Log Cabins

[bbrown]

It’s an active construction site there is no getting away from tools, building materials, equipment etc until it’s finished. The house is gorgeous!

[mudflap]

I'll let my wife know.... see if she agrees,

[mudflap]

Anybody see what my neighbor did wrong here:



We had some pretty stiff winds (60+ mph) the other night. My new metal porch roof didn't flap or budge or make any noise at all, but my neigbhor's carport got lifted and thrown 12' from the cinderblock wall he was using to support it:



he had rotator cuff surgery, so I'm going to help him rebuild - have to chip out all the cement from these blocks and clean them up, then I'm going to drill some holes in the footer and install some all-thread, making sure it sticks up above the first block, or maybe all the way up, I don't know, then bolt it down with some steel plates. I'll use rebar in the rest of the blocks, and end up with a nice solid wall, and bolt the bottom of the carport to the top of the block wall.

If you look close, you can see all thread sticking up out of the footer, but it's only about 5" tall - not high enough to reach up above the first row of block, and I think that's the problem. No nut or washer on top either - I think the guy helping him thought just having the allthread embedded in the concrete of the block was good enough. apparently not good enough for the wind we get around here.

[Silver Pie]

If you look close, you can see all thread sticking up out of the footer, but it's only about 5" tall - not high enough to reach up above the first row of block, and I think that's the problem.

Yeah, I noticed that. I was looking for rebars and all I saw were those short little things.

[mudflap]

Some good progress on my wrap-around porch:



going to go look at some roofing metal tomorrow. It won't match the existing (can't see it in this photo) on the side of the house, but it just became impossible to get matching stuff. So, anyway, that's life.

[mudflap]

Another case of a framed home being cut in half by a pine tree - like a hot knife through butter:




this doesn't happen when the walls of your home are actual tree logs, just saying.

[mudflap]

Working on the sawmill track this afternoon. I made 2 extensions for it a few years ago and now it's 30' long. I can cut a beam up to 28' (sawmill needs about 2'). The track needed to be leveled, so I got a truckload of free gravel from the county (as much as you can shovel). Not the best, but it'll work for now. In the future, I'm going to put a little roof over the track, pour some concrete under the track, and weld on some leveling feet.

Anyway, I'm ready to cut some 26' beams for the carport. now for some trees....

[mudflap]

pretty much done with this part of the porch roof. I'll trim the rafter tails and metal and add fascia board and gutters later. now to figure out the carport.

[Momma J]

The porch roof adds a great deal of character. I love it!

[mudflap]

cut down a tree yesterday so I can make some 26' 4x12's out of it:

https://www.bitchute.com/video/fuAnt79MC03N/



have never cut one this close to the road before. Even though it was leaning away from the road, wife still wanted peace of mind, so I got out my 100' tape and made sure - nearest power pole / line was 80' away. road was 40' away, and the tree was about 60' tall. I tied it off to another tree just to make sure it went the right direction when it started to fall. After cutting 130+ trees, I can still never be sure; and that's why I'm not "a professional".

[mudflap]

looks like I'll get some 4x12's out of this thing - small end at 28 feet is about 16" wide, so we're in business!

[Silver Pie]

Even though it was leaning away from the road, wife still wanted peace of mind, so I got out my 100' tape . . . .

Oh, what it would have been like to have a husband who cared about my peace of mind instead of mocking me and persecuting me when I didn't have it. You are indeed a treasure!

[mudflap]

Even though it was leaning away from the road, wife still wanted peace of mind, so I got out my 100' tape . . . .

Oh, what it would have been like to have a husband who cared about my peace of mind instead of mocking me and persecuting me when I didn't have it. You are indeed a treasure!

thank you. I'm sorry you didn't have that. I've mostly been a prideful person my whole life, thinking I know everything. But I'm not always right, and it usually pays off when I listen to her. Building this house and getting it to look the way it does has been because she is my "secret weapon".

[mudflap]

ok, got out my log trailer, jacked the half log on the ground up with a 2x6x8 to get it high enough for the trailer to slip under. then used a chain and binder to strap it down on the trailer. Thought I could use my truck to drag it over to the sawmill, but the tip end still weighed about 1200 lbs, more than my bumper could handle. so I borrowed the neighbor’s tractor and just hung the end from his loader:


then just backed the trailer over the top of the mill track. track is 30’, log is 28’, so I had to be careful where I set it down to make sure I had 2’ for the mill. used the farm jack to lift the log up, slipped some lumber under the log to hold it and pulled the trailer out of the way, then jacked the log up off the lumber, removed the lumber, then lowered the log onto the track. it’s a lot of work when you don’t have hydraulics:


made some cuts last night with the mill, but I'm not done yet. rotating 2500 lbs of log with hand tools is a lot of work. The trick is to not cut too much off any one side so you maximize the size of the beam. I was thinking of doing a 4x14 beam, but there's too much bark on one side (logs aren't always as straight as they look), so I'll have to settle for a 4x12. It's still going to be a really cool looking carport beam. In this pic, the dimensions are still 5.5" x 13", so I still have some cuts to make:

[mudflap]

alrighty, it's done. had to wait for the rain, cut the grass, dig a trench to drain this stubborn low spot in the side yard - and then decided that's just going to be an ongoing project - anyway, got the beam cut and moved here temporarily till I can get the other one made. ordered the concrete post brackets (they don't sell 8x8's here locally), put marking stakes in the ground for the concrete pier supports. I still need to cut down one more tree for the other three 8x8 posts - those will be easier to move than these, since they only need to be 12' long.

Anyway, here's one finished beam - 4x12x28. The other is ready to mill:

[mudflap]

* NOTE: not mine. just showing what can be done by amateurs*

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2280 ... 4502_zpid/

[mudflap]

Finally got something done today! Been spinning my wheels with all the rain...

The last pier I poured one was kinda "blobby" because I just dug a hole, and framed in only the top 5 inches. It'll be ok because only the top 5" will be visible. But this time, I actually cut out a pyramidal pier out of scrap OSB I dumpster dived from the construction remodel going on across the street. Then I used door hinges and angle brackets to attach a 5" inch collar to the top. The top is 10 inches square. This will be how I do the rest.

The rule of thumb on pier / footings is 1 inch per 1 foot of span. So I have 26 feet of span, meaning I need 26" of base on the pier. frost line is non-existent here, but they required 12" below grade. So I calculated a pyramid shape with a 26" base and 10" of height. Did some math, found out I needed to make each of the 4 sides 14" long to achieve my desired depth. I then added a collar on top as a pad to sit the support post on. probably, the code people like 4" minimum on all sides of your post - so an 8" post would need 4" + 4" on each side = 16" top. But since this is a carport and I don't want to have a 16" blocky pier in my way every time I pull in, I'm "hiding" part of that base underground with the pier. It'll still work beautifully because the pyramidal shape transfers the weight down to the 26" base. Besides, my support logs are about 2" bigger than the piers they sit on - (those piers are 20" wide), and my engineer said it's fine, as long as 12" of log are supported by the pier.

The firewood in the hole keeps the pier form from floating up while pouring the concrete. It likes to do that, so you have to stop it from doing that. For the cabin piers, I buried them up to their necks in dirt before pour day.

stuff you didn't want to know about concrete....

[Momma J]

That is awesome problem solving!

[mudflap]

the first 8x8x13 post got cut finally:



the "log trailer" made out of an axle from a Land Rover with an I-beam I welded to the top moves the post around pretty easily.

3 more to go...

[mudflap]

new "mini blog": https://x42.nohost.me/BALCAS/books/2024 ... ting-shelf

I dunno, what do you guys think? you like the format? does it allow you to comment?

edit: you'll get some kind of a "security warning!", but just click "advanced" and then "proceed" and you should be fine. I'm working on it...

[Silver Pie]

I clicked "advance" and it popped up another message at the bottom of the page:

Someone could be trying to impersonate the site and you should not continue.

Websites prove their identity via certificates. Firefox does not trust x42.nohost.me because its certificate issuer is unknown, the certificate is self-signed, or the server is not sending the correct intermediate certificates.

It's a different format than I've seen. Also, I'm used to more color in the background, but it looks easy on the eyes. I did leave a comment so you can see if the comments worked. (I expected it to ask me to put a name in, but it didn't, so there's no name on it.)

[mudflap]

I clicked "advance" and it popped up another message at the bottom of the page:

Someone could be trying to impersonate the site and you should not continue.

Websites prove their identity via certificates. Firefox does not trust x42.nohost.me because its certificate issuer is unknown, the certificate is self-signed, or the server is not sending the correct intermediate certificates.

It's a different format than I've seen. Also, I'm used to more color in the background, but it looks easy on the eyes. I did leave a comment so you can see if the comments worked. (I expected it to ask me to put a name in, but it didn't, so there's no name on it.)

I might need to contact my ISP and have them request the certificate fix. but folks are telling me that "all the best sites are untrusted these days!" so....yeah.

Thanks for checking and commenting!

[mudflap]

I updated it so folks can register for an account and log in and make comments that as someone other than "guest".

[mudflap]

Just saw this on another forum:
They are now building entire subdivisions where the houses are "FOR RENT". This one's in Phoenix, apparently:

You will own nothing and you will be happy

when are the mormons going to go Amish? tick-tock, people....

[Silver Pie]

Just saw this on another forum:
They are now building entire subdivisions where the houses are "FOR RENT". This one's in Phoenix, apparently:

You will own nothing and you will be happy

when are the mormons going to go Amish? tick-tock, people....

Subdivisions built only to rent. That's unusual.