Safe Zone, log home

Theme - An alchemists wooden, home-built shack in the out, alone in a forest, set in the 1800's. I'll appear as though the inhabitant is living very independently with plenty of supplies and comforts inside the structure.

Visual research





Sketches






Cabin construction

This video easily explains the importance of sill logs (the bottom most log) which will determine how the rest of the logs will be placed all the way up the structure. Shoulders need to be large enough so that each log will not be weak and snap from the notch cut out to keep it secure against he adjacent log beneath. The butts and tips are essentially larger and smaller logs, they're couple together because a butt - tip - butt - tip arrangement will result in a very small shoulder, or deep notch in all of the tip logs making the entire structure weak.


Using cut and planed logs the structure is much more standardised. individual parts can be replaced with a little more ease if something goes wrong.
Floor planks are fastened to each other using dowels and held tight at the edges of the room with wedges hammered down in the gap between the wall.
They use pine wood, ideally with very few branches.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2w1JAp1qs4
This video highlights chinking, the gaps between the logs are larger than 3/4 of an inch which makes chinking a more suitable solution for insulation. This involves nt. Caulking can be used on log cabins/homes that have gaps of 3/4 of an inch or less. This involves applying a liquid sealant.
This is a very modern solution, in the past people would use mud plaster or cement then force quartered pieces of small logs and nailing them or spiking them in position. You could also caulk with swamp moss (Sphagnum) or oakum if you had much smaller gaps to fill. Mud tends to last seven or eight years.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaTOorTlzoU
Chinkless production involves cutting small grooves on the under side of each log. This allows for water run off and down without any need chink, it only needs some caulking to achieve a water tight seal. This however is arguably much more time consuming and requires much more skilled craftsmanship.


http://www.gutenberg.org/files/28255/28255-h/28255-h.htm#Page_115 ,161 ,177 ,183
Very detailed guide to log house production.

Popular Mechanics, December 1983
This article details the entire process in a much shorter and easier to read format than the gutenberg book. I much prefer these illustrations, they seem clearer to me.


http://www.spbrb.ru/eng_tech_canadsk_zates.htm
This clearly illustrates the merit of using the Canadian or Russian notching style. The 90 degree of the notch allows for the wood to shrink and expand without leaving the structure weakened as there is no chance of it developing small gaps in the summer months. A semi-circular notch will develop gaps at the sides of every notch where as with the 90 degree notch any shrinkage doesn't affect the strength as all of the surface of the notch is always in contact with the adjacent log.


http://www.hollowtop.com/cls_html/Log_Homes_Butt_and_Pass.htm

http://longhairedcountryboy.wordpress.com/tag/butt-and-pass/

The butt and pass method for home creation uses much fewer tools, is easier to produce and is structurally stronger in some cases than any other type of log home.
These structures don't settle, they are so strongly made from the beginning that the wood has no chance to move so door and window installation is a breeze, you don't need to give frames any leeway for the logs to compress into.
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