Log Cabin? Anyone Ever Build One?

[xRUSTYx]

For the last year, I've been looking for that perfect piece of land. Mostly woods, with perhaps a bit of pasture to put a nice Log Cabin.

The Cabin would be used as a hunting/camping retreat. Taking the family and the kiddo's to a couple times a month through the summer, and used likely exclusively for hunting come fall/winter. It would also make a nice BoL should the time ever come.

Been researching it a bit .... From what I have researched so far, *kit* homes aren't the way to go. I want something at about 800 sq ft or so ... Electric will be run to the property along with a well dug for a shower/toilet.

Figured I'd ask and see if anyone here has ever built one themselves or had someone build one for them

Watching this video has given me some hope and some good ideas. Don't think this guy spent much of anything as most everything has been recylcled. Outside of utlities/plumbing, its a pretty nice setup

Edited September 30, 2012 by xRUSTYx

[Spots]

My dad built the log house I grew up in. 1500 sq feet, all done by hand. We built my sisters house, its all done by hand with materials from our land. Including doors and cabinets. $18k for a 2000+ sq foot house with central heat and air, etc etc. We've built several smaller ones for storage, etc. You can see them and siscuss the finer points at the get together this fall at my parents place. The thread is in the events section. Will post pics of the smaller, more primtive ones tommorow.

[Spots]

This thread has some pictures of our cabins....

[Guest Lester Weevils]

They must have been a lot of work to build with hand-tools in the old frontier days. At Cades Cove near gatlinburg are some ancient log cabins, fun to examine. Been a few years, would like to look at them again, having learned a tiny bit more about woodworking since. There were some of what looked like hand-forged nails. Or maybe even back then the nails were made in some 1800's northern factory and toted in by mule wagon. Dunno. Wood pegs were more common than nails, IIRC. It hurts just thinkin about it, after you busted yer butt cutting trees and squaring logs, then you are hand-drilling holes and hand-shaping round pegs to pound into all those holes. That was working for a living. Door hinges in those cades cove cabins, at least some of them were leather straps.

Just dumb guessing, Spots is the expert-- Nowadays if a fella had plenty of trees for materials, and he was lazy and had a little extra budget-- Wonder if it would be money well spent to drop a few thousand bucks on a "low end" bandsaw sawmill to make it easier to square up the logs?

[56FordGuy]

I met a gentleman a few months ago that built his own log home. Had a truckload of logs delivered, dried them and had them cut, then built it.

Just curious, what do you not like about the kits?

[Spots]

It took 6 years to build my sisters, but your talking a modern home with all conveniences. A liveable 2-3 room cabin would be a 2 month project if you worked on it most weekends, and had a decent idea what your doing. If you want the logs flat on both sides, the old way would be to take a foot aze and hew the logs out. The modern way is to take a big chainsaw like our 3120 Husky and one of those portable chainsaw, saw mills and saw them flat. Thats what we did with my sisters house, and there are some very large logs in that one.

This is our blacksmith shop, but I wouldn't hesitate to turn it into a one room trappers cabin in a pinch. It could be built quickly, with smaller logs, and very little financial input.

This is a storage cabin

. There were some of what looked like hand-forged nails. ... Door hinges in those cades cove cabins, at least some of them were leather straps.

Most cabins in east wood have been done with wooden pegs, but a lot interior stuff did use hand forged nails. With a nail bar, good steel rod, and a smith who has a lot of practice you can make and head a nail in one heat, so about 3 minutes per nail. Also Ive seen some leather hinges, but I've seen plenty of hand forged hinges. I've also made a lot of period correct hand forged hinges and door latches, like the ones in my sisters house. Like I said earlier, if you can make it up this fall to the TGO rendezvous you'll see this stuff first hand, and my dad is a wealth of knowledge.

[RED333]

Google this "Dick Proenneke"

Buy this

http://www.shoppbs.org/product/index.jsp?productId=2456246

Learn and build.

I got to see it on PBS, way cool!!!

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Most cabins in east wood have been done with wooden pegs, but a lot interior stuff did use hand forged nails. With a nail bar, good steel rod, and a smith who has a lot of practice you can make and head a nail in one heat, so about 3 minutes per nail. Also Ive seen some leather hinges, but I've seen plenty of hand forged hinges. I've also made a lot of period correct hand forged hinges and door latches, like the ones in my sisters house. Like I said earlier, if you can make it up this fall to the TGO rendezvous you'll see this stuff first hand, and my dad is a wealth of knowledge.

Thanks for the interesting info, Spots. I read about the previous rendezvous and plans for the next. Is there a firm date? I never go anywhere or do anything, but sounds like something that might be fun if I could get off my butt.

Hmmm, that burning sawdust smell is me thinking again. Have been meaning to build a storage shed in the little back woods. Had been thinking either cedar or pressure treated lumber. I'd have to clear cut my acre of woods to get enough logs for a log shed, but the fella who cuts our trees, great guy. He tells me of his woes finding places to get rid of trees he cuts when they pay him to haul em off. It is an annoyance to him. Maybe I could "do him a favor" and let him bring me his medium-sized logs for awhile. I'd have to pay him some probably, because they usually like to cut em into about 3 or 4 foot sections for ease of loading on the flatbed. Dunno if it would be cost effective to pay him enough to cut medium sized logs longer and bring em to me. You don't have to build with log sections long enough to span an entire wall do you? With a chainsaw and a sawsall and other modern conveniences, it ought to be easy enough to notch and splice logs? Or is that a dumb idea?

For a simple shed, would it matter if you use mixed-species logs? Maybe that's a dumb question, but I'm just the guy to ask em.

On some tv show, it said that old heart pine had such high resin and turpentine content that they were termite-proof. Termites just didn't like the taste. What about hardwood in the old days of TN? Were termite problems common, or do termites have natural aversion to some hardwoods as well?

[RED333]

If ya put a door and a window in each wall 4' dont sound to bad.

Stager the sections to help make a longer wall.

[Spots]

Cedar and redwood are both termite resistant. I don't know about anything else. I'm sure there is a way to patch a wall together, I haven't seen it done, but my Dad probably knows how. If you want to pm me a list of questions I can give him a call and get them answered for ya. Mixed species logs are fine, some of our sheds are mixed species. Date for the rendezvous is Oct. 19th, 20th, and 21st. Heres the thread

[xRUSTYx]

Thanks for all the great info Spots!

Red, I'll certainly look in to that DVD! Thanks!

[UncleJak]

My wife and I are planning to build a cabin in the next few years. We have looked at kits and non- kits. We will most likely buy a kit and modify it to suit our needs. We want a mixture of log cabin and stone house. Probably have stone accents on the front and as a foundation. I like deer run cabins simply because they come with everything needed for a decent price. I'm not sure how easy it would be to add the stone, but hopefully by the time we are ready to build I will have it figured out.

Edited October 1, 2012 by UncleJak

[xRUSTYx]

UnkleJak,

Thanks for your input! Those kits do look good and are very reasonably priced! hmmmm ...

Gonna look in to Deer Run Cabins a bit more

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Cedar and redwood are both termite resistant. I don't know about anything else. I'm sure there is a way to patch a wall together, I haven't seen it done, but my Dad probably knows how. If you want to pm me a list of questions I can give him a call and get them answered for ya. Mixed species logs are fine, some of our sheds are mixed species. Date for the rendezvous is Oct. 19th, 20th, and 21st. Heres the thread

http://www.tngunowne...tgo-rendezvous/

Thanks for the good ideas, spots.

I suppose since log cabin logs are exposed to the elements (at least on the outside) that a cure/dry period isn't necessary for classic log cabins?

A couple years ago spent a lot of time researching cheap to moderate expensive chainsaw and bandsaw mills. Over last few days did some more looking around. What kind of chainsaw mill did you use to flatten the logs?

I'm kinda old and can do sustained work if I don't over-exert. But if I go fast enough to get winded, have to quit for the day. Can't recover if I get winded. Might get a cheap chainsaw mill to play with, but suspect anything except a small bandsaw mill would be too much sustained calories expended for an old man. The bandsaw mills look like something I could do a few hours at a time without getting winded, but they are kinda pricey.

The concept of using scrap logs for building a shed sounds great and fun, because the waste offends me otherwise of dumping cut trees because there isn't anything cost-effective for a smalltime tree man to do with them. But maybe not cost effective for me either.

Was thinking if using three or four foot cuts, given the modern luxury of power cutting, perhaps for a shed might as well render them all into 4X4's. Bigger logs sections yielding multiple 4X4's. Maybe build like with block-- Stack em, drill holes thru each new layer and a couple of inches into the previous layer, and drive 6" rebar pieces in every few feet to stake em together. Maybe it would be a mistake to lay a bead of decking liquid nails between each layer, because shrinkage and expansion of the pieces might do weird things over time if the individual pieces couldn't move. Dunno if a layer of mortar between rows would do any better. Interesting idea.

Given access to logs at least 8 foot long, and given a decent mill, it would probably made better sense just to turn the logs into lumber, let it cure for a year and use conventional stick construction.

I was kinda thinking for a shed, build the foundation and floor like building a low deck, using pressure treated wood. Dig postholes, sink 4X4's, connect em together with 2X10 or 2X12 framing, lay pressure-treated flooring, then build the walls on that foundation. If making solid walls of 4X4, guess the exterior (and interior) would need painting with exterior stain to resist weathering.

[Spots]

We used this to slab the tops and bottoms. We were working with some very large poplar logs, up to 50" wide. We ran that on a Husky 3120 with a 72" bar. Its not bad if there are two men. One person will just have to go slow to keep from being winded. Of course a smaller mill and saw setup would go alot easier also. We did a cure and dry time on aloy of our stuff, that way it doesnt draw and crack as bad after its set.