For those who dream of having a cabin… but don’t want the whole house to be made of log… consider having one room of the home as your rustic retreat.
Originally posted 2016-05-10 14:17:20.
Here we have a home with a log cabin attached to it’s end as an addition.
This home is dramatically improved by having part of the home being of log construction don’t you think?
But, there is something unique and unusual about this cabin. Can you see it?
I have seen many hundreds of people tour these home and not one has ever commented on its “uniqueness”. (much to my surprise)
What makes this cabin unique is that it is a three sided cabin.
No one has ever once upon touring the home has noticed that it was three sided! … why is that?… and, are their advantages to having a three sided cabin?
Quite often when an old log cabin is taken down to be later used again when building a new home we are faced with a shortage of logs. Without fail there are generally a few logs that are damaged due to rot or insect damage. Also, old log cabins tend to have low ceilings so building back a taller cabin is often desired, so once again, we need more logs (or a creative alternative).
Sometimes vintage logs can be found to make up for the shortage, sometimes not. One way to get around this issue is to build a three sided cabin and attach it to a larger structure (It doesn’t have to be much larger, just somewhat bigger).
There are financial savings in taking this path due to not having to find and buy more logs, and the cabin is often nicer due to a now abundant supply of logs, and there is also a huge savings in labor in that only two corners of the cabin now need to be notched. And, to top things off, this type of cabin is easier to attach to another structure.
The “missing wall” of a three sided cabin is easily replaced visually with some combination of a fireplace, a doorway or opening into the cabin, or perhaps a closet, built-in shelves or cabinetry, or the creative use of old paneling.
Three sided cabins are historical… there is nothing new about them… I’ve seen them many times, but yet for some reason I’ve never been able to convince anyone to buy one when set up like the ones seen in these photo below… but… I have found that every time I’ve ever built a house using this method that people love them, and never once has any one noticed “the missing wall” or failed to love the cabin.
Originally posted 2016-05-10 14:08:30.
It’s a good thing to be happy isn’t it?
Originally posted 2016-05-10 13:50:58.
Originally posted 2016-05-08 18:05:36.
Originally posted 2016-05-08 17:48:04.
When I built my first house I did it for three excellent reasons.
But it turned out, there was a surprising fourth benefit to undertaking this challenge that proved even more life changing for me.
1) I wanted to live in a home that I built… one that was built exactly the way I wanted it to be, not like someone else felt like doing it.
2) I wanted high quality, but I wanted my cost to be as low as possible… the only way to get that was to do a lot of the work myself. I can’t expect others to work for low, or no, pay.
3) I wanted the lifestyle, and the freedom, that comes from having a dream home with minimal mortgage that would be paid off in just a few years.
4) This is the one that surprised me… I thought that building my own home was going to be a long labor-intensive ordeal to go through. But it turned out to be one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. Trust me, if you have any inkling to build your own home, don’t go through life and miss out on this experience.
Originally posted 2016-05-04 16:17:53.
I do like building in such a way that it either stirs up old memories… or creates new ones.
Originally posted 2016-05-03 14:26:30.
My recipe for a great fireplace and chimney…
I’ve never worked from any special drawings when building a chimney or fireplace.
The inner workings (smoke shelves, flue liners, air intake, etc) on my projects are basically the same as those found in most modern masonry units.
The uniqueness of my chimneys and fireplaces that I build is all about the careful selection, shaping, and arrangement of the stone that composes the finished product… which I tend to model from other structures that I have admired over the years, mostly vintage.
With the vast sources of the internet I’m sure you can find some technical drawings, and then just come up with some photos of the fireplace that you most admire and copy it to perfection.
Originally posted 2016-05-03 14:12:39.
I was recently asked by one of the dear members of this community about my thoughts with regard to woodstoves… as I always seem to write of my admiration of a good fireplace. I thought I might share my response here in a new posting…
You will never get an argument from me with regard to the benefits of having a woodstove. I love them and have had them in every home I’ve ever lived in with the exception of my early childhood home (which was a brick rancher located in suburbia). I love the ability to be able to heat ones own home comfortably with locally gathered and often free fuel.
The last two homes that I’ve built for myself have had both… a woodstove and an open fireplace. They can both be built into the same chimney (with separate flues) and be in located in opposing separate rooms. It’s tough to choose between the two, sort of like having to pick owning a car, or a truck, both are handy at what they do. I think having one of each is worth the effort and expense.
If a person is building their own home and has to choose one or the other I recommend a fireplace. A woodstove can be added to a fireplace (and later removed if desired). A fireplace cannot be added to a woodstove location. When it comes time to sell a home many people want a fireplace, not nearly as many with a woodstove.
Yes indeed, a lot of the heat of a fireplace goes up the chimney. But certainly not all. I have an in-law who believed (through his reading) that fireplaces actually removed heat from a home, so upon one of his visits to my home I cut all the heat off and demonstrated that I can easily heat a couple of rooms in my house with my fireplace and afterwards the warmed masonry continues to give off heat many hours after the fire dies down and the damper has been closed.
But the main reason to have a fireplace in a home isn’t about the heat that it provides. It’s about the experience. I rank sitting by an open fire right up there with watching a sunset, a rainbow, the first snowfall, or a summer lighting storm… maybe even more so. This old world we live in can often be harsh so I gather much needed comfort in watching those flames, stirring those embers, and warming a pot of Brunswick stew. It’s something humans have been doing for a very long time and unfortunately so many today are missing out on.
Originally posted 2016-05-01 15:42:53.
