Building in Arkansas?

[MonkeyGirl]

Greetings All,

I was wondering if there are any builders here from Arkansas. I had a few questions about building in arkansas. How does the high humidity affect the building process? What type of logs are used here, I know we have a lot of pine but I don't know the species or if they would be sutiable for building. I have read about log homes being earthquake resistant (a plus with the new madrid fault kinda near) but what about tornados? Many times around here tornados just destroy everything, are log homes more or less suceptiable to tornados? I am wanting to build in central Arkansas but am rather nervous. I plan to take the class when I get my tax refund if there is one offered then.

Cheers,
Melissa

[mlr1968]

Attended Class March 25th/26th of 2006.
Hi and welcome to the forum. I know of at least one builder in Arkansas, can't remember who though. I think they may have a website also. As far as humidity goes we have a lot here in West Tn, also several builders in Mississippi, ALa, Ga and FLA much worse locations as far as humidity goes. Do not let the humidity factor bother u too much, the methods taught in class will help ease your mind on that subject. Pine would be a good choice, that is what I plan on building with lots of members use pine, but poplar would be a good choice for your local also. We have a member in KY who built his cool house out of poplar. As far as tornadoes, I would not have a clue but I suspect in general a log house would hold up better under these conditions then any stick frame house. With the butt and pass method taught by our LHBA (a little bias and with reason!!) which is by far the strongest method to build a log house, I would say IMHO it would hold up extremely well! Some one else may chime in with more experience on the tornado factor than I though, again welcome to the Forum!!

[Shark]

we were talking about this the other day....tornado's & log homes....

I came across a couple websites:

http://www.logassociation.org/resources/tornado.pdf

& this quote from the following website:
http://www.lhoti.com/article-7.php


"No log homes were mentioned in the report and I know of none that were in the damage path. However, the historic Tri-Cities tornado of March 18, 1925 did pass over many log homes. Subsequent research showed that these homes typically remained intact, losing only their roofs. All other homes were typically destroyed. Some of these log homes remain intact to this day. Local residents attributed log home survival to their spiked construction and heavy log walls."

can't find too much other info on it...

[Russell]

What part of Arkansas are you looking at to build in, over by Russellville? I live here in North West Arkansas, and feel confident that the climate is very similar to Oklahoma, but most major storm cells that cross over Tulsa, skip the corner of Arkansas in Benton county and move right into Joplin, MO area. And that goes the same with the river valley in Fort Smith. So any major storms, 9 out of 10 times will pass well above central AR. When I was with the Forestry Commission back in Georgia, their humidity was more than I get here. It just seems drier here. Plus there seems to be a bunch of sawmills in north central AR that supply logs.
Here is Arkansas Forestry link to Industry suppliers, ie Sawmills
http://www.forestry.state.ar.us/manage/inddirectory.pdf

[greenthumb]

I was just recently reading about the new madrid fault- I had no idea there was that much potential for earthquake activity in that part of the country. I don't know how tornado proof a log home is- but if you're really looking for tornado proof- and don't care about the style of a house- look into monolithic domes:

www.monolithic.org
www.itsa.info

Russell, what part of GA did you live in? I'm in middle GA- Thomaston. It definitely is more humid here than just a little farther north and west- Kentucky feels much drier to me. I can attest that southern yellow pine can take the humidity- if built properly. My dad built a saddle notch log home in the early 70's that has never been treated, stained, sealed or painted. The logs are bleached from the sun a little, but fine- and the techniques used weren't as good as taught in class.

I like your avatar- "Warning: Trespassers will be used for science experiments."

[MonkeyGirl]

I am very glad to hear that these homes can take humidity well, a lot of regular frame homes have mold and mildew and some warping problems. I've seen drywall that has made me sick to even look at.

I had thought that log homes would hold up well to tornados we have some very old ones near where I live and they seem to be in fairly good shape (considering they are probably over 100 years old). thanks for the links, very interesting reading.

Russell- Thanks for the forestry link it will be quite helpful. I would like to build in pulaski county. My dream job is in little rock and I am not willing to give it up for anything. I know that college station in pulaski county is very prone to tornados but for that matter there have been three in the last 10 years that have come within a mile of downtown little rock, and done major damage to the buildings where they hit. I guess they hit where they will. Everyone here has stories of funnel clouds that have traveled over their house and then demolished a house down the road from them.

Greenthumb- We arn't as worried about the new madrid in central AR but it is something we keep in mind. The last time there was a really big earthquake (in the 1800s) buildings fell down in central AR and the mississippi river ran backwards for a time. Although the "experts" keep saying we are overdue for an big earthquake, they have all been wrong on their pinpoint predictions. Ya know if it wern't for all of the destruction earthquakes cause they'd really be neat (but I'm weird like that)

It sounds like I need to take the class and get all of my questions anwsered as soon as possable!

Thanks everyone!

Melissa

[Russell]

I lived in Barrow county, in the town of Auburn, Ga. The forestry unit was Barrow. But, ya the southern Lobbly pine is a very good species of pine. the bark with stands flame very well and is able to be pushed over with a dozer with a nudge :)

[autoopener]

Hey Russell I live In your town and I'm digging my footing monday.Would you mind e-mailing me some contact info. so we could talk more about some tree conections you may have?

Autoopener@aol.com
Dexter

[Mark OBrien]

I'm not building in Arkansas but I did see quite a sight Sat. on US 65 just a few miles north of Conway, a tornado had apparently come through the area with its' usual grace and panache' and wiped out several large structures including a feed mill made from steel and several brick structures were severely damaged. In the midst of that destruction sat a log home, B&P style with some windows blown out but otherwise structurally intact. I mean to say that that storm took steel structures and brick as well, and took large trees right out of the ground with the roots intact but left that B&P log home with nothing more than minor damage. I was duly impressed. I couldn't stop for pics as the holiday traffic was pretty intense but it was a sight to behold.

[rreidnauer]

Look like The Three Little Pigs fairytale is gonna need a rewrite!

[Yuhjn]

Well, the pig in the story bought a KIT log home, which is why it blew down.

Had he taken the LHBA class and built butt-and-pass, his house would still be standing and he wouldnt have become wolf food. :)

Silly little pig

[Mark OBrien]

Rod, from what I've seen and read about what you're planning to build, there will be VERY few sticks in your home. I fully expect to see big meaty logs with a monster ridgepole and probable 500 more peices of re-bar than anybody else's home. Big Bad Wolf won't have a prayer getting into your abode....unless he was in disguise made to look like that motorcycle mechanic chick that had you and others breathing faster for a while! :)

[sathyan]

From one of my pal from arkansa,it is true that buildings are earthquake.resistant nut some are not withstanding severe tornados.
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sathyan
<a href="http://www.addictionlink.org/drug-rehab-center/arkansas" rel="dofollow">arkansas drug rehab</a>

[ziegler]

Hey Melissa...I'm just southwest of Mena in Octavia Okla. We will have gables done and floors finished by new year. Mark