Hello all,
This was a very trying and busy summer for all of us up here in Vermont. It seemed to start out well. I had been working in Iowa from March 2010, but was lucky enough to get called back home to New England in April until the end of July.
First on the list of to-do’s list were the hemlock floor rafters that needed to be cut into half rounds logs. We had received and peeled them the previous summer “09”. They were all 16+ feet long and about 13 to 16 inches in diameter at the small ends. The portable saw mill cut them lengthwise 6 inches thick end to end. Then the mill cut the biggest hemlocks into 3”X10” Bucks for our windows and doors and then the remaining pines and hemlock logs into dimensional lumber, 1x8, 1x3, 2x4, 2x8, etc...
Gable ends were next. We decided to go with 8 inch thick gable end wall for insulating prepuces. So we started with the side that had the trapezoid windows in it. We framed the wall with 2x8 inch rough-cut and then finished it with 1x8 boards and 1x3 battens. Then we repeated the process on the other gable.
After the gables were done we needed to get new tarps on the roof because they were leaking. We had not left enough slack in them and the sun had shrunk and tore them from the UV’s. This took several more days to complete with the wind gusting and the rain coming down the weather just didn’t want to cooperate, but we finely were able to get them on and secured.
The floor rafters were going up well, we had all 14 up and leveled in about 3 weeks and then started the 2x6 T&G on the second floor. All was going as planned and then it happened, my boy James was up on the finished part of the T&G helping with the gluing and wanted to do more, he was grabbing the T&G planks being handed up by his Mom from the cutting area on the ground and he stepped backwards right though an unfinished part of the floor. He fell 13 ½ feet to the ground and landed on his back on a short pile of stacked T&G on the ground, the impact broke his back at the (L2), I understand this is the second vertebrae up from the pelvis. It was a compression fracture and the stacked T&G somewhat spilled out behind him, slightly absorbing the impact. The fracture was confined to the front part of the vertebrae and the spinal cord was untouched, thank god. Let me tell you, I felt like quite a fool for even letting him up there after that. Live and learn.
This set the summer project back a few weeks. Since this accident James has made a full recovery.
His Doctor said that the age of 11 is the optimal time in a child’s life (if it is going to happen at all) to get an injury, they heal and recover the fastest at that age. She also said it looked like James had the growth potential to be over 6 ft tall, which is even taller than me. One last thing on this subject, THE RULE (put in place by James) was that no one should be walking backwards at anytime on the second floor. And we all agreed that this was a good rule. It was getting late, about 4:45 and we were going to stop in 15 minutes for dinner, and we were all getting tired and he wasn’t thinking straight. And that is what happened, he took the board and started walking backwards with it, in a different direction then he had been going and there was the hole.
OK, after this horrifying incident we needed to get back on track. We finished the second floor T&G in about two more weeks.
Now the preparation work on the crawl space under the house needed to be started. We were going to pour cement as a slab but the cost was too great for our budget so we decided to do crushed rock. We leveled the ground, with a slight slope for drainage and placed boards around the perimeter so we could pure the footings for the rock walls under the logs in the summer of 2011. We put down 6 millimeter plastic, and brought in some ¾ inch crushed rock, about 6 inches deep.
Next I mixed up some cement and chinked the inside of the lower logs so we could get the first floor started. 2x12 PT planks were lagged to the second course of the logs ¾ of the way around the inside of the house and then on the first log in one corner were the sunken living room floor was going to be. The hangers and floor joist were next. Then we nailed up ¼ inch hardware cloth (galvanized mesh) under the whole floor and made sure it was completely secured to all the side logs. So we would not have rodent problems under the floor. The mesh was in place of the Wood Furring Strips usually used to support the Dow Blue Board Insulation recommended. Next, we placed about 2 inches of fiberglass insulation on the hardware mesh between each floor joists and then poured in shredded Dow Blue Board Foam Insulation we bought from a company that makes specialized application refrigeration units. They shred their scraps and sell them in 55 gallon bags for $5 each. It took about 70 bags to do the whole first floor, so about $350 in blue insulation, about $300 in wire mesh and about $75 in used reclaimed bagged pink fiberglass, also $5 bag. For a total of $625 to insulate the whole first floor with an “R” value of about R-45, not bad.
Last we cut a rough opening for the front door just before we closed in the rest of the first floor with T&G. I made a quick door out of left over T&G. made a frame from rough cut and then we started moving in stuff from our other storage areas.
We are still working on the insulation between the logs to keep the snow off the T&G floors.
That is all for now and hope all your projects are going well, good luck and good health,
Thanks for your time, The Rivers Clan

UPDATE 01-25-10

Ridge Pole Disaster!

Everything seemed to be going well. I spent some time with the family for a few weeks before I started work on the house about August 1st 09. Our roof and floor rafters arrived about the same time so I needed to clear a staging rack for their arrival. Working to get the rack ready I made a bet with my son that I could move the last four logs in two hours, by sunset. Well in my haste I made a mistake and slipped and fell right on a sacrifice log across my chest and thought that I broke a rib! Dr. said not broke just bruised badly. So my wife made me sit in my chair for over two week before she would let me do anything. So my wife started peeling the rafters and said that I could finish them in a week or so when I was feeling better. After two weeks, my wife let me tried Peeling the Hemlock Floor and Roof Rafters with the power washer, but with varied results. They just don't peel like the red or white pines do. Again, my wife came to my rescue and finished peeled every single one of the 30 roof and 15 floor rafters with the spud. She is amazing! I just can't do spudding without lots of pain. I will lift one end of a 1000lb+ log 3ft off the ground, no prob, but something about peeling with a spud for hours gives me such a pain in the neck, you just don¡¦t know. So, then I started prepping RPSL, Girders and other logs for use, re-power washing them and adding extra preservative to all, re-rigging the B&T's, prepping the upper staging area for the peeled rafters, while she did the peeling. The Cap Logs were already up on the walls and next was the end RPSL's (Ridge Pole Support Logs) on the East and West walls. We started the RPSL about Aug. 22th and It took us about 9 days to get the two 22" X 29 foot RPSL's up and secured on both end walls, then another 4 days to put up the smaller ridge pole lifter logs.
After the ridge pole was lifted into place we needed to lift the two special logs we have in our log home, the Chandelier Logs. These are logs that run across all the upper part of the bedroom areas and also across the cathedral ceiling in the living room.
Ok, about the 9th of Aug. the ridge pole is up and I am inspecting it, when I notice something doesn't look quite right. When the ridge pole was raised up over the top Overdangle logs it had ripped a very large hole in the log. I mean a 4" deep, 7" wide, 18" long hole. After even closer viewing and poking the dry rot was much worse than I could have ever imagined. The rot went the length of the log.
Here is where I went wrong, this White Pine log, the pride of our litter was 51' long, 24". at the big end and 19 at the small end. I had wanted to keep the prize log close to the small house we built in "05" and were still living in. so we could keep an eye on it. The problem was, the areas where we were keeping it, was in the shade and the log never got proper lighting or ventilation. Also, and this is a big one, it was never rotated properly. It should have been turned 1/3 turn every 3 to 4 month (not including the 6 or 7 months with 2 to 4 feet of snow) on it. It was rotated maybe 4 times in the 3 years after it was peeled. Shame on me! Lessoned learned!
So, now this once wonderful log needed to be brought back down to the ground and a new one needed to be found. So I rolled it to the edge and let it go for a 25 foot drop.
New ridge pole plight, we called all the loggers we know and not one of them were working logs that big at this time. My wife remembered that a year earlier one of her friends had mentioned they had some big pine tree they wanted to get rid of. Well it was worth a look. There were three trees that might work, all about 45 ft tall (usable log length). Shorter then we wanted but we can't be picky at this point. Then I remembered something that I saw in the wood on my neighbors property about 2000 ft from our log house was a nice lot of pine, of course it was not on my property, and all we have is hard wood. Anyway I went up into the wood and scoped them out, and found one that was almost perfect almost straight and 48ft of usable log and it was 23". at the large end and 18" at the small. You see my neighbor is a wonderful man who used to be one of the local Pastors and his house was right down the road so we went down to see him and tell him of our situation. Being the great person he is he walked up into the wood and said which ones are you looking at. We showed him the one we were interested in and he said if we cleaned up after ourselves we could have that tree. I asked how much he wanted for the tree and he said he would leave that up to us. My wife and I agreed we would pay him the same as our original ridgepole from 3 years ago, $110.00, more than mill rate at this time, and he was very surprised we offered so much and we told him we were more than happy to pay him that much.
Onward, now it has been another 8 days from the time we found out about the old rotted ridge pole. We got the new Ridge pole peeled and it and both chandelier logs up and secured in 3 more days. Next is the rafters, they are all peeled, nubbed and marked for the roof. We don't have a big 4x4 or even a truck at all. We use the 550lb 4x4 quad and the 1100lb Polaris Ranger to do all the muscle/mule work. Well no matter how we tried we couldn¡¦t get the rafters to go up easily, a matter of fact it was getting to be quite dangerous. The main problem was that we were using wet hemlock at 27' X 13" big end logs that weighed well over 1200lb. if they had been dry there weight would have been about half and we would have been able to work them more easily. The weight of the log was more than ranger could lift, and then we tried to use the Block and Tackles but with little results. So what was happening was the log was too heavy I couldn't get it to come up and around the ridge pole and stay very easily. It took us 14 days to get up 3 rafters. (NOT WORKING)
I only have a certain amount of time before the funds run out and I have to get my butt back to work to support my family. We looked for some other way, Telahandler, Man Lift (two man platform style) or maybe a local Crane Company. There are no Telahandler available in the area we live in to be rented by the general public. A Man lift was $1200.00 a week but too small to handle the loads of the logs we needed to lift, but one of the Crane Companies seemed to have the answer.
They had a 95' 10 ton boom crane with a climbing operator to assist me, if I needed it, for $135.00 hr. this seemed to be a great deal.
We decided to go with the crane and it arrived on Oct. 12th. I estimated we would need it for about two days max, and about 6 to 8 hours a day. The operator was great; he really knew what he was doing. He came up with many ways for me to save time in the operation. After all 20 rafters were secured to the ridgepole put in the 40' gerders and then we lifted 6 units of T&G 2600sq. ft. between the walls and chandelier logs and we were done in less than two working days about 12 hours total. Very, very cool.
Next was the 2"X6" TG (Tongue and Groove) now it is about the end of the third week in October and I am scheduled to be back to work (by my schedule at least) on the 1st of November. (Before the snow flies) And that leaves us with about a week and a half to finish the first half of the two layered roof. T&G, T&G, T&G, T&G, T&G, there is a lot of T&G on our roof total 27' X 47' of it on two sides. OK to make this move along, we finished the T&G, tar papered and Tarped the whole thing by November 9th, 09. Not bad for being a month behind schedule with all the delays and mishaps.
Well still not called back to work, so working on the house is still in progress.
We are doing some insulation prep with the Ka-chink Nailer right behind. We will have to wait until the temps get above freezing before we can start the mortaring.

Here is a link to the photos of the Rafter and Roof Pics.

UPDATE 11-21-08

The log walls are finely up, with cap logs in place.
This summer, I had promised my wife that I would spend more time with my family and less time working on the log house then in the past few years.
My job requires me to travel a lot so more time with my 8 and 9 year old, is a good thing.
We restarted the walls about august 20th from the tenth row and put the cap logs on the 20th row.
Our third logger never came through with the rest of the roof rafters for use. We have since hired another logger to supply us with hemlock rafters at a good price for delivery this winter.
We did what we could and will restart the RPSL, Ridge pole, rafters, roof windows, doors, floors, and chinking in the spring and summer of "09".



We are on our way to building a real log home

In 2003, my wife and I decided we were ready to build our dream log home. We started researching internet sites and visited some local models and prefab log home build sites in the New England area. We were not impressed with the quality or pricing for the home we wanted. We did more searching, and found the LHBA (Log Home Builders Association of North America) site. I talked my wife into going to Washington State for the classes, booked a flight and took the class in the fall of 04.

After the class, we bought a 99 acre piece on the mountain above and adjacent to the 10 acres we already owned. We knew it would be mortgage free in a few years, after we built the second log house and sold it. We think another plus of buying this property is the back acreage boarders the Vermont National Forest.

After buying the land, we did some more research and hired a Forest Manager to have it logged. It is 95% hard wood, beach, birch and mostly sugar maple. (Not to good for log house building). We started to gather materials for the build, insulation, windows, plywood, tools, cabinets, a free used trailer, ext... In mid Jan. 05 our Forest Manager found us 50 red pine logs, right down the road from us and we had them delivered by mid of Feb. 05. I am on the road most of the time with my job so my wife started the long and hard job of peeling the logs and peeled about 90% of them by herself. The next batch should be easer with all the info we have acquired on the techniques of spud peeling. (Thanks, Patrick, LHBA Member) :) SEE POWER WASHER UPDATE BELOW.

In May 05 we started the land improvements. We had about 700 feet of drainage ditches put in, roughed in 700 feet of driveway and leveled an area 75' X 75' about 400 feet back in the woods to start the build. We built the pier forms, had the pier holes dug, and had the piers poured. We placed and buried the 4 corner lifting log to lift the house logs for the walls and had it done by the end of June 05.

Mid May, 05 we were still looking for the additional 50+ pine logs we need to get the log house walls started. No luck anywhere, not for a reasonable price anyway. At the end of May we got a call from a part time logger, we'd contacted several months earlier, (we know summer cut is not the preferred time of year for cutting house logs but) he found us some, 90+ red pine logs. They were just what we were looking for. He told use he didn't want to cut them unless we could take them all. He also had 60, 26' X 10" floor beams and roof rafters logs that we needed. After we negotiated a good price we agreed. He told us that he would get started cutting them very soon, in the next week or two. Yes, it looked like we were going to get the house built the summer of 05, cool.

About mid June we get a call from the logger, he told us he didn't want to start cutting the trees until we got a trucker in place for the transport. He never said anything about this before but, we said OK. The logger finely found us a trucker about 3 weeks later. Well, he stalled with one thing after another all summer long. He couldn¡¦t get his equipment to the site because the trucking company he used had some truck problems. Then he couldn¡¦t cut and drag because of to much rain, The last week in august the logger called, he told us that his equipment is now ready to be delivered, but he had ONE more special project he needed to do for the boy scouts, then he would be able to start cutting in about another week. (I am all for helping out the Boy Scouts, I was a scout and my boy is a scout, but this was getting ridicules.) Now this is the first week in September. (What happened to the last three months)? He said he'd have all the logs ready to be trucked in about five weeks. We told him that this was not acceptable; we couldn't be building this log house in the middle of a Vermont winter. Then he said that part of it was because we didn¡¦t communicate with him very well. We had called him every two or three weeks all summer, so that didn¡¦t fly with us very well.

We didn't like the way he'd been stringing us along all summer. We told him we didn't think we wanted to do business with him, if this was going to happen next spring when we needed these logs. He assured us this was a very strange situation and he had a very good reputation as a logger, and he was very sorry for all the problems that had happened over the summer and would do everything in his power to get us the logs as soon as we needed them late winter of 06. Ok, NO more logs for the build in 05.

We are tired of paying rent to a land lord. We need to do something. Brain storm, now we could build a small log house using the existing logs that we have. (Yes, this would take us about, five + weeks we guessed) but the logs that we had wouldn't give us the dimensions that would work for a usable living area. So, we called around to see if we can find one of those portable mills. We find one that has two weeks of down time and he could fit us in. Excellent! So we cut up about 40 logs. We start making preparation (first week in September) for a new smaller build site closer to the road to keep the cost of the electrical run down. We call the well and septic guy's. We decided to build a small guest house out of dimensional lumber, (sorry guys "LHBA") (Got to do what ya got to do) it was the fastest way we could think of to build a small house. It is 16' X 24', and is about 500 sq ft. and we did it in 34 days, weathered in.

We are contacting the logger soon, first week in January 06 to start with a WINTER CUT for the rest of the logs. If we start now we might get them all by April. Ha, Ha. We have to acquire a few more things to complete the list for the finished build but we are confident and grateful to have the knowledge to complete the job. We will continue to keep you all informed.

UPDATE March 10th, 06

OK, we contacted the logger the first week in Jan 06; he was working another logging job. He said that he would be done with this cutting and could start the Red Pine cutting in March. We spoke with the logger the first week in March. He was going to start our cutting mid March and should have all the logs ready to truck when the roads dry out sometime in April. We already have a Trucker in place for that window, to move the logs to our property.

UPDATE Aug, 15th, 06

Hello all,

The house logs and some of the roof rafter logs are here! Well about 2/3rds of them anyway. We received the first load of logs end of July and the second load on the 6th of August, giving us a total of about 70 house logs and 14 rafter logs so far. We will not get the third load until the spring of 07. So reluctantly, back to the day job I go, to get some more capital saved up and then we will do it all over again after the winter and mud season is over.

UPDATE 6/11/07

The last two loads of logs. The last load of logs has arrived, June 11th, 2007. We received one load on June 2nd and the other today. 52 additional logs added to the inventory, making a total of just over 100, 46-35' wall logs, 3-45' floor genders, 2- 45' cap logs and One 50'X 24' but end X16" top end, Ridge pole, It is a beauty and strait as an arrow, well my arrows anyway. I think it has a 2 inch curve over the entire 50 feet. Not bad, "Ridge Pole Envy" anyone. Now the fun begins, all these puppies need to be peeled. I still have one more week of my day job, then two weeks on vacation to a wedding in TN on the 30th of June and then a quick trip to GA for a few days and then back home and then two or three months off to start and finish the wall, roof, floors, windows, exterior doors and chinking before the winter sets in. Here are some new pictures of the last two log loads.

UPDATE 12-2-07

Hello All, Well we got 10 courses up this summer. We started the walls about the 15th of August. We had some little obstacles to hurtle over. Nothing major, just time consuming things. And of course the honey dew list, that must be done when I am home, (which is not as often as I would like it to be). Things like fire wood for the winter, renting a small excavator about the size of a backhoe to rework some of the land and get the logs to the building site with my 4wheeler before we started, among other things. But after about three weeks we were on the way. The first 3 courses my wife and myself pulled up by hand. (The biggest logs of course!) This was not fun and I quickly came up with a way to use the 4wheeler. I chained a snatch block to the bottom of the lifting pole and ran the rope from the top block and tackles down the pole and out horizontally. (I know, I Know, I was suppose to use the old Buick) I don't know were my head was, at that time, it must have been the testosterone or something in the water, ha, ha. We don¡¦t have a lot of room around the house site so this work around, decreased the amount of pulling distance needed almost in half, rather then to pull the rope strait from the top blocks. Another hurtle was the way I had hung my double hooked blocks off the chains. They wouldn¡¦t swing correctly from one wall to the other. Originally, I couldn¡¦t use one hook. Just by the way they needed to be put together. I soon found out they were very inadequate for the larger bottom wall logs that I had, (29" buts). I needed to increase to three wheels right from the start, lesson learned. "I learned a lot of lessons this summer". After rethinking the blocks that¡¦s when I should have made them single hooked blocks with one in the center, so I had to rework the chains to have loops in them. You can see the changes in the pics. They will all be reworked to have only one hook before we restart the biuld next sumer. We used the Home Brew Borate Solution (equivalent to Boracare) on the logs so they should be ok, up on the wall until then. I would still be working on the house, but I work for FEMA and I was called out here to the CA fires to help out. And can¡¦t see myself getting home until February or March at the soonest. So the build is on hold until spring or summer of 08.

While I have been out here in California, I have met with a log home building gentleman that uses Orange oil to stop mold, mildew, and bugs. First he treats the wood or logs with a 50/50 mixer of turpentine and linseed oil and after the wood dries, he applies orange oil. I have herd radio advertisements here in California that say they use it for treating ants and termite and give a 100% guarantee. (No Tenting involved) So maybe I will change my method just a little and see how it works. It sure seems like a good idea to add it to the borate solution after it cools and they say it leaves the great smell of oranges in the air.



Here are pics of the first year LOG WALLS

Here is a link to the photos of more logs.

CABOOSE: I also built another log hauler device that I am calling a Caboose to hold the far end of the log off the ground when I have to move then around and up hills. It works quite well and cost me less then $250.00 to make, Pictures link attached below.



We will keep you posted on the progress of the build

Power Washer Information.

One more thing, as far as peeling the logs goes. We used the spud on all the logs that we pealed last year 05, (the logs that we cut up for the small guest house) we are temporarily in until the log house is weathered in next summer/fall. I know that we have been told that a pressure washer is not the way to peel logs. But we've found that it is a big time saver (dirty work) but a time saver and if the proper technique is used, there is virtually no damage done to the log at all. If there are some small parts that might get damaged, it is far less then the damage from (falling of the tree, dragging of the log and the damage caused from the log picker when going on and off the truck). Now, I am not saying that the log can't be damaged, but if you are very careful and you take the first strip of bark off with the spud, (this will leave enough space to allow the tip of the pressure washer to be aimed at the cambium layer at an angel between the log and the bark and act like a FILET knife). It is like skinning an animal or taking the fat off a piece of meat like a butcher would do. It works very well, and I can remove all the bark in about 1 hr and 15 min. And if you have someone with a spud help to pry up the larger pieces of bark) it can be done in about 45 min. on an average 12inch log. Now that is about 2 hours faster then using a spud alone.

Here Is A Video Link also:
"Peeling Logs With a Power Washer"

Thanks for all your support, Chris and Brenda

E-mail: RiversLogHomes@yahoo.com

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