Building the Traditional Hewn-Log Home

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THE BOTTOM LINE: A SOLID FOUNDATION

Because of the tremendous load-bearing capacity of solid timbers, laying a continuous foundation for a log cabin is, in most cases, unnecessary. Of course, that's not to say that it's wrong to opt for a continuous foundation—you may find yourself forced to do so by stringent building codes or unusual terrain. Or you may just prefer to do it that way. But since this discussion is concerned primarily with the more traditional and economical methods of log building, we'll sidestep talk of preparing a continuous foundation and concentrate instead on the corner pillar technique.

To summarize in advance, a small log cabin can be perched safely on just four solidly built corner pillars. (If a wall exceeds 14' or so in length, an additional support at the midpoint will help keep the sill log from sagging.) Each pillar rests on a foot-thick concrete slab (footing) poured in the bottom of a hole dug down to solid ground and below frost line. A masonry pillar of flat native stones bonded together with mortar is then built up at least a foot above ground level and capped with a sheet metal pest-and-moisture barrier. Finally, the hole around the pillar is filled in with packed earth.

The two largest and straightest logs (often of a more rot-resistant variety of wood than the wall timbers) are then laid atop the pillars to serve as sills. (Since the walls of a log cabin are locked together at the corners, there's no need for foundation-to-sill anchor bolts except in tornado country or if required by local building codes.) Floor joists, which can be of milled lumber or small logs flattened on top, are then set in notches in the sills. Subflooring can be of milled boards, plywood, or-an old-timey alternative-puncheons (large logs halved longitudinally and laid flat side up), and is generally put down before work begins on the pen. The ends of the first two (bottom) wall logs are notched into the tops of the sill logs, and the pen goes up from there.

A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BOTTOM LINE

Before excavating and erecting foundation pillars, the site must be prepared and the four corners laid out, leveled, and squared.

When the site is ready, temporarily mark the four corners with wooden stakes. The stakes should be placed where you plan to locate the outer corners of the four foundation pillars. (The rule of thumb here is to make the pillar tops twice the width of the planned wall log thickness, and the footings twice the width of the pillar tops.)

When the first corner stake is in place, use a magnetic compass to orient the first wall, and a steel tape to locate the second corner stake. Rather than stringing the tape along sloped ground, which would throw your measurements off, use a plumb bob to make all wall measurements along a level plane. Now use the magnetic compass and a framing square to get the angle for stake number three, measure off the wall length, and drive the stake—then return to stake number one to take your angles and measurements for the final corner.

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