Leg Shell

[SteveSch]

Hello,

I plan on attending the class but am curious.

I own 5 acres with power. No water or septic. I want to build a small shell. Maybe 20' or 30' square. If it goes well I will add a second story. I can get water and septic later I just want a shell now. I can finish the inside at some date in the future. This will be my small test building.

After the logs are dropped off how long should it take someone, with one helper, working fairly steady to peal the logs and stack the walls of a shell this size, build the shell? How much time for a simple cheap roof?

Is it feasible for 2 guys to do a shell of this size in 1 or 2 months or would 3 or 4 be more realistic? How long would it take you and a friend having very little knowledge of log homes?

I am just trying to get an approx time line. I have read on the site about how some home shells were put up in a matter of weeks and others have mentioned MUCH longer time frames. I understand that a 7,000 sq ft home is going to take much longer than a 400 sq ft shell. I just want to get an idea.

Thank you,
Steve

[Basil]

What type of logs? When were they cut? How many courses of logs? How are you lifting your logs? What pitch is the roof? What roofing material? How are you insulating?

As you can see, there are many variables. If your logs are winter cut, softwood species, being lifted by a skytrac, going up for twelve or fourteen courses, with a 6/12 pitch to the fiberglass insulated roof with metal panels, working weekends, afternoons, and some days off, and weather permitting, you could be under roof and be well on your way through putting in floors or other work in 4 months. But there are so many variables that it's impossible to answer precisely. A 25 X 25 shell being built with a skytrac and two people with plenty of time (no jobs) will go up very fast. The roof will slow you down a little. I built my shell (36x36) in about a month, this includes the ridgepole support logs, ridgepole, and a 20x30 "bump out" addition on the back. But my 12/12 pitch roof took me several months of attaching rafters, sheathing, tar paper, shingles, insulation, interior finishing...

Hope this answer helps some-

[SteveSch]

Thanks Basil,

That answer helps a lot. It gives me an idea.

There will be 1 guy, me, full time and a helper when needed. The helper may be there full time for the first week or three.

Thanks again for the answer.

Steve

[2 cents]

Hmmm.... leg shell... reminds me of those pantyhose my mom used to buy that came in the little plastic egg, lol/
(they were called L'egg, i think)

but seriously, let me try to give you an estimate based on our experience....

As far as i can figure it we've spent 54 days working on our project, a 14x14 log shed, and we have the log walls up (15 courses) and 2 RPSLs, and will put up the Ridge Pole next weekend.

My husband and I are doing this by ourselves for the most part so far. Also we are only able to work weekends, so I only counted the weekend days (sat/sun) in my 54-day estimate.
We started last July peeling logs. We also spent a couple weekends to put in a water line ("city" water to a yard hydrant) and an electric meter.
In the summer/fall we were able to work on it both saturday and sunday. Of course we had to spend time to set up a tent for camping each time, since we don't have a camper, and it is a 2-hour drive each way, so we lost some time with setup, travel time, etc.
Starting mid-November we were only coming out for saturdays, through the winter. (we had some heavy snow this winter which slowed us down a bit as well.) Soon we should be back to working both weekend days, and will no longer have to bring a tent!
Anyway, in addition to peeling & treating all our logs, and putting in water/electric, we also dug holes for our foundation piers by hand, with shovels, and built our own pier forms. We had a manual rebar cutter, and block and tackle to lift the logs. Oh, and we also had to have a driveway and homesite excavated, that took an extra week. And recently we are starting to get logs delivered for the house we are building next...
So there are little things here and there that have taken time away from the actual building process.

It has taken us longer than we thought, to get the shed done, with the various other things that needed to be done.... but when I look back and count the actual time we spent working on it, we really did get a lot done for that number of days.

I really envy anyone who is able to take a whole month or two and just work on building... you really do get a momentum going and it's often hard to pack up and go home, and then unpack and get going the next time.. we always have to think, OK, now where were we??
But having 2 people seems to be a really good team, and I think a 3rd person would often be really helpful to have, but I don't think you'd really need any more than 3 or 4 people at once, from what I've heard from others building.

Hope that helps!
2 cents

[panderson03]

We have just over 4 acres in west central Minnesota. We've had it for several years and have already done some preliminary work. So far we've completed the road (which will need reinforcing before the log trucks roll in), have well, septic (holding tank which will need to be modified with drain field before we build), 200 amp electric service, phone line.

we're signed up for the class at the end of May.

our log cabin will be walkout basement, main floor with loft. 35x35. lots of windows facing the lake (will have to figure out if/how we can get around the 30% limit!)...covered in class?

we plan to start the dirt work (including digging the basement, digging to modify the holding tank, grade to make a place for the logs) summer/fall of 2010.

Spring of 2011, we'll do the log work, roof and get it weather-tight. I expect we'll spend all of 2012 finishing the inside!

VERY much looking forward to class!

[SteveSch]

Hmmm.... leg shell... reminds me of those pantyhose my mom used to buy that came in the little plastic egg, lol/
(they were called L'egg, i think)


Gee, I wonder what I had on my mind at the time? LOL

Thanks for the info.
Steve