Friday, March 31, 2006

Log Home Update: Part 5
More progress

Don informs me that they have completed digging and poured the footings. When Terry and I go out tomorrow we’ll swing by and take a look if the predicted rains hold off. Don, Adam, and Ron will lay a bed of gravel inside the footings on Monday. Then on Tuesday they will start to lay the first course of block and the styrafoam forms for the basement walls. (I'll see about getting pictures of concrete drying.)

I also received a call from Beaver Mountain Log and Cedar Homes. They will be cutting and milling the logs for our home next week (if they haven’t started already). Wednesday afternoon they will have the logs for the 28’x’44’ first floor area dry stacked on their mill floor. Each milled log is numbered to indicate its position for easy assembly. The mill crew dry stacks the logs to one log course above the windows and doors on the first floor. They can get a good idea of what the logs look like and how the knots and checks that all pine logs have are arranged. Terry and I will be there early Thursday morning to get our own peek at our future home. (I'll also get some pictures of this.)

After we have seen the walls dry stacked, the logs will be taken down, placed on pallets, bundled and then put onto flat bed trucks for shipping to our construction site. They have already begun stacking and packing some of the lumber, shingles, windows and doors that go with our kit. It will take four—possibly five—trucks to ship the entire home.

Second floor walls on gable ends and dormers as well as those of the garage are not solid log. They are, instead 2x6 stick construction and have log siding to match the real logs. The gables and dormers will be constructed on site while the walls of the garage will arrive on site as preassembled panels.

Delivery is scheduled for Wednesday, April 19th.

1 comment:

Gun Trash said...

Styrofoam forms... I think I first saw that one on This Old House a few years back. It was pretty interesting and amazing to me that stryofoam could take all that concrete. I've seen poorly braced plywood forms bow under all that pressure so it was amazing to see them pouring all that readi-mix into a form made out of coffee cups. :-)

What method do they use to fasten the logs to each other? Galvanized spikes (60d or so) or threaded fasteners?

Also, do they have some sore of method to compensate for any drying/shrinkage in the logs? I was always curious about that one.

Also, do you plan to treat your logs with anything after the house is up?

Sign me Just Curious. :-)