Building Your Own Custom Log Cabins

Imagine you are in the middle of the woods, cozied up in front of the fireplace on a soft couch and half-covered with your favorite wool blanket. The rain is constantly falling, following the rhythm of Sebastian Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1. Your tea untouched beside your legs on the coffee table is steaming and filling the room with the aromas of vanilla and rooibos. You stretch your legs out onto the stool in front of you as you get lost in the bizarre world of Aomame, the heroine of the book in your hand 1Q84.

How else can this happen except in the perfect log house? Log houses are dreamy and perfect for that weekend getaway to rest your mind and relax from the stressful city life. However, Log houses can be expensive too. Buying one might be a little heavy on the pocket but if you really want to have your very own log house, why not build one yourself?

Building your own log house is as much of a farfetched Idea as building your own house. It might seem impossible but if you keep your thoughts and imagination grounded, you can actually build one yourself. It will take a lot of effort and time on your part, but the satisfaction of seeing the work of your hands is worth. Here is a guide on how to build your own cabin and you may visit mrhandcrafted.com for more information.

Plan Everything

Like any construction project, you need to plan first. First of all, you need to plan where to construct your log house and acquire the land for it before starting anything. Choose the right location. Choose a place with an accessible road and as much as possible, good cellular coverage in case of emergencies. Choose the location with your desired temperature and environment. You might like to build close to a lake or on top of a mountain where you can have a beautiful panoramic view.

After buying your lot, you need to start with the planning. It is always best to have an engineer or an architect to make the plans for you. It doesn’t have to be fancy and since you will be working on a budget, keep it simple with the 1 bedroom, kitchen, bath, and living room. Of course, don’t forget your fireplace but if that is also over the budget, you can always opt for a pellet stove for indoor heating plus the additional smoky aroma that you usually get from a fireplace.

Choose Your Wood

You will need a lot of wood in building a log cabin. To be more specific, you will need logs and depending on where are building your house, logs can be difficult to acquire. Most of the time, you will be required special permits to cut down trees and building your cabin will require you to cut several trees. It is also possible to use logs that have fallen down on their own but how many of those do you think you can find? Your best option here is to go down the local sawmill or contact a local logging company. You can send them your plans and they can supply you with the right amount and sizes of the wood that you want.  

Choose the Appropriate Foundation

When building a house, the design of your foundation will affect the house itself. For specific designs, you will need different types of foundation. There are three main types of foundations for cabins and these are raft, strip, and pad.

A strip foundation is when you dig deep to pour concrete to make footings as your foundation these footing will not be as wide but they will be deep enough to hold your house. A pad foundation, on the other hand, will not need to dig as deep but will need more cement for a wider range. Lastly, you have the raft foundation where your foundation is just slightly below the soil level and is connected to your concrete floors. Raft types of foundation are easy to build but use up a lot of concrete so if you are trying to save money, the strip foundation is the way to go.

Build the Wall

After your foundation, the next part is building your wall. The most noticeable part of cabins is, of course, the logs that cover your entire house. You will have to file them properly and make sure they stay in place. Then you will have to use your choice of waterproofing to make sure that moisture and water do not destroy the wood. Polyethylene or Polyurethane is commonly used in waterproofing wood materials and they help in polishing them too.

Roofing

You can also use logs for the skeleton of your roof but it would be economical and practical to use metals bar like angle bars and c-purlins. These are more durable than wood in holding your roof together and they are much more easy to use.

The best material to use as roofing for your cabin is the asphalt shingle compared to clay, tile, or slate. Asphalt shingles can easily match your design and are easy to build with. They also help in insulating heat and do not need a lot of maintenance.

Interior

After building the exterior of your house, you can now start working on the inside. You can leave the walls as is for the cabin feels but you can also cover it up with dry wall for better insulation and so that you can paint or design your walls easily. Build your bath and kitchen then buy your furniture and appliances.

Now that you have your very own cabin, make sure to maintain it properly so that your work won’t go to waste. Since it is mostly made of wood, you need to be careful and inspect it all the time to check if something needs repair. Wood easily rots especially if they are not treated properly. But if you check and maintain them well, they can go a long way.