Building the Traditional Hewn-Log Home

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

To check the square of the corner stakes, measure diagonally from stake number one to stake number three, and from stake number two to stake number four. Recheck your angles and distances and readjust the stakes until the two diagonal measurements are exactly the same, and you've got the outer corners of your cabin.

To fine-tune the layout, erect batter boards a few feet behind each of the corner stakes. A batter board consists of three large stakes driven into the ground to form a right triangle connected with two horizontal ledger boards, which serve to steady the stakes and anchor the string you'll be using to square and level the foundation corners. The ledger boards should be leveled, with their tops positioned at the height to which you plan to build the foundation pillars. Level the first ledger board and nail it to the stakes. Mark the tops of the other three corner stakes using a clear plastic garden hose filled to within a few inches of each end, or a line level, or a transit. Finally, nail the rest of the ledger boards to the stakes, using a spirit level to check each one.

Now outline the foundation by connecting the four batter boards with string. Use a small plumb bob to center the strings over the four original corner stakes, then anchor the strings in place by tying them to small nails driven into the sides of the ledger boards.

With this arrangement, both the corner stakes and the strings that cross above them can be removed in order to excavate the pillar holesthen the strings can be replaced on their nails as guides for locating the positions of the outer corners of the pillars, and for leveling the pillar tops.

DIGGING IT

In frontier days, many log cabins rested on dry-stone pillars (that is, no mortar was used to bond the stones together) erected on the surface of the ground. Thus, when the soil heaved and sank with winter's alternating freezes and thaws, the cabins "floated" with the rise and fall of the ground. That technique is fine when there are no water or sewer lines that the floating action could rip out of the ground, but it's not so good if you plan to install plumbing.

To avoid the ill effects of frost heave, determine the maximum freezing depth for your area (one to three feet in all but the coldest parts of the country) and excavate the foundation pillar holes deep enough so that the bottoms of the foot-thick concrete footings that support the pillars will be well below the frost line, or resting on bedrock,whichever comes first.

Collect the flattest fieldstone slabs you can find, and mortar the largest ones to the footings at the bottom of the foundation holes. Use progressively smaller stones as the pillars rise, bonding them all together with mortar. When the mortar has set, fill in the holes around the pillars with packed earth.

For the metal cap at the top of each pillar, use thin aluminum sheeting that's a few inches wider than the pillar. (To prevent injury to human or beast, bend the four edges down and round off the sharp corners, or bend them up and nail to the undersides of the sill logs.) These shields prevent rodents, snakes, termites, and other pests from climbing the pillars and entering the cabin, and keep the pillars from wicking ground moisture up to rot the sill logs.

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print