Helping with a log cabin build

[skyking]

doubled

 

[BoomerD]

I thought the entire Pacific rim was a seismic zone? Perhaps I should quit thinking.

I thought the entire Pacific rim was a seismic zone? Perhaps I should quit thinking.

No, you're right, but where SK's friend is building is considered pretty low risk for quakes. I mean...that region was formed by volcanoes once upon a time...and much of it was...modified by the ice sheets and subsequent great Missoula flood...but neither of those are considered a threat at the moment either.

 

[Greenman]

No, you're right, but where SK's friend is building is considered pretty low risk for quakes. I mean...that region was formed by volcanoes once upon a time...and much of it was...modified by the ice sheets and subsequent great Missoula flood...but neither of those are considered a threat at the moment either.

A couple hundred thousand years and shit could get real.

All of this comes back around to years of engineers beating earthquake concerns into my head. Everything has to be tied down, locked together, stiffened, backed, and braced. The last addition/remodel I did had 23 hold downs in roughly 1100 square feet of space. The perimeter strap had roughly a 1000 ten penny shorts in it.

 

[BoomerD]

A couple hundred thousand years and shit could get real.

All of this comes back around to years of engineers beating earthquake concerns into my head. Everything has to be tied down, locked together, stiffened, backed, and braced. The last addition/remodel I did had 23 hold downs in roughly 1100 square feet of space. The perimeter strap had roughly a 1000 ten penny shorts in it.

Yep…and because western WA has a high earthquake probability, that tends to bleed over into other parts of the state in building codes.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

How long/tall is that post anyways? I was just taking a wild guess at 10'.

 

[skyking]

118.5" and that matches with the subfloor.
The rest of the log goes on top of that, an additional 27'.
I'll have to put him up on top of that with a man lift for the picture

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Missed it by THAT much Chief!

(How the heck did I get within an inch and a half?)

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Not keen on the idea of a 27 foot toothpick balanced on top of a 10 foot toothpick though.

 

[skyking]

@Lost_in_the_HTTP
"If a 26" log is toothpick for you, then son, you have a condition"
That will be a fun day. Today I will make sure I have enough forklift to loft that thing, with rigging. I suspect not.
He'll have to get a crane for that day, and a boom lift. That is the safe way to do it.
We'll have the walls stacked to loft floor level, a load bearing wall like the basement one built, and mortises cut for a big glu lam from the back, log floor beam from one side, and also a locating brace from the other.
We will fix it in place with those mortices and braces.

 

[skyking]

We had to shim the rim due to variances in the concrete and mud sill. I ripped and planed all that, and cut and fed rim and joists. We got about half the joists in.

 

[Micrornd]

We had to shim the rim due to variances in the concrete and mud sill. I ripped and planed all that, and cut and fed rim and joists. We got about half the joists in.
View attachment 102086

Trying to understand this pic. Terrific view!
In this view are 2 or 3 sides ICF?
Do the ICF walls get backfill placed against them or are there just no windows on those sides?
Is the rock under the foundation required for stabilization, plain fill or drainage?
Construction is different here in FL as you can imagine.

 

[skyking]

3 sides. The prow front wall is 2x8 framed. The icfs do get backfilled against, there are two windows 4x4s out towards the end of them. So the backfill will taper down and expose those two windows with the minimum of 6 in.
Rock is footing drain. Footings sit on undisturbed native soil.

 

[skyking]

That was an epic hole to fill. The guys who dug it took about 3 days with a 30 ton excavator, and they put the dirt where it was convenient to THEM!
I tried to rent a 16 ton for the backfill, and a roller.
What I got was this little short armed 8 ton and a 330 pound plate compactor. It was a slow slow go, but I did it proper in small lifts and used water for compaction.
A big machine I would just reach in from above and grade it, but with the 8 ton I had to get down in the bottom of the fill and it was tight quarters for the first 6' of depth.




Somebody asked , why did you not use a dozer, since the fill was so far away? Here's why.
Nuggets. Lots of boulders. Those are a bane on a dozer and then you'l note that I have nothing but finer stuff against the waterproofing. That is a bad several days on a dozer and off again with a shovel trying to keep the big rocks off the foundation.

 

[skyking]

This is how discouraging it was. The big excavator had just casually tossed the dirt up by the fence, all over with a 30' radius. That meant he could get it 60' away with no effort. Looking down:



Looking back up. It was a few tosses to get it back.


The bench behind was ~4' too tall so I harvested a bunch of that, but it was hard virgin ground with those integrated rocky features in it.
I brought it up to 20" below FF, which 2 steps in front of the porch for 3 rises.

 

[skyking]

speaking of rocks, maybe you remember the Leaverite I went past building the road? I had a 21K pound dozer and gave it a little test love tap. Nope.
Some of this is fracture rock, looks solid but you can get it to bust apart. Example:


This thing had the F U heat treat on it. I went right on by

So his girlfriend is an owner/operator with a new Kubota 35 and skid steer. She does good work but does not have a ton of real world experience, and she just HAD to try and get the Leaverite with a 35. It cracks me up every time when somebody says hold my beer.
So how did that go for you again?

" this rock just keeps getting bigger"

I suppose I could relent and roll it out with the 75, but what is the fun in that?
I got lil nug nug up on the surface. I had to set up a ramp and slide it up, then hold it and persuade it until it liked that spot, then repeat. ( Say Lil nug nug with Beetlejuice voice for proper effect)


They thought the rock was a hazard by the road! What about the Crater?


Final disposition. I wrestled it around briefly looking for a good side and then filled in the hole. Now it is high and proud, a feature rock a few feet from the road.

 

[skyking]

We got this far last night before jumping in the lake to cool off.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Reminds me a bit of my land, lots of boulders. Mine has even more. They couldn't really dig any holes with the 35 ton without hitting boulders too big for even that machine to be able to manage. Had to bring in soil in order to fill in the gaps as there was no soil to compact, it was all boulders. Good news is, frost heave probably won't be much of an issue. I can just build directly on the surface.

 

[skyking]

This is the Bannister post for two staircases stacked. We got it clocked around to show the best features. It has some big knots in it.

 

[skyking]

The moment we were done setting that post, I started safing off that stairwell hole and did not stop till I was done. This bumble does not bounce!




Tomorrow we will get the first course of logs on and get a system going, then it is full speed ahead with a bigger crew and me on the telehandler.

 

[skyking]

It took a couple of days to locate and bolt down the starter course. I kept busy doing other things.
First day of setting on Thursday:



End of the day today:


My job is to locate the logs needed and have them ready.
Hovering standby with the next log. Come on guys!

 

[BoomerD]

It took a couple of days to locate and bolt down the starter course. I kept busy doing other things.
First day of setting on Thursday:
View attachment 104978


End of the day today:

View attachment 104979
My job is to locate the logs needed and have them ready.
Hovering standby with the next log. Come on guys!
View attachment 104980

Damn...Johnny Jett? Izzat you on that telehandler?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Those logs look nice and uniform, are they being turned in some kind of machine to make them that way or just got really nice trees in that area?

I sometimes toy with doing a log cabin build but my trees are fairly small, so I'm better off milling it into 2x material and doing more traditional build. For my first build I will probably buy the lumber as it will be faster. There's a local sawmill here that is reasonably priced.

 

[Micrornd]

I see I'm not the only one that appreciates Stihl.

 

[skyking]

They are milled from standing dead trees from fires. These are a uniform 9" log with a swedish cope cut in the bottom.

 

[skyking]

Damn...Johnny Jett? Izzat you on that telehandler?

Johnny knocks shit down. I put it up.
Today was "help your neighbors" day. My friend went for a resupply, which is a few hours away, and I went to another nearby cabin job and set the subfloor out there. He was packing it a sheet at a time across that 2x10. I drove over and hit the easy button.


Off to the next gig.

See the hill across the valley, the break in the trees in front of the boom in the first picture? I had to drive down in the valley and back up to the next gig, a barn raising to set loft beams. Check out these rough fir timbers! They were sawn 13 miles away on a small mill. It is the typical witches hat shape with a loft in the center under the high pitch.