Blog - Page 100 of 123 - Handmade Houses with Noah Bradley

How large can a log home be?

The short answer to that question is that a log home can be as big as you want it to be if you keep adding more log appendages to it, like we see in this image. For my own personal taste this home offers too much of a good thing…. logs, logs, and logs.

I’d like to give you two things to ponder.

First is that the desire to have a big log home is often solved today by building a log home in a modern way by ignoring the limits to how long of a log one can get out of tree by simply butting logs end to end and nailing them all together. The result of doing this destroys the definition of a log home and results in a horizontal timber home. The aesthetics of traditional log homes is lost. Don’t do that.

The second thought I’d like to present is that everyone should seriously consider a home that is log and stone, or log and timber frame, or log and well… something else. Also, some rooms are best not built of logs, like utility rooms, baths, and kitchens. By making some rooms of a home log and others not, the log rooms take on a special importance. I find that a home is more attractive, more interesting, when a variety of exterior and interior elements are seen such as log, siding, stone, etc. And finally one last point, money is saved by making part of the home out of less expensive materials than logs. Saving money is a good thing.

Originally posted 2016-02-26 15:54:56.

How large can a log home be?Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:18+00:00

Low rider

Such a nice little cottage.

She is “all-natural” and blends into the environment well.

She is also a great starter home, the perfect shape that can be added on to in the future when the need arises.

But there is one shortcoming to this home (hey, it’s what I do… look at houses… and learn from them… pro and con). The cabin is too short… her walls should have been taller. My best guess is that these walls appear to be seven feet tall. Notice how the roof encroaches upon the windows which are already too squatty themselves. And how the door was forced to be put on the end of the home and how the landing roof above that door overpowers the home.

I’m a big fan of a house design where some part of the home’s roof comes down low, where people can see and appreciate the quality of the roof that covers the entire home, maybe even so low in a place where they can touch it, but that is best served with a small addition off of the main structure.

Yes, by using eight or ten foot studs in the walls (which would have cost only a few dollars more) this home would have been more human-scaled and versatile (a porch could have been added on the front, and a loft area would have been created, if desired).

I would love to know the story behind the design of this home and how using seven foot studs came about (most unusual). I would venture to say that the landing roof on the end was not drawn onto the plans… If it had of been I think this situation would have been caught and corrected on paper. Ahhh yes, the importance of elevation drawings. I learned this lesson myself years ago in building one of my own houses… hey, I thought, if it’s built with natural materials it has to look good right?? lol

Originally posted 2016-02-26 14:58:13.

Low riderNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:17+00:00

Ranch style cabin

Here we have a somewhat rare ranch-style cabin with a more traditional log outbuilding out front.

Do you find one style more appealing than the other?

Originally posted 2016-02-25 15:12:30.

Ranch style cabinNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:16+00:00

Outside living

One advantage to a small home, a home that isn’t too comfortable, is that there is more motivation to get outside. And, that’s a good thing. There are wondrous things out there.

Originally posted 2016-02-25 15:03:44.

Outside livingNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:15+00:00

Disconnected

For most of the time that we have been building homes we have used the materials found nearby… mainly wood and stone.

In the last couple of centuries we have improved upon this most basic of living structures by bringing in other materials.

But it’s only been in the past few decades that we have begun the total abandonment of local materials… and in the process… we have lost something.

Our homes have become disconnected.

Originally posted 2016-02-24 19:53:25.

DisconnectedNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:14+00:00

Large cabin, weak foundation

Here we have a wonderful large log home.

I must admit that I am a bit surprised to see such a massive home sitting on stone piers and not a solid foundation. (Pier foundations were more common on “get it up quick and cheap” cabins).

Also, the second floor porch seems a bit too heavily pitched for my comfort… the floor system doesn’t appear to be dropping and I’m confused why anyone would deliberately build a floor with that great of an angle… perhaps this home originally had a one-story porch and this second floor that we see now is now the remnant of that original porch roof?

It wouldn’t take much effort to make this into an incredible home.

Originally posted 2016-02-24 14:53:27.

Large cabin, weak foundationNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:13+00:00

The timeless beauty of a stone home

I am often amazed at the stunning beauty of a stone home.

Stone is such a primitive building material, as basic as it comes. And yet when laid properly, into a classic design, all it needs is the simplest of embellishments… such as painted trim-work and perhaps some window shutters… we achieve a home as elegant as can be built.

Timeless.

Originally posted 2016-02-24 14:27:04.

The timeless beauty of a stone homeNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:12+00:00

Trees and houses

Would you want to have a tree this close to your house?

I do love my trees. But, I’d be mighty nervous during a lighting storm in this little cabin.

And, if the tree were ever to be blown over, and for some reason it didn’t fall on the house, we all know that the root ball of a pine tree spreads wide and would likely lift the end of the house off of the ground.

But still, the tree adds so much to the charm of this house… it is what makes it unique… so how about you? keep it? or cut it?

Originally posted 2016-02-24 14:13:37.

Trees and housesNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:11+00:00

It’s just a single chair

And yet this photo is art.

Why is that?

The same chair located in any room of a new home would lose all it’s charm.

So what is it about this room that transforms the world of routine into the realm of art?

Originally posted 2016-02-22 18:21:51.

It’s just a single chairNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:10+00:00

Dreams do come true

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

Originally posted 2016-02-22 18:15:03.

Dreams do come trueNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:07:09+00:00