Anyone near North Central PA?

[MPeterson1020]

I have recently found your site while looking for info on building my own log home. I am considering the next class but would love to connect with someone nearby to feel more comfortable with this decision. I am a single 48 y/o female, not afraid of hard work. Will be doing a lot myself and my boyfriend and probably son will help if he is not in college when I build. I thought a kit house was my only option till I discovered this site. I would love to build mortgage free. I own my own land which has my fathers old mobile home on it. I will have to get rid of it to build but was thinking I could live in a travel trailer and my 2 car garage during building. Is there anyone near me that is willing to connect to alleviate some of my fears? I know I have seen other women in here as well who were planning to build.. Did they ever do so? Thanks!

[panderson03]

welcome MPeterson

I stumbled on LHBA too when I was researching building a log home. and I too thought kit homes were my only option!!

there are LOTS of women who build (my name's Pauline, by the way ) :)

you can do this!
its a lot of work but its not too complicated:)

glad you found us.

[donjuedo]

I'm in the southwestern PA area, and Rod is east of me. You might have to define "near", but that doesn't really matter. You can build your log home.

You will hear lots of recommendations to take the class, and I agree (and did). But even before that, I'd recommend scouring the site here, especially the photo gallery, and get a solid idea of the possibilities of homes, and how they got done. Some spend more and get bigger power tools and get the job done faster, some spend less, and progress more slowly.

Right now, I'm saving and planning, and saving some more.

Welcome! Enjoy your time on this site -- it's real!


Peter

[rckclmbr428]

Ill be building in Huntingdon, PA later this summer, and I live in one down in Roanoke, VA

[MPeterson1020]

Actually my definition of near is anything less than 4 hours one way. LOL my nearest Walmart in any direction is 1.5 hours! My BF grew up in Pittsburgh and I know many campers from that area.

[eagle]

north central near what town?

[rreidnauer]

I'm gonna take a WAG, and say Coudersport.

[MPeterson1020]

Coudersport , Potter County

[MPeterson1020]

Yes! How did you know?

[MPeterson1020]

Actually Conrad but no one knows where that is! Lol

[rreidnauer]

Just a gut feeling. (and there isn't much else in NC PA) :D

I have an uncle that lives just outside Galeton, and there was a time I was looking at land outside Shinglehouse to build on.

[eagle]

Actually Conrad but no one knows where that is! Lol

Google does! you look to be about an hour from olean, ny which I am 45 minutes north of

[eagle]

Actually Conrad but no one knows where that is! Lol

Google does! you look to be about an hour from olean, ny which I am 45 minutes north of

[rreidnauer]

I love Potter County and would have loved to build there. I just couldn't figure out how to make a living up there. There's just something unique about the rural style of things there. I think it has something to do with all the small hunting and fishing camps, and how they all have names, and everything is tucked into to surrounding hills.

They don't call it God's country fir nuthin'.

[MPeterson1020]

It certainly IS Gods Country. I love it here. :)

[WNYcabinplannin]

I'm in the fingerlakes ny, north of you just an hour or two. There are a dozen LHBA homes within a 3 hour drive from you

[dazedandconfused]

I am in SE pa, Mohnton, pa ( google it) but maybe a bit too far, I just got my co last thanksgiving, if I can do it , you can.

[MPeterson1020]

Am I allowed to connect with people before class or do I have to wait?

[rreidnauer]

Site visits arranged through the LHBA forums are to be done between members only.

[MPeterson1020]

Ok. Thanks!

[rreidnauer]

The TOS link is broke in the forum rules thread. I mailed admin about it and should be fixed soon. Meanwhile, here is the page (http://www.buildloghomes.org/forum-guidelines-and-terms-service) to the rules. #28 would be the rule you were questioning.

[Steve]

Oops, my mistake. Should be all fixed now. Thanks for letting us know.

[John W]

I agree that working on a house should be member to member, so everybody has learned the techniques in class, not secondhand. However, respectfully, I would say that just a visit by a non-member to a member's house, at whatever stage of completion, is a big motivator and inspiration to get to class and get started. It should be encouraged. Just my humble, lurker, opinion.

[Steve]

The LHBA doesn't encourage or discourage non-members visiting member homes. We have no rules for or against it. You are free to look for LHBA members near you and try to connect with them. Some of our members have their own websites or blogs (like this one (http://paulkahle.com/)) and they identify themselves as members and make their contact information public. So of course you can contact them and see what they have to say.

The only issue for us is whether we allow that to take place on our forums, which we do not. There are many reasons for this, but the main one is that the forums are here for LHBA members to hang out and exchange with each other, rather than be constantly requested for home visits. Some of our members have also expressed security concerns about having strangers over who are not officially connected to the association.

And if you think about it, sanctioning those sorts of solicitations on the forums would kind of be similar to the LHBA saying to our members: "Hey everybody, please allow non-members to visit your homes". Like we'd be putting pressure on the members to invite non-members over to see their homes, which is the opposite of what the forums are about. We hope that members share photos and stories here to the degree that no one ever needs a site visit for motivation or inspiration.

If we allowed home visit solicitations, how many LHBA members would be hesitant to display their city and state on their forum profile? That's a useful thing for members to find other members near them, but it might start to disappear if members didn't want to be contacted by non-members. And how many members would be hesitant to post anything at all about their builds, just to avoid being hit with requests for tourists to visit their site? Allowing home visit solicitations might encourage participation by non-members, while having the unintended effect of discouraging participation by members. Which again, is the opposite of what we're trying to do here.

The only fair solution to this puzzle is to disallow those requests by non-members on the forums. Any member who chooses to be found can be found elsewhere.

Steve

[loghousenut]

As a guy who has had plenty of visitors, of all kinds, I'd add that LHBA member visitors ask totally different questions. If my Wife and I are showing the place to a couple who have taken the class together, it usually branches into two separate and fruitful conversations that are pertinent to this particular style of building. There are always useful ideas coming from the LHBA visitors.

When non-members visit, it is still a blast, but the gals always drift off into girls talk that is somehow very different than LHBA girl talk. The guys spend all their time trying to figure out why and how we did everything the way we did it. While it is fun to talk about, it is not tremendously productive and they don't go away understanding it all like they would if they'd learned it in class. It is pretty rare to get really great ideas from non-members. Lots of ideas that might work great on another style of build but lots of time spent explaining why this thing has to be like this because this other thing is like that and we don't want that to be unthatlike. They go away thinking that we don't understand what they were talking about.

Personally, I think it helps LHBA members get the blood pumping through the right arteries to visit as many builds as they can after class. Once they touch a log wall or go up in the man/woman cage and play with the ridgepole, they seem to have al kinds of thought-gelling activities going on behind their eyes. They are thinking about their build instead of the LHN build.

The non-member visitors never seem to be thinking of a real log home that they will be constructing. They think plenty about how they would do it but it's more of a theory and not a plan of action.



http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/loghousenut/Wow/EdKemperandfamily014-1.jpg (http://s157.photobucket.com/user/loghousenut/media/Wow/EdKemperandfamily014-1.jpg.html)

[eagle]

As a guy who has had plenty of visitors, of all kinds, I'd add that LHBA member visitors ask totally different questions. If my Wife and I are showing the place to a couple who have taken the class together, it usually branches into two separate and fruitful conversations that are pertinent to this particular style of building. There are always useful ideas coming from the LHBA visitors.

When non-members visit, it is still a blast, but the gals always drift off into girls talk that is somehow very different than LHBA girl talk. The guys spend all their time trying to figure out why and how we did everything the way we did it. While it is fun to talk about, it is not tremendously productive and they don't go away understanding it all like they would if they'd learned it in class. It is pretty rare to get really great ideas from non-members. Lots of ideas that might work great on another style of build but lots of time spent explaining why this thing has to be like this because this other thing is like that and we don't want that to be unthatlike. They go away thinking that we don't understand what they were talking about.

Personally, I think it helps LHBA members get the blood pumping through the right arteries to visit as many builds as they can after class. Once they touch a log wall or go up in the man/woman cage and play with the ridgepole, they seem to have al kinds of thought-gelling activities going on behind their eyes. They are thinking about their build instead of the LHN build.

The non-member visitors never seem to be thinking of a real log home that they will be constructing. They think plenty about how they would do it but it's more of a theory and not a plan of action.




That was my thought as well, focused thinking , asking the right questions, for the right reasons, not to just be nosy. Oh, I have somehow acquired a "slight" fear of heights over the years. LHN, that picture does not help...

[MPeterson1020]

This makes sense. So it's not prohibited, just not on the forum?

[rckclmbr428]

people contact me a lot off the forum, ive never heard of the police visiting them afterwards :)

[John W]

I misunderstood the policy. Thought for a minute I got Fireman Steve in trouble or something. Hope I didn't ask him the wrong questions. I honestly don't remember asking many questions, as I spent most of my time wide-eyed with my mouth gaping open.

[Mosseyme]

An example, recently had a distant cousin come to "help". He was there for 2 weeks with brother that comes frequently to help and has a cabin on the same property. In the entire 2 weeks the cousin had suggestion after suggestion after suggestion that were totally useless to the point of being dangerous to all at times. We had to threaten him with banning him from the site for everyone's safety. I honestly can't think of 1 hours worth of help he actually was and many hours of distraction, concern and irritation. He was an extreme case but uneducated in the style helpers are only helpers if they can just follow instructions and do what the boss says no matter if they understand it or not.

[stamic55]

Actually Conrad but no one knows where that is! Lol

I knew a family from Gold during my college years and I don't even know where Conrad is. I grew up near Pitt, college in Williamsport, and now I'm near Philly.

[rreidnauer]

Geez Mike. Thought you fell off the planet. Good to see ya back on here.