Our Log Home Endeavor

Horse Creek Rustics

2009-02-04T08:32:00.001-08:00

Horse Creek Rustics is a company that my family and I have started. We are custom builders of hand crafted rustic furniture. We build one of a kind pieces using a log and plank style. Our building style is unique, we like to think of it as fine, yet rustic. That might sound like an oxymoron, but you decide for yourself. I describe it as, it looks like it could have been built 100 years ago by a talented craftsman on a farm or ranch somewhere, using the materials that they had available to them, then someone recently refinished and modernized it, to make it look new.

We will be using horsecreekrustics.blogspot.com to share the progress on projects, post descriptions and pictures of finished pieces, items we have available, and up coming events we will be attending. If you have any questions or comments please don't hesitate to contact us. You can reach us at horsecreekrustics@gmail.com .

Where Have I Been?

2008-11-26T00:45:00.000-08:00

It has been some time since I last blogged about our log home endeavor. I'm still here only some things have changed. When I last blogged about our log home it was during the spring. We soon became very busy at work and could not get back to building. As the spring turned to summer we were hearing rumors at work that our jobs would be changing somewhat in the near future. The picture above is of a new warehouse the company that I work for has built. The new warehouse, houses a state-of-the-art picking and sorting system that will greatly change the way I do my job.

I'm a truck driver and we deliver and unload our own loads. The new warehouse will change the way our loads are loaded hence changing the way we unload. To make a long story short I'm looking at either working 11 hours a day, 6 days per week or taking a pay cut of around $15,000 per year. Needless to say I'm not going to work 6 days per week for the rest of my life. Which brings me to the dilemma we face with building our home.

With my future so uncertain I'm just unwilling to take on a mortgage. With the housing bust that we are going through, our current house is not worth what it was two years ago when we started planning. We just don't have as much equity as we use to.

All that being said we're probably going to make a smaller building some thing a long the lines of a 26 x 26. This will probably be used to house the future business that we are about to start. I will be posting more about that in the near future. We're trying to get everything lined up first. Check back for more info and new blog that I will start for it.

Mule Days

2008-04-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

Today our family attended the 9th Annual Mule Day event held near our home town. Being fascinated by the pioneer life style this was a special treat for me. Well not only for me, but for the whole family. It is amazing to see how my great grandparents would have farmed. I thought I might share a few photos from today.

Planters and Plows
Bottom Plow
Disc Harrow

Bottom Plowing

Our Wood-Mizer

2008-04-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

Monday we picked up our Wood-Mizer LT15. The whole family was excited to be getting a sawmill.

Cody checking it out.
Cora keeping me company as I put it together.
Me and Cody starting it up for the first time.
Making my first cut.

A few words about Wood-Mizer:

I have been blown away with this company. I have wanted a Wood-Mizer for sometime and knew the company had a very good reputation both for their sawmills and customer service, but I had no idea they were this good. The mill is way better than I had hoped for, it is top notch and then some. They take no short cuts in the design or the construction.

Nathan and the crew at Wood-Mizer South went over and beyond to serve us. With mills ranging in price from $4,000 to $46,000 I would have thought we would have been treated like small potatoes. But they treated us as if we had spent the big money. When we left with our mill I felt as if we were now a part of the family. Wood-Mizer is an A++++ company!

Wood-Mizer

2008-04-18T21:08:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday Wood-Mizer had an open house event at their Wood-Mizer South location in Newnan GA. We made the 2 hour drive to see the demos of the mills. I have been contemplating weather or not to buy a mill or have someone come and custom saw all the trees we have been cutting.

I have wanted a Wood-Mizer for about 10 years but could never see the need to make that kind of investment into something that I would only use on occasion. Building a house is a good occasion. :)

My intention was to go to Wood-Mizer to see the demo on the LT15 and make up my mind as to weather I was going to buy a USED Wood-Mizer or settle for one of its cheaper rivals. I emphasized the word used because I never buy anything new like cars, trucks and the like. I have learned that lesson the hard way. I don't like eating the depreciation. I would rather someone else take the butt kicking on the depreciation. That way I can buy something used and turn around and sell it (if I have to) for close to what I paid for it.

Little did I know what kind of deal we were going to get there. For starters Wood-Mizer has the LT15 discounted almost $500 and for the open house they would include a free box of bands (blades) with the purchase of a mill, a $300 value. To make things better they had drawings for door prizes. Most of the prizes were hats and stuff, but the grand prize was $500 towards options with the purchase of a mill. Well guess who's name they drew for the $500? MY WIFE!!! To make a long story short we bought a NEW Wood-Mizer LT15 and saved almost $1300.00 Woo-Hoo!!! They will have it ready for us to pick up Monday if I don't have to work. More about the mill when we get it home. Here is a video of the LT15.

The LT15 demo mill
Our Mill

Spring Is Here

2008-04-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share some spring colors with you. The first two pictures are a before and after shot of the front yard of the parsonage. Big difference! Most of the people at church didn't know that the dogwoods and azaleas were there.

The parsonage before we cut trees.
Spring after the trees were removed.
These are some azaleas I planted for mama about 20 years ago.
Bumble bees are buzzing. Notice the one in the picture.
Dogwoods
Dew berries will be here soon! :)

Progress With The Trees

2008-04-10T17:59:00.000-07:00

We started cutting trees at my mamas house last week. We have two or three trees left to fell after three days of working. We are bringing home a load of logs each day. Most of what we are cutting here will be used as saw logs, some are too small and will be used for railing or furniture later on.

Before we started thinning

After most of the trees have been cut and three loads of logs have been hauled away.
Load #3
Three loads of logs.

Cody helping me stack logs. He is a big help.

Cutting More Trees

2008-04-01T18:33:00.000-07:00

We started cutting trees yesterday at my mamas house. Today my Paw Paw was doing some work in the his cow pasture and came by and helped me load some logs. He was a big help with his skid steer.

Before

Paw Paw loading them up.
A load of saw logs. Felling a tree.

Our Log Trailer

2008-03-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

We have been looking for a trailer to haul saw logs with. We found this one at a local farm auction. This is just what we were looking for cheap but rugged and double axle, 4' wide by 18' long. It didn't have a floor, so that gave me the opportunity to put on timbers which would put the load above the wheels for easy manual loading and unloading, also they increased the width to 6'. We will start cutting trees tomorrow at my mamas and the trailer will allow us to haul the logs home as we cut.

Cutting timbers using my home built sawmill attachment.
I made some threaded brackets to bolt the timbers to the frame. They clip into place on the bottom of the frame.
Log trailer with movable loading ramps. (I put the removable uprights on after I took this picture)

My Wife Is The Greatest

2008-03-24T21:00:00.000-07:00

I've gotten a little behind on my blogging. With the time changing the other week, now I knock off at dark, come in and get ready for bed so that I can go to work the next morning. That has cut into my blogging time. :(
I just wanted to share with you something my wife done for me last Saturday.
I have been looking for a cheap trailer that I could use to haul logs with and there was going to be a farm equipment auction in our home town last Saturday. We rode out and looked at what they were going to be auctioning and found "my trailer". The only thing was that I had to work the day of the auction and would not be able to be there. I was trying to think of someone that could be there for me when my wife said she would go.
I don't know if you have ever attended an equipment action before, but to tell you my wife would feel out of place, would be an understatement. She insisted that she could handle it. Farm auctions are mainly attended by older to middle aged men of the farmer/business man type. My daddy has farmed all his life so I've been to a few of these auctions. I think even I would have felt a little intimidated biding against some of these guys.
She and my son were there at 9a.m. when they opened. It was a cool rainy day, and she stayed till about 2p.m. when they finally auctioned "my trailer". She had two other guys biding against her but she won it at $275. When she called me to tell me that she had won it, I was more proud of her than I was of getting the trailer. I am truly blessed to have her.

My beautiful wife of 14 years.

What she was up againstOur trailer

I'll post more about getting the trailer ready for hauling logs later.

Almost Done

2008-03-18T22:42:00.000-07:00

Were almost done with the trees at the church. We have a few more stumps to cut and clean up a little and we will be DONE!

saw logs The longest are 17' and the shortest are 8.5'

Loading them on the rackHard workers cleaning up

Still Cutting Trees

2008-03-07T15:59:00.000-08:00

The old adage"it will take twice as long and cost twice as much" has been reverberating in my head the last few weeks. It seems as if "Murphy" has paid me a visit. Three weeks ago I stepped down off the logs on the log rack and twisted my ankle pretty bad. Then last week I spent two days in the bed with the flu. I told you that to explain why I'm still cutting trees. :(
I've got all but three cut down at the parsonage. Now I just have to get the logs up and clean up. That will probably take my two off days next week. Then I can move on to my mama's house. What I was hoping I could do in two weeks is looking more like four or more weeks.

Before
After

Conner Prairie

2008-02-29T17:27:00.000-08:00

Last spring while I was in the Indianapolis IN area going to the Lasko School of Log Building I managed to visit a place called Conner Prairie just north of Indianapolis. As I entered the outdoor museum I was amazed by the early 1800 hand hewn style log cabins and barns. One of the largest collections of restored log structures that I've ever visited.
I was taking pictures of one of the barns when one of the people that worked there came up and ask if I was from the magazine. I told him that I wasn't and he went on to tell me about a guy from one of the log home magazines that had just been there the day before. Not knowing which magazine he was from, I figured I would keep an eye out for the article.
It finally appeared in the April Issue of Log Homes Illustrated. Here is part of the article.

Cutting Some Trees

2008-02-25T18:23:00.000-08:00

As much as I hate to, I'm going to have to stop working on the house for a couple of weeks. I've been given quite a few pine trees to cut down and remove. I have about 20 that our church wanted removed from around the parsonage and about that many more my mama wants cut down from her place. They are tired of picking up pine cones before they cut the grass.
I will be able to use some for house logs , but most will be cut up into dimension lumber and tongue & grove flooring, roof decking, and wall paneling and furniture and the list goes on. Now I just need a sawmill. :) $$$ A Wood-Mizer LT15 would be nice!

Another Log On

2008-02-20T19:44:00.000-08:00

Another log was added to the wall today. This one I had to straighten by cutting it and putting it back together again. I really didn't want to have to do any logs this way but this log needed to be used low on the wall because it slightly has left hand grain so I didn't want to use it in the window openings and it was to short for the front or back walls.I used a spline made from a 2x6. I placed the cut so that in the interior of the house it will be hidden behind the bath tube. Sorry I didn't take a picture of the log before I cut it to show how bowed it was.

Cuts are made to accept spline

Nice Fit

Now a Straight Log

1st Round Log

2008-02-15T18:52:00.000-08:00

Today we put our first round log on the wall. We're building a round log chinker. We have lateral grove islands so that the log is close the length of the log. We will use chinking to fill in between the logs. I love the look of Maple Island log Homes thats look I'm try to achieve. Only our logs are nowhere near as straight as theres so our house will have LOT of "character". :)

I got a little help today. (My wife made me take the picture of her off.) :(Using a butterfly to left the sagging middle.
Close up of the butterfly in use.
Cutting lateral grove island so that the log is close the length of the log.

Nice fit.

Progress

2008-02-14T20:22:00.000-08:00

Now that we're finally finished with the sill logs I hope the pace starts to pick up. I really want to be through with the log shell by early to med. June. I know it doesn't seam like we've done much seens the first of Januray but these sill logs have received a lot of attention not to mention the days lost to rain. Now I plan my days off from work around the weather forcast. :)

Building site ready to go.

Temporary foundation
Sill Logs done!!!

Sill Logs Are Done!!!!

2008-02-11T17:58:00.000-08:00

Finished up the second 3/4 sill log today.

Setting up to cut saddles and scribe
Saddles cut and sanded
Scribing notch
Finished Log

3/4 Sill Log #2

2008-02-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

Another rainy day yesterday but I managed to plane and rip the second 3/4 sill log in between showers.

3/4 Sill Log On The Wall

2008-02-04T18:01:00.000-08:00

I finally put the 1st 3/4 sill log on the wall. This is the log I had cut in order to "straighten" it. I rough cut the back door opening. What I mean by rough cut is that I cut the door under size so that I can make a finish cut later after all the logs are on the wall. You would normally like your sill logs to be an uncut log. This helps to hold every thing together. Instead I placed a 2x8 under the cut and screwed the to parts of the log to the 2x8 this will help keep every thing in place. I've never read or saw anyone doing this so I hope I don't have any problems with it.
I also made my first rooky mistake. I forgot to cut my saddle over the notch before I cut the notch. When I cut the saddle I cut into the notch cavity which made me have a gap at the top of the notch. Nothing that a little caulk want fix but I want make that mistake again.

Relif Cuts

Break out the relif cuts
Finished Notch
Tight fit here
Notice the gap at the top of the notch. :(
Cut door opening to straighten

Remember the bend

Now a straight log

1st 3/4 sill log on the wall

Dressing a Flat

2008-01-31T17:13:00.001-08:00

Another Rainy Day

2008-01-31T17:04:00.000-08:00

I had hoped to get the 1st 3/4 sill log dressed and on the wall today but it rained all afternoon. I done a little in between showers. All I was able to do was dress the flat and cut for the back door opening. This log has a bend in it about six feet from the butt. I'm using it so that it can be cut for the back door. Ideally you would not want your sill logs to be cut but I don't have that option. I'll talk about this later. See the video above to see this log brushed, planed and sanded.

3/4 sill log ripped
Rough cut from sawingAfter dressing smooth but wet
Bend at 6 feet
Cut to straighten

3/4 Sill Log

2008-01-28T17:38:00.000-08:00

Today I started working on the first 3/4 sill log. This log is kinda of special because it was cut from the site where our house will be. Our house will literally set on top of where this tree was growing.

After Planing
Lay Out
Chalk Cut Lines
Ripping Finished Up At Dark

FIRST LOGS !!! WOO-HOO !!!

2008-01-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

Today was a day that has been a long time coming. We laid our first logs today.

Moving the log from the log rack to the temporary foundation

About to lay our FIRST LOG
First Log In Place

First log going into position

Laying second log

Making sure every thing matches up

Second log going into place

Cutting Half Sill Log

2008-01-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

The first logs that are laid are the sill logs one set are half logs the other set are called whole or 3/4 logs. The half logs are first and are usually on the gable ends of the house. There is a a lot to consider when choosing the sill logs that I want go into. In a perfect world all the logs would be perfectly straight and all the same size. Ours are far from the same size and very few even come close to straight.

Lay Out

Ripping With a Chainsaw
Half Sill Logs

Planed Sanded And Ready To Set

Planing A Log

2008-01-21T20:35:00.001-08:00

Planing Sill Log

2008-01-21T18:57:00.000-08:00

At this point our logs have been cut for almost a year. We kept them under a tarp from July up until the tarp finally tore to shreds back in late November. I recently bought another smaller tarp. As you can see in the pictures the logs have turned grey from the UV rays from the sun. These logs look almost useless judging by the surface, but underneath the surface they are still beautiful. I'm using a hand power planer to plane the logs.

UV burnt logs

Trimming Knots

Ugly!!
Beauty Underneath

Awesome!!

Making Some Tools

2008-01-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

Today started out as cold rainy day. So I took care of some tool making that I have been putting off for a day just as this. Mostly I was just being lazy. :)
A few weeks ago I had cut out peaces for log cleats. I took them by the machine shop and had them welded. Log cleats are used to hold logs in place so they want roll. You can also turn the cleat around and roll a log in place.
I also made some butterflies. Butterflies are used to hold up one end of the log, like at door opening. Butterflies are also used to raise a log end by tightening the bolt.

Log Cleats

Butterflies

Finshing Temporary Foundation

2008-01-14T17:46:00.000-08:00

Today we finished up with the temporary foundation. We placed 8" wide bocks on the pillars to represent the permanent foundation wall thickness. We checked our final length and width measurements and checked square. Now we are ready to start laying logs! Woo-Hoo!

Setting Temporary Foundation Pillars

2008-01-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

We are going to be building our log shell on a temporary foundation. Once the shell is complete we will dismantle the shell and move it to the permanent foundation. Most handcrafted builders build in this manner. They build the shell at there location then dismantle and ship to the owners location. The reason we are doing it this way is to make sure I can build this thing before we start pouring money into it :)
We are using 12"x12" oak cants for the corner pillars and on the gable ends of the house. We are using them on the gable ends because the gable ends have the first sill logs which are half logs. We are using 8"-10" cedar post every where else. Basically were just using what we have.
As far as placement they are in the corners, on each side of doors openings and under window openings. We will be rough cutting door and window openings as we go and this will give more support to these portions of the walls.
Wood pillars are preferred for this sort of temporary foundation because you only have to set, plumb, and cut them level. You want to set your lowest one first then all measurements and level reading can be taken from this one. Leveling is easily done with a water level.

Setting our first pillar Woo-Hoo!!!

Plumb and Level

Setting up water level

My level reader (Hard Job!)

Marking Level

Marking level cut lines

Cutting level

Almost ready to start laying logs :)

Foundation Pillars

2007-12-31T19:12:00.000-08:00

Back in the summer my neighbor needed a big oak tree cut up and removed from her yard. It was about three and a half feet wide. I saw the opportunity for foundation pillars. At the time I quartered the big pieces to get them home. I've been working to turn these quarters into 12"x12" pillars for the temporary foundation on which we are going build the log shell. I'm treating the bottoms and sides with penetreat and a home made stain to protect against termites and rot. The tops will be trimmed later to 8"x8" to represent the permanent foundation wall thickness.

Lifting The Logs

2007-12-24T22:07:00.000-08:00

I put a lot of thought into how to lift the logs onto the wall. Ideally I would like to have a boom truck, but at $400 per day to rent and around $15,000 to buy a good used one, a boom truck was not an option. I've seen a lot of ways in books, some are very elaborate lifting systems but most are stationary. I wanted something simple and movable. Something that would allow me to move the logs from the rack to the building with out having to drag it on the ground. Once I plane these logs I DO NOT want to drag them in the dirt.
My logs are on the small side at 12 inch butts and 7 inch tips and they have been drying for almost a year so figure they only weigh around 600 or 700 pounds (that's only a guess).
I thought about using an old boat trailer that I had and build a rigging on it that resembles a old home made wrecker or a crane. I could use my come along to lift with. The pictures below is what it turned out to look like.

Wood

Old Boat Trailer

It Works!

Up Date:

The original design that I was going to build used wood 6x6's to support the lifting beams. I decided instead to use some metal uprights that I have used on the trailer for another purpose. I canned the original idea to save weight on the trailer and not have to deal with cutting compound miters on both ends of the supports. (I'm not that smart:) ) After I finished the trailer I wished I had done it the way I had originally planned, so I went back and added the wood supports. Now I'm happy.

Cleaning Up

2007-12-11T16:28:00.000-08:00

I finally put another log onto what will eventually be a play house (practice), but its time I get started on our house. I would like to be finished with all the log work by next June. That gives me about 6 months to get it done. After Christmas I should be able to lay at least 2 logs per week. We will have 11 courses of logs which means we have 44 logs to lay for the walls plus the 2nd story floor joist. So its time to stop playing and get "Serious".
Last Thursday I was able to get everything cleaned up and the temporary building site is ready to go. Today I've been working on the trailer that will be used to lift the logs (IF IT WORKS!).I'll post more about that when its finished.

Another log on

A mess to clean up

Ready to get started

Scribing Logs

2007-11-29T19:27:00.000-08:00

Scribers help to transfer the shape of one log onto the other. This allows for very accurate cuts and makes logs fit very tightly together. We are going to build a chinked handcrafted log home. Our logs will have places where they touch and don't touch for the length of the log. This is what I'm practicing here. Full scribed handcrafted log homes don't have chinking and the logs touch for the full length of the log.

Scribing

Tight fit after cutting

Cutting a Round Notch

2007-11-26T18:55:00.000-08:00

The first course of logs (sill logs) are notch with a round notch . I didn't take any pictures of the logs being scribed here so I'll show that later on another log. The log below has been turned upside down to be cut.

Scribed

Relief kerfs are cut Breaking out the relief cuts

Brushing with the tip
Touching up
Final notch

Decent fit

Setting Sill Logs

2007-11-26T08:33:00.000-08:00

Commercial handcrafted builders build there log shells on a temporary pillar foundation. Usually the pillars are nothing more than scrap cut offs from previous projects. The pillars can be easily leveled with a water level, marked, and cut off at the marked height with a chainsaw. After the shell is complete the shell is dismantled and delivered by truck to the owners building site.

1/2 sill logs are 1st

Cutting a 3/4 Sill Log

2007-11-25T17:08:00.000-08:00

In a log structure the first course of logs are called sill logs. The first set of sill logs are called half logs. These logs are half of the average tip and butt diameter of all your logs. The next set are called whole logs or 3/4 logs. To put it simply a whole sill log is about 3/4 the thickness of your average tip and butt of your logs. There are a lot of things that you have to consider when laying whole logs out to be cut but, I won't go into it here. I'll refer you to the Log Construction Manual

Lay out

Cut above the lineBrushing (Planning)
Smooth after final sanding

Brushing with a Chainsaw

2007-11-23T22:48:00.001-08:00

After the sill log is cut you have to smooth the cut surface. You can actually do this with a chainsaw the technique is called brushing.

Cutting a Sill Log

2007-11-23T22:38:00.001-08:00

I've Been Playing

2007-11-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

Over the past couple of weeks I've been playing around trying to refresh my memory with what I had learned at school. Here are some pictures of what I've been doing. I was doing this just for practice.

Sill log lay out (half log).

Cut between the lines.

Becoming Debt Free

2007-10-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

The purpose of this blog is to document our journey as we build our log home. I'm reluctant to discuss personal views as it pertains to everyday life. Debt is one of these areas, although it does impact the way we will approach the way we build our home. This post will be more of a testimony of sorts. Please don't look at this post as if we're bragging, what we have been able to do is made possible through Gods blessing and we give him the praise. Maybe our story will help others.

Our Testimony: Kim and I are high school sweethearts. We started our adult lives off by graduating high school, getting a job, and getting married at age 19. To say the lest we were going to struggle financially through our early years together. When I graduated from high school, I got a job working for my paw-paw as a construction laborer and about a month later I was working for Yamaha Music inc. for about 7 dollars an hour. Since I was making some "good" money I went out a bought a new Ranger pick up (big mistake). A year later Kim graduated from high school and 6 months later we were married. We bought our first home which was a new single wide trailer (big mistake). Eight months into our marriage Kim was pregnant with our son (a blessing). Six months later Kim lost her job as a receptionist at a dialysis center, the company she worked for was bought out. At almost the same time I was transferring into another department which would give me a better opportunity to move up in hourly pay, but I would not be able to get the overtime I was accustom to which would turned out to be an overall pay cut.That's when our financial struggles began.

Kim, being six months pregnant couldn't find another job and I couldn't leave the one I was at because we needed the insurance. We were paying out more than we were bringing home .We couldn't sell the truck or the trailer because we were way up side down (owing more than they were worth) and Kim's car wasn't worth much and we had to have two cars. Like so many people do in this situation , we started borrowing money from anywhere we could get it credit card, signature loans, and loans from family members. Our mess only got worse from there. I remember saying if I could only double my pay everything would be OK.

Four months after our son was born I was hired at Frito Lay as a loader and was able to work all the over time I wanted. Slowly we caught every thing up. With in a year of making that statement about doubling my pay, I was able to almost do that. We were not struggling to make the payment but that is about all we could do, "just make the payments". Over the next three years as I became a truck driver I increased my pay about $10,000 per year. We were still just making the payments. You see my thinking was if I could only make more money it would take care of the problem, but the more money we made the more we spent. Trading our cars in for nicer ones, going out to eat more, nicer clothes, vacations, and the list goes on. I like so many others believed that having payments was just a part of life. After all "you won't never have nothing if you don't have payments" right!

About five years ago I was riding down the road in the truck and I came across this radio show called the Dave Ramsey Show. This guy made a lot of sense in his approach to how we should handle our money. Unfortunately I was only able to listen to him for 30 min. before I lost the station. Then about three years ago he was starting to be on more and more stations so I was able to listen to him more and more. I was telling Kim about some of the things he was saying, but at first she was kinda reluctant to try his approach to handling money until we bought his book The Total Money Make Over. Then she was fully on board.

His approach is quite simple, "don't buy it unless you can pay for it with cash", but its more than that. If you have a pay as you go mind set then you free up your income from making payments. You can start making interest rather than paying interest. Its a common since approach to how we deal with money. As Dave says "its God's and Grandma's way of dealing with money".

In January 2006 we started our "Get Out of Debt" plan. As of two weeks ago we payed off my truck which brings our total debt reduction to more than $30,000.00 . We still have around $9,000 to go but we should be there around April 2008.

Now because we are not paying out so much of our income in monthly payments I can start working less at Frito Lay and start working more at home. This week I'm going to start working three and half days a week at work so that I can devote more time to my family and working on our home. Instead of working to pay payments and interest, I'll be working to "Build" equity in our home. I'll take that trade!

Design

2007-10-18T21:31:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of months I have really been putting a lot of thought in to the design and lay out of our home. You would think we would already know what we wanted by now, and we do, but trying to decide weather to compromise what we really want verses what's out there in a stock plan. We had decided to have our plans custom drawn and had contacted a couple of companies to give us estimates. BUT, as I sat down and started thinking about what we wanted and drawing sketches I remembered something I once read. It was in some news article about computer technology, It read something like "Engineers Becoming Obsolete". It went on to tell how computer software was replacing the need for engineers.

So I've decided to try and design our plans myself, using one of these programs of course. I started doing the research on what software other log home companies were using. Few will tell on there web sites what programs they use, but I found a few using Archicad . Archicad seems out of my league. I did find a lot of owner builders using Punch Software and Chief Architec. I really liked the Chief Architec's demo on there web site it seems very user friendly.

I found some discussion forms comparing the Punch Architectural Series and Chief Architec. It seems that people think that they are very similar, but Punch is a better buy.

We decided to try Punch and bought a used program on eBay, it should be here the first of next week. After I come up with workable plans I would like to get with Bill Lasko to see what I need to change. I'm looking forward to learning something new.

UP DATE:

As I go through this learning process I learn as I go and I'm learning that ultimately some things will have to be engineered in order to pass inspection.

Our Future Home

2007-10-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

The Log and Timber Home Show

2007-09-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Log and Timber Home Show was this weekend in Atlanta. I had to work Friday and Saturday, so I had to go today after church. To be honest, I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong there was plenty of log home companies there for those who may want someone to build them a log home. I was hoping to see companies like Schroeder Log Home Supply, Eagle Panel Systems, Perma-Chink Systems, Andersen Windows, and maybe a local Drafting Company. I have been to two of these shows in the past and some of these companies were there.
I was able to talk briefly with the Perma-Chink rep. They gave me their brochures and told me I needed to come to Tennessee to attend their seminars to learn how to use their products.
All in all it was a good day, Cody rode with me up there. He's starting to get excited about the idea of building our own log home.

Is it Fall YET?

2007-08-20T20:21:00.000-07:00

Is it Fall yet? Today the high temp here in middle Georgia was "ONLY" 92 degrees. After hitting triple digits the last couple of weeks, 92 seemed like cold a front. The relatively mild heat afforded me a chance to cut up one of my neighbor trees for fire wood (with her permission of course).
I'm so ready for fall to be here so we can get started on our house. Today didn't help my longing to be working on it. The muffled sound of a chainsaw buzzing, the smell of 2cycle engine oil burning, the smell of fresh cut red oak, the feel of the chainsaw in my hands "Oh" Sorry about that, I was getting a little carried away. :) My wife often says one day she's going to come in smelling like saw dust to get my attention.
On a serious note, I'm looking forward to the Log and Timber Home Show coming to Atlanta Sept. 21-23. This will give me a chance to talk to some of the company rep. face to face, like prema-chink and others.
Within the next month I hope to send our plan ideas to Dirkson Design Services or R.C.M. Cad Design Drafting Ltd. In about a month or so it should start cooling down enough. Then I can start planing and treating logs. Can't wait!

Video Tour

2007-07-25T01:53:00.000-07:00

I found this video tour of a house that was for sell. The floor plan is almost exactly like ours. This house is a log kit. Ours will be handcrafted, so the logs will look a lot different. Main Floor, 2ND Floor

Plan Design

2007-07-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

I have scoured the web trying to find that perfect plan that I have in my head. Needless to say I have not found that "perfect stock plan". I've come close, but it's not a log home plan. It's a conventional stick built plan.
There is a lot I have to consider in my plan. The most obvious is, it's a log home! Almost every aspect of the build will be different. From the shier weight on the foundation to the complexity of the roof system. The wiring, plumbing, and a/c ducts do not have hollow walls to be hidden in. I also have to consider the length of the logs I have to work with. Which will determine the max. size I can build.
The plan that I found is offered by Home Plans.com. There will be a lot of minor changes made to 1st floor such as window and door placements etc. The 2nd floor will be greatly altered with a full length shed dormer on the back side of the house and a master bath. The exterior will have a wrap-a-round porch.
Most Architects are not knowledgeable in log construction, therefore I will have to use someone that is. There are several such designers in Canada that are not affiliated with a log home company.
Dirkson Design Services Inc. and RCM CAD Design Drafting Ltd are a couple that I came across in my research that I really like. I have not contacted either company as of yet, but I hope to sometime in August.

Going To School

2007-06-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

In the late 90's I was looking through a copy of Backwoods Home Magazine, when I came across an advertisement for Lasko School of Log Building. Up until then I did not know such a school existed. Imagine that, a school that could teach you how to build with logs. I looked up the site on the Internet and became very excited about the possibility of one day attending this school of log building. This past April I finally got the chance to attend.

Bill "Mr. Lasko" offers 2, 4, 8, and 12 week courses. I was only able to attend a 2 week class, being somewhat restricted by my job. Bill made the most of the time I was there. I was in the practice wood pile the first day cutting practice scarfs, notches, and lateral groves. By the third day I was working on a cabin for one of his clients, cutting tenons on floor joists . By the end of the two weeks we had covered and had "hands on" all the basics of Scandinavian full scribe log wall and floor construction. Bill had three different projects going on in various stages of completion. Which allowed me to work on actual cabins and homes. I was very pleased with what I learned.
As a side note: To get the most out of my experience there, I spent months before hand reading and studying various books on log construction, I was already proficient with a chainsaw, and I have a background in rustic furniture making.

Rough Notched and Final Scribed.

Floor Joist Tenon

Lateral Grove

Look at the size of these logs!

Peeling The Logs

2007-06-19T02:48:00.000-07:00

When most people start working for a Handcrafted Log Builder, they usually start working in the log yard as a log peeler. This is the low man on the totem pole. Peeling logs is a laborious and sticky affair. Handcrafters do this to these new guys to see if they have what it takes to be a log builder. If they don't have what it takes, they will quit early on before time is wasted in training them.Having peeled logs before, I was not looking forward to peeling 55 logs by my self. My little man was a big help.

You have to peel (debark) the log so that it will start drying out and keep the insects out of the wood. The southern pine beetle and others eat the cambium layer. This is inner bark, the layer between the wood and the outer bark. Once the outer bark is off the beetle larva can't survive.

When we get ready to start to build we will have to draw knife or plain the logs again. This will give them a clean tooled look. More on this when we start to build.

Working hard!

Peeled Logs

Stacking for storage

Log Peeling

2007-06-19T02:45:00.001-07:00

Peeling a Log

2007-06-19T02:43:00.001-07:00

The Log Rack

2007-06-18T00:27:00.001-07:00

We needed to build a rack for the logs to get them off of the ground and to make it easier to peel them. This rack is also where they will be stored over the summer. The rack had to be level and it feeds the logs out to the temporary building site. A set of ropes and pulleys used with my truck made it easy to load the logs onto the rack. See the video to see how it works.

Loading Log Onto Rack

2007-06-18T00:25:00.001-07:00

Skidding a Log

2007-06-17T23:17:00.001-07:00

Getting The Logs Out of The Woods

2007-06-17T22:13:00.000-07:00

Now that the logs were on the ground I had to skid them up to our temporary building site. Moving a 1000 lbs. of log would have been an easy job for a logging skidder, but I didn't have one. :) What I had was a 4-wheel drive FORD truck, and it got the job done! Barely! If it had not been a 4-wheel drive it would not have moved them.

Felling a Tree

2007-06-16T04:00:00.001-07:00

Cutting the Trees

2007-06-15T03:06:00.000-07:00

I started cutting trees in January. I wanted to have them all down by the end of February, before the sap started to rise in the spring. Your suppose to cut your trees in the winter while the sap is down. This keeps your logs from checking (cracking) to bad when they dry. I had a total of 55 trees.

Just a safety note: Logging is one of the most dangerous jobs and should not be attempted by the inexperienced.

My helpers. No, he's not allowed to use the saw.

Our Land and Trees

2007-06-12T23:33:00.000-07:00

We purchased our current home and 20 acres of land about 7 years ago. It has always been our intention to someday build here. Our current home is a small brick home located in one of the front corners of the property and sets on about 2 acres, the rest is mostly wooded. These leaves us with the other 18 acres or so to build on. One of the back corners of the property is about 50 yards from a creek. This area has a nice pound site that we hope to take advantage of. Our home site is wooded and about a 150 yards from the County Road. After clearing the under brush and a few unwanted trees we should just barely see the road.

This property was selectively logged about 12 years ago. Most of the mature timber was cut then, however our trees were passed over then because they were not big enough at the time. They are Slash Pine and are about 25-35 years old. They have an average butt diameter of about 12 inches and a average middle diameter of about 9 inches. They are 35-40 feet long.They are a little on the small side, but our house will be a "round log chinker" so they should work out fine. Were going to rough cut window and door openings as we go, so we can "stretch" the log.

Bring You up to Speed: The Plan

2007-06-11T19:52:00.000-07:00

We had hope to start our home next year, but we were in a bad drought last summer. The drought was putting a lot of stress on our pine trees. This causes them to be vulnerable to the dreaded Southern Pine Bettle, which can reek havoc on a stand of pines. We lost about 5 trees to the beetles that were going to be used for our house. So we faced a decision, stay with our plan to start in a year and take a chance of losing more trees this summer or go ahead and start cutting over the winter. We decided to go ahead and get started now. I'm thankful we did, because it has been another dry spring and summer so far. There will be a lot of trees lost again this summer.
Starting now would mean that I would be getting started before I had a chance to go to school. This wouldn't really be a problem. I could start cutting over the winter, peel and store logs in the spring and go to school in late spring. That's what we did.
As I have mentioned I love to work with wood. Particularly Rustic and Country style furniture, so cutting and peeling logs would not be foreign to me. This would however, be on a scale that I have not yet attempted. I looked forward to the challenge.

To put it simply, our plan is something like this. Cut and peel our trees, and store them on a rack up off the ground. Attend a log home building school. Work on a few small projects over the summer (a play house for my kids). Practice, Practice, Practice!!! Finalize our building plans over the summer. Start work on the log shell on a temporary foundation this fall/winter. Hopefully we will be finished with the log shell before it gets to HOT next summer. If I can handle the log shell, then we will start putting money into this dream. Clearing land, foundation, well, building materials, and the list goes on.

Our Log Home Endeavor

2007-06-11T00:33:00.000-07:00

It has been a dream of mine since child hood to one day have a log home. I remember my first log home magazine, I was probably around 13 or so when I first fell in love with the look of the log cabins, and log homes. In my early 20's my growing love for the craft of wood working, started leading me to believe that I could possibly build my own log home from scratch.
Cutting trees from your own land, and building your own home from them may sound a little eighteen-hundredesh. But if early settlers done it with axes and mules and very little training. Surely a moderately skilled craftsman with a chainsaw, power tools, and educating himself in the art of log building can do it! Right? If not, we'll have one huge bonfire. :)

This blog will document my progress from learning the craft of log building, to hopefully building our own log home from scratch. The entire process will probably take 3 years. When we are done maybe we will have made our dream come true.

The next several post will be intended to bring you up to where we are currently in our endeavor. As I start this blog it is June, we actually started cutting logs in January. I will be posting pictures and video of my "on the job learning".

This blog is in no-way meant to teach or instruct in how to build a log home. Nor am I endorsing products, people, or methods. This blog is intended to document our journey in our endeavor.