 10:09:26 AM

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customcutter01

Thanks for the replies again,

I've had more time to think about things.  If I do an elevated design, I can run the electrical, plumbing, etc. under the floor.  It'll be a lot easier to drill through 3-4 logs for electrical outlets for the walls, than 6-7 from the ceiling.  I don't know how most people run electrical wall outlets in a log cabin, just what I'm thinking.

I'm also thinking of dropping down to 8-10" height on each log and 8-10" thickness, still milled on 3 sides.  My reasoning is that if I have a 24" tree I can cut 2 cants from the bottom 21' section (4 from a 30" tree), 2 more cants from the next 21' section, and possibly 1 more cant from the top section of the tree.  is this a reasonable assumption?  Or am I expecting too much from trees?  Will cutting from the sides of the heart wood cause more twisting?

thanks,
Ken
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MbfVA

 On the subject of overhangs, Ian from New Zealand, one of the administrators on this list, could probably contribute some ideas on that. I'm thinking that 3 foot overhangs are commonly used there,  probably having something to do with the amount of rain they have.

5-7 ft will definitely give you the dark house blues.   Besides using skylights where possible, although I don't like the energy aspect of them, you could make the porches a very light color, giving you some reflectivity (while avoiding a clash with the rest of the house color, oops).  We covered the deck in back of our house with light grey trex like stuff, and found it was like turning on the flood lights for the previously darker room next to it, and in fact even helped about 15 feet in, the living room.  I might add that living rm remains something of a cave because of bad design-- I think the Annapolis grad & 28 yr vet forgot that he wasn't designing a ship (genesis came from a magazine plan book then builder modified, don't get me started...).

You are best advised to think about light now, because it's mighty hard to correct for later.  It's going to hurt us when we go to sell this otherwise extremely well located and well constructed house (nice lake in front, solid wood doors, mud tile bath, etc.) and move to our farm.  We added 9 skylights (brrrr under them), but the roof line doesn't permit that in the living room.
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customcutter01

Thanks for all the concern about my over hangs.  However, they are not over hangs.  They are porches, that my wife has said that she has wanted on the house for the  last 20 years.  She has said she wanted porches all the way around the house, so I see it as a 2 birds with one stone.  She gets her porches, I don't have to worry about rotten logs at the base of my log home. 8)  I'm sorry, but adding a few extra lights inside of a house is a whole lot easier than trying to replace a rotten log at the base of your house.  Personally I prefer a dark house, bright sunlight has triggered many of my migraines, which I have been known to have 4-5 days a week for years on end.

Again thanks for all of the concern, but it is not an issue.
Husqvarna 350 decked,ported,pop-up piston by me
Husqvarna 450
Husqvarna 570 rebuilding now
Husqvarna 262XP
Stihl 210
Cooks AC-36 Hyd Bandsaw Mill
New Holland TN65D

Ianab

If you are worried about the shade from a large overhang, replace some of the roofing on the porch with clear or translucent polycarbonate. Because it's only over the porch, you don't need that insulated, and you can just have exposed rafters under the sheeting.

In NZ we can also get away with a much lower roof pitch (no snow load to worry about). A large overhang on a steeper pitch roof will cut out more light than a shallow pitch.

But if you have to support / shed a serious snow load then things will be different.
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customcutter01

I am not worried about supporting a snow load, it might snow once or twice in 10 years in this location.   Probably less as it is only 30 miles from the Fl line in Alabama .  I plan on the edge of the porch's being at least 8-9' off the ground.  There will be plenty of natural light.

This thread is done.  I will ask more specific questions in other threads.

Husqvarna 350 decked,ported,pop-up piston by me
Husqvarna 450
Husqvarna 570 rebuilding now
Husqvarna 262XP
Stihl 210
Cooks AC-36 Hyd Bandsaw Mill
New Holland TN65D

bugpeople

Saturday, I got the tractor stuck in the mud up to its belly in mud. Then I got the wife's landcruiser also stuck in the mud. Had to have the neighbor bring over his front-end loader to pull them both out.

I was trying to move my ridge pole onto some supports so I could peel it. I believe it is a sweet gum, but it could be a black gum. It measures 60' long, and is at least 30" diameter at the butt and probably about 16" at the tip. My calculations indicate it weighs upwards of 8500 lbs.

When installed on my cabin, it will be 30' in the air, providing 9' of overhang on the front of the house (south facing, and prevailing wind and rain come from this direction), and 7' of overhang on the back of the house.

We also pinned a log the same day I got stuck: mud bogging while lifting a log . For anyone interested, the log got stuck between two overdangles, and I needed my wife's Landcruiser to pull it away from the house so I could continue lifting it. I ended up using a prusik knot to hold the load at the pulley, then moved up closer to the house and out of the mud, retied the rope, and lifted it from that point. We estimate that we need 9 more logs to get to the final wall height of 20' (two stories). This is a typical day lifting logs. :)

After that, it will be Ridge Pole support logs, the Ridge pole, and then I'll be cutting rafters.  The rafters should be the exciting part where I'll be using my sawmill and 30' track to make 4"x12"x26' rafters.

bushhog920

In case you didn't already know there are 2 pioneer villages and museum just north of Troy on 231 they have several log homes there that would be good to look at for ideas.

mike_belben

My mother moved from northeast to that same area.  She was disappointed to find out that the huge tax savings were negated by the much higher insurance premiums of being in a storm lane.  
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