![]() ![]() Ceiling and floor left the same in all comparisons. Our cabin design failed the energy codes miserably when run through with 6" Ponderosa Pine log walls, squeaked through with 12" Ponderosa Pine logs and passwd with 6% better than code as designed with insulated 2圆 walls. I found it useful when desogning our cabin. The program gives a pass/fail and tells you what percentage better or worse than code. Many places such as NM where I live require the use of this tool to validate the potential energy efficiency of new structures. If you haven't had a look at it it combines data for walls, floor, deiling, roof, windows, doors, insulation, heating systems, etc and comes up with the rating. Speaking of R-values and codes, the later versions of the Reschek tool has provision for entering data for log walls, thickness and species, as well a SIP's and a variety of other variables. Such climates generally exist in the Earth's temperate zones between the 15th and 40th parallels." This generally increases the apparent R-value of a log by 0.1 per inch of thickness in mild, sunny climates that have a substantial temperature swing from day to night. ![]() Logs act like "thermal batteries" and can, under the right circumstances, store heat during the day and gradually release it at night. Because of the log's heat storage capability, its large mass may cause the walls to behave considerably better in some climates than in others. However, to what extent a log building interacts with its surroundings depends greatly on the climate. Based only on this, log walls do not satisfy most building code energy standards. Ignoring the benefits of the thermal mass, a 6-inch (15.24 cm) thick log wall would have a clear-wall (a wall without windows or doors) R-value of just over 8.Ĭompared to a conventional wood stud wall the log wall is apparently a far inferior insulation system. The R-value for wood ranges between 1.41 per inch (2.54 cm) for most softwoods and 0.71 for most hardwoods. The higher the R-value, the more thermal resistance. Wood's thermal resistance or resistance to heat flow is measured by its R-value. In a log home, the wood helps provide some insulation. I can also purchase milled 6x8 D logs with tongue and grooves top and bottom for about $4.50 per lineal foot at a local log home plant, it takes 13 rows of them to get up to 8'. or roughly $450 of wood at our local mill. So a wall 24' long x 8' tall and 6" thick is Ģ40" X 96" X 6"= 960 bf. One way to figure board footage if you haven't before įor each wall multiply Length in inches X Height in inches X Thickness in inches. I'm a fan of lags and oly screws over spikes for being able to pull the timbers down tight but if you talk to 10 people you'll get 11 opinions on connections. Stickering and drying them really helps with final fit and settlement issues. Some form of corner notch other than just a simple butt and pass helps make the wall more weather tight as the wood shrinks, as well as making it stronger. As they get bigger and longer it takes more mucle or machines to get them into place though but my wife and I have built something upwards of 50 homes using 6x8 and 8x8 machined logs up to 16'-20' long. One technique I've seen used was a fellow used 6x12's then centered a 2x4 on top to create a chink groove then attached the next course. ![]() There were many 6x8, 8x8, and 6x12's in the yard, going price was $450/thousand. I was at a moderate sized mill last week and asked the prices of his timbers, he saws alot for the log home companies. For the better.One thing to think about is that each lateral joint is a potential air or water leak, and a spot that takes up money in the form of chinking seals etc, the fewer the better in that regard. But then one day it was finished and as much as the landscape had changed, so had I. And it was stepping away from it when I was getting tired and sloppy. It was the cold weekends I slept in the cabin without windows or heat so I could save gas money and time driving back and forth. It was cutting out things we used to consider necessities and working part time jobs to pay for materials. After that the hard part was dedicating what little free time I had to the cabin and learning to be okay with slow progress. The hardest part was getting up one day and actually doing something tangible to make it a reality. Newton’s first law of motion says that an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by another force. The knowledge of building the thing isn’t the hard part. I get asked fairly often where I learned to build a log cabin and the truth is that’s the wrong question.
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