Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER SIX
the question i am asked
most about log
houses by serious seekers is, where do I get the logs?
That's a valid concern, given the quantity of material
the log house requires. Just the names — logs, beams,
joists, rafters — sound like massive sections of wood,
and they are. And then you'll need doors, windows,
interior wall covering, door and window trim, and all
the normal building materials like nails, studs, insu-
lation, and so on.
Some important decisions will be based on the
design and mood of your house. If you want your
house to look as if time has stood still, then you will
need to search for and acquire recycled, old materials.
You can make sure all conveniences or modern struc-
tural materials are kept hidden. If you want open
beamwork, whether for decorative or structural pur-
poses, you must get beams to suit your dimensions
and ideas.
You get the point. It will take effort to gather the
materials you need. Not all materials can be “store-
bought” at the local lumberyard or scrounged from the
salvage yard or come from a house you are about to
reclaim or recycle. Acquiring materials takes work.
And those materials will fulfill your plans.
Recycling
Almost 90 percent of our material is recycled. We
reuse hewn logs from other cabins, tobacco barns,
springhouses, and corncribs, even use hewn beams as
logs. We reuse old beams for interior and structural
beamwork. Mellow, aged lumber trims windows and
doors. We reuse old flooring (carefully relaid in order
to keep the wear patterns in the right places). Or we
buy remilled lumber specifically cut for flooring.
First of all, the old wood is usually better, being for
the most part slow-growth heartwood, which lasts
longer and gives boring insects indigestion. The heart-
wood is the best part, whether cedar, oak, pine, or
poplar. Second-growth trees, by contrast, are mostly
sapwood, which is a good lunch for bugs and the fun-
gus that is rot.
Age alone of the material means that the green tree
has dried naturally and decided what shape if any it
will warp or twist into — finally stabilizing. The mel-
low color of old lumber or old logs cannot be dupli-
cated from any bucket of stain. Old lumber just has a
different look and feel from new lumber or a newly
hewn tree.
Excellent-quality materials come from unlikely sources. This barn
supplied enough good logs to build a substantial house. Other reusable
materials, such as beams, flooring, mantels, stairs, stone, brick, and
paneling, can come from dismantling older and even disreputable-
looking houses.
