Question about salvaging logs from an old cabin and what they are worth .

[Swamp Rooster]

I have a question about salvaging old logs from a cabin and what they are worth .. These cabins were built in the 20s and are going to be torn down to make room for new construction. Some of the bottom logs are a little rough but still very livable .. I want to take them apart but have never done it before . I thought they could be numbered and put back together even. Any advice would be very much appreciated .. Thanks in advance .

[loghousenut]

Depending on the method of construction and real condition of the logs, it is done all the time. Each job is its own problem and has its own rewards. If you number them, you can fully assess each timber as it goes on the truck and keep what you can and replace what you must. Alternatively you can simply salvage the building as a pile of raw material and use the individual pieces as accent logs, furniture, beams, or whatever their condition warrants.

There is a very real possibility that some, or all, of the wall logs have hidden damage that can unravel any firm plans for their reassembly, but you never really know til you are able to poke, prod, pry, and do all the other P-words to the puzzle. Sounds like fun to me.

[rocklock]

I have a question about salvaging old logs from a cabin and what they are worth . I want to take them apart but have never done it before . I thought they could be numbered and put back together even.

If the cabins have overhangs of 2 feet or more, which I doubt, there may be logs that have not lost their convective tissue. If the log is heavy for its size then visual inspection will work. Logs that are light will not even make firewood and are worthless.

Before I did anything, I would get an ice pick like tool and start poking starting with the lower logs. That will tell the story very quick.

[allen84]

They are worth whatever someone else will pay for them. And somebody will pay something for them. The chore will be taking them down and re-stacking. If you just want to make some quick money and be free of the work, there are people out there that will pay for the opportunity to take it down.

And I'll throw out a very ballpark figure. I've seen them for sale around here. Depending on size and condition, $1500-$20,000. I couldn't tell you what they actually go for though, because I don't know.

[misplayed-hand]

There is a use for old salvaged logs. Many years ago I had a neighbor take me on a tour of cabins built from salvaged logs. His friend had a little business going from rebuilding with old square hewn, notched logs. He was using the salvaged logs to build homes in the traditional layout of two boxes with a breezeway between them. He took me to his friend's "yard" where he stashed the logs until he got enough collected to build a house. He didn't have much on hand atm but what he had was stacked on the ground under the old rusted roofing sheets. This is not a picture of one he built, but they looked like this:
http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa370/caertaker/log%20house_zpskyhve3mh.jpg (http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/caertaker/media/log%20house_zpskyhve3mh.jpg.html)http://i1194.photobucket.com/albums/aa370/caertaker/log%20breezeway_zpsoa9g7o2n.jpg (http://s1194.photobucket.com/user/caertaker/media/log%20breezeway_zpsoa9g7o2n.jpg.html)
As I said, its been a while but as I recall he was mainly getting the logs for free by removing them from the sites.