Logging on!

Finally!

After 10 years of dreaming, planning, researching, cutting, peeling and spending, I finally got to raise the first log on the foundation (the irony is, I later ended up taking it off, but that's another story) but not without a bunch of effort. First a late start, then more problems. The photo essay below tells the tale.


First log slinged, it only took about 75 tries to get it balanced!


Tying on a tump line to control the swing.



Giddy-up!




Bouncey...

Git along little loggies!

Come join your friends.

Almost there...

Almost there...

We interupt this regularly scheduled log raising to bring you this shot of the awaiting foundation.

Touchdown! (part one).

On to preping the log.

Triming the uh... butt.

Maybe another slice.

Finding the middle.

Marking the center line.

Transferred all the measurements from the foundation and starting to drill... for about 30 seconds...

in the first hole.... until the drill in the picture caught fire... Ok, no problem, off the hardware store to buy a "Heavy Duty" drill.

Ok, no problem, we'll just start drilling the first hole again... until we tear the chuck off this drill...

At this point I was about ready to bleed internally...

But hey, no problem, I'll just run to the rental place, they'll have something... you guys break for lunch i'll be right back.

An hour and a half later.... we were making pine flakes.

"Kids everywhere love the great taste of Pine Flakes!"

It's slow, but it works...

I can see the light! After 3 frikin' hours! I must have 20 shots of drilling the first hole, the camera girl was wondering if we where ever going to 'git 'er done!

Log drilled and slung (that took another 30 triles). Um, does those clouds look like rain....

And it did rain... if you look close, you might see the rainbow in this shot (finally some devine intervention).

Now, back to the log...

Up.

Up!

UP!

Uh... you sure this is gonna reach...?

Oh yeah!

So close...

Uh... I hope we measured those holes right...

Almost there...

Notice the dent in the foundation? No...? Good, me neither...

Almost there...!

Touchdown! (Part 2).

This end doesn't want to go down...

Needs motivation... 15 tonnes worth!

Just like butter (4000lbs of butter!)

Ok, well maybe it will sit better if I cut a bit off...

Just a shave...

Beautiful... except for the flying end.

On to the second log... after a quick trim of the bent, too tall rebar... notice how dark it's getting...

Fast forward! Day 2.

4 logs on the wall...
Of course, the holes didn't line up on the last one...

Done... almost, still have to trim all the all-thread, and tighten all the nuts... cut all the rebar...pin all the corners.... trim all the knots...

I see eff?

So I was down in Mexico, and I saw this foundation, it's name was eff.

Ok, even by my standards, that was bad.

On to the basement!
I hummed and hawed on this one for a long time (years), how to do the basement, since costs can creep up pretty fast here. I'd thought about poured, but it's lots of money, and most of it is labour, somebody elses, plus you can get marginal results, if the contractor is shoddy, or you pay a ton for someone really good. As it was we already used a pile of cement on the footings (whaddya gonna do when your house weighs 50000lbs) but you shouldn't skimp here, ever!

I thought about cement block, but really it's not strong enough, unless you fill the space between with concrete, so then you're not really saving that much.

The problem with both of these types of foundations is that they have no thermal value, so you have to insulate on top of the cost, plus it's hard to do it right, after the fact.

Keeping this in mind, I'd also looked at the alternative.


In the end, I was lucky enough to talk to a guy at our local home show 2 years ago, who is the Ontario distributer for Quad-Lock ICF, which is a phenominal, DIY friendly, reasonably priced way to do it, and he really likes working with end-users like me.

Sold!

So over the course of a few days, myself and a bunch of friends (new and old) put this thing together, it's so light and easy to work with, I even had my kids and mother-in-law (all 98lbs of her) helping.

This is the first complete course laid out, this is probably the second hardest part (of the stacking anyway). The hardest (ok, lets say pickiest) is setting the bottom metal track into the footing.














The cool part? You get to play with a "Weapons Grade" nail gun!

That's also the scary part.

The one thing I wish I'd done was smooth the top of the footing with a trowel, just to make it easier to hold the track without it wiggling around on the bumpy surface, because with the freaking nailer, you don't want to be in the way. It will absolutely kill you if you aren't careful, at the very least you can end up with your steel toe nailed to the cement. Anything that can countersink a 3" nail into a 16" thick block of reinforced concrete absolutely demands respect!

No shots of it in action unfortunately, I was busy keeping my head down, as I let my American buddy Capt James Emge USAF handle most of it (more weapons training than the rest of us).

Here is fellow LHBA member James Linzel starting the first corner on the second course. None of us, including James had ever built with this stuff before, yet after the first row, we averaged 30-40 mins to complete each course! That's fast!


It must be fun, since James drove about 7 hours to get to my place just to help out. Thanks man!
Here's where we were by Sun afternoon, considering the late start Sat, I was happy. We could have gotten more done, but the Quad-Lock distributer wanted to check progress (and make sure we hadn't messed it up), and I still needed to get the gravel inside the footing for the basement!

Here's a video tour inside the foundation, shot by another LHBA member, Pierre Trudel. Pierre was lucky, he didn't have to drive as far to play with Quad-Lock, but a big thanks none the less!

(Note, video temporarily removed due to mass quanties of storage being taken up, I will get it zipped down and back up soon).

So, another week later (so it rained alot) we were ready to pour.

There's more work involved in installing all the bracing and preping to pour than there is stacking all the freaking ICF walls.

Pump truck and cement truck (first of 4) lined up and ready to go!

Here's the happy crew; Robert, the guy with the towel on his head (Quad-Lock distributer, that's part of the corporate dress code) his 2 sons and the pump operator (didn't get his name).

Um.. maybe a little too happy...?

Would you trust them to build your foundation...?

Mmm... juicy!

Wet setting the BAJ's (Big Ass J-Bolts!) for attaching the first logs to the foundation.

And another couple days later and voila!

Bracing gone, Waterproofing on, drainage in and ready for backfill.

Next step. Logs!

Something's a foot!

Ya know, it's getting harder and harder to come up with clever witticisms for my blog entries...

Anyhoo, regardless of the type of house you build, you need to support it. That usually starts with some kind of footing, even if you are just building a shed on piers, the bottom of the pier must support the load of the house, plus whatever snow, wind, earthquakes, etc, so it is also technically a footer (or footing).

Since we're building a full basement, I needed to build a continuous footer (with a bit of a twist) to support the walls.

This part is pretty much like any footing, buy a bunch of expensive (crappy) lumber and wreck it building forms. Measure 56 times... cut once... cut again... screw it up, get another board.

Check level eleventy billion times...repeat. Speaking of which, I did get slightly off track the first day with a borrowed laser level. Good thing I verified things with a spirit level and got conflicting results.

Our soil has good bearing, so despite the house weighing in excess of 80000lbs, the footing is fairly standard. I did go a little thicker than the required 8", mostly because a 2x8 form board is not 8", stepping up to 2x10's got me 9 1/4" at least, and since to get level, the forms were staked above ground, I ended up with 10"+ in most places.

The odd looking section in the front is for a walk down for access to the basement. We didn't have grade to do a walk out, so this is the next best thing (at extra cost tho). LHBA has a saying. 4 corners = 1 house. 8 corners = 2 houses, and they are absolutely right. Although worth it to us, that small 8x12 footing doubles the number of corners (and therefore rebar bending required) and the time to square and level another section, plus as much cement as one whole other side.

In the center of the footing, you can see a square form going up. This is one of 2 center pads that will support the RPSL's (Ridge Pole Support Logs) that hold up the RP (Ridge pole), aka "big ass log" that holds up the roof. 2 additional bump outs are also being built at each end of the footing to support the 2 end RPSL's.

And here we are, ready to pour. I stapled thin plastic inside and out of the forms to make removing the boards easier, as well as helping the cement retain moisture during the cure, instead of the ground sucking it all up. The steel has also all been placed, I put 2 strands of either 15 or 20m rebar (5/8ths or 3/4 equiv) spaced 8" apart. This is actually gross overkill (10m would have been fine), but I had the material, and it cost me literally n0thing, so I used it. The center pads (also oversized, but what the hey) got 4 strands placed in them.

Pouring day.

I'll admit, I cheated a bit here and called in a pump truck, but after a crazy week of my day job, building the forms in 90 deg weather, plus bailing hay until 9:30 the night before, wheelbarrowing 12 cubic meters (15+ yards) of cement wasn't on the list of fun things to do, plus it would have set up too fast, plus I would have had a hell of a time getting the center pads filled.

I actually don't have many pictures, I was too busy running behind the pump raking the cement and troweling it level.

Concrete pumps are really cool!
7:00am on the dot, he was here.

By 7:20 the first cement truck was on site and by 7:30 we were pouring


2 hours later, they were long gone and I had all the vertical rebar dowels placed (and just in time, because the cement was drying really fast). By this time I was physically destroyed. It took all my butt to climb in the truck and drive home. It's a good thing we started early, because I was already hot and humid by this time.

Ready for the foundation!

Breaking new ground.

Well not new per say... it's old ground but anyway.

Not much other than after a late start (not my fault) and a bit of running around to get a culvert delivered (a driveway helps) things are moving along.

The foundation hole is done and driveway will be finished tomorrow.

Stripping... uh, the topsoil.

Tonka toys for big boys...




Sighting for grade and squaring the foundation hole which, uh... isn't a square, it's a rectangle... so would that be rectangling the foundation hole?


Foundation done.

The bark is definately worse than the bite.

When using whole logs to build a house, the first step (after cutting and moving them to the site) is to peel them.

When I took the course, they said that after you peel 1 log, you've learned everything you need to about peeling.

Well I must be a slow learner... because I'm up to about number 18 (of 65!) and still learning.

I've learned that no 2 logs are the same. I've learned that every day they seem to peel differently. I've learned that if 20 people drive by while you are peeling, they all have 20 different opinions on how to peel (tho I seriously doubt that most of them have ever peeled a log in their life) and yet not one will actually pick up a tool and help.

I also learned in class almost every trick in the book to get other people to peel your logs (I must have been asleep at that point) yet I'm still here... still peeling.

I learned that you should get the boy scouts to peel your logs, and make a "donation" to the troop.

The logs in Washington must be easier to peel, or they got some freakishly large muntant scouts there, but where I live, "the boy scouts don't pack the gear to peel these suckers".

Hell, I've had 2 soldiers out helping me peel, and they've both been to war and they tell me it's hard!

So yeah, still peeling, and I do have to put out a special thanks to everyone who has come out and lend a hand. At some point there will also be a special token of my undying graditude to those who have really gone above and beyond.

But for now, "Get back to work bitches! We still got more logs to peel!"

"$%#$@$ you guys! I'm goin' home!"



Move over boys. Let the ladies show you how it's done!


After carefully examining all the scientific evidence, I have determined that this is indeed a log.


Um... log dog?


Nice to have friends.

Load 'em up and move 'em out.

Well, since this is a catch up post (from freakin' March no less) I'm not going to be that wordy.

Movin' day was a bit stressfull, but in the grand scheme of thing probably won't be a huge deal compared to everything else going on.

Paying for it was a different story... ouch trucking is expensive...

Took 6 loads total (you know the trees are big when you can only fit 13 on a load) but managed to get it done in only one day.

Nom... nom... nom...

First load home.

Come here you!

Upsy Daisy!

Pull!

Oh boy... that's a lot to peel...

A log house needs logs...

Ok, yeah, seems obvious.

So since i'm not building a kit, it's not quite as simple as deciding on a supplier and ordering your logs (if you can call them logs).

So, being me, I did things a little differently. First I put an ad in the local rural newspaper, which with full circulation, covers a 100+ km radius, and several townships.

This resulted in an avalanche of phone calls (which suprised me) with everything from commercial suppliers (wanting a very commercial price), to people wanting me to remove a tree on their lawn, to somebody wanted me to build them a log house (call me next year).

Finally, after a bit of a false start, I made a deal with a private landowner who selectively cuts and manages his own woodlot.

The cool thing was, he let me walk the woods and pick the trees I wanted, so I got to spend a bunch of days in Feb and Mar tromping through the woods (which was a reminder that I was a bit out of shape after a long winter... dry heaves are not pretty and really disruptive to the serenity of nature) flagging the trees I wanted.

First few on the ground.

Looks can be deceiving, these are biiiig logs. 24"+

Almost half of what I need.

Helps to have someone hold the tape while you take pictures.

The bigger they are the less you need to make a wall.

I wish I'd taken pictures of some trees while they were still standing, and of "my logger" (as I now affectionately refer to him) Bob.

This is a scary (in a good way) guy with a chainsaw, he makes putting those trees down as easy as cutting the grass. I guess after 25 years of practice, you get good at it.

Next up, bringing 'em home!