Free Logs - How Realistic Is This?

[Cy]

Techniques for obtaining free logs are supposed to be discussed in the class.....but after reading a lot of the discussion threads, I see that a lot of people are paying thousands of dollars for logs. How realistic is it to obtain free logs? Has anyone actually pulled this off?

[StressMan79]

I am thinking of buying some land that borders National Forrest. I will keep you updated.

That being said, if I pay $100/log, thats really not that much. Say you need 90 logs, that's 9k. Even with my scrounging, this will be the least of my worries, as my roof/foundataion will be much more than this.

-Peter

[Yuhjn]

Free logs is indeed covered in class.

Without going into all the class info I'll tell you that obtaining free logs is not impossible, in fact if you live in the right areas of the country it's quite easy.

But even if you get "free logs" you generally have to pay someone to cut them down for you. Then you have to pay someone to transport them to your property.

So basically "free logs" should not be confused with "free logs, free log felling, and free log delivery".

Finding a "free" way to get a stack of 100 logs onto your property is going to be very hard unless you own a logging truck and are an experienced logger. (LHBA recommends you always pay a professional to cut down trees for you, it's one of the few parts of the process they recommend against DIY)

Now in class they will indeed cover a variety of ways to get the logs themselves for free.


Hope this helps clear things up.

[Klapton]

The only TRULY free logs will be the ones on your own property that Al Gore will let you cut down. Yuhjn told you pretty much everything else though. I know at least one member finally managed to get his free "houselogs" from uncle sam recently. I forget who though. Hopefully they will post here. But the reality is, though, that most folks do end up paying for theirs.

[Yuhjn]

One more thing, in addition to Klapton's recent comments, is that even if you have trees on your own property that will work as house logs, that the LHBA still recommends you bring in a logger to drop them for you. You can skid them across your property yourself but if you dont have experience felling trees with a chainsaw, it's extremely dangerous and you should probably have a professional do it for you.

So even in that case, you're likely to incure some costs.

But even though you'll probably have to pay SOMETHING to get logs onto your property, compare 10k for logs against what you'll pay for the stick-frame version of that with insulation and siding and sheetrock... 10k for house logs is CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP!

If you've got logs on your property you can have someone saw them down in a couple days. You end up with a huge pile of house logs for a couple hundred bucks or so.... that's not free but it sure is close.

[ChainsawGrandpa]

Ya know, it just depends.
For a few dollars and some fuel I had a lot more Grand fir and Engleman Spruce than I could
ever begin to haul. They rolled out the red carpet for me.
I went back less than a year later and the door was practically slammed in my face.
The situation is always changing. Depends on weather, rules, what is being cleared, where and when,
how badly they need fire breaks, beetle kill removed.... Seems like nothing is constant. shopping for
logs is not like going to Walmart. More like an Easter egg hunt. Prepare to have some fun exploring,
and hunting, and dickering. I found a great price on house logs several years ago. Today I can go
back to my contacts and may be turned away, or even get them for much less.

You may be disappointed if you want to write a check and have discount logs delivered on such-and-
such a date. If you love the art of the deal, and the journey more than the destination, and you have
a semi loose time window then you could have a lot of fun, and get a free to cheap price.

Sometimes the logs are free, sometimes very pricey. If you're not happy with the deal look elsewhere.
You may find a much better deal.

-Rick

[dvb]

I have about 50 logs peeled and ready to stack as soon as I can complete the foundation. Footers are poured and walls are being formed up.
I have not paid a cent for any log yet. My wife and I have worked our butts off getting them down and peeled. I am sure that when we build our second log home I will look into buying logs like most everyone else. I think a few thousand spent on logs will be a good deal after all of the work we have done to get these logs. But then who knows???
Dean
LHBA Class of Feb. 2006
Best investment of my life.

[Basil]

Yea, it's easy to underestimate how difficult it is to get a tree wrestled down, bucked, hauled, etc. In the end I think, IMHO, it's cheaper to pay somebody else than it is to do the work yourself.

[akemt]

I can get free logs here...already went through the paperwork but haven't actually filled any out since we are still trying to sell our house and thus don't have land, etc. The thing is, we'd have to pick out the trees in the forest, fall them, and pay to transport them. We'd probably end up paying a bit since we don't live that close to the forest we'd have to pick them from. We'd have some barging and trucking costs (we're on an island), but the price of that is insignificant comparitively.

[bkleber]

Cy (and everyone else who is interested),

I've seen all the comments on this thread and how if you're not doing the work yourself, you'll probably end up paying *somewhere* along the line. Someone mentioned $10k for house logs - and that was jsut for labor and delivery, not for the rights to the wood itself. I spent about $18k for what amounted to about 120-130 logs, suitable for building a 2.5-story 30x30. Along the way, I learned so much about getting logs that if I had known at the beginning of the process what I knew at the end, I probably coulkd have gotten all those logs for under $2k.

As everyone has already said... if you're lucky enough to get the rights to the logs for free, you need you pay someone to cut them down. If you can get them cut for free, you need to pay someone to load them. If you can get them loaded for free, you need to pay someone to deliver them to your land.

I learned several things when I was clearing my log field (before my project got canceled) and having logs moved to it:
-First, that the guy who I hired to cut down a bunch of trees for me had just finished cutting down a few hundred BEAUTIFUL pine trees and shredding them into mulch for disposal. And so if I had talked to him about why I needed him to cut down my logs, instead of just hiring him for the job, I could probably have acquired as many of those 200 pines as I wanted, for just the cost of loading and delivery, minus whatever the person who hired the logger for the job had already agreed to pay for disposal
-Second, that the folks that I hired to rack up my logs, and turn them from piles into log fields, often get hired to clear land, and that again, the cheapest way to dispose of the logs is to shred them. Since that company owns the dumpster truck instead of having to rent it, they jsut load up the truck with logs and drive it to the wood chipping place, which pays them maybe a dozen bucks a ton. The person I was talking to said that a really full load of logs could net *maybe* $300 in cash. I said that I'd happily pay them $350 a load if I needed more trees - with the right to request their biggest and best - and that deal was sealed on the spot. (She said they got about $400 a load for hardwoods, because of their weight, and I said I'd go for $450 for those. Again, instant deal. And the same company had one of those portable sawmill-on-rails setups - i was going to hire them to get truckloads of hardwoods and cut them up into the hardwood flooring (2x6 TnG, or whatever was the most cost-effective to do) - for a price of only a few cents per board foot.)

The moral of the story, at least for me, is that whatever you're looking for, someone else is in the process of throwing it away, so go find the trash man for that particular product and make friends with him. In this case, in that part of Virginia, Pine trees are considered weeds, and are destroyed at every opportunity. Land-clearing firms, tree-removal specialists, small-time loggers... they're all being hired by homeowners year-round to get rid of trees and dispose of them, and it can take almost nothing to get them dumped on your land instead of at the shredding mill - and that's *AFTER* all the other stuff has been paid for by someone else.

As it is now, I am probably going to have to pay someone to shred my 130 logs, because my project had to be canceled, and now I have log fields that have to disappear. None of the nearby LHBA members have expressed interest in the logs - chances are that the same folks that racked them up for me will haul them away to the pulp mill, and get about $300 a load for them. Now that's irony.

[vlapostolle]

crazy though but what would it cost to put them on a train to somewhere they don't have much timber to cut for cheap?

[rustbucketbingo]

Cy (and everyone else who is interested),
As it is now, I am probably going to have to pay someone to shred my 130 logs, because my project had to be canceled, and now I have log fields that have to disappear. None of the nearby LHBA members have expressed interest in the logs - chances are that the same folks that racked them up for me will haul them away to the pulp mill, and get about $300 a load for them. Now that's irony.

Where are we talking about in Virginia? I'm in the Shenandoah Valley (near Harrisonburg) and I may be a few months from having some land.

Even if I couldn't get your logs, I'm definitely interested in picking your brain.

And I'm curious why your project is canceled. You can get me at joel dot west at gmail dot com.

EDIT: And has anyone addressed the fact that we can't send PMs or see the posters' locations on the left of their posts?

[Cardiff]

Benjamin,

I am wondering about your logs. Where are you located?

[bkleber]

Cardiff,

My logs are located in Louisa, VA, just a few minutes from Lake Anna. Ping me at benjamin.kleber@gmail.com with where you're building - that's by far the best way to get in touch with me.

[bkleber]

Joel,

I'll toss you a private email detailing the story as it stands now. I'd be very glad to share with you everything I've learned so far - I hope that it will help you make good purchases and work efficiently!

[Cy]

I'm glad to see a lot of VA people on this board. I'm in Abingdon, VA (just outside of Bristol).

[chadfortman]

Look, listen and learn

I think there is about 3 ore 4 of us here from va.
I chated to 2 people i know of and meet one guy and his family a few times.

[lisaandmark]

Our logs were free. Mark spent two weeks cutting down Ponderosa Pine and skidding logs with an old Wagoneer. We then had a neighbor who was a log hauler haul them out for us for beer & gas. Pretty good deal. The land where we got the logs was owned by a friend who actually wanted his place thinned out. Mark made sure he left everything in good shape, neat slash piles, etc.

[GT.]

Here are two examples of cheap logs

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb300/domostroi/StandingPineTreesforHarvest-Logs_12.png

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb300/domostroi/StandingPineTreesforHarvest-Logs-1.png?t=1221710950

and

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb300/domostroi/---WhitePineLogs---_1221713349362.png

These logs are short and good for me, because I am going to build house with short logs using some of LHBA techniques. Short logs are easier to find for free (from tree services e.g. or land owners) and work with.