Which is better?

[Meghan]

A butt and pass or saddle notch way of assembling walls? I was led to beleive a butt and pass leaves too much chance for water getting into the corner. Is the only down side to the saddle notch the time and energy to do it?
Also why use re-bar and not spikes?
Thank You for any input! Oh, is there anyone in upstate NY that built using skips system?
Meghan

[JeffandSara]

Hi, Meghan--

Basically, a notched corner, because of trying to fit the logs closer to one another, has probably a higher chance of water coming in the corners (through "capillary action"... the tighter the two surfaces are, the more the water wants to suck through, is my understanding.) Also, all that notching seriously weakens the strength and integrity of the log. If it doesn't improve the stability and strength of the overall structure (which I don't believe it does), then it's a lot of extra work for a less- strong and integrous structure.

As for rebar vs. spikes. Can't say anything about spikes, never having used them. But rebar, once pounded in as recommeneded in the class does NOT want to "go anywhere". The LHBA classes are for building a house with minimal settling, and believe me... it works. Our house is fairly tall with large heavy logs and settling has not been an issue at all in the five years or so our logs have been stacked.

Good luck you to there in Upstate. It's a lovely place to be.

Sara :D

[dbtoo]

Is the only down side to the saddle notch the time and energy to do it?

The building inspection department of my county refered me to this set of standards: http://www.logassociation.org/resources/ilbastandards.pdf

Regarding Notching, section 3.B.4 states that removing more than 2/3's of the log will weaken the notch such that it could break off. (Paraphrased because they have copyrigthed their documents.)

I'd say that could be a down side. Guess you need to get really good really fast with making those notches.


.. time and energy to do it? Lift log in place, mark log. Roll log over, make initial cut. Roll log over and test fit. Repeat until 'perfect'. Go to other end of log. Mark log, roll log over and make initial cut. Repeat until 'perfect'. Go back to the original end of log, check 'perfect' fit of notch. No longer perfect? (because the log is sitting entirely different since the cuts were made prior the other end being done) Mark log, roll log over and make cuts to 'fit'. Repeat on other end. Repeat until 'perfect' on both ends or you cut through over 1/3 of an end of the log and it breaks off.... Not my idea of a good days work. Butt - that's probably just me... I think I'll Pass.

[rreidnauer]

. . . . . . I was led to beleive a butt and pass leaves too much chance for water getting into the corner. . . . . . .

Well, this is another thing too. There isn't really a likelyhood of water infiltration here if you practice all of Skip's techiques. I won't divulge what that is, as you'll have to take the class to find out. Same for the rebar vs. spikes thing.

There's more to a log home than stacking logs.

[RockEngineer]

With spikes, the logs tend to settle and slide along the spike. If you have very much shrinkage in the logs and you haven't recessed the heads of your spikes, the spike head can lift the log above it. If you have a chinkless log home this can make enough of a gap to allow air and water into the structure. The rebar has knurled finish that grips the wood and tends to hold the logs a set distance apart. If the logs shrink they shrink toward their centers and the gap between the logs may get a little bigger but the wall height doesn't change. All butt and pass log homes which use rebar are chinked between the logs.