Has anyone built a LHBA home in NEW YORK?

[RedbloodedAmerican]

Has anyone built a LHBA home in NEW YORK?? If so, could you give some info on some of the legal issues you had to deal with? I'm sure it's not as simple as in most states!!!

[Shark]

I'm pretty sure there is at least one member currently building in NY, & there are a few other newer members that took the class & are getting ready to.

Maybe one of them will chime in.

[ny_log_home_dreamer]

I am taking the class 5/26 & 5/27 2012. Where I live (near Plattsburgh, NY) you can build with rough cut anything as long as you sign a waiver stating your understand the potential consequenes of not building with stamped lumber. So I am syched. We have lots of cedar (not sure if it's big enough to build with), but can certainly be used inside or other places for finish work. Have lots of good sized red and white pine. Also have lots of maple. We're hoping to saw most of our finish materials. I have access to a portable saw mill and shop smith from my father-in-law. If anyone from NY is building or will be building I would be willing to help to gain the experience. Can't wait to take the class!

[blane]

It's no big deal to have your logs graded. When I did mine it cost $340.00 to grade everything. Logs and timbers and it may help to have those reports if you ever wanted to sell.
I am taking the class 5/26 & 5/27 2012. Where I live (near Plattsburgh, NY) you can build with rough cut anything as long as you sign a waiver stating your understand the potential consequenes of not building with stamped lumber. So I am syched. We have lots of cedar (not sure if it's big enough to build with), but can certainly be used inside or other places for finish work. Have lots of good sized red and white pine. Also have lots of maple. We're hoping to saw most of our finish materials. I have access to a portable saw mill and shop smith from my father-in-law. If anyone from NY is building or will be building I would be willing to help to gain the experience. Can't wait to take the class!

[WNYcabinplannin]

NYLHD-
you're not alone! There are many of us New Yorkers- but The ones I know are here in western NY mostly. I'm in Naples, NY. Bill is is Rush, NY. Stargazer is in Hamlin. There are a few in central NY. a few building in northern PA. I had to look on a map where Platttsburgh is- and looks like you're closer to Montreal than to the Rochester area. I'd be happy to show you ours if you drive out some day. There are a few canucks that might be close to you. Once you take the class- you'll have access to the Members' side of the forum (where it's really at!!) and we even have a google member map that many members have registered into. Zap me in a month when you've taken the class!
I was just in Vegas- go see the Cirque du Soleil show 'Ka', amazing ;)

[ny_log_home_dreamer]

WNYcabinplannin
Thanks so much for posting your reply. Thank you so much also for your willingness to show us your home.
I was beginning to fee like I was the only NY'er to attempt this crazy stunt! I will definitely look you up after I have taken the class. I will post something on this thread. My wife and I and our 2 year old daughter are always up for a drive. We have some other friends out that way. Maybe we could make a long weekend of it. Stop to see you place and then on to visit our friends. Is that a book in your post? Something you recommend log home builders to read?

[BoFuller]

It's no big deal to have your logs graded. When I did mine it cost $340.00 to grade everything. Logs and timbers and it may help to have those reports if you ever wanted to sell.

Blane, how do you go about finding someone who grades?

[blane]

TPI does grading all over the US. You can find the numbers in your book from class or see this web site for more info.
http://www.tpinspection.com/contactus.html

Blane, how do you go about finding someone who grades?

[WNYcabinplannin]

Is that a book in your post? Something you recommend log home builders to read?
Ha! not a book, that signature picture is from my daughter's game 'Apples to apples' and I was just thrilled when that came up out of the deck of hundred of cards...
Take a post class / late spring/early summer trip and you guys can call me and even camp out at the cabin. I might be finished enough to sleep there in style. If not, the woodstove is rocking, the septic is in, the well is in. I'm dried in from outside and just about to line up all the dominoes towards finishing the inside. Enjoy the class. You'll be surprised to see how many other LHBA'ers there are around you, dreaming, planning, building or done.

[ny_log_home_dreamer]

I was telling one my co-workers about taking this class. He laughed asking why I would fly nearly clear across the country 12 hours to take a class on log home construction. I mentioned the true log, but and pass method. He said "it's going to be like a seive, how are you going to keep all the heat from escaping through the chinking? Well that got me thinking. Seeing how I am going to be building in very upstate NY, near the Canadian border with temperatures in the winter well below zero and not making it above zero for days at a time sometimes, I thought, well he has a good point or at least something to think about.
So how does one insulate the gaps between the logs? Is this going to be a problem for me in upstate NY? I am 98% sold on this style of building from all of the reading I have been doing here the last couple of days. I even searched the forums for "insulating between logs". Saw some posts, but nothing that clearly explained how this is accomplished. Saw lots about the bigger the log the better the R value up to a certain point. Can someone provide me with a clear plan for insulating the gaps? I would think simply filling the gaps with mortar would not be a great insulation approach. I like the idea of the mortar being breathable to prevent water, if it gets in, from sitting between the logs. But I like the idea of heating my house with wood (as little as possible) and still being roasty, toasty warm on those cold January nights in upstate NY.
If this topic has been discussed in detail on another public thread, please point me there.
Thank you so much!!

[loghousenut]

"You'll never be too hot or too cold in a properly built log home"
Skip Ellsworth

I've seen it over and over again. It works. Take the class and don't worry about the teenie things that have already been figured out. Trust me, it works and it is simple enough to learn in class. The part that makes it difficult is explaining it here and answering the dozen questions from all directions. In class you'll learn it a step at a time in proper order and it works.

You won't be building a trailer house, you'll be building a log home. There's a difference.

[Cruiser]

...what LHN said...and there are homes in Canada & all the way to Alaska, all toasty warm :) Take the class!

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[ny_log_home_dreamer]

Loghousenut and Cruiser,
Thank you for the replies! I am sure it will work. It will nice to prove the nay-sayers wrong when I do finally have a nice toasty home to live in, built with my hands and the help of friends and family. Can't wait to take the class!
LHN,
I see you live in Grants Pass, Oregon, what are the temperatures like there in the winter? Are you in a more mild place?

[Tom Featherstone]

Log Home Dreamer! This could be a handle for most here. Welcome!

Most of the questions you're coming up with now will be addressed in class. Have no worries about the insulating between the logs. I live in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and have similar winter weather it snowed here yesterday. We have a lot of wonderful Members close to you and as you've already heard have opened themselves to you.

I think just about every member here has similar "doubter's" to our common "Log Home dream"/ "reality" for many... Mostly due to the lack of knowledge of this method of building a log home and what the Members do after the class in total support in making it happen for so many.

The Instructors for the class have it down pat too as to their method of teaching it and imho is some of the best I've ever received on any topic. I'm also sure that members here with a much higher education level than me would also agree with that.

Dream ... of maybe where your log home will be. You've already taken a Hugh step by signing up for the class. Go there as a sponge to soak in every moment you have in class. I too had many questions before getting there so much time lost not absorbing all that I could have. Of the 90% or more of the questions asked in our class, the instructor would have to stop and respond "that will be answered in...." and it 100% was. The biggest offender's were not the "dumb blonde" please pardon me ladies, but mostly the "engineer" types... Sorry Guys! Just an observation, Love you too!

It was also hugh for my wife to also attend. We learned tons together! We met some Awesome people and started down a path that has opened up our horizons. Our Log Home Dream started over 33yrs ago this year for us. We're part way there and still learning how to Love every moment of it.

patience.... You'll have to ask Linda about that. Trust me on this, she knows all about it!

See you on the members side soon!

Tom

[ny_log_home_dreamer]

Tom,
Thank you for the encouraging words. I amazed at the encouragement and confidence I find in the members and non-members on this Forum. Thank you to all of you who are on the members side, and also spend time on the non-members side encouraging us newbies to go for it.

I am an IT (computer guy), so I have the analytical brain in me that allows me to be good at my 9-5 job, but makes we want to know every little detail and each step before I strike out on something like building a log home from scratch with nothing but tools that will fit in the truck of my car!!

I guess one good thing I have going for me is I am not en engineer and have just a little experience with stick built construction methods and techniques. I am not evev taking any floor plans, etc. with me. Just want to see if this building a log home from my own trees is something I can do. From the responses on this site, I am getting more and more confident that once I have the knowledge from the class in my hands, I will be able to do it.

Thanks again for all of the great encouragement!

[Timberwolf]

If you build it right, this will be one of the easiest houses you will ever heat. Even with my unheated shell, with plenty of places still needing sealing, and barely any gable insulation, I could easily heat the place all winter with a small contruction heater so I could work in a shirt.

Definately not a problem.

[WNYcabinplannin]

Ditto. TW and I built with big logs, and even the guys who've used 12" diameter logs would say that the thermal mass factor is amazing.


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[jrdavis]

hey dreamer

I too, am an IT guy. Don't worry about the analytics. once you see the strength, you'll be trying to figure out what you can "get away with" :)

one of the BEST things I've done was to build a playhouse for the girls (in process).
My wife didn't go with me 13 years ago when I took the class, but she asks A LOT of questions like "Why......."

I have learned quite a bit from "mistakes" i'm making on the playhouse.
Welcome to the gang.

JD