More Questions

[easyliving]

Hi all!
My wife and I will be attending the Jan. 19th class and we're trying to decide how to approach it all. I've at least learned from reading all your posts that a model to start off is a good idea and then maybe a smaller practice structure.

If I was to build a smaller structure say 20' X 20' to use as living quarters while buliding the house, does the class touch on building on a slab so that when the house is finally finished the smaller can be used as a garage?
Or would it be more sensible to build a metal building to use as the living quarters/garage until home is complete?

Thanks for a great site,
John & Theresa

[Basil]

Slabs are bad ideas for log homes. Moisture, closeness to the ground and termites, splash from the roof... I'm doing everything backwards, I'm building my garage after I finish my house. I'm going to have a poured foundation that is about three feet tall, and stack my logs on that. The slab will still be inside for parking, but the logs won't be anywhere near it. Enjoy the class!

[Klapton]

The class covers how to do butt and pass on a slab foundation. Be sure to raise your hand and ask about it if they don't bring it up though. In our class, they basically asked "Is anyone doing a full basement?" and "Is anyone doing a slab foundation?" etc. and covered it based on whether anyone was doing it or not.

If I was doing it, I'd do a footer and full foundation, like I was going to have a crawlspace, and pour the concrete floor after the walls were up. Does that make any sense? The reason is, you definitely want your logs at least 18 inches from the ground to guard agains both termites and rot, no matter what the structure is used for, or what type of foundation / floor you put in it.

[huffjohndeb]

I built my 10 X 12 shed on slab. But only the front is made of logs due to a huge amount of snow that accumulates on the back and sides. My slab is 5 1/2" thick on a 2" gravel base and my first log sits on top of a pressure treated 2X6 on the flat (served as Form Board for my pour). So my 1st log is only 8"-9" off the ground but no termite worries in the Rocky Mountains. Would I build my house this way? No. The sides and back of my shed are made of metal because the snow piles up there. Bear in mind that I couldn't get a concrete truck to my building site and I wanted to build as fast and cheap as possible with out electricity using only a chainsaw, drawknife, six 18V batteries for a 1/2 drill, mini circular saw, saws-all and two chargers (160 W) that I ran off of my truck battery using a 200W inverter. I also have a generous over hang on my roof all the way around the building. I checked on the "shack" just before New Years, the property has about 2 feet of snow on it but no snow is piled against my logs due to the way I built my roof and the prevailing winds that blow the snow away from my logs rather than on them.

I'll also be in the the Jan 19th class I'll bring pictures of my property and "shack" with me. I'd post a picture of the "Shack" here if I knew how to.

[easyliving]

Thanks folks, we currently live about 45 miles from our lot and are in the process of selling the home of our dreams but getting rid of our nightmarish mortgage so when we do sell we have to decide on whether to rent an apartment here in town while we build the house or to start smaller and use as living quarters. We'd love to be living on the lot so we can do a little work on it each day so an RV, metal building or smaller log structure is our options. Obviously building a smaller log structure first will be good practice as well but is it the best choice?

Very good suggestions, we're definitly thinking about it.

See you at the class huffjohndeb and look forward to seeing those pics.

[pinecone pam]

Well so nice to have you join us! Your idea to build a smaller structure first is a great idea. It will get you on your property. Which if you are like most of us, will be having to do this project while tying down full-time jobs. Being onsite is huge. All those little projects make a house. Plan to be out there every night and weekends. Drive time is a waste. Skip it if at all possible. But do a realistic budget before you begin. Most folks don't realize how expensive just the roof alone can be, and 20x20 isn't much smaller than many of the houses we have built to live in. Also, many would not do this more than once. It's a huge amount of work! When you really look at it, just a little more work and you could be in your house! But get on your property. Some of us have lived in campers, 5th wheels, tents, mobiles etc. We purchased a disgusting 1976 66ft mobile home. Gutted it , cleaned it up, shopped for killer deals on carpet, linoleum etc. Made it inhabitable for my kids. We spent less than 9,000.00 total, purchase, move and set up. Then we lived in it for 2 years while we cleared land, fenced, and saved for the project. Then it took two more years to build the house. We were spending more than 10k a year in rent,so saved a bunch, and turned around and sold the trailer to another owner/builder for $6500.00 Not too bad. Also, the other comments to your post are correct. As you will learn in class, those logs need to be up off the ground.

[easyliving]

Thanks Pam, The thought of it being a lot of work for temperary living quarters did cross my mind and you helped us realize that so it's back to the drawing board. We'd do what you did and that is to find a cheap mobile home but eventhough there no county restrictions the person whom subdivided our lot, which was part of a 100 acre tract he then deeded it so we can't have mobile homes. I guess it's good in a way but sure does limit our options. I think if we build a metal building to live in or to even park an RV in we could get away with it, then we'd have somewhere to store our stuff as well. I don't think at our age we can live in a tent and come out alive, LOL.

Thanks,
John

[huffjohndeb]

You can buy a decent camper for less than it cost to build a another building. Do you have to hide the camper from the HOA or similar group? On my property the county allows us to camp for up to two years while we build. We will have to have a sanitary potty like a Port-o-let or porta-potty you know the attractive green or blue plastic portable outhouses like any construction site because my pop up camper does not have a potty in it. If you buy a camper with a bathroom you can drag it to an RV dump station when the holding tanks get full. We are lucky in that we can also take showers at the county rec center for $4 per day per family including a dip in the pool and a free cup of coffe so not a bad deal. My county is only one of two in colorado that have casinos so my county has lots of tax revenue. Now if I could just figure out a way to stay away from the casinos my cabin would already be done and paid for lol.

[easyliving]

We live in a HOA neighborhood now and it's ok but living in a neigborhood again in general is not what we thought it would be, so it's back to the country, YES!

Belive it or not, our lot is only 75 miles at the most from downtown Dallas but the entire county has just 34,000 approx. people in it. So needless to say it's a poor county and we won't have any problems building but it's the deed restrictions the seller put in thats limiting us. I think we can live in an RV if we have a house pad to show we're going to build, I'm not even sure who would inforce the deed restrictions if need be.

We have a few casino's in Oklahoma just an hour north but I've never been to it, I cant trust myself. We went to one in Shreveprt , LA several yrs ago and went with $100.00 and I left my debit card at home, we we're broke and on our way home in about an hour. They didn't build those fancy casinos by giving money away too often. What a racket!

[cowfire]

Yes, you absolutely can build a log home structure ( or log garage) on a full slab, in our county, it is pretty much required. You have lots of options though. RV or mobile or camper, sure those will work. Or you can build a garage, either from logs as this would be good practice, or stick built. If you wanted to get a smaller foot print, you could build a smaller garage with living quarters on top, or if the county doesn't like that idea, you could build it with one big open room (storage?) over it. Or build a smaller storage shed or agricultural shed. In my county 20x20 agricultural storage building= no permit needed.

[pinecone pam]

Where is your place? All of my family is north of Dallas. My brother is an owner-builder himself with a contractor father-in-law. They might have some ideas for these issues in your area. I ran into a fierce lawsuit when I bought this place. Seller finance. They had a timber clause that kept us from cutting trees. However, private use law allowed us to cut trees in the immediate building area and well site. There were issues about mobiles here that we were able to get around on termporary permits. Keep digging. You have rights as a landowner that sometimes are protected under private use and will still stand. I'd check with an experienced land attorney before I gave it up. And yes you can build on slab, but the idea is to keep the logs up off the ground at least 18" to keep the bugs and moisture away from them. Any plant life that grows up over them invites both. Soil houses all kinds of cooties. Keep them away from your logs. I'll be in Dallas sometime soon to see family. Maybe we'll have to get together.

[easyliving]

Hey Pam, we currently live in McKinney but our lot is near Leonard which is in Fannin county. We don't have any clauses concerning tree cutting and we'll have to for the driveway but there is already a nice clearing already there for a house pad. Our main obstacle is getting the driveway and water over a wet weather creek. We're not going to make up our mind on anything yet, we have to sell this house first so we'll keeep getting info and idea's from you all not to mention the class.

Just give us a shout when you'll be in town, be happy to meet you, we'll be in class this coming weekend though.

[Dennisa]

Hey Easyliving,
I noticed in your post that your property is close to Dallas. I am 25 miles east of Dallas in Forney. Nice to see someone who is so close. How much progress have you made with your property?

Just read your in McKinney.

Sorry learning to navigate this site.

[easyliving]

Hello Dennisa,
We're not far from you at all, my wife and I just returned from taking the class in Monroe. I just got to say it was a blast, there were a few folks from TX along with us as well, a family from the Denton area and a guy from the Austin area but everyone was great, it was a pleasure meeting them.

As far as our progress, we have a lot to do yet. We recently had some additional property line stakes put in so we don't make any mistakes with our road etc. Most of the property is so thick with trees it's tough to see how the lot lays, thats been about it up until now but we're eager as ever now.


John & Theresa

[Dennisa]

I can only imagine how excited you are to get started. Its nice to know someone who is so close, maybe my husband (Larry) and I can offer a hand when needed to gain the knowledge and experience.
My mother-in-law has 20 acres in Terrell (Kaufman Co.) and we want to build there. Unfortunatley there are no trees. May look a little odd a log house sitting there with no trees:(
As soon as the market settles down (if it does) we will sell our house and live out of our RV while building our new log home.

[easyliving]

We're in the same boat, we'll be putting ours on the market soon and hoping for the best. It'll work out, a shame what's happening with the housing market, I suppose we all knew it was coming. But hey! that's one of the reasons why we're here, to escape that mortgage phooey and living for a change.

Shoot Terrell is just a hop and a skip away (no pun intended) we'll be glad to help out as soon as we get some knowledge and experience, LOL.
But I guess everyone had to build their first one right? It will look great on your lot, and you have to plant some sometime, you could start some now and get a little head start.

You already have a head start, you've got the RV. We're still deciding on our living quarters situation, it may very well be an RV as well.

[Dennisa]

Hello John and Teresa,

My husband and I attended the class 2/16-2/17 and have almost completed the facial cosmetic things around our house to put it on the market. I have a friend who is a real estate agent and she has came to look at the house already. So hopefully in a week or 2 the "For Sale" sign can be placed in the yard.

So, where are you guys in your planning?

We have been trying to locate logs (not ready for them yet) just to get an idea of where they will come from and what the cost will be. We're thinking it will probably be in the Piney Woods area. So much to think about though!

Please drop me a line and keep in touch.


Dennisa

[spiralsands]

You know my house has never looked better. I'm still fixing it up for resale and just finished replacing half the windows myself. I have to update the hall bathroom and then once my daughter graduates from college next December, I go to sell. I feel like I have to sink some money into it to be competitive in this housing market. I'm doing all the work myself and getting some woodworking practice in too. Neat little custom touches that will hook a buyer. I'm thinking of building a Skip style door for the front! The closer that time comes, the more I am chomping at the bit to get up to my property.

I went to the class in January and since then, I feel like I'm on a mission!