I have a feeling you've stumbled across another log home internet forum....correct?

:)

I've read what they have to say, & chose not to even register on that forum, because they are a bit stubborn, to say it nicely.

The "house that fell down" I believe was an undertaking by some guys that had never taken any type of course.

The LHBA course has been taught for many years, it used to be a college course at one time.

Here is a link to a butt & pass style home that is over 100 years old.
http://www.bearfortlodge.com/

Enjoy :)

Oh don't worry, I was very skeptical as well....but as you saw in my pics, it's working so far :)

If you do decide to take the class, make sure to bring your wife. It reall yhelps when everyone is on the same page & has the same vision at the end.

Even if I didn't decide to build after taking the course, it's still one of the best investments I've ever made, it really changes the way you look at life in general.

I took the class in January. I had a healthy case of skepticism for a long time and have also researched all the 'kits' and architects and builder corporations and land brokers etc, etc, etc.

I bought a beautiful property in summer of '06 and my daughter and I stood on the front pasture and looked toward the knoll we planned to put a house on. I remember thinking about the lines of the horizon and how I didn't want any house to overpower the slope and character of our woods and pasture. I wanted perfect simplicity, and no mortgage. And I didn't want a 'log-look' home.

Now, the decision is made. After the class was done and I was flying back home, I knew I could do this. I have killer notes and the members here are gonna give me advice. I'm gonna build this house. It is SO do-able. I might even have enough trees in my 11+ acres of forest to get free homegrown logs and you know, there is NOTHING better than 'home grown'. How the freakin' hell am I gonna do this? Jesus Christmas, I'm a 52 year old woman!!! Okay, I'm in pretty darn good shape for a 52 year old woman but HEY! I'm no weak scared chicken!!! I ain't afraid of no crow's feet! Go ahead...pull my finger!

If you don't try it, you'll never do it. I'm looking for log dogs right now....I'm drawing some floor plans!

Totally do-able, spine required! As my daughter would say: "Girls rule, boys drool!"

 or:

• The limited life span
• Builders disappearing with the cash when there is a problem
• Terrible maintenance schedule

About 3 - 4 years ago my parents sold their B & P cabin at Lake Wenatchee.

My grandparents built it in the late '40's - early '50's. No settling, never one problem.

The same can't be said of the beautiful Canadian chinkless log home built next door to the cabin.  Settling, airleaks, and upset owners who paid a lot of money for a bad design. 

 -Rick

Thank you everyone,

I have seen (through other threads) alot of other homes and have read more about Skip. Boy this site is really full of alot of good information-- solar energy, fire places, home building. There was a good link on another thread that had a guy basically telling his story of building his butt and pass log home from the 90's--pretty neat if you didn't see it--don't remember which thread I saw it in however. I have slowly been introducing some ideas from LHBA to my wife. I can't do it without her totally on board. The thing that has gotten her attention right now is that I'm finishing my training in a year and when she looks at homes and thinks about a thirty year mortgage taking a significant amount our income--- it makes her nervous. I just can't get the idea of not having a 30 year high mortgage payment and building my own home out of my mind. I need to get into a class.

Wherever you go, there you are.
Tim

Have lots of photos of the cabin
but...
They're in storage. Will see what I can find
but it might not be soon. My earliest memories
are of the cabin. I would wake to the smell of
pancakes on an old wood fired kitchen stove,
and coffee percolating on that same stove.
Back then a lot of cedar would wash up on the
beach, and it was cut into firewood. Makes a nice
sound when it burns. Warms the cabin & your
heart.

Grew up with a part-time outhouse, full time
windmill, two fireplaces, the cabin fifty miles
away and the Wenatchee River running behind
our house. I got out of the house and started
exploring when I was six years old and never
looked back. I had a ball.

I'm very much against big govenment, but I think
it should be a crime for kids to be raised without
a log home and a big fireplace.

-Rick

Hi Kala, Welcome to the LHBA website! I've been "catching up" on posts this morning, and wanted to say "hello"! Where are you in Oklahoma? We are just west of Tulsa, and are building our log home now! (http://www.vernstreet.com) We took the class in Sept. '05 - trust me - we had all of your questions, doubts, and concerns. My husband, Vern, did everything to try to find some reason to discredit everything that you're reading here, but it just isn't going to be found! I almost didn't go with him to the class - thinking that I have NO knowledge of construction, nor the ability to do strenous labor - but I am so VERY glad that I went! It was the continuation of an awesome adventure that started in '94 when Vern and I married, and it has been great fun to plan, dream, and work together to make our home come together. We aren't spring chickens either - Vern is 68 and I am 54! I've been there every step of the way with hands-on until this fall. My mother has had some major health issues and we are living in town with her. That has pulled me out of day to day operations, but we've made wonderful friends on the forum, and, in fact, one student from Nebraska came by to see our place on his way to the class. That was last spring, and he is now living in his camper trailer on our property, working in Tulsa (he's a licensed electrician), and helping Vern on weekends! Also, he is looking for property to buy around here to build his home. 

 As far as how do they teach someone to build "IN JUST 2 DAYS?" They just do!  Take care, Sara

Sarah,
Sorry to hear about your family's health. Those are wonderful pictures (love the front/back porch) and I enjoyed reading you guys website. I can't wait to see what it looks like when you are finished. Pam, I am definately an outside the box kind of guy or a "dreamer" as some like to say. Once again thanks for the responses to this thread. I have so many questions but I guess what I need to do is go to class.

Dang your place is coming along! Good job! Are you on it now? Or are you in the sun?

Thanks for the replies everyone! Dave that is an awesome home you are building! The more I read, the more I can't wait to do this!

I liked the comment about thinking outside the box. Definitely me.

Some kind of hardwood in the living room, & tile in the bathrooms/kitchen. We were going to do 2x6 pine T&G, but worried that it'd get damaged during framing & the other construction, so layed down subfloor.

Travis, yah it's too bad we couldn't stick around longer. My arms were jello after trimming most of the overdangles :)
But we're ready for some framing starting next Saturday, should be interesting.

Yep, even colder today. I was outside picking up branches. I figured you were sunning yourself just worried sick about me freezing my buns off! Good to hear from you though. I got a new chainsaw for my birthday! So custom, not another one like it ANYWHERE! Can't wait for you to see it. Tomorrow when the LBHA guys come out (we'll eat my apple pie and think of you ) I'm going to get Steve to get a pic up for all to see. I know I'll get a razzing, but so be it!!!!!!!!!!! Call me when you get home, I wanna come over.

Pam

Wow - a balmy 35. It was maybe 26 when we left the worksite, today.

Okay, quit your complaining. It is -23 Farhenheit and with the windchill it is -43 right now as I type! I can't wait to build my log home and curl up by the fire on days like this. I only have a gas fireplace right now and that is just not good enough! Have fun dreaming, searching, building and staying warm. BTW we just got back from Mexico on Saturday night and then the temp dropped. Go figure.
Debby

Debby,

Its -36C (-33F) and dropping, at my place right now, But I am as warm as toast thanks to my fireplace, Welcome back to Alberta.

In 1986 at the age of 30 I was widowed and left with a 13 month old baby boy and $356,000.00 in medical bills over 11 months( non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) .

A friend gave me Skips weekend class as a condolence gift.  I've been a LHBA member since I received that gift in 1987. 

I was so impressed with what I learned I set out to built a log home soon thereafter. It took some doing. I traded clearing a lot for the logs, moved the logs to my building site behind a rowboat across a 40 acre lake.

I just used Skip's methods and eventually sold the house for a profit of $160,000.00. 

I've built many Skip Style Butt and Pass log homes.  The latest being a four-story log home on Priest Lake that was assessed (by the county) at $1,500,000.00.  I built it for a husband-wife dentist team so the budget was to my liking.

Had I built this myself and sold it I would have made well-over a million $.

All the homes I have built are still standing.  Skip does not teach marginal building techniques. If you listen well and take notes and follow the instructions, failure is not an option.  

Many log builders on the net and otherwise hate Skip, that is because they fear his experience and honest assessment of sub-standard logbuilding practices. Great minds encounter violent opposition from mediocrity. I think Einstein said that.

I first found this site a couple years ago, and I've always wanted to take the course and start building. I'd even like to build and sell log homes. I was discussing log homes with a coworker, who took a different class up here in MN. He wasn't familiar with the butt-pass method, but he seemed suspicious of it, mentioning the life-span of chinking. Not having learned all the details from the course yet, can anyone elighten me in this area? I've seen the different options/heard some brands of chinking (i.e. permachink, etc.), but I'd like some reassurance that there are chinking options that require little to no maintenance. Are there certain brands that are truly "permanent?" Are there methods of sealing that preserve the chinking as well as the logs themselves?

You CAN build your own log home. The course offered through LHBA will show you how, members will indeed help. After the course you will walk away with the tools, knowledge, support, and the confidence to begin with a well thought out plan of action. The biggest obstacle will be your own doubt and and the doubters around you. As you know there are always people who will come up with reasons why you can't do what you want to do. Ignore them.

Commit the following to memory - and the next time someone tells you it cannot be done - recite it to them.

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That “maybe it couldn’t,” but he would be one
Who wouldn’t say so until he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: “Oh, you’ll never do that.
At least no one ever has done it”;
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing he knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle right in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

Edgar A. Guest

Just a note Camano Island logs from Douglas Fir can be straight like an arrow for 100 feet or more... My biggest tree was 150 feet tall if it was an inch...
Utsalady, on Camano was a port that was known world wide for its spars for sailing ships back in the 1860's until they logged the entire island.
Then they cut down all the Western Red Cedar for shingles. Then they burned down the entire island. Go figure...
Any way, I bought 51 house logs and they are "perfectly straight".
check them out on the ground...
[img]http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s274/flintlock1/IMG_2367_2-1.jpg[/ing]
or look at the assembled home earlier in this thread...
check them out...

Michael Simmons
2 inches sweep in 30 feet would be the ideal limit.

With butt method houses you can push it a bit, especially if you have logs with sweep all stacked in the BACK where they belong :) grins

With scribed, forget it you have to stay with straight logs with minimal taper. Double sweeps are not acceptable.

I must say I am drooling over the Camano Island logs too,,,:p

I remember one log on my first house exceeded that limit, so I pinned the large half into place and ( after looking around to make sure no LHBA members or instructors were there ) took my truck and pulled the rest of it back a couple inches out to line up--- it creaked a bit but then , we all do as we get older. I was probably being an idiot at the time. If you ever put a lot of strain on a rope , hang a rug or three over it, that way if it snaps you will not get killed.

Michael thanks for the advice,

Kyle, I don't fancy the expense of buying new logs, the effort of peeling them, and this risk they'll be not better than the 1st lot! I reckon that with some clever selection and a bit of effort I can make them work. I believe Skip has said that you should build with what you've got.

In terms of correcting the log sweep I think that some strategic cuts where windows / doors are planned should deal with the worst offenders :-)

Regards - Geoff

Thanks for the link to that site!!!!!!!! Beautiful lodge
Marcus Ward

"That house is not going anywhere, does it look brand new no, should it look brand new nope. Brand new is for the yuppies that must have everything shiny and brand new looking so everyone can look at it and know it's not paid for."

Shiny houses are also for girls, not just yuppies! I'm just ribbing you, Pam. I happen to live with a very nice girl, who will want her house to be shiny too, so we will most likely be staining our logs at the very least. I think she's going to be ok with mortar chinking though.

Pam is right though. There's nothing wrong with wanting your house to look new and pretty. It does indeed cost more, both in time, money, and future maintenance. But it's all about what will give you that warm fuzzy feeling when you stand in your home that YOU built, take a deep breath, and feel good about your accomplishment and about the wonderful life you worked so hard to make for yourself.

Being Tolland is real close to NY State line, I am curious as to if you have any links to the land sales in your area or log sales?

Thanks,
John