I Built a Log Cabin From Scratch For Under $11,000

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Originally, building a log cabin was a decision made out of necessity. Eventually, it evolved into a dream. BILL CLARK

This is the story of a long-time dream that is about to become reality. Like most people, I dreamed of owning my own home, in a place where my children could experience the peace of mind that comes from living in the country. I wanted my four daughters to enjoy the freedom and the comfort of knowing that our family could provide for ourselves. Part of this desire came from my own father, who shared with me his crystal clear memories of surviving the Great Depression. He taught me the importance of being self-reliant, no matter how bad the economy became.

My dream to build a log cabin by myself began almost 15 years ago. At that time the decision was made out of necessity, due to our financial status and the state of the economy in our area. As time went by, our finances improved and the necessity evolved into a dream — a dream that is finally starting to come together.

First Steps

All those years that I was dreaming, I of junk and equipment that I thought would be helpful in building a sawmill and forklift, or some other type of loader to handle logs and lumber. I read everything I could get my hands on about building log homes and sawmills, and assessed the resources available in our area. I also assessed my own skills and took the time to look carefully at many older buildings. All this research played a giant part in the actual building.

Over the years, I also noticed that many of those older wooden buildings that had survived the test of time had a lot of traits in common. Most of them had open-pier foundations that supported the structure at least 24" above the ground. I suppose this was to allow for good ventilation under the house, preventing problems caused by moisture, termites, and the like.

Most of the old buildings also had steep tin roofs with at least 36" of overhang — called eaves — all the way around. This tin provided a long-lasting, low maintenance, leak-proof roof that was easy to install. Long eaves also helped protect the buildings' sides from rain and long periods of direct sunlight. So I decided to incorporate an open-pier foundation at least 24" above the ground and a tin roof with at least 36" eaves in my own house. It was important that my home last far beyond my lifetime, so I could leave it behind for my daughters and perhaps for their children too.

As I was accumulating junk and equipment, I kept in mind a vision of those basic construction features, as well as a list of materials and equipment that I would need. Here's what my list consisted of:

• A sawmill capable of sawing timber up to 30" in diameter and 30" long.
• Some type of loader to load and unload logs and timber from a truck and the sawmill.
• A truck and trailer for hauling timber.
• An end trimmer to cut sawmilled boards to length. (Not a necessity, but quicker than squaring and cutting each board to length with a circular saw.)
• An edger to trim the lengthwise edges of sawmill slabs. (This allowed us to use the slabs produced when squaring a log, instead of discarding them.)
• A wheeled tripod with a wench that could be used to move logs around on the subfloor and hoist them into place.
• Miscellaneous hand and power tools such as a chain saw, ax, drawknife (for peeling bark from logs), shovels, cement-mixing equipment, block-laying tools, etc.