Board and Batten

[John W]

This is another one of my 'there must be a reason' questions. I always thought I'd like whole logs all the way up to the peak of the house on both ends. But virtually all of the houses have board and batten above the log courses. Easier to put windows in, I'm sure, which most people seem to do. But is there a reason? Cost, speed? Seems like they would last forever under the overhangs up there.

[blane]

I would say it is just easier. I think some have used logs all the way up but I would not want to do it that way. Building a box ties all corners together but a triangle that is not tied at the corners would not be as structurally sound.

[loghousenut]

It's a bunch of hard labor that does not happen easily, especially if you're not erecting with heavy equipment. It's a bunch of extra chinking. It is really cool and I like it.

The way the roof of a traditional LHBA home is supported makes the gable ends non-structural. It becomes a great place for glass and can be framed as the rain or snow is pounding on your roof. If you do log gable ends you must stack them before the roof goes on and it is not the fastest part of the build. That can easily mean an extra winter hitting your logs before you get the roof on. That's an entire winter living with a spouse who is not sleeping in her/his dream home.

I did it once on a small alpine shaped log structure. As it turned out, the log gable ends were taller than the log walls. It ended up beautiful and, at the time, I thought I'd never do it any other way. I was a bachelor.

The log home that we are currently building, our dream/retirement home, will have nice, thick conventionally framed gable ends with a bunch of glass. I now appreciate the wisdom of the plain Jane LHBA style. Skip was right again.

[John W]

Thanks, guys.

[rckclmbr428]

you can do it like this, its not real log, but I'll never tell....
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk122/rckclmbr428/20x15/IMAG0333.jpg

[John W]

Looks cool, Rckclimbr. I like the look of logs all the way up. Looks more....permanent (?)...substantial (?) to me. Wish I still lived in VA, I'd ask to come and take a look at your operation. Lots of good things said about it in the forum.

[rckclmbr428]

where are you at now?

[John W]

I'm down in San Antonio, but want to build in upstate NY someday. As of now, that's, you know, about 2,000 miles worth of obstacle. I just don't want a log cabin where it gets 100 degrees all the time and there's never any snow. A cabin should be an escape (or permanent home) where it's cooler/comfortable on the porch, and it should be warm when there's three feet of snow outside. Just my ever humble opinion.

[ronwoodcraft]

The main reason that I know of for not using log gable ends is settling problems. As the log gables shrink and go down you get some serious problems in the ridge area. I have a book showing how some of the old timers using log rafters, would leave a wide gap between the rafter ends over the ridge log. As the gable ends shrink the rafters actually slide toward each other, rather than buckling upwards.

Hope this makes since. I started to take a picture of the illustration, but was unsure if I should because of copyrite reasons.

[ronwoodcraft]

I forgot to mention that the office of a company I worked for had log siding attached to the framed gable ends. Just some slabs from the same logs used in the building, and chinked. I couldn't tell the difference.

[spin05]

i did shingles on ours just to be diffrent..........

[loghousenut]

The main reason that I know of for not using log gable ends is settling problems. As the log gables shrink and go down you get some serious problems in the ridge area. I have a book showing how some of the old timers using log rafters, would leave a wide gap between the rafter ends over the ridge log. As the gable ends shrink the rafters actually slide toward each other, rather than buckling upwards.

Hope this makes since. I started to take a picture of the illustration, but was unsure if I should because of copyrite reasons.


Not so with the LHBA system. Settling of the walls, as well as log gable ends, is never an issue with the way we build. We do not use screw jacks on our upright logs either. No settling space above doors and windows and our doors always open and close the way they ought to. It is as simple as simple can be and it's one of the things that makes this system of building a log home so attractive to most of us.

It is all covered completely near the 8 hour point on your first day of class. You'll love it.

[rkissinger]

I forgot to mention that the office of a company I worked for had log siding attached to the framed gable ends. Just some slabs from the same logs used in the building, and chinked. I couldn't tell the difference.

Hmmmm, I'm thinking I've seen this method used somewhere!

[rckclmbr428]

thats what I did on the one pictured above