The Owner-Built Log House

by MacKie, B. Allan

• ISBN13: 9781552975497
• ISBN10: 1552975495
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-07-01
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

Log houses inspire fascination across most of North America. They evoke a simpler time - a tradition of independence and self-sufficiency missing in today's high-tech world. But a log house does not have to be a fantasy. Ownership is within the means of almost anyone reasonably handy with tools.Allan Mackie believes - and demonstrates - that attitude is at least as important as carpentry skills. Given a will to learn and a desire to make something of one's own, the average person is more than capable of building a log house that will serve an individual, a couple or a family for years to come.In this profusely illustrated book, the author takes the reader step-by-step through the building process - the selection of land, the purchase and preparation of the logs, the sharpening of tools and the cutting, lifting and fitting of logs, and all the other steps involved. With hundreds of photographs and detailed diagrams and drawings, The Owner-Built Log House is much more than a how-to guide. It is nothing less than a testament to the belief that where there is a will for self-reliance, there is the possibility of achieving it.As a unique feature of the book, the author takes us through his current building project on a 100-acre wilderness site. The reader experiences the entire process - from buying land right up to moving in and spending that first winter.Chapters include: Purpose in Building a Log House The Building Tree Making a Set of Plans How Long Will It Take and How Much Will It Cost Good Site, Good Tools, Good Work Log Walls Notches of All Kinds A Roof Over Your Head Windows, Doors and Stairs Interior and Finishing Touches.

Author Biography

Allan Mackie, the author of many books on log building, is recognized around the world as one of the foremost builders of log houses. The founder of the B. Allan Mackie School of Log Building, he teaches log building not only throughout North America but also in Europe and Asia.

Table of Contents

Introduction	8	(5)
Nadina Mackie Jackson
Preamble	13	(2)
The Purpose in Building A Log House	15	(10)
A Personal Log House	15	(2)
All by Yourself	17	(1)
For the Love of Building	17	(2)
The Ecological House	19	(6)
Shanty Lake: A New House	22	(3)
The Building Tree	25	(10)
What Makes a Good Building Tree?	25	(1)
Availability	26	(1)
The Natural Tree	27	(1)
Buying Wood	28	(1)
Harvesting Trees	29	(2)
Felling a Tree	31	(2)
Horse Logging	33	(1)
The Tree in Danger	33	(2)
Planning	35	(12)
Early History of the Log House	35	(1)
The Log House in North America	36	(1)
The Best Log House	37	(2)
Site Selection	39	(2)
Making a Site Plan	41	(2)
Light	43	(1)
Placement of the House	44	(3)
Making a Set of Plans	47	(14)
Getting Organized	47	(2)
Design Portfolio	49	(2)
Drafting Equipment	51	(1)
Basic Plans and Elevations	52	(4)
Planning Your Environment	56	(5)
Shanty Lake: Planning and Preparation	57	(4)
How Long Will It Take and How Much Will It Cost?	61	(16)
Estimating Building Time	61	(2)
The Economical Approach: Do It Yourself	63	(1)
A Simple House	64	(1)
A Personal Estimate	65	(1)
The Butterfly Effect	66	(2)
Blueprint Estimate for a Log Shell	68	(1)
Preliminary Costs Estimate	69	(8)
Starting a Log House	77	(14)
Building the Foundation	79	(3)
The First Logs	82	(3)
Placing the Logs	85	(6)
Shanty Lake: The Walls	87	(4)
Good Site, Good Tools, Good Work	91	(14)
The Work Site	91	(2)
Peeling the Logs	93	(2)
Moving the Logs	95	(3)
Safety	98	(1)
Logs	98	(1)
Tools and Equipment	98	(1)
Chainsaws	98	(1)
First Aid	98	(1)
Tools	99	(6)
Shanty Lake: The Road	101	(4)
The First Notches	105	(12)
Blind Dovetail Notch	105	(2)
Scarfs	107	(1)
Log Selection	108	(1)
Layout for the Preliminary Notch	109	(1)
Cutting the Preliminary Notch	110	(1)
Aligning the Logs	111	(1)
Scribing	112	(1)
Cutting the Final Notch	113	(1)
Treating and Insulating the Notch	114	(3)
Log Walls	117	(15)
Lock Notch	117	(2)
Recurve	119	(1)
Grooves	120	(1)
Fitting the Overhang	120	(1)
Electrical Installation	121	(2)
Window and Door Openings	123	(2)
Settling	125	(1)
Floor Joists	126	(1)
Plate Logs and Cap Logs	127	(1)
The Satisfaction of a Job Well Done	128	(4)
Shanty Lake: Building The House	129	(3)
Notches of All Kinds	132	(7)
The Qualities of a Good Notch	132	(1)
Round Notch	133	(1)
Dovetail Notch	134	(2)
Blind Wall Dovetail Notch	136	(1)
Sheep's Head Notch	137	(2)
Different Walls for Different Halls	139	(10)
My First Log House	139	(1)
Advantages of Piece-on-Piece	140	(1)
Development of Piece-on-Piece	141	(1)
Preparing the Logs	141	(1)
Assembling the Walls	142	(3)
Piece-on-Piece Variations	145	(1)
Post-and-Beam	146	(3)
A Roof Over Your Head	149	(18)
Log Gable-Ends	151	(3)
Trusses	154	(5)
Purlins	159	(2)
Raising the Roof	161	(1)
Posts and Purlins	161	(6)
Shanty Lake: The Roof	163	(4)
More About the Roof	167	(12)
Truss and Purlin System	167	(3)
Posts and Purlins	170	(1)
Gable Ends	170	(1)
Trussed Rafters	171	(1)
Hammer-Beam Roof	172	(1)
The Finish Work	173	(1)
Roofing Materials	173	(1)
Cedar Shakes	174	(2)
Completing the Inside	176	(3)
Windows, Doors, Log-Ends and Stairs	179	(18)
Windows	179	(1)
Cutting the Windows	180	(2)
The Keyway and Spline	182	(1)
Trim and Skirting Boards	183	(2)
Some Unobtrusive Frames	185	(1)
Finishing	186	(1)
Log-Ends	187	(2)
Stairs	189	(3)
Spiral Stairs	192	(5)
Shanty Lake: The Windows	194	(3)
Interior Needs	197	(14)
Electricity	197	(1)
Partitions	198	(3)
Fireplaces	201	(3)
Plumbing	204	(1)
Heating and Cooling	205	(1)
Lighting	206	(1)
Walls	207	(4)
Shanty Lake: The Interior	208	(3)
Finishing Touches	211	(10)
Railings	211	(2)
Shelters	213	(1)
Furniture	214	(2)
Guest House	216	(1)
Learning More	216	(1)
The Great Adventure	216	(5)
Shanty Lake: An Ecological House	218	(3)
Glossary	221	(2)
Appendix	223	(3)
Index	226

Excerpts

Chapter 1: The Purpose in Building a Log House A Personal Log House From the dawn of human history, people have used trees and rocks to build the shelters they needed. By the time tools had developed enough to be able to shape and refine stone, men would already have had tools capable of shaping wood. Therefore, wood is among our oldest building materials. And I believe that everyone in any pre-history community would have been familiar with the ways of log building. It would be a skill as important as hunting, food gathering and fighting. This was not a matter of fashion for them, as it is for us. It was a matter of survival. How welcome, and what a blessing those shelters must have been! And from those ancestral feelings of gladness toward the tree-walls which protected them, come our own feelings for log buildings.When I first started to teach the skills of timber building in 1970, I was not fully aware of this phenomenon. It sometimes annoyed me that people interrupted my work to tell me the "only way" to build with logs, when I could see that their information was the product of fantasy or faulty folklore. I would try to change their minds, so that if they tried to build in the future, they would build better houses. But often they wouldn't listen. They would go away angry and hurt. Then, slowly, I began to realize that they were coming to me to share a dream. It was the dream I should discuss with them, in its proper place: why we love log buildings. Later, when their minds were resolved to build, I could teach the correct methods for building.When I built the Kerry Street House in Prince George, British Columbia, in 1973, one of my students was totally inexperienced. At one point we needed him to pass a sledgehammer from the second floor to the roof structure we were framing and he didn't even know how to tie it to the rope we lowered to him. I became increasingly frustrated by my inability to explain this verbally. Finally, he defused the situation by falling off the building.The next year, when I was in the Eastern Townships of the Province of Quebec, he contacted me and asked if I would like to see the house he had built. I did and saw that he had done an excellent job. I have learned a lot from students and I learned right then to respect everyone's dreams, no matter how impractical they may seem.There are many dreams within the big dream of living in a log house. One is for young people: they see their energies invested in the beginning of their worldly estate. They see themselves with the wind in their hair and the sweat on their foreheads glinting in the sunlight as they express their joyful hopes for a good future through hard work. The best of dreams! Others, like doctors and teachers, see a health dimension. Carpenters, construction workers and accountants also seek to cure something in their work lives that is not satisfying them. Many see the log building as merely possible: something that looks easy that they can build without a heavy mortgage debt. All of these dreams are worthy of respect. And I believe that all of these dreams arise from our deep ancestral needs to feel again the sheltering warmth of the logs, to smell their fragrance, and to know that within those tree-walls, we are safe.All these students had much to learn. They had to learn everything! If pre-screening had been allowed, my students would never have passed the entry requirements. But I knew from the beginning that all I needed in students were their dreams and their determination. So I have never refused entry to a student.And so, for these reasons, the log house becomes the most personal house. It is not only a true reflection of the builder, but it also binds the builder to nature because of the materials he uses. He cannot dominate those trees, and say, "There! I will force you into this space, whether you like it or not!" It just won't work. The builder must enter into a dialo