I'm hoping logs come much cheaper than this?

[loghousenut]

This won't help you folks who are on the fence, but for those of us who have access to both sides of this forum, take a look back through the list of members who were prolific posters on the non-members side before they took the class. It amazes me how much more productive their questions are the week after class.

Not saying that they didn't post great questions before class. Just saying that, once they are on the same page as the rest of the members, they have questions about things that will build a log home. Things they will actually use in the next 5 years.

Yes, as lurkers, they are bouncing around in the stantion trying to find a way to get out there on the track of life and satisfy their log home desires. But as newbies they take a few baby steps backward, mosey around the starting gate, and slowly, methodically, they plod along, scheming and planning the thing that will really happen.

They don't wonder what tools to look for, but instead they have questions about those tools and they wonder if a particular Craigslist offer is a steal or not. They are looking at a particular chunk of land and wonder about its suitability for a 35x35. They have questions about a 35x35 that are not "Why not build a 20x40?. They ask about "scree" (you'll understand everything once you are on the members side).

I don't know about the rest of you, but I spend an hour or so every day on the members side. It's a fun hobby and, while it may not be productive for the rest of you, I don't feel like it is a tremendous waste of my time. The non members side is fun too but it is almost an afterthought and I am usually getting anxious to fire up the chainsaw, so I get a bit shortsighted with my comments.

Oddly, "take the class" seems like an appropriate answer from where I sit. If you were my nephew, and came to me all scrambled up about a fancy kit house builder or something out of a glossy magazine, I'd just sign you up, send a check, and force you on the airplane. You're not my nephew. Count your blessings for that. I'll still loan you a tool or two and come help you stack walls once you take the class.

[MPeterson1020]

It is interesting to me that a number of the members promoting "take the class" right now are folks that just a short time ago were on the other side, a little on the fence, wondering about all this "take the class" stuff. The join date of each person is when they first joined the public forum I think.

The join date on mine is when I first started posting on the non member side. We didn't take the class till September 2015. I had over a year of hearing "take the class". But it was still worth it.

[loghousenut]

Quick story....

A couple years ago I corresponded with some nice folks who were wondering about this LHBA thing. They lived a long way off but were looking to relocate here in sunny southern Oregon. I said, "Yup, stop in and take tour of our place and I have a converted bus you can stay in while you are finding a place to live."

They, and we, seemed to have different ideas about how it was all going to work out. They thought I should put him to work, teach, answer infinite questions about infinite ways to do this thing and get them started on their log home journey.

I answered half an infinite number of questions and said from the start that he could lend an occasional hand on our build only after they took the LHBA class. I know I could have set him to most any task on the place and got good work out of him but it was so different from past experiences when members have stopped in. His questions and ideas were constantly garnering answers from me that seemed negative instead of positive. I don't want to spend my time talking someone out of something that I think is probably a poor idea. There are REAL reasons to do this thing the LHBA way and as soon as I answer one "why not" question, it leads to another. Once a person has been to class, if they get all fired up about this thing they ask a different kinduva question.

When we were stacking our lower wall logs we had a visit from 18 year old Nathan (made up name but true story) who had taken the class with his Mother. He was off to college in a far off state and wanted to grease his hands on a real LHBA build. Had him for a week or so and it was nothing but learning for him and us. Everything we talked about was either concerning this particular style of building, or about life and women. We all knew what we were talking about except for the women thing. I want to take that class. When we were looking for the next log, he knew why we looked in the log catalog and he knew why C-9 was the wrong log til we got three or four courses higher. He just got it. He was no smarter that those folks who later stopped for awhile in the bus... heck he was just a college kid. But Nathan was fun and easy to work with and I had a feeling that anything he got from our build would really stick with him.



I took the class from Skip before a lot of you folks were born. I remember it like it was yesterday. It changed me and it changed my life. It changed Nathan's life. It was obvious to the rest of us. I wish I had just wrote the check and grabbed that other guy by the neck and shoved him on the airplane... It woulda changed his life. He needed it. They have moved on.



Take the class (I mean this from the bottom of my heart. Please do not be offended)

[John W]

And you get to discuss things with like-minded people. Then LHN says, 'You'll fit in here just fine.' And you really know you belong when he says, 'Yeah, that's a nice chainsaw, my 10 yr old granddaughter has one just like it for her popsicle stick craft projects.' Or words to that effect. (an almost true story)

[LowKey]

They ask about "scree" (you'll understand everything once you are on the members side).

That would be me.
Just to be clear, I hated hearing "just take the class" as much, if not more, than anyone else out there.
I had paid the class tuition. I had paid my plane tickets. I had paid for my room and board at the hotel. I just had to kill time until the class date rolled around....and they still wouldn't spill the beans.
Dammit.

I even explained that I have only 30 days each year that I can come back into the US to work on my place, and that my place is very much off the beaten path....that I need to figure out NOW what I'd need months down the road so that I could arrange to have it delivered in time.
Still, all that I got was sympathetic noises and "take the class".

Take the class. Once you've done it you'll be "in". It's not that the members hate everyone else, it's that they want to be able to focus on the people who will really take a swing at this. Attending the class is just demonstrating that you're serious. Once you've done that people are downright eager to help you.

Heck...if you attend the class I'll feed you crab and shrimp while I let you practice debarking logs at my place. Yup, free seafood and the opportunity to practice the skills you'll need to build you own home. Just take the darn class so we know you're serious and so that we don't have to explain for the umpteenth time any of the basic principles of a but and pass log home.

[Blondie]

Low key,

I followed the blog for years. I read everything in the library. I studied every photograph. I made drawings of what I believed was happening. I bugged Rocklock. Finally, finally I took the class. I sat there on that Saturday morning with a chip on my shoulder and prove it to me attitude. Within ten minutes I had an " oh" spreAding across my face and a large slice of humble pie to be consumed. Yup take the class
. I hated hearing that and now I say it, often.

Blondie

[loghousenut]

That would be me.
Just to be clear, I hated hearing "just take the class" as much, if not more, than anyone else out there.
I had paid the class tuition. I had paid my plane tickets. I had paid for my room and board at the hotel. I just had to kill time until the class date rolled around....and they still wouldn't spill the beans.
Dammit.

I even explained that I have only 30 days each year that I can come back into the US to work on my place, and that my place is very much off the beaten path....that I need to figure out NOW what I'd need months down the road so that I could arrange to have it delivered in time.
Still, all that I got was sympathetic noises and "take the class".

Take the class. Once you've done it you'll be "in". It's not that the members hate everyone else, it's that they want to be able to focus on the people who will really take a swing at this. Attending the class is just demonstrating that you're serious. Once you've done that people are downright eager to help you.

Heck...if you attend the class I'll feed you crab and shrimp while I let you practice debarking logs at my place. Yup, free seafood and the opportunity to practice the skills you'll need to build you own home. Just take the darn class so we know you're serious and so that we don't have to explain for the umpteenth time any of the basic principles of a but and pass log home.

LowKey, I was hoping you would chime in. Please forgive me if I ever accidentally said "take the class" to you.


Might I say that you became a completely different forum personality after class. I am sssoooooooo darned glad that we didn't chase you off with our impoliteness.

[Upers]

I paid $100 per log 13" top 19" butt and 41' long

[Mosseyme]

I agree with the nut about you LowKey, we could see that potential and we wanted it on the other side and did not want to run you off but you did have a tiny bit of a chip to start with and it is kinda understandable with all the difficulty you have planned ahead of you. But we really are OK folks once you give us a chance aren't we. We may just have to see how many folks want to do that long wished for trip to the out yonder and get that place up for you. Only problem is a lot of us are hard at trying to get our own done.

[LowKey]

I agree with the nut about you LowKey, we could see that potential and we wanted it on the other side and did not want to run you off but you did have a tiny bit of a chip to start with and it is kinda understandable with all the difficulty you have planned ahead of you..

Some of that was the result of dealing with the kissing cousins of those "helpful" folks who want to tell LHBA members how they're building a log home incorrectly (or that it can't be done) over the last decade as I explored different construction methods*.
You can't do that" or "You don't want that" is different from "You can do that but it will cause X,y, and z issues" Some of the "chip" I may have had can be attributed to hearing those first two far to many times elsewhere over the years. Thankfully none of you did that!

*I wasn't always looking at building a log home, for example for the longest time I was planning on an RC underground house but when I bought land in a rain forest in an island where concrete costs more than double what it does on the mainland I thought it might be a good idea to explore the possibility of using all those big sticks that poke out of the ground on the island.