Transporting an old disassembled house
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:42+00:00
Moving day.
The entire house only took us two trips to move…
chimney and all.
Originally posted 2015-07-30 13:49:27.
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The slow demise of timber framing
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:41+00:00
This is how the addition off of the log cabin started out… with a worn out mid-1800’s home scheduled to be torn down.
She wasn’t much to look at… but her frame was built well (which is why she was still standing) and I needed a frame.
Notice the original siding on the chimney end.
The frame of this home was like nothing I had seen before. It clearly was built in a transitional time of construction.
The timbers were smaller than in the older homes that we had previously experienced but the mortise-and-tenon joints were still each carefully marked with roman numerals, (as seen in the photo above). Each of these joints was held in place with a wooden peg (many of which we had to drill out).
But what made this frame unique, in my experience at least, was the grid type appearance. So many horizontal framing members… hmmm… why would they be there?
The only time I ever install horizontal framing is when I know I’m going to put up board-and-batten siding. And that’s what this house had… but… the board-and-batten found here was a form of underlayment on this house which was then to be covered up with horizontal siding.
This is the oldest house that I have ever seen with a layer of underlayment under the siding. This layer contributes greatly in sealing out air infiltration and strengthens our homes today. And I guess that’s what it was doing here… the timbers were getting smaller and an added layer of wood was giving the house the added strength that it would need.
Soon the timbers of our houses would shrink to the size of two-by-fours and the fancy joinery would be eliminated, replaced by a few nails.
Originally posted 2015-07-29 13:25:17.
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Log cabins are visually powerful
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:40+00:00
A few months back I shared the construction of this cabin but I just glanced over the story of the kitchen/bath addition off of the end.
It’s time to revisit here.
I have found that the log cabin (or stone) part of a home always dominates the visual impact of the entire home of which it is a part.
I have built homes where the log cabin only made up one room of a much larger house and yet everyone’s comments, and everyone’s memory, with regard to that home was always the log section.
And so it is with this cabin, and it’s adjoining addition which was so overshadowed by it’s bigger brother.
I don’t know why that is… maybe it’s because there is some kind of inner fascination with log structures that lies within us… or maybe it appeals to some hidden gene within us… maybe because a log structure is something out of the normal daily experience of most people. I don’t know.
And so, maybe the strong visual impact of a log cabin is why one that is built well is so appealing, and one built poorly is so, so bad.
Originally posted 2015-07-28 13:13:37.
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Log cabins are like cows
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:39+00:00
They tend to cluster together, in fields, far back off of the road.
Originally posted 2015-07-28 12:42:13.
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A “proud” keystone
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:38+00:00
Everything you need to know about how to build a nice stone arch in one photo!
I’ve always liked a “proud” keystone. One that rises a couple of inches above the other stones that make up the arch.
Originally posted 2015-07-27 14:19:57.
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Shaping stone with hammer and chisel
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:37+00:00
It’s all in the details.
Take a look at the chisel held in master mason, Dan Smith’s, hand… you can barely see it from the vibration after being struck with a stone hammer.
Dan is here shaping the tapered course of a soon to be built solid stone chimney.
Nice stone isn’t it?
Originally posted 2015-07-27 14:12:32.
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A custom crafted log home vs a log cabin kit
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:36+00:00
Which would you choose?
Assume that each cabin cost the about the same… (they likely did).
The first one is a log cabin that we designed and built using antique logs and locally gathered materials.
The other is made from a log cabin kit built by someone unknown to me. It is larger than the one we built.
I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts.
Originally posted 2015-07-26 13:18:57.
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Building a log cabin… part 4
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:35+00:00
We put a shiny galvanized metal roof on this cabin. Cheaper than copper, it’s a great option if you want the “old farmhouse look”. This roof should hold up for decades but will need regular painting, about every six years.
If you look in the background you can see my faithful pickup truck loaded up, carrying tools and equipment to the next job. The cabin’s owner would take over from this point and would finish the grading, landscaping, and interior work.
Originally posted 2015-07-25 22:01:43.
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Building a log cabin… part 3
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:34+00:00
A cabin goes up quickly when we have a man for each corner of the cabin, carefully crafting each notch.
Stubborn logs sometimes need to be disciplined into place.
After the logs are all up on the cabin we do a final trim of any protruding notches.
A chainsaw is wonderful tool.
I once asked my grandmother what was the greatest invention she has seen in her lifetime. She had been born before cars, airplanes, computers, and men walking on the Moon. Her response was “the chainsaw… before it’s invention men had to work so hard to cut a piece of wood”. I miss that wonderful woman so.
You know it’s funny, in today’s world so few people have the skill of working with a chainsaw. I’ve had master carpenters with 10 years experience apply to work with us, requesting to paid more than I make, who have never used a chainsaw, or an axe, or even knew what an adze was, I would prefer a inexperienced apprentice, ready to learn, than someone who walks in with an attitude of superiority knowing nothing of our unique skills.
If you are thinking of building a log cabin one day in the future, begin now to learn the use a chainsaw, and a axe.
And use safety equipment.
And don’t smoke cigarettes.
BTW… this is a paid actor pretending to use a chainsaw.
Eventually, with enough effort, the pile of old logs began to look like a log home.
Originally posted 2015-07-25 14:08:42.
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Building a log cabin… part 2
Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:19:33+00:00
The perfect size crew to build a large log cabin is seven. That will give you two stonemasons, four carpenters (one for each corner of the cabin) and one lead man… who oversees the entire project and fills in for any man out that day.
A large crew like this comes in handy whenever it’s time to lift a heavy log into place.
An adze is a very handy tool to have when assembling a log cabin.
An adze is a tool that is centuries old, a tool that most people have never heard of, and a tool that really has no practical use other than for folks who work with logs and timbers, and yet in this modern era it’s still often the best tool for certain aspects of woodworking.
Even with the aid of a crane to lift the logs up to us on the second floor, there is still a lot of lifting needed to get the log into place.
Almost there… Almost there!
I don’t know, maybe we’ll have to use the “log-stretcher” on this beast to get it to reach. 😉
Originally posted 2015-07-24 14:08:39.