Has anyone built a log home out of Oak and Hickory? I have land that will soon be flooded to build a municipal reservoir I had a Timber buyer offer me 4 dollars a ton for my 50+ year old hardwoods I said no thanks. Here is my dilemma the timber is 1600 miles away for my building site at $2 per mile it would cost me approximately $3200 for a truckload of prime hardwood plus the cost to harvest which I could more than offset with the sell of the pine that will need to harvested. The thought of Oak and hickory logs sounds very appealing but is the cost to high?
I realize that harwood weighs more than softwood but I do not plan to lift logs with tools from the trunk of my car. I plan to buy a used boom truck or other lifting equipment and sell it when I'm done using it.
http://www.rbauction.com/index.jsp
My other thought would be to take the timber to a local sawmill near the point of harvest and truck the finished beams out for use as rafters and exposed beams. I would probably trailer this out with my pickup.
I could harvest and stack the wood to use later but termites in Georgia do a fine job of recycling timber.
Any ideas out there?
Comments
Building with hardwood
I know both are very durable. My father is still using a barn which my great-grandfather built out of un-seasoned white oak. It's never had any kind of wood treatment, no paint and what little rot there is came from where some cudzu grew onto one wall and kept it wet. But even then we didn't lose more than a few boards. This barn is over 100 years old. My dad also has several flat-hewn, dovetail joint cabins (one of which he lives in) which were built around 1860 or so when the land was first homesteaded. They are also oak, never been treated, mortar chinking and still solid.
As far as building a log home with oak or hickory, I think it would be a great idea with the following considerations:
1. Both are very heavy especially when green. That doesn't mean you can't use them though.
2. Might be hard to find enough trees that are long enough and straight enough for your needs. However, if they are, I say do it!
If you can't build the walls with it, I would definately saw them up for lumber. Some don't care for the irregular grain of hickory but I love it. Just be careful what you use it for. Probably best to use it for something that doesn't require a lot of nailing. A few years ago my brother sawed a bunch of hickory for board and batten. It looked great but it was almost impossible to drive a nail through and he ended up drilling pilot holes.
Oak is pretty hard as well but not as hard as hickory.
BTW, I think you were right to turn down his offer. Good oak and hickory are worth much more than that.
JD
Thanks
As far as logevity I have seen the same myself, The other appealing factor is that in Colorado where I plan to build there is nary an oak tree to be found. They call pine firewood out here. Pounding a nail into hickory is similar to pounding a nail into a rock. Actually me pounding a nail into anything is not a good idea... That why I bought a pnuematic finish and framing nailer.
If my forefathers woulda had one of them thar nailing machines they woulda used it too.
I second everything JD said,
I second everything JD said, especially "plan B"
That schlub would have been robbing you blind. $4/ton . . . Sheesh!
Ever price Hickory floors?
Robbing me blind NOT
A little background information.
I have two pieces of property excluding my house that the bank and I share. I have 3/4 of an acre in the mountains of Colorado that I plan to build a log cabin on, somewhere in the neighborhood of 2800 SQ FT only 1100 will be finished the remaining is a full walkout basement and unfinished loft. The idea is to get a CO (Certificate of Occupancy) as soon as possible and then finish the rest while I stay there. This will be used as a vacation home until I retire.
The second piece of property is located in Georgia that my Dad left to me when he passed away. The county is going to flood approximately 10 of my 47 acres, that’s good because I'm going to use the money to build my cabin in Colorado. I was contacted by a representative of a land clearing company, I agreed to meet with him, my plan was to harvest all of the pine and harvest the ugly hardwoods leaving lake view property with prime hardwoods on each lot. The timber buyer wanted to do a shelter wood harvest which is basically taking out all the mature trees and leaving behind the under story (shitwood) of the forest. He put together a contract and we traded emails for a while until I said in my last and unanswered email that I could turn all of the hardwood into firewood and sell it for $225 a cord. If I remember correctly a ton of stumpage is about 1 cord of wood. I can't magazine why he never responded to my email.
By my calculations his offer $4 ton or $225 if I cut, split and seasoned the hardwood. Of course this is not an apples to apples comparison as a lot more labor is involved in manufacturing firewood than is required to simply harvest the whole tree and leave piles of slash all over my property.
Since I had this negotiation, timber prices have dropped except for pulpwood prices. Unfortunately EPA regulations do not allow me to harvest timber in the flood zone because it is too close to the watershed i.e. the creek. I think for now I will let the forest stay natural and make sure the county compensates me for the value of the timber that they will need to clear for the lake site. I'll end up with 37 acres of lakefront property with at least 50 year old trees. If I lived in GA than I might be willing to supervise a selective harvest of the timber in the 50' buffer zone between the high waterline and where the county will let me build houses septic systems etc. If I understand it correctly I will still on the land in the buffer area but I will not be able to disturb it after I agree to the terms of the sale. So it's now or never the county is hitting the bond market in early February, I assume as soon as they get the money they will be buying up property. So maybe I can start building my cabin.
Just curious, where in GA is
Just curious, where in GA is the property? I live in GA and am getting ready to build.
Where In GA
35 miles east of Atlanta off I-20 in Walton County Between Social Circle and Monroe.
I see. I'm a little further
I see. I'm a little further south, in Thomaston.
Flooding the land
Let me guess... They're finally building a new resevoir for the Atlanta area? How much does Lanier have left in it now?
JD