The Log house Project begins........

[MotorSeven]

MKane, thanks I'll check with him on the Hemlock.

Another thought, I have a buddie living in Tyler TX where my first house still stands down on Lake Palestine. I am going to send him over there & see if the owner will let him do a quick "inspection". It's 28years old & I bult it out of SYP, butt & pass....almost identical to this one I am starting now. It would be nice to know what I did right and wrong before I do it all again. Then again, if it was all wrong, he may get a shotgun shoved in his face.

 

[BoFuller]

The un-finished project is back on track. After inventorying all available trees I came to the conclusion that I would be woefully short. At the beginning of last winter I began to contact loggers in my area to buy raw cedar logs. It was the most frustrating experience I have had in a long time. You would think in this type of economy folks would want to sell you something. After numerous pjone calls and a local add in the paper I talked to (4) different loggers. All said, "yep we have them or can get them", so a price was agreed on and then I waited and waited. 3 of them just never called me back and didn't answer my calls.

The last one was supposed to deliver logs in april/may & I had agreed to pay $1.87 a linear foot for 10' or better logs. I called him 2 months ago and he said, "Oh yes, we are working on it".....????

So I had enough and started calling cedar log home companies in TN. My first price for finished logs was over $10K, the second price was Western Red Cedar @ just under $20K. Then something great happened....I found a Mill that specializes in ERC....they have milled 6x6" cants 8' long for $20 ea. These are exactly what I am cutting on my mill, rough cut full 6" by 6", so I bought 300 of them. I think $6K for milled logs is a great price. My local tractor dealer has an 18 wheeler, so I am lining that up to go get them(200 miles away). So it turns out that these milled logs are not much more than the raw logs I had agreed to by locally.

I need to get my block filled and pour the basement slab & we start on that in about 2 weeks. I am off to order my 30' trusses which will be made here in my county by a local truss company.

I feels good to get the ball rolling after two years:thumbsup::cool2:

Man I hope I don't have that much trouble. I'm building a butt and pass log home and hope to get 20-24 inch logs, 40 to 50 feet long. About 60 ought to do it.

 

[MotorSeven]

Good grief Bo, how are you going to move them around? I put a 26' 24" Jack pine on the mill and it took three of us to roll it over. I am guessin it was 2K lbs. Your logs are going to weigh around 5K.

 

[BoFuller]

Good grief Bo, how are you going to move them around? I put a 26' 24" Jack pine on the mill and it took three of us to roll it over. I am guessin it was 2K lbs. Your logs are going to weigh around 5K.

Ta daaaa

 

[MotorSeven]

Ta daaaa

Oh, man...now I'm jealous. Don't ask me how I'm getting my rafters set....I have no idea yet. Most likely I will have to hire a small crane. I am not looking forward to hanging them, or the tin roof on a 12/12 pitched roof 30' off the ground.



I just got a ball park quote on the trusses:

28 free span trusses- 30' 2x4&24" tall floor trusses- $2500

I'm going with 16" on center as opposed to the normal 24"...I don't like the bouncy deflection I have felt in other houses.

 

[MotorSeven]

Moved 140 tons of fill up to the house site. I used the Kioti to backfill the foundation and build a turn around for the cement trucks.

I ran into my neighbor who is a logger...said he is on a property that has Hemlock......he is supposed to bring me a load of 16"x25' logs soon....

Now for the first snag. I juat talked to a guy who just started his house here in my county. The county just implemented a "Building Permit"( a two letter four letter word) stating that the state of TN was going to mandate it anyhow. One of the reasons I moved here is because there were no permits. Anyway, the guy said he was told that sawmill lumber is not allowed under the permit at all..... Sooo, next week I guess I will have to go see the Mayor and find out what the scoop is....{sigh}

 

[bindian]

Moved 140 tons of fill up to the house site. I used the Kioti to backfill the foundation and build a turn around for the cement trucks.

I ran into my neighbor who is a logger...said he is on a property that has Hemlock......he is supposed to bring me a load of 16"x25' logs soon....

Now for the first snag. I juat talked to a guy who just started his house here in my county. The county just implemented a "Building Permit"( a two letter four letter word) stating that the state of TN was going to mandate it anyhow. One of the reasons I moved here is because there were no permits. Anyway, the guy said he was told that sawmill lumber is not allowed under the permit at all..... Sooo, next week I guess I will have to go see the Mayor and find out what the scoop is....{sigh}

MotorSeven,
I just read this thread all the way through. I do like it all.:thumbsup: How about some photos of the mill?
I am anxious to see more photos:drool: as my retirement place will be a log house. So I keep looking for ideas.
hugs, Brandi

 

[scoutcub]

Moved 140 tons of fill up to the house site. I used the Kioti to backfill the foundation and build a turn around for the cement trucks.

I ran into my neighbor who is a logger...said he is on a property that has Hemlock......he is supposed to bring me a load of 16"x25' logs soon....

Now for the first snag. I juat talked to a guy who just started his house here in my county. The county just implemented a "Building Permit"( a two letter four letter word) stating that the state of TN was going to mandate it anyhow. One of the reasons I moved here is because there were no permits. Anyway, the guy said he was told that sawmill lumber is not allowed under the permit at all..... Sooo, next week I guess I will have to go see the Mayor and find out what the scoop is....{sigh}

Ahhh....so let the games begin..... .....always a snag. or 10. I would also be interested in seeing your mill, I'm thinking about doing the same thing down the road with some property I have out west. Only thing is some of the logs are HUGE, big cedar and douglas fir.....whats the biggest log you can run on your mill?

Frank

 

[MotorSeven]

Frank, the LT15 can handle a 28" log. But.....I keep in mind it's a all manual mill, so the logs have to be turned by hand(Cant hook) and a big long log is a chore to turn. The biggest I have had on my mill was a 25' Jack pine that was 22" on the small end...it took 3 of us to turn it.
If you are going to be using a lot of large long logs, get a mill that has a hyd log turner and save on the hernia surgerys.......

 

[MotorSeven]

Bin, here are some shots of the mill and that big pine log I was talking about(it got made into barn wood for a different thread):