Soil Type Concerns

[driftwood47]

I've read through the forums going back a year or so and have not seen this concern addressed. I recently stumbled upon this site and have been convinced of the Butt and Pass method and plan to take the next class that is offered. My wife and I already own a piece of land, but I'm concerned the soil type may not be able to handle the weight of a Butt and Pass log home. I don't know anything about soil types, so obviously we'll at some point get an engineer out there to address our concerns. The land is in north central Michigan and sandy. I dug a test hole the other day and hit the water table at 54 -56 inches. I'm told the frost line here is 42 inches. The soil was sand all the way down and I quit digging once I hit water. Obviously not planning a basement, but I wonder if sandy soil can handle the weight of a butt and pass log home. Assume I build a 35X35 log home using the stock plans I've seen advertised on this site with a metal roof. Also, is the high water table an issue? We've already had a perc test and knew before purchasing that we would need a mound septic. Will the pier foundation work? Would a traditional poured foundation be better?

Thanks so much for your help, hopefully the land we already own will work for this project.

[Shark]

I would say after you take the class & decide where/how big etc you want to build, then find a good soil engineer to test your building location. That should give some good information that a foundation guy &/or engineer can use to ensure your foundation will support the weight of the house.

[driftwood47]

I'm not asking for anyone to bless my soil type as OK, it's a given I'll need a soil engineer to sign off once I have the class knowledge an I'm ready to get started, just looking for anyone that might have general knowledge in this area or know of butt and pass log homes built in MI in sandy soil. Practically all of MI is one big sandbar so intuition tells me it can be done, I'm just trying to find out if my situation has the potential to possibly require special piers/footers..etc thereby potentially driving up the construction cost.

[Shark]

Here's one member in Michigan
http://www.thehilltoplodge.com/

There was another in Michigan, but they sold the cabin, not sure if the new owners have a website or not?

[2 cents]

not in MI, but... we are building in WA and have a "sandy loam" type soil.
interesting story, our foundation guy was certain we would need 2000 psi soil to put our foundation on, but our engineer designed it for 1500 psi.
this is for a larger 40x40 lhba log home.
foundation guy went ahead and had our soil tested and it's 1400 psi (which is actually fine since we are somewhat overbuilding already).
we went ahead and had him put a few inches of crushed gravel down though (for overkill).
we have a rather high water table as well but it should not be an issue. just doing some drainage and waterproofing.
we can't do pier block foundation for the house due to seismic requirements, but will do a perimeter crawlspace type foundation.
your foundation will be beefed up to accomodate the weight of the logs, no matter what type of foundation you go with.
maybe get your soil tested ahead of time so you know what you are working with? then get an engineer to sign off on your house plans, and know you have a safe design.

[driftwood47]

Shark,

I looked at your blog, nice looking log home! Earlier in your blog posts you had some pictures of the logs being delivered and mentioned they were from the UP of Michigan. Do you mind me asking how much the logs cost, what type of logs you used and the cost to ship to your location in IN? I'm a good bit closer to the UP so shipping should be less. Also it appeared from the picture the logs arrived already de-barked. Was that a large expense to order them that way?

Thanks!

[WillandHelen]

If you want to get an idea of what you will need, just look around you. Look at what they are doing on new construction. See if the soil is the same and what they are doing. That is the best "general idea" you could probably get.

[driftwood47]

WillandHelen,

Intuitively your recommendation makes sense, my thought was the considerable extra weight of a butt and pass log home would make the other new construction in the area like comparing apples to oranges. Normally probably not a big deal if the ground is hard, but maybe it is a big deal with sand. Also, I may not have a good grasp of what a traditional stick built home weighs in comparison to a similar sized butt and pass log home. I'm sure the answer is..."it depends".