Log Home Builders-Check in here

[Cole]

Any of you reside around the Telluride, Co area?

Ok here goes, I am designing a 6,000 sf log home to be built on 100 acres of land.
Should I do it with my company or hire someone else?

[Cole]

BTW- I am planning on breaking ground in a year or so just planning because Im a planner.


I havent bought the land yet but I am going to within the next 6 months.

[Joe Bartok]

Cole:
I'm a long ways from your area, my days of physically building log houses are long behind me, and I only worked at log building long enough to learn just the basics. Nowadays, I consult when we need math to get a roof together, and sometimes help with drawings.
My advice, for what it's worth, is that the drawings, the engineering and the work should be done be people familiar with log building. Like any other industry, log building has its own unique issues.
The biggest factor in a log home is settling of the log shell, which will affect installation of doors and windows, interior partitions for drywall (if any), and plumbing connections upstairs.

[Rich]

Excellent point Joe - when we did log homes we accounted for 1" of settling/shrinkage per 12" of log height. I do miss doing that stuff though - not much call for it in the commercial market :)

[Cole]

Thanks guys for the info.

[Joe Bartok]

Cole, I had a thought over the weekend.
For the person who wants to build their own log home, there are lots of log building schools where one can learn the techniques specific to the industry, such as scribing, log selection, allowing for settling, etc.

[Cole]

Awesome, got any links? I will look but if you happen to come across one that is decent pm me it.

[Rich]

www.timberframersguild.org
Start there - they are associated with the log home builders association and some other - they'll have classes and shops available there.

[Cole]

Awesome, Thanks buddy.

[Cole]

Ok one more question, is the design fee different with log homes?

[RRG]

Cole,

I've been spending a lot of time lately reading up on everything "log"!
Here are a few:
http://www.loghomebuilders.org/classes.asp
http://cu.imt.net/~logworker/
a little diferent http://cu.imt.net/~logworker/videos.html
http://loghomelinks.com/build.htm
http://www.cariboo.bc.ca/Tt/loghome/
http://www.logassociation.org/resources/courses.php
That might get you started.

[Cole]

Thanks!!!

[Joe Bartok]

I should have thought of adding the links on my last post!
Someone's already given the link ILBA link, and here's another:
www.lhoti.com
Both of these sites have links to log building schools. Not to mention forums such as this one, where anyone is welcome to jump in and ask questions.

[Cole]

Awesome, thanks Joe for your help.