Introduce yourself

Hello Board

My name is Gus

I found this site while looking into various log home kits and modular log homes. Man am I glad I foud you all. With the little bit of reading have done here I have swung in this direction to bulid our log home.

We are a family of 10 when the new baby is born in Jan. Now all of the kids except for the two youngest boys would have moved on and started thier own life s adults by the time we are into our new home. The last two Girls are almost sixteen the one boy who is still at home is five and our last son will be born in Jan.

We currently live in a 150 year old 6 bed room farm house on 4 acres. We will be closing on our land the week after Christmas. The land is 22+/- acres in Acworth, NH, The plan is to be in the new home in about 3 years.

I look forward to reading, learning as much as I can. Are the classes always held in Washington state? Is there a way to reep some of the benifits of the associaion with out go to Washing state?

Thanks

Look, listen and learn
A man who works with his hands is a laborer,
A man who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman,
A man who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.
St Francis of Assisi.

Guss,
I think Steve did the class one time up North.
You got take the leap to learn to build and its fun to go out there.
Get ready to take allot of notes sign up for the news letter.
i looked over this site for about 2 years before i took the leap.
I am glad i took the class and if you relay want build take the class.
Enjoy the class it kicks butt

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 325ABN

I look forward to reading, learning as much as I can. Are the classes always held in Washington state? Is there a way to reep some of the benifits of the associaion with out go to Washing state?
Thanks

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Unfortunatley the classes are only in Washington. Without actually attending the class you'll miss out on pretty much everything :(

I will say this, if there is any way in the world you can get out for a class, do it.

Taking the class doesnt guarentee that you'll build your own log home. But if you DO build your own log home, when you are finished, if you took the class, I guarentee you'll say the cost of travel and the cost of the class was the best money you spent on the entire build process and that it saved you many times that actual amount in your build cost.

Hi all I'm Joe Mullins From Tennessee, me and my wife are dreaming of building a new log home, but we are so new to all this and have very little info. How do we even get started? We have looked into the kits, and even hiring a builder, but most builder around here want in excess of $149k or more to even build a small 1200 sq ft home. We would like to build out own any advice?>

Joe,

If you are serious about the log home, the best course of action is to take the class. You will save >> than the cost of the class and even the plane tix out here (WA). Plus, you can buy stock plans which will be ~1/4 the cost of having custom plans engineered for you, depending on complexity. There are several guys in the SE building as we speak that you can glean info off of and possibly will lend a hand as you need it.

Anyway, do you own land? If not, start thinking about what you need and what you want. I wanted to be close to home, but I needed beautiful land with trees and access at an affordable piece. These two were in direct confrontation, in the seattle area. I bought some land ~6.5 hrs away. It is a drive and a half, but for what I needed, it worked. I got 20 acres with a view and water for

This comment has been moved <a href="http://www.loghomebuilders.org/node/5761">here</a>.

Hi, I am a chiropractor in Western Colorado. Hello KOLA, it would be great to meet you someday. I found this site because I wanted to build a tack shed for my daughter's 4H horse and goat gear. We live on a 15 acre place that has some irrigation and a pretty weedy hay field. I am working on developing a gardening place. Our home is an adobe brick home built by a contractor for himself. 80% of it is built like a tank and 20% is built like "what the *#$@* were you thinking. Among other things is the beautiful walk-out basement, FACING NORTH!. My initial tack shed quickly grew to an 18 X 18 small cabin with a porch. However, common sense says I would be better off starting small and make my mistakes on a manageable scale. So I am back to a 10 x 10 scale for the moment. I love the idea of the model first. What do you use to pin the dowels together, soft wood I presume, and is it better to scale 1/2 inch to the foot or 1 inch to the foot? My plans got grandiose as I have an almost brother-in-law that works for a sawmill in Del Norte Colorado and he said he could get me 40 foot logs cheap. (Not as cheap as some of you out there though). I thought I could have the mill cut them in half and build with 20 footers. But now will go smaller. They also do rough cut lumber so I could buy my floor joists, rafters, etc and have all delivered at once.

Driving around western colorado I have notied more butt and pass construction than I had notice before. Some are clearly milled homes built in the 70's? but also some very old ones. What did they use 150 years ago to pin the logs together as I am sure they didn't have re-bar lying around?

I am up to my keister in debt and doing my best not to drown. Trying to right the ship and get things going in a better direction. I would be willing to assist with some labor or a few adjustments if anyone is nearby. I like the supportive and informative nature of the this group as well as the independent spirit. I fall into the Asimov theory that Entropy cannot be reversed and that gradual degradation is more probable than cataclysmic change.

Looking forward to learning much more. I have surfed some of the forum but I seem to get sidetracked easily. Also this is the first bulleting board/forum I have participated in so the techy things get a little confusing to me. When I did my first log in I hit my touch pad on the laptop so at the moment I have no idea what my password is.

dnwhansen,

welcome brother chiropractor! :)

I have to highly recommend you sign up for the class. It's priceless.

Some guys use brad nails to imitate rebar when building scaled down models. (you can nip the heads off them or leave them. I think one or two guys have used a small air nailer. I didn't use any rebar in my model. I glued them together with a gluegun. Almost all of us used
1/2= 1 foot scaling but you could use bigger if you so choose. Most folks bought 1/2' round pine dowels (they are cheapest on the web). I used cottonwood branches that were 1/2' to 3/4' in diameter.

Sounds like you already had a head start on getting good inexpensive logs. I am not sure if they are any LHBA homes going up around your parts but I will keep a lookout and maybe others will chime in.

I was in a similar financial situation as you are now. I just recently dumped off and sold my practice, office building and most of my equipment. (whew). Now I have simplified things and work out of a one room office (as you know, a super low overhead is key, especially during this dollar crashing ecomony we are being sucked into). Stay positive. Things will work out. :)


forgot your password? Email admin or Ellsworth or Steve. They should be able to track down your password or could set it up so you pick a new password.

heres my uncompleted logmodel:
http://s153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/kola58/?action=view&current=55c9b4e0.pbw

Good luck!
Kola

Thanks for the tips. I will be keeping in touch.

Hi all. I'm a Chiropractor as well, now retired (bad cervical surgery). I live in Oklahoma. Still have the desire to build a log home. Two possible obsticles on my part, physical ability, and logs. Not sure where to look for logs in my area, as well as type of log. I'm aware of the log yards in the Del Norte/Southfork area, but have not inquired as to the cost for a few truck loads from there. I would look forward to a class to obtain the knowledge, and to determine what I could do physically. Anyway, nice to meet all of you, and Merry Christmas.

Mike
mlpbboos@cox.net

Hi There,
I'm Ron. Just thought I'd introduce myself. I currently live in Boston,MA...work in R&D for a software company serving non-profits and I just signed up for the next class.
I hope to find land in Maine to build my cabin (hopefully with a little stream to go fishing).
I have done a lot of research but I haven't made any purchases (other than some books). I'm just waiting for the class before I make any decisions.
Never done anything like this before, but I'm not really nervous. I'm just....keeping an open mind.

I am also looking into alternative energy and Maine has several non-profits that help individuals build their own solar modules and help design and install their systems.
They have events on a regular basis, so I thought I'd post this link. There are actually 3 non-profits working together that host the events...anyway, very cheap to go to.
I plan on going to the one in Feb.

http://ellsworthme.org/MESEA/

I've been reading a lot of posts, but this is my first. Just thought I'd say HI :)
--Ron

Hello Everyone,

I've been addicted to this site for nearly a year. I've read the majority of the postings and looked at so many pictures. Today I enrolled in the January class!!! I'm pretty stoked and I'm really looking forward to the class!!!

I'm planning to build in Northern California, but not certain which part. I've even purchased a 5th wheel trailer for temporary living quarters in anticipation. There are still a lot of things that are "Up in the Air", but the sooner I take this class the better.

Looking forward to meeting some other LHBAers!

Tom

Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaxURLFn6jU&NR=1

Brother Tanderson, Congrats on pulling the trigger and signing aboard the merry logship! You shall never be the same. :)

Welcome docboos (Mike). It appears we are having a mini-invasion of chiropractors. IMO, the LHBA methods and self thinking, independant philosophy is well suited to many chiropractors.

The Kola-nut (another crazy chiro)

Larry Gabie

Hi Tanderson (Tom). I too live in N. California, but will be building in Eastern Oregon. Just attended the class on Dec. 13-14 this year. Wonderful class with great instructors and real equipment demonstrations.

Larry Gabie

Chad,
I just completed the latest LHBA class on Dec. 13-14 of this year. I now live in N. California, but will be building about 100 miles east of Bend (hopefully starting this coming summer). If you completed your place, I would love to see it sometime. If not, maybe we can trade some labor.

Cruising around, and found this, may be worth checking out ( :
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/mat/955431906.html

Look, listen and learn
A man who works with his hands is a laborer,
A man who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman,
A man who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist.
St Francis of Assisi.

Larry i am in Virginia and tomarrow i chainsaw a large oak.
Its not easy clean up a tree 40 feet high and then chain saw into chunks to carry.
Dont buy montain property unless its flat ore you pay get it flat.
I try do it all my self becuse thats the way i am.
Ow i hope to have the foundation put in by spring ore early summer.
Tomarrow i gone call on a tree cart place to haul my logs when i cut them my self.
I think clearing the land and level it and getting it level takes time.
The building will take allot less time for me.
Lary why did you think i was in Ca sorry i not out there .
But there are allot others you can hook up with i sure.
Lary good luck on your dream and dont let it die

Hello all! I'm Bob living in the 'burbs of St. Louis and looking for land. Any Missourians here or anyone who took the Dec 6-7 '08 class?
Bob

hey Feral ... Who were you in class? I wish I had been able to meet everyone who was there. (Heavy sigh)

Can I just cut the bark around a tree to kill it and let it season intact or do I have to cut it down to season it? If I can kill it by cutting the bark around the tree I can start now instead of waiting for next year.

For more reasons than I can think of right now, but just a summary:

Depending on the species, you won't likely kill it any way. You will have to make a plunge cut with the chainsaw into the heart (dangerous).

Now what you've done is opened the tree up as a buffet for insects to go in in feast. You'll likely have rot in the butt of the tree as it soaks up water from the ground.

That would be ok, if all you want is firewood.

The biggest thing though, is now you have a bunch of liabilities standing on your property. These trees will be subjective to windfall. I wouldn't want to be out walking around in those woods. Like playing russian roulette.

Jason.

Ed, what you mention is "girdling" which is a traditional way to kill a tree. A tree needs the outer layer of wood to transport water. without that, It will die. Tanderson is right, however, about the insects. Depending on the area and species, this could be a bad idea or a terrible idea. You'll likely end up with a 50' stick of firewood.l You could start a forest fire and harvest the log later, after seasoning ;).

Actually, LHBA doesn't season its logs for several reasons, but difficulty is one of them.

-Peter

Thanks for the heads up guys. I gotta arrange for a class, soon.

Ed

hey guys, my name is mike szabo, and reside in Ottawa, Canada.

I am currently a drywaller and about to change careers in trucking. I've been though many different careers including mechanic, bodyman, and carpenter. I'm also an accomplished airbrusher of nearly 20 years, and metal fabricator building rockcrawlers in my personal home garage. sick of renting and can't afford to mortgage a new home in some boring suburb. everyone has a goal(s) in there life and building my own home was one of them. I'm hoping that some of my skills I've accumulated over the years will help me achieve that goal in an affordable way.

welcome mike,

guys who are good with their hands make up roughly 80+% of our members, as the association's goal is to help people build thier own home for cheap rather than paying a mortgage. I think you may have just hit the mother load of info in that respect. On a side note, there have been quite a few Canadians joining lately. Many in your area. If you join, there is a "Trading labor and deals" section in the member's area. Sounds like you could easily take advantage of some labor trades.

-Peter

hello my name is Curt and new to the log home building and VVVVVVery glad to have found this web site. Currently living in Japan but born in California and will be returning soon^0^ with hopes of taking this class and building a home right away. I am 29 and have 3 kids with one more on the way (this feb.)^0^ Nice to meet you all Curt^0^

Hi, everyone my name is Margaret and after two years and two states I've finally gotten up enough courage to say hello. My husband and I have our property 5.5 acres on a river in Michigan. I found this web site after my husband voiced an interest in building a log home (to my astonishment). I keep talking about taking the class once our budget allows, but my sweety is not very optimistic that the two of us would be able to do it. My glass is still half full and will keep trying to convince my husband that this is a wonderful opportunity. Love reading all the comments and viewing the wonderful pictures of those who have taken up the challenge. Happy holidays everyone.

I would encourage you (and your husband) to take the class. one thing they will tell you: "building your log home will be hard, no doubt. But how hard will it be to pay a 30 year mortgage?" Anyway, glad to answer any questions you may have. Oh, and one other thing, we get by with a little help from our friends. You'll find that you'll be able to lend a hand to a neighbor, and that they'll respond in kind. You don't have to "do it all by yourself."