Type of building

[wjoseph]

Hello:

I plan to attend your next class. However; I have some questons regarding the type of building I can build with butt & pass. In the plan the greatroom area is bummed-out 6'; therefore it is not a square building. Is this a design that is too complex? In my area we are required to have prints. I have a copy of the prints at: http://wjosephsys.com/nicole/prints.html
Bill

[rreidnauer]

Hi Bill. Welcome to the forum. Doing a bumpout is not "too complex" at all. In fact, it's recommended to those who find themselves unable to acquire logs long enough to meet their home's size. (butting ends in a wall span is NOT recommended by LHBA) It does require some planning though, now that there is an additional four transititions. If you're going to be using something like Doug-Fir, which is a very uniform tree, you'll have little to worry about. If you use something with more taper and variable diameters, you need to plan the log's location carefully so the wall goes up as level as possible. The trick is to use a log longer than you need. By doing this, you can "scooch" it back and forth to fit before cutting to size.

BTW, nice plans! :)

[adubar]

wjoseph,

I took a quick look at your plans and it looks like you would be just building a large rectangle with two intersecting walls on one side, which should not be a problem to build. However, the shape is not the most efficient, but many homes are built to similar designs.

You would want to pay particular attention to the gables, if you plan to run logs all the way up.

-A

[linuxboy]

Hey Bill,

Your design is similar to mine (haven't built yet). You can do it, but as others have said, it's not the most efficient design. One other aspect you might want to consider is that on the side where the bump out is, your logs will not need to be very long. However, on the other side, there is no bump out (that I saw on the plans, unless you bump out both sides and intersect two rectangles). Without a bump out on the other side, you are limited by the length of trees you can obtain. Typically, 45' trees are the max you can haul without additional permits, which translates into a wall length of around 40'.

You can PM me if you want to swap ideas or maybe talk offline about other trouble spots with that particular design.