Log Homes: Handcrafted vs Milled Log Home Diary
From the Editor
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Copyright © 1997
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CONSTRUCTION DIARY - INDIAN SUMMER By Emmy WillThe first house I built was a "stick" house (2" X 6" framing) that I cobbled together with salvaged materials. It gave me a lot of satisfaction and some great memories, but the house wasn't holding up well on my hilltop in central New York. I wanted a more substantial home that would blend into my site and work with me in my off-the-grid situation. I decided to build an EnertiaŽ house. I didn't have a lot of money, but since I was going to buy a kit and do as much as possible myself, I knew I would get more house for my money than I would any other way. Hiring the excavator was easy. I had had a pond dug and the result was terrific so I got the same person to dig for the lower level of my house. Getting a poured concrete foundation was harder. It was Fall in upstate New York and everyone was scrambling to get work done before winter. I got bids ranging from $4,000 to $11,000 for my 24' x 28' foundation. The high bidder stood me up on the day of the site visit and luck was with me when the only man willing to do the work was also the lowest bidder. And best of all, he did an excellent job. There wasn't a lot I could do during this phase of the job, but from here on in I was totally involved. The kit arrived on a flatbed truck and had to be ferried to the site which is too far off the beaten track for an eighteen-wheeler. About the time the kit arrived, so did my friends CeeAnn, Mike, and the EBS factory foreman, Andy. CeeAnn had been through the building trades union training program, and Mike and I had a lot of hands-on experience over the years. It was now mid-October, and I was very nervous about the weather. I had seen snow on my hill as early as October 15 in years previous. The first two days were spent organizing, laying out, unpacking the first bundles of the kit, making lists of
supplies we still needed. I had purchased some optional kit materials, so my kit started at the foundation
level on the South side, rather than above the subfloor. The first timber down had to have holes drilled
for anchor bolts and took longer than any other timber on the whole job. While we were working on that,
my parents drove up and wanted to help. By day three, I had to go for supplies and groceries. I hated missing any part of the project, but I held the purse, and was the decision-maker,so I had to go. It was almost worth it to see the progress when I returned. Some of the floor beams were up. They are 6' x 6' treated beautiful Southern Yellow Pine. I had scavenged some metal clad foam refrigeration panels to use as insulation between the lower and main levels. The designers at EBS worked with me to create a system that would allow me to use the panels and have the floor beams exposed in the basement. It worked out great, but did take some extra time. By day five, we had the subfloor complete. I was standing in the location of my future kitchen enjoying
the view I would have for the rest of my life. Because I wanted to see my pond from the The main work in building the kit is to carry the pre-cut, pre-numbered timbers into the house, put them in place, and spike and bolt them down. The bundles of materials are arranged in order, to some extent, although the structures of packing and shipping result in a certain jigsaw puzzle quality to the unpacking experience. But there is a manifest which tells what part is where. As long as you are careful to put things in logical places when you move them, you don't have to waste much time hunting. The longest timbers are 16' and weigh about 160 pounds. Two people can definitely carry them. Each timber has a groove running down its length on top and on bottom. A piece of lock spline (made from recycled plastic) fits in the groove and serves to key the location of the next timber. Before a timber is put in place, the spline is inserted in the top groove of the timber that is already in place. Also, a strip of 3/8" x 3/8" rubber gasket is run down the timber on each side of the spline as an extra sealer. The task of applying the spline and gasket (which we began to call "bread and butter") can easily be done by less physical members of the "crew," or as a welcome relief in a day of lifting, carrying, and pounding. The timbers are set in place and spikes are pounded through the factory pre-drilled holes, or screw type fasteners are drilled in. By the end of the first week we were half-way up the main level walls and had the windows set in place and braced off. In the EnertiaŽ Building System, except for those in the south wall, the windows are set as you go. The part of the house where the windows are located goes up really fast, because the timbers are shorter, and a lot of the space is taken up by the windows and doors. One thing I learned from Andy was the importance of not going too fast. You have to stop and check for plumb and level after each course (a course is one time around the house with the timbers) to be sure that the walls are not creeping out of position. Considering that once the house is built, it will stand for hundreds of years, a little extra time taken along the way to get it right is certainly time well spent. I was glad I had Andy there to cue me in on some of the little tricks he has learned in 10+ years. About the middle of the second week we finished the main level and it was time for the heavy stuff - the 6" x 12" main beam. On a bigger job, a crane might be hired for this and for setting the rafters, but Indian Summer is small, and with careful application of the laws of mechanics ("Give me a fulcrum and I will move the world") the four of us wrangled the main beam into position. The main beam was already notched for dovetails and exposed floor beams in the rest. I loved the part where the beams were in place and the upstairs subfloor not yet applied. All that big wood against the sky - if it weren't for the press of reality I would have enjoyed leaving it that way for a long time. Speaking of reality, the weather was starting to get funky. Gone were the shorts and T-shirts. Now we were into our heavier gear and huddling around the woodstove in the old cabin whenever we weren't working. We tacked down temporary plywood on the second floor so we could continue working. Eventually I would put 2" x 6" tongue and groove sheeting up there. Except for high up on the interior side of the gable walls, you don't need scaffolding to build an EnertiaŽ home. All the work is done from the inside. My house has a short knee wall upstairs, so by the end of the second week we were finished with the North and South walls, which are the double walls. When you hit the gables, you really start to fly. The timbers get shorter again, although they do have to be ferried up to the second floor. In the beginning of the third week we had some rain/ice. We worked in it as much as we could, but when the ice started to build up and "Mr. Wind" was making it hard to stay upright, we had to take a break. With two bad (non workable) days forecasted, we decided to drive up to the Adirondack Mountains...Then, reinvigorated, we went out and climbed up the local mountain and admired the view of the lake as a light snow drifted down. When we returned to my site, the snow had stopped and the days were clear and cold ... very cold. We
topped off the gables and set the rafters midway through week three. I had no idea in advance how we
were going to set those rafters, but Andy had it all worked out. Setting the last rafter was another milestone, but it was so cold that we had the traditional "topping out"
ceremony remotely - from our spots near the wood stove in the old cabin. Andy reminded us that his
work on a kit was often complete at this point, but he said that since he had a break coming he would
stick with us 'till we were "dried in." I knew when we started the house that I had neither the time nor money to complete the project in one season. But I knew that if I could get dried in and get the roof grid on top of the tar paper, that my house would be safe for the winter, and I could continue with the rest of it as time and money allowed. I was not financing conventionally, so I had this leeway. The roof grid is a gridwork of 2" x 8" lumber set on edge forming a band around the edge of the roof, and channels running up and down the roof. The boards are nailed directly over the rafters and form a grid into which the 6" closed cell insulation is later placed. The edges of the boards provide nailing places for the layer of plywood that goes on above the insulation. We finished the gridwork and buttoned down the house about three days into week four. I was thrilled,
especially because a hard snow was falling as we packed up our tools on the last morning. To sum it up, I
had a house that already exceeded my dreams and expectations. And I had a building experience that my
friends and I would remember forever. I can only compare it to the pleasure I get from wearing a sweater
that Emily Will is a Builder/Dealer for EnertiaŽ Building Systems. They specialize in building homes and offices in which natural renewable materials and natural forces are used to create a comfortable environment without the use of fuel or electricity. Click here to see the plans for this home and to see some Indian Summer interior views. |
I love this photo of my Mom spraying water on the foundation walls. She and I had just finished painting
on the "Thoro-Seal" (tm) waterproofing (it was a very dry day). The "Thoro-Seal"(tm) can't be allowed
to dry too quickly, so we filled our portable sprayers and spent most of the afternoon wetting down the
waterproofing. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew had finished out the lower South wall, and I had a space
enclosed by four walls. This was very exciting to me, because I really can't envision space accurately,
and I was happy to see that my lower level was all that I had hoped it would be.
As week three came to a close we covered the roof with 2" x 6"
tongue and groove sheeting and a layer of 30-pound felt paper. I was dreading getting out on the roof, but
we used ropes, and I moved slowly and carefully. The 360 degree view was my reward. The last step to
creating a weather-tight shell was to set the big sliding glass doors on the South side of the main level. It
was hard to do because Mr. Wind was really acting up, threatening to take us and the doors for a sail. It
was amazing how the moment the last door was in place there was a sudden silence. No wind could be
heard, and the only air current was a gentle flow I could feel in the "envelope" portion of the house.
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