Questions on Log home Construction

[hbeane]

Hello all I have some questions about the construction of a log home.  I just recently bought A woodmizer LT15 and I have been cutting some framing lumber for a building I am getting ready to build and siding with Batton Board.  However the next project once I get a building thrown together for tools and stuff like that I am going to be starting a log home. I have lots of experience with standard stick frame construction but as new as can be on log construction.  Honestly I am as new to milling as well. What I want to do is build with 8"x10" cants.  I like the dovetail notch for the corners. But I have so many questions that I wont ask all in this post. First is 8"x10" cants thick enough? Also I would like to build while the lumber is still green and after dry chink the home. But if building green is a bad idea I wanna know. I have alot of what I think is Pitch Pine and I am not sure if that would be ok to use.  I have Poplar as well but alot of these Pine Trees to clear for my home.  I will post a picture of the tree at the end of my post.  and I assume I dont want to lay one cant right ontop of the next and so on. should there be some gap or air clearance beetween my logs? Seems to me like I should. Another question I have is splicing a log in the middle of a wall.  If this needs to be done is it ok to just butt one into the other or is there a better method? Also concerned  if this would look ok? Butting logs together in the middle of a wall.  I want my foundation to consist of 6x6 treated post every 5' or so.  Recomendations??  I plan to have the house about 2' off the ground. Maybe I need more?? I know I am bouncing all over the place but I have so many questions and looking for any help I can find. Thanks in advance for any help or advice you can give.


Not Sure if it would be ok to build using these trees.  Is this Pitch Pine??  Thanks again.

[jander3]

Sounds like 1/2 Dovetail construction might work.  You can butt splice with this method.  You add some shims at the butt joint.  Then chink over it.  1/2 Dovetail joints require a handsaw, a slick, and a small chainsaw or axe.  Layout is done with a simple template.  Takes a day of practice and you will be set to go.




  

 

[hbeane]

Sounds like 1/2 Dovetail construction might work.  You can butt splice with this method.  You add some shims at the butt joint.  Then chink over it.  1/2 Dovetail joints require a handsaw, a slick, and a small chainsaw or axe.  Layout is done with a simple template.  Takes a day of practice and you will be set to go.




  

 

Thanks for the advice.  Did you mean shim the ends I butt together so they are at the same level and leave shims and chink over top of them? Do I just Leave the butted up seem as it is or should it be caulked with something? Liquid nail or something like that.  The pictures you posted is exactly what I am wanting to do. I hope the pine I posted will be ok to use.  This will be my home and I don't want to regret it years down the road.  Thanks again appreciate the help

[ppine]

I used to work for a company that built round log homes in Colorado but mostly ran the logging operation. Most experienced log home builders would highly recommend seasoning your logs for a year before construction.  Settling is a major problem even with seasoned logs.  Cants are one way to go, but I prefer peeled round logs.  The size is fine.  I think you can get your joints tighter than the ones shown in the photo above.  Most people would call the dovetails Scandinavian or Swedish joints.  Good luck.

[Czech_Made]

This is the traditional mountain log home from my old country, they sell them as a kit nowadays.

[jander3]

A couple more ideas.  Log foundation and hand-scribbled construction....

  



 

Building green works fine.  Hand-scribbled, dovetail, or timber frame.  I've put logs on a building a day after we cut down the tree. With log building you have to account for settling.  You add key ways to doors and windows and install screw jacks under columns.  Hand scribed buildings settle abou 3/4 inch per foot of wall height.

[hbeane]

I used to work for a company that built round log homes in Colorado but mostly ran the logging operation. Most experienced log home builders would highly recommend seasoning your logs for a year before construction.  Settling is a major problem even with seasoned logs.  Cants are one way to go, but I prefer peeled round logs.  The size is fine.  I think you can your joints tighter than the ones shown in the photo above.  Most people would call the dovetails Scandinavian or Swedish joints.  Good luck.

Thanks for the help.  I do also like the round log look but I also like the look of the cants with chinking..also saves me a lot of peeling logs.  Thanks for the info on the dovetails. I googled Swedish joints and got a lot more information.  I saw a post once or something on the net somewhere that a guy made a jig out of plywood to cut his notches but I can't find that now. Also I would love for someone to let me know if the pitch pine s ok to use. And if the photo attached above is indeed pitch pine. I hate to get me a pile of cants cut then find out I should have used something different. I have a lot f theses trees on my property and I want to thin them out..thanks everyone for the help..

[hbeane]

This is the traditional mountain log home from my old country, they sell them as a kit nowadays.

You found my house! In my mind these pictures are what I See when I am finished. Not building big either. 28' X 32' I think. Also want a loft inside. Did these have lofts or full upstairs. Thanks for the photos. They inspired me and really jump started the lady of the house she loved it. Hope to have ground finished clearing in the next month. Gonna saw out quite a few cants and hope to have foundation complete by winter, and start building over winter if I can, and hit the ground running full bore in spring. Hope so anyways. It's a lot when u are doing it all ALONE. Well I get help from my better half but other than that it's just us

[hbeane]

I know I said 8 x 10 cants but I wonder if 6 x 8 would be ok?  Remember this is my home and I want it to be warm enough.  Live in West Virgnia so it can get cold and I am concerned about 8" thick being enough..

[Czech_Made]

Glad i could help

Here are more pictures of the same, never mind the language  ;D

http://www.srub.cz/roubene-stavby/vyroba-roubenky/

[ChrisGermany]

Where you are, 2 feet above the ground is fine. With good eaves and a gutter, splashback from the rain shouldn't rot your sills. Any kind of log is good for building with, as long as you keep it dry and make the joints snug. I've seen old barns and houses with hickory, oak, pine (every kind), poplar, whatever was on the place when the building was raised.

Some woods are better, obviously, but almost anything will work. If you chink and daub the gaps well, 6x8's are fine. I see a lot of houses with 7 inch thick walls. 8 is fine, too.

I'd use a half dovetail on the ends, like some other folks have said. It's a good notch.

[starmac]

Here in the interior of Alaska we have some severe cold weather some years that last a while.  I would say most cabins are built of 6 in 3 sided logs, most houses are 8 inches. Most natural houses are at least 12 in or more, which is mostly for looks, because the * in ones are easily heated, even down to 60 below and worse.

I will say I don't know of any built like those pictured above, most the logs or cants are stacked directly on top of each other with insulation between them, that you can't see. The chinking used up is mostly for looks, some chink them, some don't.

[hbeane]

Here in the interior of Alaska we have some severe cold weather some years that last a while.  I would say most cabins are built of 6 in 3 sided logs, most houses are 8 inches. Most natural houses are at least 12 in or more, which is mostly for looks, because the * in ones are easily heated, even down to 60 below and worse.

I will say I don't know of any built like those pictured above, most the logs or cants are stacked directly on top of each other with insulation between them, that you can't see. The chinking used up is mostly for looks, some chink them, some don't.

Thanks for the help.  To understand you would not have any gap between logs except for the insulation?  Would I be able to do this with green logs or would they need to be seasoned? I had been told to leave gaps to allow it to dry, however I like the idea alot more of stacking cants directly ontop of the next. Would you suggest just using the Butt and Pass method or still use dovetail notch 

Also I am still looking for advice on butting cants into the next if my cant is not long enough?  I was told earlier in the post just to butt them up and block them up.  Sounds like good advice to me but any thoughts?

[hbeane]

Where you are, 2 feet above the ground is fine. With good eaves and a gutter, splashback from the rain shouldn't rot your sills. Any kind of log is good for building with, as long as you keep it dry and make the joints snug. I've seen old barns and houses with hickory, oak, pine (every kind), poplar, whatever was on the place when the building was raised.

Some woods are better, obviously, but almost anything will work. If you chink and daub the gaps well, 6x8's are fine. I see a lot of houses with 7 inch thick walls. 8 is fine, too.

I'd use a half dovetail on the ends, like some other folks have said. It's a good notch.

I have alot of Pine where I am building so pine it is gonna be.  Getting close to starting. Thanks for all the help I get here.

[ppine]

Logs have much better insulation properties than most people think. The larger heavier houses built with say an 8-10 inch top, have a heat pulse that takes all day to get through a properly built wall. That means that the heat from the day is released into the house at night.