Only those who visit the outhouse ever get around to seeing this perspective of the mountainside cabin.
And, that’s a shame.
Those visitors who fail to partake in the “Rural Ritual” just don’t know what they are missing.
Originally, the only window visible from this side of the cabin would have been the one centered in the end log wall, all the others were added during the restoration process.
Without the light that came from the cabin’s single fireplace this would have been one very dark home. It was a different world back in those days. A home was a shelter from the outside world when needed. Life then, was lived outdoors.
I like this profile of the cabin, maybe not as much as the other side, but still.. it’s nice. She appears much taller and more imposing when viewed from” the downside”. The height of a structure really alters our opinion of it, doesn’t it? Short is cute, tall is imposing. Which description do you want for your cabin?
Talk about being tall… the first course of logs on this side is a good four to five feet off of the ground versus that very same course of logs nearly touching mother earth on the opposite end.
As you can see this log cabin is perched on rock piers… irregular columns of stone placed in each corner. Each was crudely built, likely by the home-owner, using no mortar and many rough, jagged, pieces of granite which are commonly found laying on the ground here east of the Appalachian Mountains.
Every indication is that there was no footer installed under any of the piers. Likely, the first step in building this cabin was that a large stone was dropped on the ground and from there the cabin was built.
I like that visualization… Dad announces… “Here’s a good spot… I like it… Let’s build a house!”.
But… But… What about getting government permission, permits and such? What about hiring an architect? Is this land zoned for a cabin? lol None of that… pure freedom.
Most builders simply gasp when they view this primitive foundation. No way would it ever pass code today, maybe even for an barn, not to mention a house. I’ve heard of people abandoning their homes because of a crack in their foundation… heck, this support system is nothing but a crack, and yet it has stood for more than a century. Man up, people!
I built a house for myself many years ago using a stone pier system on it. It was an easy method of quickly moving forward in the building of the home. But in the long run, it was a mistake, and not just because of the fact that mice never give up on trying to get into a home built using this technique. It was the fact that no matter what I did afterwards I could never get the floors warm in the winter.
It’s a fact… if your floors are cold, you are cold. And, if you are cold, that means your wife is cold. And that my friends, is too much misery for any man to bear.
So… the lesson of the day… when the time comes to build your own cabin, make sure and put a solid stone foundation under her. You can use stone piers for your porch floor… they look good there and it gives the dog a cool place to go during the hotter months.
With the solid foundation everyone lives happily ever after, in the cabin with warm floors, and the happy wife.
The End.
Thank you, each and every one of you, for following along.
Noah
Originally posted 2015-03-06 17:08:24.
Here in GA, a lot of houses were built on stone piers for ventilation purposes to get the floors slightly below boiling during the hot summer. I can remember lying on those “cool” floors with a glass of ice tea pressed against my cheek to get some semblance of a respite of the heat and humidity. With winters being a minor concern here, we are more prone to liquid weight-loss during summer than cold feet in winter. I’ll throw down a rug and wear socks in winter. The trade-off is worth it to me… Maybe not the Mrs.
Rodents chewing through is an issue though… Maybe fine mesh wire under the joists? And a couple of cats?
I put together a video to fully explain all my thoughts about pier foundations…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X43wkmPJjwg
Clearly no “way of doing things” works for everyone, or everywhere… thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed the video. I liked your point about not rushing through the foundation. I’ve met a lot of people who spent countless amount of time with the floor plan and want to hurry to the “visual part” to see their floor plan come to fruition with no consideration to the pros/cons of different foundation styles or any oversight in the construction of the foundation. To your point, many ministries are centered around a “firm foundation” – it’s definitely worth more of our attention.
I agree there is no “one way of doing things” – there are always trade-offs. It just seems that this article and the video you linked to are quite negative against stone piers. I just wanted to add a perspective from a climate where stone piers have at least one pro that people can use in their considerations.
For example, I lived in VA for 3 years, and I wouldn’t ever consider a pier foundation there due to the winter and the points you make. But in a warm climate (where summer is more of a burden than winter), I would consider a stone pier. Though, I think the other issues you brought up in your video (i.e. clutter, erosion, rodents, etc.) should be well thought out.
I appreciate your website and your expertise. It certainly gives me a lot to consider.
It’s certainly not hard to come across as being negative, or to be interpreted as being negative… it’s certainly not my goal.
I greatly appreciate your feedback (likely we share the same faith as well)
In a few of my videos I do try to get the point across that there are no absolute rules in building a home, but rather I focus on goals, or guidelines. Clearly if one were to build a home on the sea coast it is wise to build a home on piers. My personal experience with piers though, both in living in a home with them, and seeing many other homes has always been negative… and meanwhile in the last ten years I have seen an exponential use of them particularly by young people… I see LOTS of support for this… but I see none saying “wait… you really need to think about….”. And that one voice in the wilderness it seems is me. lol
I do not consider you negative or interpret you as negative at all – maybe just a little biased towards piers. lol. In fact, reading your website (and I’ve just finished reading all your postings), you strike me as a very positive personality – undoubtedly a byproduct of our shared faith.
But I see your point about about being the lone voice. You are the only person that I’ve seen to give pros and cons to different building styles (log, timber, stone, etc.). This aspect of your website has really opened my everything-must-be-symmetrical, engineering-type brain.
Are you switching your primary medium from written posts to more videos?
Folks in the alternative building world, as a general rule, do tend to latch onto one type of construction and shut down to the rest… and it’s a real shame. (sort of like going to a buffet and only choosing one item)
There is so much that each has to offer. How can one choose between log or timber-frame? ahhhh… they can have both!
Most folks that want a log cabin feel their future home needs to be all log… after all, that’s what the log industry promotes (because they want to sell as much of their product as they can) But the truth is that they can save a lot of money, and create a more interesting home by combining stick-built or timber frame with log. And then there is stone… even a small stone addition to a log cabin can really make it pop visually.
It does take time to slowly move away from symmetry and towards “balance”… but when you do find that sweet spot it is ever so wonderful.
I would prefer to stick with words and forget video. But in this world today people are reading less and less and they want to see how it’s done. I am finding that through the creation of video that more thoughts and actions are revealed and better organized so each is probably helping the other. I hope you are on my newsletter list as each week I add additional thought and commentary to the weekly video.
I’ll likely keep at this “sharing my experiences and thoughts” in writing and on video for the next few years… and then head back up the holler and spend the remainder of my years quietly building special little places.
I have also written my first book which is with the editor.