log species/size questions

[akemt]

Hi folks! We haven't taken the class...yet. :wink:

My husband and I are looking at what the fully wooded lot(s) next to our current home would cost us and if the timber on it is appropriate for homebuilding, would strongly consider buying the land, taking the class, and building a second home. (SO anxious to be mortgage-free!)

Having not taken the class, I don't yet know what types of tree or sizes are suggested. These lots are mostly hemlock with some Sitka spruce and cedars thrown in (we live in Southeast Alaska). Are hemlocks generally suggested to be good or avoided in homebuilding?

I haven't actually gone over to measure tree diameters, but could easily do so. What size tree diameter is usually considered too small/big enough?

We really aren't in too much of a hurry, but I am anxious/excited that this could be just the oportunity we've been looking for. If the land price is right and the tiber would work, we'd likely buy it, take our class after income tax returns come, and start on building our first log home! (We also have some friends who would love to take the class with us)

Any information or advice for a hopeful newby would be greatly appreciated,

[RockEngineer]

You will find this answered several times in the forum if you do a little searching.

Basically you want straight trees with as little taper as possible. 3" in 30 ft if possible. 8" minimum diameter. Most people try for 12" average diameter. The trees need to be long enough to go the length of your wall without splicing. You can live with more taper if you have to. Crooked trees are a problem.

Good Luck. Enjoy the class. It will answer questions you didn't even think about. :lol:

[gregorama]

Welcome, Catherine! Where are you living/building? I'm moving back home to Juneau in late 2006 to start building. I've done lots of log research in Hoonah... Better if it's on your own land, though! Are you aware that timber is essentially free from the Feds?

Lets talk!

Greg

[akemt]

I'm sure you'll get a great return on a house built and sold in Juneau, but land there is QUITE expensive! We are actually in Ketchikan (though we met while living in Juneau).

I was emailed a forest service link about free timber in the Fairbanks area, but couldn't find anything in regards to our area. Perhaps I just don't know where to look. I do know we are allowed some set ammount of board feet each year for personal use, but that's about all I know at this point.

My husband and I have been researching building homes for a while now (well, or dreaming anyway!) as a means of getting away from a mortgage. We've gone from a plan of paying someone to dry it in for us (stick-built), to steel framed homes, then to log home kits and we are just now starting to look into log homes from scratch after recently finding this website.

So yes, any info I can get will be great!

[JeffandSara]

Hi, Catherine and welcome--

My husband and I went through similar phases of ideas for building before we heard about this Association, and now that we live in our (mostly finished) log house built with the techniques we learned in the seminar, we're SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy we didn't go with any of the other options we'd considered. :D

Been a while since I did our original timber research, so I can't recall, but maybe someone else will know.... there's one species of timber that is prone to nasty, ugly, dark sap leaking out. I had it in my mind that it was hemlock... but I could be completely wrong (it's happened before! :oops: :lol: ) Our engelmann spruce did drip here and there initially, but not a lot, and with it being light, it was neither a problem nor an eyesore. Anyway, you might want to keep an eye out for information about which species that is.

Oh, and speaking from experience with the whole building process, I have to say that building on the adjacent lot would be SOOOOO convenient compared to many of us who've built on property farther from home. :D

Good luck to you!
Sara :D

[gregorama]

The Forest Service allows 10K Bd Ft per resident per year, green timber of any species, anywhere in the Tongass Forest. Hoonah has 75% Western Hemlock and 25% spruce, but Thorne Bay, nearer you, has more cedar. I'd love to get cedar, but they are more rare, and the extra time spent finding and transporting them is expensive. You may find FS timber on the KTN road, but it may be picked over, I don't know. A rule of thumb is 300 BF for a 40' log, 14" inside bark diameter small end. If you have kids, they count as residents. Just go to the FS office and tell 'em you want personal use timber. There are guidelines re: leaving a mess and you have to take (and count) down to 6" tops, but there's always a use for wood somewhere. :)

Keep dreaming!
Greg

[akemt]

Well, we get PLENTY of timber with the 4 of us, then! I actually spoke with an ex-logger friend yesterday and he suggested against hemlock. Apparently the kind we have here isn't of the same quality for construction as the kind in Oregon. I wouldn't mind cedar anyway! We even have some friends over in the Thorne Bay/ Hollis/ Craig area (2 different families) that are in the process of building their own log homes. I need to get into contact with them sometime soon. I know one of them is doing cedar (because he later found out he was allergic!), but was busily studying steel-framed homes at the time of my visit and didn't get into the log home construction too much. I didn't know enough to ask a good question! Well, not that that has changed, really!

Thanks for the help folks! I'm starting to get excited about having a log home with solid wood doors, cabinetry, etc.

How hard/practical is it to use/make "D" log homes? I'm thinking I might prefer a flat interior surface, though I'll take what I can get!

[rreidnauer]

How hard/practical is it to use/make "D" log homes? I'm thinking I might prefer a flat interior surface, though I'll take what I can get!

In short, you couldn't, and continue to build "Skip" style. Now for the long version.

To do so, you'd have to set up a mill long enough to cut the length of your logs. To get a flat face, using a single cut, you would have to cut the log nearly in half. Also, you would have to stop your cut at the inside corners of your structure. This alone would be time consuming, because you would have to hand prep the corners to accept the mills blade. (be it a bandsaw or chainsaw) A circular saw mill would be even more labor intensive. To top that off, you wouldn't be able to safely assemble the logs via Skip's construction methods anymore. So, then there is the "three cut" option, where you cut the face, top, and bottom. Now, you can assemble Skip style, but you have inherently caused other problems by doing so. That problem, and the problem of so many kit style homes, is information provided in the class.

If your primary concern is , "how do I hang my kitchen cabinets?" there are several ways around that. I myself, plan to frame just behind the cabinets. I also plan to do the same for in the bathroom.

And besides, so much character is lost to milled "log" homes (if you can even call them log homes at that point) Just wait until you see Skip's home.