Simplified log cabin build idea

I have a weird idea for a way to build a log cabin.  Take the logs and run them through a bandsaw mill to take opposing slabs off of them.  Make them all either 10", 12" or 14" thick (depending on your log sizes).

Build the walls by laying the logs on top of each other (like normal).  Use natural chinking between the logs, only since you cut flats on them, they have a fair bit of flat surface area to sandwich the chinking.  Do whatever corner connections you want.

This seems like a simple way to build a log cabin that gives you a broad chink area for less air infiltration.   One downside is you're limited to the length of the sawmill.  

One possible downside is that the logs may twist between when they're cut and when you build the cabin?  I'm very curious if that would be likely.  I'm thinking, for my area, red pines would be the ideal species.

Thoughts?

Hi Mike;
While you are cutting two sides of your logs, go ahead and cut a third side smoothly as well.
Log cabins are great until you try to put things tight to the wall...
Also, rounded natural logs on the inside, make for fine dust collectors...

I feel as though flatness will invite moisture issues more readily. For the same reason when you notch a log you put the notch on the bottom of the log being applied, rather than the top of the in place log, so that water doesn't pool in the notch.

I got a book with everything made of logs that I want to build. For simplicity, I would tackle the first project in the book below, Laplander's Hut. These are all Swedish designs. I currently have a log home obsession and still no logs or land to experiment with. I cannot get enough of them right now.

Though, even just a modification or two depending on needs, to the flat sided logs as you've mentioned, would greatly improve their function.

Great point Thomas!

Thanks Jeff, rainwater is one consideration.  Having overhangs that are plenty big should help with that.  Both to keep rain off the side of the cabin and to keep splash up from hitting the lower logs.

@Jeff Steez - Could you give us the title and author of the book you quoted from? It looks interesting...

Mike Haasl wrote:

Build the walls by laying the logs on top of each other (like normal).  Use natural chinking between the logs, only since you cut flats on them, they have a fair bit of flat surface area to sandwich the chinking.  

A company on Vancouver Isl uses a chain saw (don't know if it's some sort of special one) and cuts a wedge out of the upper log and fills it with insulation (I think they were using artificial stuff). They didn't alter the lower log, but left it round. As you say, 2 round logs make for difficulty getting insulation to stay put very well. However Jeff Steez's point of not wanting moisture to pool also makes sense to me.

By using a chain saw, they weren't limited to mill capacity. Mind you, my neighbor's mill can do 16 ft which would be a decent "simplified" cabin.

Certainly, people have done what you're proposing - this picture even suggests they've joined logs together, which would circumvent the mill length issue:

Note that the "groove" is in the bottom of the upper log, and the "spline" is in the top of the log - this next picture shows that more clearly:

Source

I like your idea, Mike.  If I wanted another log cabin, I would try it your way.

But when I put all that effort into getting logs onto our mill bed, I'm definitely going to cut squared lumber.  And once I have that wonderful array of lumber, I'm definitely building post and beam structures, as that best plays to the strengths of large-dimension wood.  Form = function.

But of course if you have a vision for slabbing two sides and building with logs, then I hope you will have at it and let us know how it goes.  Form = function is a nice practical guide, but the fun is in the inspiration and process.  

Follow your instincts and enjoy!

Hi, Jay! Looking at the logs used in our home, they are cut & grooved exactly like the ones in your diagram. It looks like the longest ones they used are only 8 - 10ft, but are butted up like masonry, so the exterior walls are about 30-35ft, on the short side, (not sure, on the long side - maybe 90, including the garage?). So, just like any other home, you're not limited by the length of the logs.

I DEFINITELY prefer the squared interior sides, too. I have a friend in Arkansas who loved her new-to-her log home, when she bought it, back in '98, but became very frustrated, when putting up shelves, pictures, etc on the round interior walls, and the rounded top sides collect dust & air-born cooking grease, horribly, especially on her back-country gravel & dirt roads.

This book is what my dreams are made of.

From Log to Log House
Sven-Gunnar Håkansson

Published in 2003 Hardcover, ISBN 9781894572729

So about logs cut flat for the chinking... seems to me if you can cut them so they lie at a little angle, any water that gets in will run back out. It's not getting wet that's an issue, it's staying wet.

My Uncle built a log home like as was described here, but sawn on three sides and not two. Most manufactured log homes have a groove, or series of grooves milled into their logs so that when they fit together, it stops drafts from getting through. Since my Uncle only had a bandsaw for a sawmill, that option was out. After the first winter he went on the inside, cut 2x2'a, nailed them to the inside of the log home, put 2 inch Styrofoam insulation between the studs and finished the wall with v-match pine. It was just too cold otherwise.

I know it would seem a sawmill make a flat cut, but that is not the case. A lot of forces are at play, and a lot of different densities play into the cut. Cut a log with some knots and the sawblade deflects rising and falling. Or the weight of the log compresses the frame of the sawmill so that as a cut is made, you end up with a deeper cut in the middle of the log than the ends. It is just impossible to make a flat cut with a sawmill, that is why all commercial wood is put through a planer, at least on one side.

I am not saying a person should be deterred from building like as was mentioned, my Uncle made it work, it just seemed silly to me to have log walls and still have insulation and pine boarded walls on the inside. If a person is going to do that, why not just frame the walls conventionally, and then put log siding on the outside (2 inches thick) and then pine on the inside? No drafts, R-19, standard thickness walls for standard windows, wiring that is easier to do, no settling, additions can be added at a later date that is easier to do, etc,

One style of log home construction method that was not mentioned though was the Maine Style Log Home where the logs are arranged vertically. It was done so that shorter logs could be utilized, and the settling of the logs was not so much of an issue.

Mike: in Alaska at a weekend show I saw a log cabin built out of 2 flat 4x3x8 garden timbers.  They built it butt and pass an put a 3inchx1/4" close cell foam strip between the log layers.  I think it was a floor pading for a floating engineered floor system.  Made a neat little garden shed / ticket booth.  I remember doing the math and it was about 70% the cost of stick and plywood shed $, and self standing, no floor on the asphalt parking lot. Tom

Thomas Michael wrote:Mike: in Alaska at a weekend show I saw a log cabin built out of 2 flat 4x3x8 garden timbers.  They built it butt and pass an put a 3inchx1/4" close cell foam strip between the log layers.  I think it was a floor pading for a floating engineered floor system.  Made a neat little garden shed / ticket booth.  I remember doing the math and it was about 70% the cost of stick and plywood shed $, and self standing, no floor on the asphalt parking lot. Tom

Is that "2" a typo?

If butt and pass is what it sounds like, did they have anything securing the logs to the ones above and below them besides weight? Jenga?!?

Rez Zircon wrote:So about logs cut flat for the chinking... seems to me if you can cut them so they lie at a little angle, any water that gets in will run back out. It's not getting wet that's an issue, it's staying wet.

I think if they are cut to drain water out, the weight of the wall will be trying to pull the building apart?

Steve Zoma wrote:If a person is going to do that, why not just frame the walls conventionally, and then put log siding on the outside (2 inches thick) and then pine on the inside? No drafts, R-19, standard thickness walls for standard windows, wiring that is easier to do, no settling, additions can be added at a later date that is easier to do, etc,

You mean if a person is going to use styrofoam like your uncle? I think mikes idea is based on the premise of using as many local/natural materials as practical.

Coydon Wallham wrote:

Thomas Michael wrote:Mike: in Alaska at a weekend show I saw a log cabin built out of 2 flat 4x3x8 garden timbers.

Is that "2" a typo?

If butt and pass is what it sounds like, did they have anything securing the logs to the ones above and below them besides weight? Jenga?!?

Not a typo top and bottom flat as Mike described in the first post.

"But n pass" is a simplified way of building a log cabin.  The "pass" means the length of the log does not matter you can cut them latter.  Basically build the first layer of logs square level supported etc. Then set the first 2nd layer log on any side, the next log butt against 1st let length past 1st layer next log butt n pass again.  It makes a weak and drafty corner but it is fast and easy.  You cut the pass parts to even lengths, after the wall is done.  

The layers are staked together with long steel nails(rebar).   At least 3 layers long.  Tom

Coydon Wallham wrote:You mean if a person is going to use styrofoam like your uncle? I think mikes idea is based on the premise of using as many local/natural materials as practical.

Generally with Permiculture stuff, the more natural derivatives to toxic building materials are well known, so when a non Permie family member builds something with standard materials, it is just understood that a Permie person would replace them with the more natural material choices they have available to them. In other words I was explaining how the log cabin design was a failure, not the building material choices itself.

The design seemed good, but it did not take into account stopping drafts. Mass only goes so far to retain heat. Reducing all drafts is the other aspect of the equation often missed.