Pine trees as logs

[Pitstop]

Hello my name is Chris

My family owns land in Montana and all the locale trees are Pine, is this a suitable species to use as logs for a cabin?

Is there more prep using pine?

Also can you use trees that have died from bark beetles, as in our area there are a ton of them?

Thanks for anyones time in answering my questions.

Thanks Chris

[Pitstop]

Just as a note My 26 yr old son and I are trying to get the time for the September class. We both are excited about it. We have been talking about this foe awhile now,

Chris

[pinewood]

Hi Chris, my advise would be to stop talking and sign up now so as not to be disappointed when the class is full. Yes, you can use pine trees for your LHBA butt & pass log home build. Sounds like you have a great setup; land and logs. All the experienced LHBA member builders here will help guide the way for you.

~Dane~

[drummer boy]

I am in the same scenario. I have beetle kill and all the Pine trees needed to build our home. Pinewood is right, you gotta take the class. You will not be disappointed. I promise.

[B52Bohmer]

Where you from Pitstop? I'm up in the frozen north in Cut Bank. I'll be taking the class In a couple weeks and am very excited to do so. I had to almost pull teeth to get to go but finally after 7 years I get to attend. Good to see another Montanan in the mix. Just bite the bullet and go to the class! Sorry I got a little off topic, ha. Have a good one.

[Scoutman]

7 years!?!?! Waiting 5 months has been hell!!!

[destructoxvi]

Hey Chris,

I am taking the class in June. Back in April, I was pondering signing up for the class, made the decision and within the next 18 hours got on the computer and low and behold it was full. I waited, bummed out, for about 5 days then a slot opened up. It was meant to be. It took about 7 minutes to get it through the shopping cart and paid. I wouldn't hesitate.

I am moving to Kalispell on June 18th from Tucson, AZ.

[loghousenut]

Back to the standing dead pine question... Here's a shot of our ridgepole before we felled it. Was standing dead and we got a 53' ridgepole and a really cool center ridegpole support out of it plus firewood. Take the class and it'll be covered on day two.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/loghousenut/Our%20Home/The%20ridgepole/P1000696.jpg

[Pitstop]

Thanks for all the answers. We are signing up for the class.

B52 we are in the Lewistown area, but I am from Southern California, My father-in-law has had the property for over 15 years, He is building a conventional Garage/Workshop this summer I have to build the House.

I cant complain.

Pitstop

[Scoutman]

Lewiston is a great area. Used to hunt in the Roy area. Black Butte specifically.

[LogSurfer2]

Thanks for all the answers. We are signing up for the class.

B52 we are in the Lewistown area, but I am from Southern California, My father-in-law has had the property for over 15 years, He is building a conventional Garage/Workshop this summer I have to build the House.

I cant complain.

Pitstop

Hello Chris,
Nice to meet a fellow Californian attending in Sept.! My husband and I are signed up for Sept. and are just so excited, it will be hard to wait ALL summer! Can't wait to hear more about your land and I know you will not regret taking the class! You are way ahead of many of us....WAY AHEAD! We are searching for land in El Dorado county, but don't know if it's where we will eventually build. But for now it's our focus since we still have many working years ahead of us and need a place close enough to some jobs! Take care and can't wait to meet you in Sept.

Judy Rainey
San Jose, CA

[edkemper]

Logsurfer2,

Also check Cool, CA. Nice smaller area in El Dorado County.

[LogSurfer2]

Hey Ed! Long time no chat....LOL....yes we are still looking :-) I have looked in Cool, seems a little pricier, but then the pricing out there is all across the board. Obviously lots with utilities are quite a bit more. But just today, I spoke with a nice lady at the DOT who informed me, after I asked the right questions, that if we happen upon some land with an old or dilapidated home on it, I could avoid the TIM fee!!! Which is awesome, because the cheapest one is $15K and the most expensive one is like $42+K....CRAZY! So, if the lot already had a structure, we are not impacting the area, and therefore the fee won't apply. That fee would normally be paid along with the permits, so this can save us quite a bit before we can even start to build. Whew....now we just need to sit tight and wait for a nice "pink trailer" that's falling over....and hope to work a deal ;-)

[Dewey]

Back to the standing dead pine question... Here's a shot of our ridgepole before we felled it. Was standing dead and we got a 53' ridgepole and a really cool center ridegpole support out of it plus firewood. Take the class and it'll be covered on day two.

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t55/loghousenut/Our%20Home/The%20ridgepole/P1000696.jpg

...suffering from ridgepole envy looking at that pic.

[Pitstop]

Well hello folks I just came back home from a month in Montana cutting trees down to clear the area where my father in law is building his garage with living quarters. For our first time doing any logging we did pretty good. in the month we were there we cut down about 50 trees, slashed and burned all the slash also. Many of the logs would be great for a log cabin but we did not have the time to strip, nor a place to keep them , much less being able to move them. About half will get milled by the contractor the other half will be cut into firewood. I wish I had already taken the class i am sure I could have figured something else out. I know it doesnt sound like a lot of trees but for a couple of city boys we did alright. Not to mention that we got there just before Montana experienced a 100 year flood. The area we were in was hard hit. We were not able to work everyday. out of the 4 weeks we were there I think we only had about 2 weeks of good weather that it didnt rain all day. Most days it rained . I did take alot of good pics though. I talked to a custom log home builder in the area which was very helpful. He does the Swedish cope mostly. Very nice guy.
Hopefully next year will be our year to start the Cabin.
Chris