Shiloh

Yesterday we had the privilege and pleasure of raising our ridgepole. It marks a major milestone for us. On Saturday we had put in the final ridge pole support log. The problem was it began raining so hard we couldn’t finish bolting it in place. We began the morning doing some preparations including finishing the installation of this rpsl.

Once preparations on the ground were complete we moved to final preparation of the the three ridge pole support logs. We had purposely cut the logs too long and it was necessary to cut them to the proper height. Since the ridgepole tapers it was necessary to determine the diameter of the ridgepole at the three points where it would be supported by the RPSLs. Then we could calculate the exact height needed for each RPSL and measure and cut  . . .

Next comes the ridgepole . . .

Now we move it into place:

Up it goes.

Still going . .

It took about 30 – 45 minutes to actually get the ridgepole into place. Even with the help of someone on each side of the house, it took more than one try to get things lined up. I had to drive the forklift within two feet of the house to get the ridgepole in place and I could not see anything from the seat of the lift.

And finally we had moonrise!

Here’s the view from about 30 feet up:

While not the easiest part of the building process, requiring a lot of planning, it is definitely one of the most satisfying parts. To see this very important piece of the puzzle go into place gives you a great deal of satisfaction. While it wasn’t strictly required there was a lot of worry on my part. If this didn’t go right we could end up with a roof that isn’t correct. Fortunately it went almost exactly as planned. That is a big relief on my part.

We had some great help from some soon-to-be LHBA members. They are taking the class next month and have great plans for their future. We really appreciate their help and hope to see them again in the near future.

No, we haven’t gone on a cruise. It would be nice though!

It’s just that our house now looks like a sailing ship from the 1800′s. Well, sort of like a sailing ship. Let me explain

In the past several weeks we worked on the walls completing the 17th course. On Friday we began the process of placing our ridgepole support logs (rpsl). This entailed taking a 30 ft long log with a 16″ diameter butt and placing it on 12″ piece of rebar sticking up from a pier block. Oh, and you had to lift the log over a 18.5 foot high wall just to make it fun. Once over the wall, it is lowered down where you can’t see it. While I had great help with my dad and wife, relaying hand signals from someone inside the walls, to someone outside the walls to the driver of the forklift makes it extremely difficult. In fact, at one point we had the second rpsl “jump off” the rebar in the foundation because I was lowering the rpsl not realizing it was not going straight down but away from wall. It’s a bit disconcerting when the front of your forklift rocks down and the back end wants to lift up off the ground.

I wish we had videoed the event. It would probably be worth a few laughs down the road. We put two of the three rpsls in place – one on Friday and one on Sunday. Both cleared the top of the wall by at most 12 inches. It was probably closer to 6 inches. Here is the second one going over:

The end result is the “sailing ship” I was talking about:

With one more rpsl and the final course of logs (the 18th) to place we are closing in on being able to cap things off with the ridgepole. There is an, admittedly small, glimmer of hope that we might place the ridgepole Sunday.

Work continues on the walls, but last weekend we took a slight detour in order to cut a new ridgepole. When we cut the trees for the house we choose and marked five trees that were larger for the caplogs and the ridgepole. They needed to be longer for the roof overhang so we had them cut 45 feet long.

Well, one of the five that I marked didn’t get cut to the right length and one of the trees was marked unacceptable by the timber inspector. That left us with three logs. Two of them were more curved than we would like so for the last three or four weeks we have been discussing cutting one or two new trees off the property.

Last weekend we decided to cut one tree for a new ridgepole. We found one less than a 100 yards from the log staging area. In order to get the log back to the building area I had to be able to get the forklift to the area which was possible with this tree. The usable section needed to be at least 45 feet long. Estimates were made and there was even some discussion of using the forklift to tape measure the tree. Even so, it looked like it was at high enough. Dad fired up the Husqvarna and we cut down the tree bringing up a HUGE cloud of pine pollen. Good thing we weren’t allergic.

Two surprises, even though the butt of the tree was only an inch bigger than our biggest log, the ring count showed the tree was 101 years old! The trees we cut off the lot last October were 25 years old, so this one was over four times as old! The much tighter growth rings make the log stronger so this is not a bad thing.

Here is a picture showing the rings:

The second surprise was that the usable portion of the tree was EXACTLY 45 feet long. While our estimate was good enough, it would be much safer next time to actually measure and make sure it is long enough. After some limb trimming work and a bit of tricky forklift driving (and log hauling) and we had the trunk of the tree in the log staging area. Two days of off-and-on peeling and we had our beautiful new ridgepole. Here are some pictures from the peeling process:

She makes it look so easy, but trust me – it’s hard!

Here is dad squaring up the end of the ridgepole:

Our ridgepole is now ready to be treated so it doesn’t get insects. Hopefully we will putting it in its final home in a week or two.

This weekend it didn’t seem like we achieved much. Being a man down (Dad was out of town) it was a lot slower. Even so, we almost finished a complete course. Even more importantly, we had made some adjustments to the 10th course that worked out as needed. This was because when we measured on the ninth course it was a little off square. It turns out that we made the correct changes and our “box” is now exactly square. It’s a good thing, this course will be where the second-floor joists are attached. In terms of height to the top of each corner – three corners are within a 1/4″ of each. Unfortunately the fourth corner is about two inches lower than the other three. We realized, after the fact, why it happened. Should be something we can fix in the next few courses.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with it. Considering we are 12 feet off the ground at this point, building with 1500 pound logs that never seem to go together quite right…two inches in a single corner is O.K. We can fix it as we go up.  As a friend told me recently “You’re building a battleship, not a Swiss watch.” Which is quite true. I am no longer concerned about messing up the house if I hit it with the forklift…I’m worried about messing up the forklift.

In the following picture, if you look closely on the right side of the house you can see the 2×4 we use to measure wall height. The top of the 2×4 is just over 13 feet high . . . just to give you some perspective of how high it is now.

The following pictures is of our friends the girder and girder support log. Rebar on the bottom and the top of the girder support log. In the following picture you can see one of the ends of the girder. There are three pieces of rebar in each end if I recall correctly.

And finally, to give you some more perspective. Here is a picture of the best log home builder in the world standing next to some of the lower logs.

Since the last post we have continued to press forward with building the walls. When we reached the ninth course last weekend it was time to put in the girder. This will be used to hold up the second floor. Because of this, it’s pretty important that it is put in right. We used an log that was approximately eight feet long to support it. This log is called the girder support log (gsl). The girder itself, in our case, is approximately 32 feet long. It slid into place just as it grew dark last Sunday. Now that it is in place we can continue on placing the wall logs.

I don’t have any pictures yet of the girder. In the meantime, here are a couple of new pictures.

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The weather has been very cooperative lately. It’s looking like this weekend is going to be nice as well. Time to start on the 10th course!!

I took the last week off from work in order to begin stacking logs now that the foundation is complete. We had a telescoping forklift delivered on Friday morning (Feb. the 5th) and finished up preparations Friday and Saturday morning. The foundation contractor finished up final soil preparation Saturday morning and then away we went!

I climbed on the forklift Saturday afternoon around 2:00 pm and began moving the first log into place:

Driving a forklift is an interesting experience to say the least. While the controls are not overly complicated it is a decidedly big beast.  Not only do you have to watch the four sides of the lift, there is the ability to have the lift out 35 feet in the air – either to the front or up in the air.  Minor issues like the power line that is 20 feet overhead have to be taken into consideration. However, the four-wheel turning ability allows you to get in and out of unbelievably tight spots.

We began with what are called the sill logs. These are the four logs that are supported by the foundation. They are tied into the foundation with rebar and are the largest logs in the house except the ridge pole and cap logs. The following picture shows our very first log in place:

It typically takes the most time to put these logs in place. In our case it wasn’t until Monday afternoon that we got the first log in place.  It actually only took a day of work as we couldn’t stack any logs Saturday until the afternoon so the concrete can cure and no work was done on Sunday. By the end of the day on Wednesday we finished all four sill logs. Here are the sill logs and the happy crew:

Once this was done the pace picked up as we learned more about the process. By Sunday afternoon we had three complete courses stacked:

We use some pretty hardcore tools in the building process. Here is my dad working with the Milwaukee Hole Hawg:

And my favorite, the Bosch demolition hammer. We use it to drive the rebar into the logs. It weights about 35 pounds and is essentially a mini-jackhammer. It was bad enough on the first three levels. It’s going to be lots of fun on the 20th course:

Even though it is both heavy and unwieldy it sure beats putting tin the rebar with a sledgehammer!

The rain and mud has continued to plague us. We lost about a day and a half of work due to rain.

Using the forklift only exacerbates the problem. We are going to need some serious landscape work when we get done!

By the time we got the last full day of work (Saturday) we were able to stack four logs – a full course. I am hoping we can improve to be able to to stack 1.5 – 2 courses of logs in a full day of work. Time will tell. Just not having all this rain would be a great help!

In total I had 10 days off from work. While I wanted to get more done, considering the circumstances it went as well as we could expect. I really appreciate all the help we have been getting from our family and friends.  While it would be possible to do this alone (as I know others have), working with others makes it so much more easy and enjoyable. It’s hard enough as it is, I can’t imagine doing it without help.

A special thanks to my brother-in-law Ian who took most of the pictures on this post!

There is nothing more important than your foundation. The right foundation makes building the house much easier. Our contractor did an excellent job and my next post will talk about how we set the first log on the foundation. In measuring to put the log in place it turns out that our rebar was placed in the same location on each pier block within 1/8th of an inch over a stretch of five pier blocks (one wall) and 32 feet. What a great job!

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the 26th and 27th our foundation contractor began by setting up batter boards and put up line to mark off the foundation area. A bobcat was used to dig the holes for the form.

The forms we built were then placed and leveled

Here is what it looked like after:

The building inspector stopped by and inspected the forms on Friday, the 29th. We passed inspection with flying colors!!

Friday the 29th it began raining in the afternoon and rained all night. My contractor wasn’t concerned about it, but it turned the work area into a mud wrestling area.

Last Saturday the concrete was poured. The biggest issue was the 5″ deep ruts the concrete trucks left in the driveway:

Last Tuesday they removed the forms with the Bobcat and a lot of grunt work and “rubbed” the sides of the pier blocks to smooth them out.

Finally, today they finished up by leveling the dirt and tamping it flat.

My youngest child is only two. Even so, he has been fascinated with the building process. While we were peeling logs he would take a garden trowel and try and peel his own. For Christmas, one of his uncles gave him a toy chainsaw, toolbelt and hardhat. Having seen my dad and I working with chainsaws he knew what it was. As soon as he left the travel trailer with the new chainsaw he made a beeline for the racks of logs. The chainsaw has an on/off switch and a plastic chain that actually runs over the bar just like a real chainsaw. On goes the switch, he hits the trigger button and  pretends he is cutting the log. This is with hard hat and goggles on..looking just like a little lumberjack.

Last weekend we cut down what I hope is the last tree we have to chop down.  We had wanted to have it in the back yard, but after we cleared the house site closer inspection showed that it had some limbs that were cracked. Being that close to the house I was afraid of limbs dropping on the house and such.

The tree was a 70 year old red oak. When felled we measured the diameter of the stump:

It was 28 inches across one way and 27 inches across the opposite way. Approximately 40 feet up the trunk of the tree I measured a diameter of approximately 16 inches.

I can’t stand the thought of cutting the trunk up for firewood so I am going to have it milled as red oak makes very nice wood for woodworking. I plan on building the door and window bucks for the next house out of it along with an entertainment center, a kitchen table, a new computer desk for my equipment and some bookcases. The rest  I will save for future projects. And there should be a lot of lumber left over..I am estimating there is 800 board feet of wood in that tree.

Twenty minutes after the tree is down we look over and my little lumberjack is hard at work:

I hope he never grows out of it. Only time will tell, but I think it would be great if he continued to want to help me build houses as he grows up.

This week will hopefully mark another milestone in the home building project. Earlier today I called the company we selected to dig our foundation and asked if they could begin work later this week. It looks like they might begin Friday or Saturday.

If this happens we will only be three weeks behind for this part of the project

Around the same time we finished peeling the logs Rachel and I decided to make some changes in the house plans. The major change was that we decided to extend the length of the walls from 26′ to 31′. It will increase the heated and cooled living area from something like 1200 sq. ft to just over 1700 sq. ft. Unfortunately it required an update of the interior and structural drawings.

Even so, the interior drawings are now complete and the structural plans will be done in the next day or so. Once these are done the building permit can be updated with the changes.

To make things simpler and allow us to as much of the work as possible we are using what are called “pier blocks”. These are essentially pyramidal constructs with flat tops. We are using a total of 17 pier blocks. They will be arranged around the edge of the structure to hold the logs with more inside the square to support the flooring and what are called ridge pole support logs and the girder support log. As with the interior and structural drawing updates, the increase in size of the house has meant that we have to increase the size of some of the pier blocks so some additional work was necessary.

The contractor and crew will come out with a bobcat and an excavator and dig the seventeen holes for the form. These holes must be accurately place and once the forms are placed they must be absolutely level and at the same height above grade (ground) as the other forms. In our case the top of each form will be 18 inches above grade. The bottom of the form will be 18 inches below grade for a total height of 3′ for the form. Once the form is in place and level the hole will be backfilled so that the form don’t “float up” when the concrete is poured. Even though the forms are heavy, it is possible for the concrete to push the form up or even blow the sides of the form out if the seams are not reinforced enough. This will create a huge problem in either case. We reinforced our forms with two by fours and brackets to keep this from happening.

We began building our forms quite some time ago. Along the way we managed to make some mistakes and learn a thing or two. When we finish nailing the last one together this week it will get us one step closer to living in our home!

Cutting a form:

The day we were cutting the majority of the forms it was only slightly above freezing for much of the day.

We also laid out the area where the foundation is going to be located. While it might not look like much in the picture below, the square marked out by the string is the exact area of the house down to the inch.  In fact, the front door be within a foot or two of the end of small pine log you can see “pointing” towards the foundation area. The kitchen will be to the right of the front door and the great room will be what you enter first.

A log home weighs a great deal. A single dry log is going to weigh something like 1,000 pounds.  It is important to have a solid, firm foundation or later we will have difficulties. While it has been a challenge to build the proper forms and it will be some hard work to place them correctly, in the end it will worth it knowing we won’t have issues with the foundation of the house.