log (home) question

[rybal1]

I'm planning on attending a log home class after Christmas at which I'm sure my questions will be answered. However, I do have a question for those who have built their cabins by using their own trees from their property. I always heard that there needs to be a curing/drying process that the logs need to go thru before you can use them to build your home. Is this correct? If so, how can there be articles about a 9 week log home? I would think after 52 weeks the house would have gaps between the logs from the logs buckling and twisting. What am I missing?

-Thanks, Ryan

[gunner2pilot]

Hello, rybal1 - welcome to the forum. Though I've not yet built, I have taken the class. Once you do take the class (get to one as soon as you can if you are serious about building a log home yourself) you will have your question answered. I, too, had many questions (and still have some) but the class answered so many. Short answer: No, no curing necessary. Those people who told you about drying/curing are misinformed, ignorant, or just naysayers. Remember: "Obstacles are what we see when we take our eyes off the goal." Hope to see you in the Members' Forum soon.
- Ken

[Basil]

I don't remember the 9 week log home article, but I have built my house. I built with green logs that had only seasoned long enough for me to get them peeled. Peeling took over 2 months, btw. I stacked my logs and put a roof on, which took about 10 months due to my complicated layout. I then built a deck and started the interior, including upstairs. After the logs had been stacked for about 2 years, I started chinking. The logs seasoned where I stacked them. They are pinned in place so tight that they can't buckle or twist. I couldn't have started chinking any sooner than I did because I was working on other parts of the home, and chinking comes last anyway.

Drying the logs is not necessary for this type of building style. It IS necessary for chinkless and notched corner styles, which are the majority of log homes built. If you built your home in 9 weeks and moved in, yes the chinking would probably gap. But if you can build a home from trees that you felled and get it done in 9 weeks, you're more of a man than I am!

[Simple Mind]

gunner2pilot, just curious who you fly for? I live in western WA and commut to JFK for B6.

[rreidnauer]

I just want to clarify Ken's statement (and reiterate Basil's) that the use of green, unseasoned logs only works in the construction method taught by LHBA. All other construction methods do require drying/seasoning before they can be used.

So in most cases, what you heard was true, except for here, where the use of green logs is somewhat encouraged for certain aspects of construction.

[greenthumb]

Basil, this is the article about the 9 week log home:

http://loghomebuilders.org/9-week-log-home-0

This topic has come up recently, there might be a few more answers to the original posters question here:

http://loghomebuilders.org/nine-week-log-home

IIRC, Skip's home in Monroe was built with green logs- and they have shrunk over the years. There are indeed some gaps between the mortar and logs- but it is purely aesthetic. When I took the class last year, it was in the 40's outside- and you could not feel a draft, even if you stuck your fingers in the gaps! If you didn't like the look of the gaps, you could always go back and 'rechink'(I think Skip figured he had better things to do with his time than 'rechink'). The techniques for doing this are covered in class, as are the techniques for chinking that allow for easier touchups. ; ) There is also a special method for insulating the walls that prevents air leaks. It's all covered in the class.

[Basil]

So the home wasn't done in nine weeks, just the shell for a 27X27 with roof. OK, I'll buy that. That can be done if you have time away from work and the willingness to really work hard. I bet they let the house sit and "season" for a while before chinking...

[gunner2pilot]

Gemini - MD11. akguy_1@hotmail.com

[greenthumb]

LOL Basil, you're in those finishing stages that seem to eat up an immeasurable amount of time, right? Hope things are going well up your way!

9 weeks is quite an accomplishment, especially considering they cut the trees AND peeled them in that time. I have to point out that a few members have even put them up faster, using heavy equipment.

[Basil]

The real time goes into building the roof, not stacking the logs if you are using heavy equipment. If I had kept my equipment non-stop, and not worked, I could have had my logs up in six weeks. that includes both ridgepoles. If I had just built a square box like most do it would have only taken 4 weeks probably, and that's working entirely alone. I only had occasional, drop in for a couple of hours help the whole time I was stacking logs. My roof took me MONTHS because there is so much of it. I'm still working on sections of porch roof now.

Yea, I'm in the finishing stages now-getting ready to drywall, trying to get the blasted electricians to show up every once in a while, putting in the downstairs ceilings, etc. It seems to drag forever, but it's much more fun than straddling the ridgepole in november to attach rafters.