Ideal property characteristics for log home building
When it comes to building a log home the ideal property characteristics are different than that for a stick frame home.
Especially for a DIY butt and pass log home (less so for a kit or off-site built hand crafted log home).
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A) For a kit home, all the wall materials typically arrive on a flatbed trailer. A standard forklift can easily unload and set everything in a normal sized front yard.
All the wall components (milled timber products) are usually fairly short, at around 12 feet in length. It's easy to move them around the jobsite by hand and erect a wall.
B) Handcrafted log homes typically use full length wall logs, that uses real logs and the length is typically 'full wall length.'
Generally all the notch work is done at a builder's log yard, and then shell is dissembled, shipped on a flat bed and/or logging truck to the final jobsite where it is put back together.
All the on-site shell building can be done with a crane, which often can remain in a single location during the entire build.
Styles A and B above are great for small lots, an acre or even less.
C) Butt and Pass log home construction uses full length logs, length of wall + 16" to 24" for the over-dangle (a part of the log that sticks out of the corner).
And all log processing is done on site, which means the property needs to be larger than for styles A and B.
There needs to be space for laying out logs for peeling that does not interfere with the foundation area or the designated septic area.
Typically the logs are moved with a telehandler and placed into the walls, which means there needs to be additional space around the foundation for driving a telehandler and the length of log that it is carrying (the log is typically perpendicular to direction of travel, it makes for a wide load).
So the first property criteria when it comes to building a log home is lot size.
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Another important issue is the soil conditions as it relates to septic fields. Ideally the property should be eligible for a gravity septic system.
That style is easy to install and can cost as little as $5000, they seldom fail, and they require minimal maintenance.
Any other septic style/method can add a large amount of expense and complexity / maintenance onto a build.
New city sewer hook ups can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000.
An aerobic septic system or above ground sand system, both of which is a specialized, can easily cost $12,000 to $20,000.
They also fail at a greater rate than a traditional gravity system, and require more intensive maintenance.
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Driveways! This can be preference, but it also matters for construction.
A driveway that is very steep, or that has sharp turns, makes it very difficult to move logs and supplies to a log home build site.
We've had one member who pulled each houselog up his driveway with an ATV by placing an axel/wheels at the midpoint of the log, iirc it was due to difficulty getting a logging truck up his driveway.
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Feel free to add your own tips below, the ones above are just the start.
And some tips might be personal preference, age dependent, et cetera.
When building a log home, buy land with usable timber growng on it
Buying land with standing timber on it, that is usable to build a log home, will easily save you $5000 to $25,000.*
It's like getting free walls for your house. And you skip the per mile cost to have logs transported. Where environmentalism and capitalism should hug: it reduces carbon and saves money.
"Prices For Hauling logs"
https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?topic=84011.0
My favorite line from that thread: "people like me (low collectivism/high individuality index)". Because it made me dig a bit deeper into the concept. What I found, and you might too, is that ranking countries by agreeableness / cooperation might yields a list that is an inversion of nations ranked by citizen's low collectivism / high individualism (this is all culture based). The potential inverse relationship between individuality and agreeableness just made my list of things to learn more about in the future. And I like that line because it means the person who wrote is is seeking to understand himself.
"Individualistic Countries 2025"
https://worldpopulationreview.com/co...stic-countries
"Log Hauling Cost And Decision-Making"
https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs/rmrs_rn020_02.pdf
There might be a temptation to overpay for land with usable timber on it. Resist the temptation. (and perhaps don't tell the seller that the timber is important to you).
*Buy land in a state where timber grows.
Risk and success: selecting log home property
Quote:
Originally Posted by
allen84
IMO, the ideal property is also the property that you can afford to buy NOW... NOT next year, or 5 to 10 years from now, or, "whenever prices come down". Don't wait to get priced out of being able to afford where you want to live. Don't procrastinate by waiting for what you deem to be the perfect property. If it checks most of the boxes for you, jump on it.
That is a valid point. I immediately compared it to parenthood. To delay having a child really has some potentially negative consequences (mothers over 30, and older fathers producing children with women under 30).
https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...-maternal-age/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7396152/
https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2014...-older-parents
https://www.healthline.com/health-ne...s-health-risks
https://www.med.stanford.edu/news/al...rth-risks.html
"The Number of People Over 40 Giving Birth Surpasses Teens for the First Time"
https://www.parents.com/the-number-o...-time-11703814
The moral is, have your kids at a young age, then stop having kids: if you want to optimize for health of offspring by statistical advantage. Like being an owner builder, delay the choice long enough and everything can be more difficult.
Here's where I was coming from in my stance on ideal property, largest single investment. If things don't line up financially then a person might never recover form the loss. I an split humans into 4 groups for this issue:
- Low risk tolerance, high chance of failure.
- High risk tolerance, high chance of failure.
- Low risk tolerance, low chance of failure.
- High risk tolerance, low chance of failure.
It's the people in red above that worry me most. I'd rather express strongly the aspects that they should deeply think about in hopes that a good self-selection process kicks in, so the right people kick themselves out of the process because they gained understanding.
Regarding the people in the black, I don't worry much about them. But presenting the factors to consider which should help someone save the most money, or increase their chance of success, should help them too. The high risk, low chance of failure folks... I couldn't beat them away with a stick. They are the folks who jump out of airplanes.
You do bring up some great points Allen, and I agree. Waiting for perfection often means missing out completely.
But I also honor the fact that dreams and fantasies can cause a whole lotta problems.
Thanks for your comment.
Minimize risk of financial loss on buying property as an owner builder
Quote:
Originally Posted by
allen84
and call them all failures
This is project oriented. I would not call the people failures, it would be a project failure.
At times people can feel like Job, that is not their Lot in life.
As to the Life Is Good people: On the side of their new facility in giant letters is the phrase "The Art of Optimism." They sell a product with an emotion attached (or perhaps it is more accurate to say they sell an emotion with a product attached)*. I was simply adding a happy comment to a thread on the members side, after pointing out a potential issue with a member's build (or at least a more optimal choice path on one specific issue regarding work already done).
I'd rather steer people straight than lead people astray. Try feeling responsible for thousands of builds, many who ended up as project failures mid process for a variety of reasons that had nothing to do with construction. As I noted in this blog post, life is inherently full of risk: https://community.loghomebuilders.or...icopter-Doctor.
In this phase of life, I shall place an emphasis on exit strategy. As an owner builder, folks should view their build through the lens of a business. It's about the bottom line. A good exit strategy starts at the point of entrance. The lay of the land dictates so much about a project.
And PS, it is against the terms of service, and LHBA cultural tradition, to re-post content from the member's only area on the public side. The spirit of that has been recently reaffirmed in this thread https://community.loghomebuilders.or...n-LHBA-members I have posted my own content from the member's side onto the public side, but then that's my own content (and only my own content) -- it's fundamentally different than quoting someone else from the member's side onto the public side. Example https://community.loghomebuilders.or...l=1#post178719
*If you have not encountered a critical moment/problem/situation that you couldn't figure out until it was too late, then you are gifted, blessed, or extraordinary. Those tend to be some of the worst moments.
