TT, my husband and I live in a valley in Montana that is billed and advertised as the "log home capital of the world".
Silvia,
Do you live in the Bitterroot Valley? I know a lot of companies are there, and I was going to mention that there are a lot of different log home styles. Pioneer/Rocky for instance use an old method of spikes through the logs, and they do chink their handcrafted homes, typically. I was smitten by a Pioneer home (Gem Lake) when I first started to research, and found one in my area.
(linky pic to gallery)
Another really big one, Alpine, uses similar construction, but I think uses pipes between the log courses. They typically chink also. Those homes are not thought of in the same way as I'm building, with square logs, which was built more by the Appalachian folks.
This is also a rural area where many still admire the do-it-yourself. We physically built our own home, and whereas it is not log home, can definitely appreciate the effort, time and commitment you are making.
I like that. Even though not a log home, I admire people that build their own home. To be honest, I'm not a trades person, I'm a software engineer, and currently unemployed. Before I go back to work, I want to get this started. Woodworking, metalworking, and blacksmithing are my hobbies.
If I can get this all setup on a flat piece of property close to my house, I will be able to work on it on my spare time, little by little. Once I move it to my property, I hope to dry-in quickly, move much of my machines and equipment to the basement, setup shop, and finish the build, no matter how long it takes. The county gives me 3 years from the time I pull the permit, and you can get extensions if needed, as long as you are working on it.
The footprint of your house is almost identical to ours. IMHO amply big. We went with an open main floor as we heat and cook on a wood stove. The stove ably heats the entire house, even through our subzero winters. Two bedrooms and a bath upstairs.
I had a much larger plan that was going to use round log timberframe and SIPs (structural insulated panels) for the skin and roof of the home. It was 54'x54', 3 floors above a full walkout basement. This new layout is my bringing myself back to reality.
I will still get about 1800-2000 sq.ft. which is plenty, and I hope to have a private bd/ba on each floor.
A nice feature on many log homes we have seen is the mix of paneling the interior walls with the interior of the exterior walls left log; blends well and can keep the house from being too monotone.
I might put some drywall also, not sure. I like wood, so tend to think about paneling all of it with 1x6. I have an office in my backyard of the home I live at which I built as a test, and it is lined with 1x6 knotty pine. I like it a lot.
The walnut trusses, will they then be exposed? That could look beautiful; although be sure to get your wife a duster on a long extention pole...
Yes, you would be able to see them. I'm not sure if we will use walnut yet or not, depends if we can get a deal on a few trees.
I don't know how you are thinking of heating, but in our case with the wood heat we also went to circulating ceiling fans in each main room. Absolutely mandatory as this helps circulate the heat throughout the house, minimizing hot/cold pockets.
I will have a fireplace, but will be a built in stove in it, most likely. My current plan is to use Geothermal though. My property is lakefront to a lake with 90', and Riparian Rights to the water. I can use a closed loop in the lake, and pump it up to the property. The property is on a huge bluff, so is about 600' from the water, but I've been told I can use a pump to get the water up to the house. The wood stove will be backup and/or just because, you have to have some type of fireplace in a log home!
The log homes here are built on a manufacturer's site and then taken to the home site to resurrect.
Yes, this is exactly what I'm doing. If my property was flat I could build it there, but I wouldn't have a way to get the forklift around as-is, so going to do it off site. Moving it to the property will be the same, number it, ship it, re-stack it.
Remember, if there are trees on your homesite that you wish to save, protect them as you reassemble your home on your site. If you have any questions about what that means or entails, there are many on this site who can answer those questions, including myself.
Yes, I do plan that. I have a LOT of old oaks, and oaks are sacred/historical in California. I have one huge one that definitely should come out, it's close to the building pad. It is at the top of the bluff/peninsula and as such the eagles always roost on top, I find eagle feathers at my property all the time. It is so big, it has a huge limb that arches up and back down to the ground, and back up again. Coincidentally, the deer also bed down where I will build the home, there is a flat area they like to bed down, by the big oak tree. I see the brush/grass matted down when I'm up there. I have some pics of the huge oak I will need to take down, and would like some advice, but I won't fill this reply up with that. I also need to clear some of the branches on other oaks, as my view of the lake is limited with all the oaks, my neighbors had cleared their view and it's gorgeous. Here's a thumbnail of the neighbors:
With your listed interests/occupation I am picturing many interesting decorations and personal touches to your home. Good luck. (Your picture didn't come up on the link. Hopefully, you can try to reattach it.)
Pictures act strange on here, someone else was sending me a pic in PM and it didn't show up...now sure what's up with that. Maybe you can't see the thumbnail of the lake in this post either...or the linky pic to the Pioneer home in Portola Valley...let me know...
It will be very personalized, most certainly. I will handcraft this home and build as much of it by hand as I can. I will leave it for my kids. I hope to leave them no mortgage on it, and I hope they will never sell it, passing it down in our family.
