OurLogHouse.com

[mcdonis]

A long time ago I found this site that was done by a Skip student. It seems that the updates stoped awhile ago and I was wondering if anyone had any updates on their progress.

[JeffandSara]

I just checked and it looked like the most recent photos were from this month. Hadn't looked in a while. They have some great progress, but of course it's covered in snow right now. Can't recall who they are, either, but hey, if you read this folks... house is looking good!

Sara

[spin05]

It looks to me in the begining they were building in the Skip style.I see thou that now there logs are coming off a semi truck already notched.So they must have gave up and went with a kit home.Too bad another soul lost!!!!!!!!!!!

[JeffandSara]

Hmmmm... good eye. I didn't look that close, I guess. I wonder why they'd switch? Speakjing from experience, there's certainly no advantage in either cost or ease of building to going with a notched log style. Interesting. Would still love to hear the story.


Sara :D

[rreidnauer]

Yea, how about that. Since there is no journal of their work, the only thing left to do is interpret the vast number of pictures they got posted. From that, it looks like they built a small Skip style cabin. Maybe they didn't feel up to a full scale project.

[JeffandSara]

Hi, Rod--

Spin's right, the house in the latest photos is notched (looks like swedish coped?), but their building techniques page http://www.ourloghouse.com/cgi-bin/olh.pl?00500 touts Skip-style butt and pass, stating coped seemed too labor intensive. Definitely a change of plans somewhere. Pretty-looking half-done house they have there, though. :D

Sara

[rreidnauer]

Yea Sara, I saw that page and the pics of the notched kit home. I was referring to pics of the Skip style like http://ourloghouse.com/cgi-bin/olh.pl?00320+326 that appear to have started in Feb. 2002. (and eventually completed)

Something happened. Maybe they hit the lottery and now get to sit back and watch it get built. (whether that be built right or not is unknown) :wink:

[JeffandSara]

Yup, Rod,

Went back and looked through the rest. You're right. Looks like a butt and pass shed, then a stick-built garage, then a butt and pass cabin, now the notched/coped house in progress. I remember the shed and the early work on the house, now that I look at the photos again. Looks like quite the compound. They've been busy the past couple of years, for sure.

Sara :D

[russ]

Hi everyone,

I communicated with the man quite some time ago (last year?) by email.

He told me at the time, that he had chosen to go with a full scribe home through a company out of B.C.

Simply because, at his property the prospect of manouvering 40 plus foot logs around by himself seemed like too much. But he did like Skip's method.

If I recall correctly he also got a good deal on the log package.

Russ

[kyle]

Yup, Rod,

Went back and looked through the rest. You're right. Looks like a butt and pass shed, then a stick-built garage, then a butt and pass cabin, now the notched/coped house in progress. I remember the shed and the early work on the house, now that I look at the photos again. Looks like quite the compound. They've been busy the past couple of years, for sure.

Sara :D

Happy New Year Everyone,

When this subject came up ealier I forgot to mention that the new photos showing a Skip style house looks an awful lot like Kahle's house. They must have visited his building site.

I'm curious as well as to why they are building a notched home. 2 weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit a local log home building site where they are using Superior Walls. They had just stacked the notched logs earlier that week when they arrived from BC. It looks nice but after attending the class I knew exactly what to look for and found so many things that will be trouble down the road. They had jacks everywhere and the window systems, augh. A lot more trouble, headaches, and not to mention $$$ than its worth. But hey, its America they can do what they want, except build a house without the building inspector butting in!

[vstrommer]

In case anyone is interested in the status of these folks and why they switched up from the LHBA method on the small building to the cope method they are using now:

I was very puzzled myself because their site is very detailed in the LHBA method and has been a great research tool for me to gain a basic understanding of what the LHBA method is. I noticed that their main house is nothing close to butt and pass. I e-mailed them because I was afraid they had encountered some flaw in the method. The response I received was that they felt the LHBA method was too difficult to use without a lot of help. They explained that they have contracted with some handcraft folks in Canada who are building the shell in Canada and then dissasembling it and shipping the logs to them for reassembly.

[rreidnauer]

.....they felt the LHBA method was too difficult to use without a lot of help.

Hmmmm, well, it does sort of sound like my original guess, more money than time. It goes to show how individual views differ. Someone recently just posted how much easier it is to build LHBA than stick framing, if I recall correctly. You can't blame them for not trying though. They do got a LHBA style shed.

[vstrommer]

[quote].....they felt the LHBA method was too difficult to use without a lot of help.


Hmmmm, well, it does sort of sound like my original guess, more money than time.

It seems to me that, given the superiority of LHBA butt and pass, I would prefer to contract labor to do the shell rather than completely switch up to preassembled cope. At least, doing their own assembly and finish work, they can control for quality in those areas. Building as much of the home yourself if definately the way to go if you can swing it.

The more I learn about current stick built practices, the more I am convinced that I need to build my own home not only for the economic reasons but also for sheer quality reasons. $500,000.00 homes in exclusive gated communities are built like trash these days. Those poor suckers are just being ripped off for the sake of bragging rights to a gated community. For that matter, practically all the homes being built these days are shoddy. Cheap, flimsy material. Slap-dash methods. Unskilled or wrongfully skilled labor. It's a quick-fix, throw-away society we live in.

Kit log homes are more expensive per sq. ft. than stick built and can be even worse quality.

I am really banking on LHBA being everything it appears to be and that I can be up to the task.

[rreidnauer]

Dredging up an old thread here, but I was just doing a little log surfing tonight, and came across these statements on Ourloghouse.com and thought it a bit unusual coming from a former Skip student. Any comments?


Cement and its various forms can do irreparable damage to log structures. It has most popularly been used as the sole ingredient in chinking, which in itself is historically inaccurate. Its density reduces uniform breathability throughout a structure, causing areas such as logs to become saturated with water - in effect taking in more water faster than it can release it.

Chinking should be flexible, and it should never be stronger than the material to which it adheres. By employing cement, a rigid, incompatible chinking is being introduced; the logs bear the full brunt of any seasonal movement and absorb the bulk of all water.

[JeffandSara]

Hi, Rod,

that's not "the gospel according to Skip", but lots of students don't agree with and/or choose to follow every aspect of Skip's methods, as is illustrated on this forum every day. : ) Personally, we felt that Skip was pretty much dead-on in his analysis and conclusions, but someone with different expectations and/or circumstances could certainly come to other conclusions, as these folks have. I've not been back to the site since this thread started, but I remember they'd done a lot of work on their home and property, and I hope that they're enjoying it in good health now that it's done! : )

Sara

[hawkiye]

Well it looks like they gave up and ordered a kit from what I can gather.

[logbuilder]

I am the person that has the ourloghouse.com site. I did go thru Skips class probably 6 years ago, did build a butt and pass cabin, and then went to the dark side and had someone handcraft a scribed house for me. Several reasons most of which are probably specific to my situation - none of which are about what method is better than another. It went on the ground 2 years ago (just the log shell) and I've been working on it, mostly on weekends, and it is probably 75% done.

My reasons were thus:

Hard to find enough logs to build a 2000 sq foot house
Remote building location and thus few friends willing to make a regular trip to help. Seems like they had a good time the 1st couple of trips and then it became work.
Limited time to devote to building (working full time in the city), only weekends
Ability to pay for a handcrafted shell


If you have questions, ask away although I really don't want to get into a debate on the merits of one technique vs another.

Robert

[huffjohndeb]

It sounds like you did the right thing for your situation. A handcrafted home in a much shorter time frame than it would be possible trying to go it alone. I would think that having a place to hang your hat is more important than spending every bit of your free time trying to build the hat rack so to speak.

Do you feel that taking Skip?s class has been beneficial in your chosen method to build a home?

An old saying is that the journey is better than the destination. But I believe that destination is more important than the journey if the right path was taken to suit or own individual path to your destination. To me there is no wrong or right way to build a log home ?gettin?r done? is more important than dreaming about doing it a certain way and never accomplishing that dream.

[logbuilder]

Do you feel that taking Skip?s class has been beneficial in your chosen method to build a home?


There is no doubt that the class and building the small B&P cabin gave me a good foundation and fostered a love for log homes. I'm still totally fired up on the B&P method. After doing the cabin, it was very apparent that I could do a larger house but also the reality of my situation told me that given the timeframe that I wanted to have it done, I needed to take a different direction. I don't regret that decision. I still have had more than my share of challenges to work thru and even though I didn't do the shell, I most definately have the sense of accomplishment that is so important. I've been using the B&P cabin mostly for storage up to this point but am going to turn it into a guest house that will be an example of an off grid house that could be built by anyone with very little help and minimal tools. When anyone comes to see the house and expresses interest in having one themselves, I always show them the cabin and they can see how easy it would be to do it themselves. I actually think it is neat to have both as examples of the different techniques. Serves as a good tool to educate folks on the beauty and advantages of building with logs.

Robert

[huffjohndeb]

My wife Debbie and I are taking the MLK weekend class and shelling out our hard earned dough so that?s very good to hear. I plan to build a walkout basement foundation with a stick framed floor system. I have not decided on whether to build with B&P or notched corners. I probably will stick frame my simple roof and accent it with "non structural logs".

I read a very very good book called "Logs wind and Sun" written by Rex A. Ewing and Lavonne Ewing a couple that built their own log home off the grid near Masonville, Colorado which is a short drive from my current beige box neighborhood. This is the best book on log home building that I have read and I've read quite a few. It also helps that I have met the authors but if I were going to write a book I would write in their style very informative but more importantly fun to read. Here is an excerpt from the book ?Drive spikes with a hand-sledge or rigging axe; a framing hammer just doesn?t command enough authority. Unless you?re a glutton for punishment, pre-drill the holes (a little smaller than the spike?you don?t want it to be too easy). Once you?ve hammered the head of the spike a little ways into the countersink hole use a short piece of rebar or a bolt to drive it home. And do yourself a favor?hold onto the rebar with locking pliers. There?s nothing like hitting yourself in the back of the hand with a four pound sledge to muddy the rainbow accents of an otherwise beautiful day?
Here are some other "log" books that I've read and (my reviews) "The Owner Built Log Home" by B. Alan Mackie (Too Technical) ... I'm an Electrical Engineer, Tech Writer and Instructor by trade. "Log Homes Made Easy Contracting and building your own log home" (Geared towards kit builders) and "How to Build Your Dream Cabin In The Woods" by J. Wayne Fears (Good if your building a weekend Hunter/Sportsman cabin) I plan to live in my cabin/house when I retire and every other chance I get before that.

Sorry for all the "re-'s"
I have personally re-plumbed, re-wired, re-leveled, re-bathed, re-windowed, re-furnaced and re-insulated a house with inspections. I have also built several decks, porches and finished two basements with out taxation permit inspections. That said I did every thing equal to but mostly better than code. I had a drywall guy ask who did your drywall because he was so impressed with the quality of my drywall finish work.

I guess my point is that the parts of a house that you do not see are the most important parts of a house. The type of log joints or choice of chinking materials is not as important as the footings that the house is built on.