We once restored an old farmhouse over in the Shenandoah Valley near Harrisonburg.
Among other details… we put a red roof on her.
Originally posted 2015-06-22 12:20:24.
A quote from Wikipedia this morning…
“The Goldilocks principle is derived from a children’s story “The Three Bears” in which a little girl named Goldilocks finds a house owned by three bears. Each bear has their own preference of food and beds. After testing all three examples of both items, Goldilocks determines that one of them is always too much in one extreme (too hot or too large), one is too much in the opposite extreme (too cold or too small), and one is “just right”.
The same holds true of log cabins.
Here are three different log structures, each offers an example of too small, too large, or “just right”.
When I first started my love affair with log buildings, I loved them all.
I must admit, I still do.
But, my tastes have refined over time. When someone comes to me and requests that I build them a cabin as nice as I can what do I look for in seeking out an old cabin? Well, one the key features on my list is log size.
Take a look at the photo of the wonderful old tobacco barn. She is still in remarkable condition thanks to that nice roof still providing protection from the rain. This cabin is perfect for what she is (an outbuilding). She could also be made into a fine home, but we would find that once she was chinked the finished cabin would look a bit “busy”… sort of like a pin-stripe shirt.
From “too small” it’s easy to move onto the concept of “bigger is better”. Certainly massive logs are impressive, and I went down that path early in my career (as you can see in the photo posted below of the log structure without a roof). I bought the new pine logs that make up this cabin off of a Mennonite sawyer and notched out this cabin myself. Each log was more than two feet wide. I was going to make something spectacular out of these logs, but I found when I finished assembling this cabin that the logs themselves were distracting from the overall cabin. Everyone would comment on the logs, not on the cabin. (I ended up selling this cabin to man who wanted to finish building it himself, I learned later that the cabin had burned to the ground before he finished… so sad)
So, what size logs do I look for?
Well, the perfect size log depends upon how large of a cabin I am building. For instance years ago when I built a play log cabin for my kids five inch logs worked perfectly there. For a large log home I like logs that are ten to sixteen inches wide (a bit of variety is good) with four to six inch wide chink joints in-between.
Lastly, I have posted here a photo of a corner of a cabin that was “just right”… in fact, it was so perfect that I had to reach out and touch the logs.
That is the great indicator of having found perfection. When your eyes tell your brain that more input is needed and you find your hands reaching out without giving a thought to doing so… you’ve likely found something special.
Originally posted 2015-06-21 15:44:03.
Here’s my own fireplace… it got plenty of use this last winter.
Notice the stones that create the arch and how they rest on larger stones. This not only gives the arch a strong base upon which to stand, but it also creates a definitive visual starting and ending point for the arch.
Originally posted 2015-06-20 14:09:02.
Who wouldn’t want a stone walk-out basement with arched entries?
Of course there is one minor fault which distracts me from fully enjoying all this workmanship. Allow me to ruin it for you… lol…
Whenever I build a stone arch I do my best to always start my arches on larger stones… the worst way to build an arch is by starting the arch on stones of the same size as those used in creating the arch… it visually ruins the effect by creating a run-on effect.
Notice the stone arch over the window and how it appears that the arch continues down the right side of the window creating an inverted “J” (or a candy cane) in the process.
Originally posted 2015-06-20 14:00:38.
Here’s the other side of this incredibly nice home.
Who wouldn’t want a place as sweet as this?
But once again, there are a few details that make me cringe, that make me drop this cabin’s grade from an A to a B.
I’ll give the skylight a pass. A lot of people love these things. They can create some nice lighting effects, but boy do they tend to leak and they are a royal pain to clean.
If you look at the stonework on the chimney it appears as if the mason just gave up trying to properly lay the stone on the top six feet before he reached the brickwork. I’m not certain if he ran out of quality stone, or was losing money on his fixed bid, or was having problems in his personal life… but whatever it was it is clearly reflected in this chimney and will be forever.
Next up is the attic vents. These weren’t that noticeable in the previous photo due to shadows, but over here in the full sunlight we see these huge triangles. Vents that belong more on brick rancher than a vintage log cabin. I would have either vented behind the chimney, or put in vents that appeared to be two small windows, or not vented at all and simply made the attic space part of the conditioned interior.
There were no original windows in the end of this cabin. Both windows that you see in the photo were drawn in by the architect. I don’t know about how other’s view this but I find the diagonal placement of the windows to be distracting.
I would think no windows would have been fine. I would think four windows would have been better. I would think two windows on either floor would work. I would think two windows on either side of the chimney would have worked. I would think one window anywhere would have been fine. In other words… there are many pleasing ways the windows could have been designed into this cabin, and only one way to locate them wrong… and that, of course, is the way they were drawn. lol
Originally posted 2015-06-19 19:31:27.
At first glance this cabin appears to be drop-dead gorgeous. Don’t you think?
But something is wrong here. Something falls short of it’s true potential… can you see it?
Let me give you a hint… it has something to do with the chimney… in fact it’s two things about that stone and brick creation.
No, it’s not the brick topping of the chimney. That is a fairly common feature on old houses and cabins in this part of Virginia.
Times up.
The first problem is that the mason have shouldered the chimney higher up (the shoulder being the area where the chimney transitions narrower, in this case where it went from stone to brick). This transition should have occurred where the logs ended and the gable end siding began. The result of shouldering the chimney this low gives the impression that the chimney has somehow dropped a few feet into the soil… it has lost some of it’s prominence… it’s power has been drained… it’s majesty, degraded.
And then there is that one odd stone… located in the middle of chimney that appears diamond-shaped. The mason put it there to be decorative and to demonstrate how artistic he was. To me, and maybe I’m just being too picky, it’s a visual distraction. No single stone should stand out from the others… unless of course, it is the cornerstone.
Originally posted 2015-06-19 14:13:03.
You likely won’t see another photo like this one.
Here is the one of the few examples I’ve ever seen of a log cabin having been built on a brick foundation. Keep in mind that this is a new home making use of an old log cabin, so this combination of materials is vintage 1980’s (not 1880’s)
Keep in mind that I like brick. And, I like brick and stone used together… I feel that they compliment each other. But, try as I might, the use of brick under a cabin just doesn’t look right to me.
What do you think? Am I being too picky?
Originally posted 2015-06-18 22:27:37.
I really like the stone foundation found under this timber-frame addition.
The stones are massive… appropriately sized for this project. All are locally sourced sandstone (a nice feature). There is a nice blending of varying shades to be seen between each individual stone, which creates eye-pleasing contrast, and invites further inspection. And, there is a nice horizontal pattern going on with enough “fluidity” in the pattern to keep it from becoming rigid and “blocky”.
Throw in a few arches for a finishing touch… and life is good.
Originally posted 2015-06-18 12:34:24.
The mixture of stone, and log, and timber-frame is an unbeatable combination.
It’s so good it’s almost overwhelming.
I guess there is nothing wrong with being overwhelmed with the home one lives in is it?
Notice here the technique we adapted for completing the walls in the timber-frame area. Instead of using stress skin panels, attached to the outside of the frame, here we elected to fill in between the timbers with modern “stick framing”.
On this frame, only about two inches of depth would be seen of the timbers on the inside… the rest of these huge framing members would be buried within the wall.
Originally posted 2015-06-18 12:11:34.
There was a tall timber-frame addition off of the back of this log home, built using timbers that were sawn from larger, salvaged beams from an old factory.
The scale of this home… the “tallness”… was visually striking.
Originally posted 2015-06-18 11:50:54.
