Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
We had to unscramble these miscoded logs to get them back in order.
The Dodge Power Wagon with winch and gin poles is our log-lifting
equipment.
This dismantling shows how dusty and dirty old houses can be. We let
down these logs on Muskrat Murphy's house with ropes to keep from
breaking them.
rafters and possibly rare, whipsawn roof slats and
handworked beams. That's several truckloads, for a
long truck. If you pay anything at all for labor, you'll
have more than you'd like to admit tied up in just get-
ting the logs to your site.
A complete house might provide you with other
material — flooring, doors, joists, paneling, wainscot-
ing, fireplace mantels, rock, brick, window and door
trim. You might find that you don't want to reuse the
flooring as flooring — for example, the boards might
become window trim. Wall boards might become cab-
inetry wood. We once found 29-inch-wide boards
used in a stairwell pantry that became a gaming table
for my wife. Chestnut roof decking became our
kitchen cabinets. So yes, the material might be worth
a lot, but don't put a lot of money into it, then a lot of
labor, too.
Buy cheap. How cheap is up to you, but whenever
building, always multiply a reasonable estimated sum
by three to arrive at what you'll probably spend.
Once bought, you have two options in moving your
house. A house mover will move it intact, but it costs
a lot of money. The Grigsby dogtrot log house on the
Arkansas College campus in Batesville was moved 12
miles intact except for the chimneys. Cost was around
$10,000 in the mid-1970s. That's not unreasonable
for a 50-foot building. In 1988, a similar house in cen-
tral Virginia was moved two miles through fields and
woods for $80,000.
Dismantling and Coding
The usual method is to completely dismantle the
house. Location-code each log while the house still
stands, using a carpenter's crayon or indelible marker
so rain won't wash off your code. Mark in the notches
or chinking surfaces so the code won't show. The third
log up on the east side could have a 3EN (north) on
one end and 3ES (south) on the other. You can also do
this with chimney stones, joists, and rafters. Where
you have windows and doors (and therefore many
short, spacer logs), the code can get involved: a 3ENL
(for left), a C for center, an R for right, for instance, or
subdesignations like ABC where applicable.
My worst experience with coding came in 1990
with the purchase of a fine, wide-log heart-pine house
from near White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. The
supplier had stood at the front door and used a north,
south, east, and west coding. But he'd mixed east and
west, so the notches didn't match. If I had not done
business with this man many times before and trusted
his skill, I'd have caught the mistake sooner.
Often I'm called in to unscramble a pile of logs with
no coding. Even a photograph helps here, or at least
some memory of where the front was, or the chimney.
Lacking any hint, I lay out the logs, exploded fashion,
on the ground, using the obvious outer weathered
surfaces as the first guideline. Sills, if any exist, will
be obvious, as will top plates and the notched
