Log house on Stilts?

[John W]

Hey all my log cabin guru new friends... I have a buddy with a lakehouse. He owns the two lots next to him and is thinking of building two cabins, one each for his kids. One lot is low, and for lake view purposes, he was just wondering if you could put a log cabin up on log piers. I told him I assume anything is possible, but log cabins are heavy. He's talking about small, one story type place. Anybody heard of anyone doing this? Personally, I think he should build a second level loft and deck and sit up there to look at the lake, build the cabin on the ground, but that's just me. He's always wanted a log cabin, you might see this guy at the class someday, with me even. We might be building those cabins together. I'll be practicing on his houses, mistakes on someone elses house. Also might discover I never want to do this again.

[StressMan79]

Indeed, anything is possible. suberged pilings are used to support the city of Venice (I believe alder works best under water). However, I can say from experience that things get slower and more tedious the higher you are off the ground. If I were to build a house on stilts, it would be stick framed, no question. Prolly on alder pilings every 8 ft or so. if you want a log home, your idea is far better. Oh, the other link about Alone in the Wilderness shows Dick's meat Cache, basically a cabin on stilts. It was built from 4" logs though. think how un necessarily heavy it would be built with 12-inchers!

[rreidnauer]

I could easily see this being done. If I were to do it, I would have three logs in each corner making up the corner stilts. One which would extend all the way up the inside corner of the wall logs, and the other two supporting the end of each wall from beneath.
Like so:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v328/titantornado/log_piling.jpg

[Cruiser]

I watched "Modern Marvels" last night and it was on wood. I talked quite a bit about pilings. They gave the example Peter gave about Venice and showed a modern build for a new school. They were driving pilings and then a concrete slab will be poured over the pilings and the school built on top of that. They said a single piling could support 35 tons...so yep, they will support a log home quite easily. Its the building up high on top of them that would be the real pain!

[spiralsands]

You should look at books on Adirondack cabins. Many are built on lake fronts.

Frances

[John W]

Excellent, thanks all!