How To Build A Log Home

If you ever wanted to enjoy living in a log cabin this is for you!

I always wanted to build a log house, but for one reason or the other the need to live and my desire could not come together.

Then one day I had an idea, why not put an addition on and make it out of stone and logs!

This would be my own little log cabin that I always wanted. I needed an extra bed room so why not?

I began building the house in 1983 and added on in 1993 and 2003 (2003 log addition)

Finally my dream was going to come true. After some research and numerous inquiries about logs from manufactures, I decided to go back in time and do it the way they use to in “the Olden Days.” After all, I self taught myself to hand cut sandstone with a hammer and mason chisel, why not do the logs myself?!

Laying up 3-6 feet of hand hewn foundation stone, I began to lay up the logs only on 3 sides. The reason for this is I used pine logs that were dead for a few years yet were not rotten or bug infested. I needed to keep them out of the weather as much as possible, with over hangs and prevailing weather patterns, to keep the logs dry at all times. The back wall is all stone so the rain, snow, and sun can reek havoc on that all it wants!

This was a very labor intense build by hand and little help, but the outcome was so satisfying and rewarding! The look is very 1800s with a touch of 21st century Tec knowledge. Vinyl windows and poly filler for joints made it warm and cozy.

The cost was very affordable because all the material was free except shingles, windows rafters, and sheeting.

Estimated 100 + tons of stone and 75 logs that were all hand cut, and laid with love and compassion. The inside of the fire place is 10′ wide by 14′ high and 14” thick out of sand stone that was harvested in the area of my travels in western Pennsylvania.

The entire house is heated with a wood fired boiler in the basement that my dad and I built out of junk that was lying around. The water is pumped through pipe into the old cast iron registers that someone was throwing away! All but the log addition has piping in the tile floor and the fire place. We keep it about 75-80 degrees in mid winter with no extra heating cost.

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