christoph Berger

Hi Roman
I have built a log cabin and I can just say that with the bark on, the logs will rot MUCH faster. I took the bark off most of my logs and hadn't covered then with a roof for five years, they didn't rot. A few logs I kept the bark on and they were only a year and a half old, they were already doing some rotting so with the bark they rot about five times faster. That might not be as much a problem for you however, because you will hopefully finish your roof much faster than I did. But if you plan on taking a long time on your roof then definitely take it off, because if it is getting wet a lot it will rot. Also it looks much prettier with the bark off.

Thanks for the response Matt.
Yeah it is drying out now and hopefully will stop rotting. I did put some wood hardener on it.

Hi
Does anyone have any experience or knowledge on dry rot? I live in Vermont. Am a little concerned that it could destroy my house, because I do have a little bit of rot on part of it.  I couldn't find much information on it. Just wondering mostly how common it is. It is very under control at the moment. But I have little cream or white mushrooms and small cracks with mycelium going with the grain of the logs. ( Is a log house).
It's only on a few logs because I didn't take the bark off of a few of them. Luckily now I have finished the roof so it will dry out. And I got the bark off finally.  Um, can anyone say for sure what kind of rot it is? I am praying normal wet rot. Just got kind of concerned when I read about dry rot, and don't want it to destroy my whole house.
Here is a picture of it if you wanna see I didn't have pictures saved so have to link to my Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CWji-FBlIsN/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
 
 
 
 
 

THANK YOU!!!

Thanks Philip!
I have a roof with decent overhang. I know it will still get some rain when it's windy, but not too bad.

cool yeah i heard thats good on cob floors.

Hi
i am working on a small log cabin right now. its made of spruce logs and i am wondering if people think that chinking with cob would be a good idea, or if i should use the regular mortar stuff. the only thing i am worried about with the cob is if the cob, being essentially soil, could rot the logs when it gets wet. i know there are timberframe houses with cob i think touching the timbers and they dont seem to rot...  but im not sure. i just wanted to double check to see what people think.
also cob is sand and clay, is it possible the clay has a preserving affect on the wood, even with sand mixed in?
thanks very much for any responses. i really like my cabin, so i just wanted to check to make sure it doesnt ruin it.
Christoph

Thanks all you guys. I have researched recently as well and apparently both red and white oak work well. I am going to use oak because its easier to find nearby here even though there's none on my land. But they say red oak actually does work and they use it commonly in the Appalachian because it dries out very quickly according to what I read and although big oak logs can rot fast the shakes are so thin that they dry out better and actually do last pretty long. And white oak might be even better but they both work similarly. Also according to mother earth news you do split them off Green wood. I'm really interested in shakes because it seems like such a better material than asphalt.I'm not worried about fires cause it's not gonna catch unless your house is already on fire or you have chimney problems so just gonna be sure to do the chimney well. But also its so worth it environmentally, like I don't think we can afford to keep using the old building materials honestly much longer and furthermore because shakes last so much longer they are a better material not to mention so much nicer looking. But its also cool cause you can do a whole roof for free... for the time I would spend earning money to pay for new asphalt shingles every 15 years I would way rather be making shakes and probably spend less time on them anyway. Thanks also for the advice on how to do it you guys I'm excited to give it a try soon

I am planning on making shakes for my log cabin roof here in vermont and wondering what kind of trees would be suitable to use? I have white spruce on my land that I was considering.I just want them to last like 20 years at least with a 45 degree pitch. I also have sugar maples here black cherry, beach, and birch.that's about it so I was thinking the white spruce would be the best option. But if that is not a halfway decent wood for shakes I'm willing to go to the effort to find a better type of wood for it. Thanks

PS is it crucial to season the wood a whole lot before using it?