Blog - Page 61 of 123 - Handmade Houses with Noah Bradley

Log Home of the Year

I have received hundreds of phone calls over the years asking me to come repair a “log cabin kit home”. And, I have witnessed some real disasters with these structures just a year or two after they were built.

I have turned them all down.

But, I am embarrassed to admit, that I once built a log cabin kit home, just once. I so regret it. I would never do it again.

That cabin was made by a well-known firm in that genre that “handmade their cabins one at a time”.

By the time I was halfway through the project I regretted ever having played a part in putting something up like this structure. It is today an eyesore on the landscape. Of all things… it won “Log Cabin of the Year” by Log Cabin Living magazine.

And no, I will share a photo of it. I’m not even certain I saved an image of it. To this day I still turn my head when I drive down that road. It’s a good thing that private individuals in this country are not allowed to own grenade launchers. If so, that cabin would be gone.

Isn’t that interesting? That the one log cabin that I most regret building was chosen as the greatest by the trade’s leading publication?

So, why did I do it? Why did I accept the offer to build this home? I did it because I saw that it was inevitable, these clients were going to build this home regardless of whether I took it on, or if it went to someone else. I thought that throughout the building process that perhaps I could steer the project towards something more vernacular… I was wrong.

After that project I would do my best to supply folks with alternatives. I found that I could easily compete with the price of a kit…. which sort of shocked me… That I could create a cabin using their “odd plans” (one had five corners) and old barn logs that I would acquire, and then create something much more attractive and durable.

I only did this three times, but I felt like I had done penance for my sin.

Originally posted 2015-04-01 16:27:01.

Log Home of the YearNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:13:05+00:00

Brick nogging

I salvaged an old house down near the North Carolina border many years ago. The home was built in the late 1700’s and she had brick nogging in the walls between the timbers.

Nogging was often installed in this part of the country where clay was bountiful to make bricks in the sun. The bricks were of course all soft and would crumble easily, yes, because of their age, but mainly because they had not been kiln fired.

The nogging served as a crude form of insulation, but mainly as a weather sealer and heat mass. Certainly it beat having nothing at all in the walls. I can say that the look is stunning… jaw dropping… to this old boy.

But the centuries of contact between earth and wood had rotted every piece within this home.

One of my crewmembers stepped forward and adopted this house as an outbuilding on his property.

Originally posted 2015-04-01 15:15:15.

Brick noggingNoah Bradley2019-06-29T10:13:04+00:00

A pine cabin… part 3

And there she is today.

Originally posted 2015-03-31 21:02:54.

A pine cabin… part 3Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:13:03+00:00

A pine cabin… part 2

I received the call that I had hoped that I would never get. The owner of this roadside cabin had decided that this piece of local history had to go. He had his reasons, and all of them, were very logical.

There was no chance that I would ever get him to change his mind.

I was placed in a situation of either salvaging this cabin, as best as I could, or living with the fact that it would be destroyed if I did nothing about it.

If this cabin had been anywhere else in the world other than in my neighborhood, considering the poor condition that she was in, I would have let her go.

I have witnessed so many old places vanish over the years. It’s been heart wrenching, but after all, I am just one person, with a limited budget.

I know what I would do if I won the lottery… I’d have a house museum… but, I guess I need to play the lottery if I ever stand any chance of winning. Go figure.

In a way I understand what veterinarians must feel like when they have to put a family pet down. You just can’t save them all.

S we gently pulled off the siding to expose the logs on this cabin. In her day, and as seen from a distance on that day, she was a real beauty. Why, she had more charm and presence than anything being built in my area this year. For sure.

But, an up close inspection revealed my most feared suspicions. She was in too poor of a condition to reuse for anyone’s new home. She was an insect-infested, severely-decayed, pine log cabin.

Now if her builder of so many years ago had only used a different species of wood… oak, or chestnut, or poplar, the story would have ended differently.

But he didn’t.

I knew that if I took this cabin and stacked it somewhere while trying to figure out some unimaginable creative option that likely she would become a pile of mulch in just a matter of months. Time, for this cabin, was a luxury that it no longer had.

So, I took her to my place and put her up as an outbuilding, an outbuilding that I had no need for, but at least there she has lived on, and every day I was still able to pass by her on my way to work, and for that I was thankful.

Originally posted 2015-03-31 20:21:48.

A pine cabin… part 2Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:13:02+00:00

A pine cabin… part 1

There once was an old log cabin that sat close to the road on which lived on. I would drive by that cabin daily on my way to work.

I always enjoyed seeing it there, it made me feel good that there was an original, mid-1800’s log home so close to me (the log cabin man 🙂

I would stop in on occasion and give the old gal a quick inspection. I was greeted more often by the wildlife that lived in her (and under her) than by the cabin’s human owner (who lived in a nice farmhouse nearby).

There were a few conversations over the years between us about whether I’d be interested in buying the neglected building and moving her elsewhere.

But, I wasn’t interested in that offer… for two reasons…

For one, I liked her being right where she was. I got more enjoyment in driving by her every day than I ever would by moving her somewhere else. I guess that was rather selfish of me. hmmm I’ll have to work on that.

The other reason for my lack of interest is that from every indication that I could see, and feel, that behind her siding and under her plastered walls, she was already lost.

Maybe “lost”, is too strong of a word.

Let’s just say that I felt that she had reached a level of decay and insect infestation that it would soon become extremely visible to everyone else, and then shortly after that, there would be a total loss of the structure… a collapse.

That would take time of course… ten years, maybe twenty… but her best years were clearly behind her. There was simply nothing anyone could do at this point to give her a new life.

I would always encourage this gentle neighbor to hire me to come in and give her “a tune up”. We might not be able to give her another century, but we could possibly keep her standing as long as we were vertical.

But, not everyone shares my love of old buildings. And even fewer, are willing to “write the checks” to make things happen.

Originally posted 2015-03-31 16:22:37.

A pine cabin… part 1Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:13:01+00:00

Three very different stone walls… part 3

And here’s the third local entrance wall…

These folks hired an architectural firm to precisely design their entrance wall.

Clearly all this architect had was a straight edge. A very crisp structure. Institutional. It doesn’t really blend into the environment does it? I wonder did he ever visit the property?

So plans were drawn, with exacting details given. The mason who was hired performed his work with great precision according to the plans that he was supplied with, so that he would get further work from this firm in the future.

The mason was never allowed to express his own artistic abilities and I would imagine after years of working under such conformity that any artistic stirrings within this man would be squelched.

This stone wall was also by far the most expensive of the three that I have shared today, with the architect profiting more from the adventure than the mason who built it.

All three of these walls will be around for centuries if left undisturbed. Over that long of a span of time any cost differences between them is insignificant. So to me, it all comes down to our legacy, what are we leaving for others to view countless times in the years to come?

Originally posted 2015-03-30 15:32:56.

Three very different stone walls… part 3Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:13:00+00:00

Three very different stone walls… part 2

The second entrance wall that I wanted to share was built with “How much?” being the driving factor.

These folks saw no importance in stone selection, nor did they have any appreciation for quality workmanship. All they cared about was the lowest bid. You know… “Rock is rock, I’m not paying any more than I have too”

And so now there is an eyesore for everyone to see until this mess is one day torn down.

Originally posted 2015-03-30 15:04:25.

Three very different stone walls… part 2Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:12:59+00:00

Three very different stone walls… part 1

There are three entrance stone walls located within ten miles of my home. Each was built using a different path.

I did not play a part in any of them. But, I think there is a lesson that can be learned by each.

The first one seen here was contracted out to a local stone artisan. He had a reputation of being a “unique character” with a known history of creating some beautiful stone structures.

He was asked to come in and “build something nice” by the folks that hired him. And, that is what he did.

This is how I build houses. Hire the best, and let them practice their art.

Originally posted 2015-03-30 14:47:34.

Three very different stone walls… part 1Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:12:58+00:00

Humble beginnings… part 3

We raised our food in the garden that we created.

We got our water out of a spring located on our property.

We kept our food cold in a make-shift refrigerator that I put together in the stream.

We slept in a “tent” that I built out of old lumber and plastic for eight months, as we built a small home using materials that we had salvaged from an old house, an old barn, and an old school.

We lived a simple life with no clocks, or calendars. But we had plenty of candles and books.

And then, children happened.

We moved back to Virginia and I began building for others. The rest is history.

I have shared all this with you to reveal a bit about myself, but also to remind us all that where we live, and how we live, is a choice. There is always another option. Anyone can have a handmade house, even those lean-in-the-wallet… but, it might require sacrifice and discomfort.

Originally posted 2015-03-30 13:49:16.

Humble beginnings… part 3Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:12:57+00:00

Humble beginnings… part 2

Shortly after getting married my wife and I took every dollar that we had and bought 15 acres of Tennessee wooded mountain land.

I felt at $350 per acre that it was a bargain.

We moved onto our land with an old Datsun pickup truck and all of our belongings packed safely in the back. We were excited for the adventure that lied ahead.

Our first goal was to clear enough woods to create a garden and give us ample firewood for cooking meals and to keep us warm during the winter that would one day arrive.

The neighbors were kind enough to lend me their team of horses, Bill and Mack, to pull stumps and break the ground for the first time.

There is nothing else quite like operating an authentic two-horsepower garden implement. I do not have the words to describe it adequately, but I can say that if you are ever offered the opportunity, make sure and seize it.

Here’s a photo of me “turning the plow”, in preparation for making another pass down our future garden. Seen in this photo, guiding the horses for me, is Clovis, who would become a dear friend of mine and someone who would teach me many “old school” ways over the next few years.

Originally posted 2015-03-30 13:25:28.

Humble beginnings… part 2Noah Bradley2019-06-29T10:12:56+00:00

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