# Log Homes



## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

So I am thinking about trying my hand at building one for myself and my future wife. We are young and I am physically able so I think why not? I could ave alot of money doing all the work myself and then turn around and sell the house when we are ready to move on. Does anyone know much about log homes? I am having a hard time finding alot of information about things like insulation and other build specific projects. The only real heavy expense I think I will be paying for is the foundation. I will have that professionally done and do the rest myself. Good idea? Bad Idea? What say you? Thanks for your help!


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## tarbe (Apr 7, 2007)

This much I think I know. 

Done well, they are great! Done poorly (and there are lots of ways to screw them up) they are a nightmare. The same could probably be said of just about any method of construction.

Spend many hours studying other people's mistakes and don't be afraid to get some experienced help.

Tim


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## Junkhound (Sep 14, 2010)

I say go for it. Sweat equity can build your net worth, more than a job when you are young. I am 55 and when i was younger, my sweat equity in my, now paid for home is value that is still with me. Will you make mistakes? Sure, but at your young age you can correct them. You have nothing to lose and something to gain. Good Luck.

junkhound


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## swollen tongue (Mar 9, 2006)

I built mine when I was young like you and all I can say is this is the way I would do it now if you want the "log" look to a house. I would build with a conventional 6X6 framing and exterior sheathing and drywall for the interior walls where you can get plenty of insulation in the walls and then side it with log siding for the "log" look.
building with logs is a pain in the a**.
the problems I had were.........
a bigger foundation for more weight loads with logs
they require much more labor to put up
they ar'ent very air tight with caulking and stripping
some logs warp and twist after a few years,usually in the middle of wall
hard to get the insulation which you need in your walls
electrical wiring is a pain with them
windows and doors have to be furred out
logs actually are not less expensive to build with considering everything........
log siding gives you the real log look with a coventional air tight and insulated house........this is from my experience.


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## Skywatcher (Jul 12, 2011)

swollen tongue said:


> I built mine when I was young like you and all I can say is this is the way I would do it now if you want the "log" look to a house. I would build with a conventional 6X6 framing and exterior sheathing and drywall for the interior walls where you can get plenty of insulation in the walls and then side it with log siding for the "log" look.
> building with logs is a pain in the a**.
> the problems I had were.........
> a bigger foundation for more weight loads with logs
> ...


DH and I built a log home 5 years ago and I have to agree with Swollen Tongue. With ours the gable ends are framed with log siding from what I understand the logs would be too unstable where they are shorter and do not interlock so gable ends must be framed and log siding put on.You would never know the difference unless you looked real close.


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## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

Wiggles,

That is an interesting name. Yeah, you can save a lot and increase your net wealth by building your own. It is a lot of hard work. Check out the Log Home Builders Association site. I live in a log house and am in the process of getting ready to build another on my place. There are a lot of styles of log building. My house is Appalachian style with the rectangular hewn logs and half dovetail notched corners. A lot of the problems that people talk about can be avoided by your selection of wood species, size of logs and your building methods. I am in the southeast and I am not a fan of the small milled shaped 8 foot logs. Lots of problems with warping , decay and insects. Your selection of wood species will depend on where you live. My house is western hemlock logs 6 inches thick and 12 inches high with about 3.3 inch ***** lines. No problem with bugs in the southeast and very resistant to rot. The one I am planning will be similar but very narrow ***** lines. I used a latex based chinking product called perma-*****. It is expensive, but I have lived in this house for 20 years and have done "NO Rechinking or touchup"!!!. Also no problem with air infiltration. In planning and building, you have to plan for shrinkage reducing the height of the log walls when it comes to windows, doors and interior walls. I used fiberglass insulation in my ***** spaces in the walls. The logs were stacked with blocks every few feet in the ***** spaces and 0.5 inch steel rods driven from the log above almost through the log below and staggered from one course to the next. The corners were airproofed with sticky strips of closed foam and then follow by a 12 inch spike to lock each course. Windows and doors do have to be firred out for trim. My foundation is on 24" wide and thick footing with 3 rebars and 12 inch blocks continuous. Second floor and roof decking is 2x6 Tounge and groove spruce that my wife and I ran by hand on a shaper I bought from a cabinet shop. Insulation in roof is 3.5 inch thick polyiscyanurate insulation in 4x8 sheets with plywood decking over the top. Total of 1300 square feet, in 2 full stories. Heated with a single propane ventless wall heater with one brick burning before I got my wood stove in after 2 years. Still cool it an a non-log addition with a window air conditioner upstairs. Yeah, we were exhausted and didn't do much for a couple or four years after we moved in. Full time job plus building yourself is extremely hard work. 16 hours a day 50 weeks a year. My overhangs for the roof are 2 feet. If I could change it now I would make them 3 or 4 feet. Keeping the logs dry keeps problems at bay. 

I would say read everything you can written by people who have done it. Read everything you can about how log structures were constructed historically, and spend a lot of time looking at existing old log structures of all type with an eye to what caused problems, what worked and what didn't, size of logs and species used. Forget the crud from log home companies. 

Hope this helps.


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## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

By the way, Swollen Tounge is correct in that it is easier and quicker to build a stick frame house than a log house.


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## Wigglesdabum (Aug 7, 2011)

Thanks for all the replies all. The reason I originally wanted to do a log home was because I heard they could be built much cheaper than a regular home. Is this not the case? Could I build a 1000-1500 sq ft home for close to 30-40k if I did all the work myself? I am trying to not take out a loan so that I dont go in the hole during times like these. I am sorry if these are dumb questions and thanks again for your help!


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## KMA1 (Dec 9, 2006)

Well, building cheaper with logs depends on lots of things. Where and how do you plan to get your logs. Still don't know where you are located. A lot of books used to advise cutting standing dead timber from westeern National Forests for almost nothing. If you get the logs for your labor, you can probably build a basic house cheaper than 30 K. It all depends on the choices you make. Windows, Doors, flooring, cabinets, finish trim, finishes, plumbing fixtures, lighting, ect. all have lots of options which vary greatly in cost from finding used windows, to cheapest retail, to the best on the market. Every hting in the preceeding list is the same. A big question is do you have any building experience or someone who can give you advice and help you out? That goes for any construction, not just logs, which might be more forgiving that stick framing. Read the commnets on the How Much Will It cost me to build a house thread in this Construction thread. The same comments apply here. You have to do some work and know what you want before anyone can give you a price.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

Wigglesdabum said:


> Thanks for all the replies all. The reason I originally wanted to do a log home was because I heard they could be built much cheaper than a regular home. Is this not the case? Could I build a 1000-1500 sq ft home for close to 30-40k if I did all the work myself? I am trying to not take out a loan so that I dont go in the hole during times like these. I am sorry if these are dumb questions and thanks again for your help!


I have about 25 k in our 1800sqft log home. The tax man claims its worth 140K LOL Lotta work, but so is a stick frame if you do it all yourself. I have hired some help with some of the finish work, and building the decks and like that but did all the log walls myself. I did not experience any of the problems others have talked about... :shrug: My foundation cost me about 100 bucks.... that was for the mortar and sand... the stone was free.... ok, I had to haul it home. Logs cost me about 5k, delivered to the farm,







another 800 bucks to a couple fellas with portable mills having them milled flat on two sides...








but that netted me all my rafters, ceiling joists and enough lumber to put in the upstairs subfloor and a LOT of other lumber.







I wound up with 32 logs twenty ft long and 28 logs sixteen ft long, all five inches thick and a min of 14 inches tall on the small end. (twenty foot logs have a good deal of taper) some as large as 24 on the big end. Then there was 4 more sixteen footers and a couple 12 footers all squared into 10"x12"s for the very top sills for the roof to sit on. 

I dug down to bedrock,








and built up stone columns on the four corners of each "log pen", eight columns all together, 
















then started stacking logs. 







Once all the logs were up,









Continued next post


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

I had some fellas that werent bothered by working in high places come out and put the roof on. Cut out the doors and window openings, installed the doors and winders, and wired, covered with insulation and lumber as I went along. 
















Hired me a cabinet maker to come out and build my cabinets out of a walnut log I had purchased and milled up.
















all in all the place has come out pretty good.
























we are warm in the winter, cool in the summer (just got that ac unit hooked up last month! yay!) and life is good. 








The only real problem with building a log home is that you have to think about what you are doing every step of the way. There are no directions in the box... coz there aint no box! With just a little planning and thinking ahead, those things like wiring and plumbing arent really all that tricky in a log house. Once you get past the log walls, the rest is just "pointy end first" with the nails and which way does water run down a pipe type stuff just like in a crackerbox house. As far as sealing up the walls, all I can say is the log walls are MUCH tighter and air proof than the conventional stud walls.... "great stuff" is indeed great stuff!


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## HermitJohn (May 10, 2002)

If I were building a log home by myself without serious mechanization, I would build a vertical log house where all the logs stand on end. If you look historically, the vertical log buildings were mainly built in formerly French territories. Most people arent used to this look for a log house, but I like it.

Anyway much easier to get the shorter length logs and to put them in place. I'd tie them together with rebar or used sucker rod.

If I had decent help and mechanization and long straight logs, would go with horizontal log construction using Swedish scribe method. 

The German style log buildings where everything is flat surface and fancy end joints and lot chinking is pretty but looks like heck of lot of work and probably lot more maintenance.


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## jander3 (Feb 20, 2011)

Many techniques, chinked, hand-scribed, dovetail, timberframe, etc.

I have less than 10K in materials in my hand scribed cabin:

www.peelinglogs.blogspot.com

If you have the time and some trees, build your own is the way to go...


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## dablack (Jul 21, 2011)

I would go check out the plans at countryplans.com

I'm planning on going with the 2 story universal plan they have and making it a little longer. 

If it is your first time building something and you are concerned with resale, I think I would go with a more conventional home (like on countryplans.com )

good luck
Austin


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## Guest (Aug 18, 2011)

YH , Were your logs & lumber air dried , kiln dried or green ? What kind of timber did you use ? Pine , oak . poplar etc . ?


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## Elevenpoint (Nov 17, 2009)

I am going to build one for about 12K in materials, about 700 s.f....I have many sawmills in my area.


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## luvrulz (Feb 3, 2005)

Wigglesdabum said:


> Thanks for all the replies all. The reason I originally wanted to do a log home was because I heard they could be built much cheaper than a regular home. Is this not the case? Could I build a 1000-1500 sq ft home for close to 30-40k if I did all the work myself? I am trying to not take out a loan so that I dont go in the hole during times like these. I am sorry if these are dumb questions and thanks again for your help!


Nope, that isn't the case - costs just as much if not more by the time you're done with it all.


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## bignugly (Jul 13, 2011)

Building a log home is not as easy as it looks. I built 3 as a contractor and there is special equipment you have to use to build one. An example is a 10" circular saw for cutting logs to length and relatively square cuts. We were using 8" oak logs for our builds. The logs get mighty heavy when you get to the higher levels and will take more than one person to lift and set. Unless you have access to your own logs, it is NOT any cheaper to build with logs than stick built.


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## swollen tongue (Mar 9, 2006)

they cost more in the long run, which I was trying to suggest in my post..........better yet use roughcut lumber, which is cheaper and much stronger, but I don,t know if your county has building inspections-permits to deal with and consider the options,etc.


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## Evons hubby (Oct 3, 2005)

WV Hillbilly said:


> YH , Were your logs & lumber air dried , kiln dried or green ? What kind of timber did you use ? Pine , oak . poplar etc . ?


I started with fresh cut logs delivered to the farm. By the time I got them milled, stacked up and the roof on they were fairly well air dried. The four bottom sill logs that support the main floor are white oak, the rest are poplar. All of the lumber I used throughout the house was air dried. Working by myself on weekends gave it plenty of time to cure out pretty well.


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## Parttimefarmer (May 5, 2011)

Our log home is a real log home. I love it. It was made with air-dried, hand-scraped logs and has shrunk very little, none have twisted. It was made with care by an Amish craftsman who made it so he could get married, and he lived in it before us. Our barn was built the same way.

Cost wise, I can't imagine it will be cheaper. Having experience and help would be IMO necessary to making a good log house. Just being able to cull logs properly for construction is a skill. Our insurance did a cost analysis of replacement value for the house and barn (since we wanted it replaced as built rather than a kit house), the house "cost" to duplicate for under 1,000sq ft would be 120k, the 30x40 barn, 150k.


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## jdhopkins (Aug 4, 2011)

We built an addition to a very old farm house and used log construction. We love it and would love to retire in a completely log frame home. I believe we did save a good amount in building it ourselves. We were realistic though and called in several professionals to do the work in which we were not skilled. We called two different Portland plumbers before we found one that had experience with this type of building. Make sure your hired professionals have the experience you need for the project.


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## DanielY (Aug 25, 2011)

My first question is. Have you ever built anything before? I ask only because unless you have you really have no idea what you are getting into. It is a lot of work piled on top of a lot of work. and before you go to bed you have to work out the budget and plan for the everything else coming up. The way I like to worn people is to say. many marriages have broken up from trying to build a house. Otherwise it is doable.

As far as expensive or not. Log Homes (Not cabins) fall into the Custom Home category. So they are low priced as far as the category they belong in. As for low priced in comparison to "Homes" Not so much. But still where there is a will there is a way. get very used to seeing every obstical as an opportunity rather than an excuse though.

Very hard work, and that is about the time you have to kick in and really get busy. then when you get done with that you have the budget and further planning and coordination to think about.

I was advised when I was young not to do it. People that new me thought I was kidding myself. after a few years of building houses for everyone else. they all said ---- you should have built that house you wanted. Now I say no I shouldn't have. and I still think I am right.


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## Malamute (Sep 15, 2011)

You have some good answers so far, the negatives have been pointed out, but,...I love my cabin. I've built and lived in several, and can't imagine living in anything else. It isnt rocket science to build with log, nor is it all that difficult. With a little research, you can build with log without killing yourself. There are a number of ways to move logs, especially smaller ones without equipment or breaking your back. I built a hand powered winch on castors that I could lift and move logs by myself without doing any backbreaking lifting. A rope come-a-long winch was all I used for the lifting power. Getting the right tools isnt going to break the bank either, and makes handling logs far far easier. All I needed for cutting logs was a chain saw, no special saw needed. You can true them up with an angle head grinder with 36 grit sanding discs if you want to, but for basic log work you dont have to. The angle head grinder makes doing your notches easier tho. Rough in with the chain saw, and do the finish work to your scribe line with the sander. Makes for very clean corner notches without much drama. Larger hosues are not as easy as small cabins, but the basics are the same. 

I like having a 2" floor ledge for the floor to sit on in the foundation, that way the logs sit directly on the concrete instead of the floor platform like modern frame houses do. The ledge depth is figured on the floor joist you use and all flooring materials, with a little freeplay room (about 1/4") to work the flooring. That can be chinked over or trimmed over.

I've paid $2-$4 a lineal foot for dead standing dry logs bought from a mill or a logbuilder that didnt need the smaller logs.

I built my first cabin from reading Calvin Rutstrums book "The Wilderness Cabin", looked at a picture (Rowlands cabin in "Cache Lake Country") and said, "I want something that looks like that, just a little bigger", and dove in. No plans, no prints, just an idea. It came out fine. I'll say it again, log work isnt rocket sciene, but having some decent basic tools, and a little knowledge is all you need to get started and build a cabin.

First try, it came out OK.


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## jdhopkins (Aug 4, 2011)

jdhopkins said:


> We built an addition to a very old farm house and used log construction. We love it and would love to retire in a completely log frame home. I believe we did save a good amount in building it ourselves. We were realistic though and called in several professionals to do the work in which we were not skilled. We called two different San Francisco plumbers before we found one that had experience with this type of building. Make sure your hired professionals have the experience you need for the project.



Update: It's important to do your research on interior finishing techniques too. We've developed a few cracks in the drywall finish.


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## ChristieAcres (Apr 11, 2009)

Wigglesdabum said:


> So I am thinking about trying my hand at building one for myself and my future wife. We are young and I am physically able so I think why not? I could ave alot of money doing all the work myself and then turn around and sell the house when we are ready to move on. Does anyone know much about log homes? I am having a hard time finding alot of information about things like insulation and other build specific projects. The only real heavy expense I think I will be paying for is the foundation. I will have that professionally done and do the rest myself. Good idea? Bad Idea? What say you? Thanks for your help!


DH built a beautiful 3-story log home after taking a weekend course, taught by Skip Ellsworth, here in WA. Last appraisal was $750K (on 5 acres of mtn view property). Sadly, that home was sold during his divorce. I got to see it a few years ago. He recommends to anyone considering building a log home to take a course from an experienced log home builder. He logged the logs, skidded them, and hauled them to his property (bought standing timber), then peeled them, modified a truck with a log boom, and built it. He hired out for the sheet rock. 

I have been encouraging DH to build a 200 sq foot log home here on our property. A permit isn't required, if the foundation isn't "permanent."


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## WJMartin (Nov 2, 2011)

If you want the wood look but are needing something to build yourself have you considered building with cordwood?


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

We built a hunting cabin WV for my buddy, we stick built , insulated and then faced the outside with log halves purchased from a supplier, looks like a log cabin , very authentic looking a lot easier than humping logs, windows, doors, fit better on conventional framing, still has to treat it ever so often with preservative of some kin d....


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