Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
into house rafter ends as you did with the porch. Deck,
insulate, then roof just as with the main house, and
finish with guttering and drainpipes to match the rest
of the house.
Do set in some angle bracing to keep this room
from leaning. Modern builders use a sheet of plywood
at the corners, covering the rest with fiberboard. You'll
be happier, and so will I, if you angle-cut 2≈4s and
incorporate them into the stud walls. To insulate, cut
the pieces to fit around these angles. And if you insu-
late under the floor with piers, use screen or rat wire
to keep creatures from stealing it for nests.
Without this wall angle bracing, years of wind and
wear will tilt things crazily. I know lots of old houses
with their walls playing dominoes. Of course, with
angled sheathing under the siding in the better early
frame buildings, the bracing wasn't necessary. But
with insulation, a double outer wall is really a waste of
materials. Another inch of wood won't do nearly as
much toward holding heat (in or out) as an inch of
foam or fiber.
In building a hewn-log house, the procedures for
installing windows and doors, inner wall covering,
wiring, and plumbing are exactly the same as they are
for conventional modern construction. I suggest
board-and-batten outer walls as a visual break from
the horizontal lines of the logs, just as for gable end
covering. I use random-width boards, from 8-inch to
12-inch, with 3-inch battens. However, in the East,
tradition was (and still is) to use clapboarding, butted
to thick window and door trim and to corner boards.
We often build additions of timber-frame con-
struction. That means we use fewer, heavier posts and
horizontal beams for the major framing, filling in with
a wall between to let the beamwork show — inside
and, sometimes, outside too. It's a compatible mix,
and because timber framing was common until about
the Civil War period, it is often an authentic combi-
nation of building styles.
Lean-tos and Other Additions
These additions were just what their name implies.
They leaned against the cabin and were almost always
added later; they were usually made of sawn boards.
When that long-suffering pioneer wife finally got her
egg money together to buy a cast-iron cookstove, it
often went into the lean-to. It kept the heat out of the
main house in summer, and it was actually a modifi-
cation of the old kitchen out back in a separate build-
ing. In a lean-to, this didn't do much for fire preven-
tion, but it made more room.
The lean-to is still a good place for the kitchen and
bathroom. It lets you believe that these moderniza-
tions could have been added later, even if your whole
log house is new. There need be nothing very modern
looking in the main house if these essential rooms are
in the lean-to. Also plumbing is tidier in a frame
“water wall,” and electric wires hide well in stud con-
struction.
Log cabin kit suppliers have come up with all sorts
of ells, wings, and spacious goodies to uncramp the
basic cabin, but nothing looks as homey as a board-
and-batten or clapboard lean-to nudging the rear
wall. I like them across the back, inset a foot or more
to avoid covering those dovetail notches.
Another good-looking addition is a stepped-down
room off the gable end, with the same roof pitch. Ours
is a one-and-a-half-story stone addition built onto the
two-story log section.
For the conventional, framed lean-to or end addi-
tion, spike 2≈4 or 2≈6 studs up the log wall after the
logs shrink and settle; set sills on stone foundation
corners, with flashing between; mortise or spike in
joists; and you're on your way. Better add another
stone pier under the back door for extra support at this
heavy traffic point, or build a continuous foundation.
Subfloor the joists as in any construction, insulate
under, and put up your stud-wall framing. Tie rafters
