Build a Log Cabin for $100
(Page 4 of 4)
May/June 1981
By Bill Sullivan
Finishing Touches
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At that stage, our handmade log cabin was almost ready to be called home! To finish it off, we framed the sides of the door and window openings with dimension lumber spiked into the logs. I built my own door (on a diagonal grain) and set it on hand-hewn maple hinges … then rigged up an old-fashioned wooden bar latch, which is lifted by a string hanging on the outside of the portal.
With our doors and windows in place, we could really hear the breeze whistling through the cracks in the walls. First, we tried the traditional Scandinavian solution and packed the chinks with dried moss, but nesting squirrels seemed to pull out the herbage faster than we could stuff it in! After the cracks had been chinked with cement, however, our cabin became the comfortable, weathertight dwelling we’d hoped to create.
Aside from its being economical and practical shelter, we find that our log cabin does indeed provide us with the basis for a back-to-nature lifestyle that — we feel — is everything it’s cracked up to be. On frosty mornings, we roll out of bed, clamber down the ladder from the loft, and fire up the old woodstove … quickly warming the house and fogging the windows. On stormy evenings, my wife usually curls up with a steaming cup of tea, while I pop corn by kerosene lamplight and listen to the rain pinging on the roof.
We may not have a well-maintained road, electricity, or even indoor plumbing, but we’re delighted with the solid comfort of our home … and with the fact that we built it ourselves, using only a month’s savings and no power tools.
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