We have plans to build a rustic home using Landscape Timbers and very excited too.
It won't happen over night, or even be complete in one year. But it will happen.
I have read that the Timber homes are very efficient when it comes to heating and cooling.
I would love a log cabin but that is not in our means.
Has anyone here built a Timber Home? Would love to hear some experienced dos and don'ts or things we should
think about. Or even some pictures of show and tell.
I just have the floor plans made out on graph paper. Working on the electrical and plumbing details. I know
these little bits need to be planned out before construction....etc................
Timber Homes
I have no experience with timber houses, but I am very interested to learn. I hope you get some useful response.
I am not sure if I could tell you what you need to know but years ago, DH built a workshop out of some cheap pine 4" x 4" timbers. It turned out very neat but the wood wasn't treated and of course started rotting at the base. It was on a slab. We had replace the rotten wood with treated as needed. Then, after many years, a battery charger for cordless tools shorted out and set it on fire. When he rebuilt, he used treated 4" x 4" timbers and it looks almost identical.
It is only 12' by 24' with a 12' by 24' porch on one side. When constructed, they used long, log cabin screws that were countersunk. They sealed each layer with liquid nails but I am sure there would be other better chinking materials for a home. After it was up and dried, it had to be caulked as well. The 4" by 4"s would shrink as they weren't properly dried so it developed some gaps which needed caulking.
When we built the original shop, we drove long nails. I don't recall the penny size but they were a bear. We used sledgehammers which became unwieldy as the walls went up.
This link in my journal chronicles the rebuilding of the workshop. It went up quickly as we hired it done this time... we are much older and hopefully wiser and certainly not as able as we were when young and foolish! LOL
DH has a small propane heater and a wall unit air conditioner as well as ceiling fan. It is a relatively small area but easy to heat and cool.
We had laminate floor put down on the slab as the fire damaged the surface of the concrete.
I love it and would move into it in a minute!
But it isn't a 'house' like you are planning so probably not what you need to know. I will suggest you design all your plumbing to be on one wall to economize.
And, one final thought. Please check into what the landscape timbers are treated with. If you will live in it, you do not want to cause extended health problems from saving money on the construction.
http://davesgarden.com/community/journals/viewentry/239041/
Another thought, when log homes are built, they usually have a porch totally surrounding the log home. The reason is, it prevents rot like the first workshop had developed.
After DH was done with that, he built a garage because the old one was damaged from the fire also. On one end of it, he built a greenhouse and used landscape timbers for the lower walls.
It works well and is attractive. Again, the landscape timbers are 'green'. They treat them but the timber is green before treating and banded when selling. You usually do not have a chance to sort thru the landscape timbers so will be stuck with warped and twisted ones.
These were toenailed in on the framework rather than screwed together as they are not load bearing. Because they were green, they needed even more caulking as they have dried. This is a photo of the greenhouse if you are interested.
Wow! That is ouber kewl. Good luck with your timber house. I will be looking forward to updates on your progress. I too would love a log house. I would like one with a deep porch all the way around and a dog trot through the middle. I would also like floor to ceiling windows that open like doors and placed across from each other for cross ventilation. And a tall attic to take off heat. *sigh* At least I can dream. LOL
Podster, that is really nice!
Cajun, what do you mean by "a dog trot through the middle"?
It is a hallway that goes through the middle of the house cutting it in two but it's all under one roof still. They were used back in the day to divide the cooking areas from the sleeping areas. Kept the heat in one side during the summer when wood was used for cooking.
Dog trots are more common farther south.
I also love those windows that reach from floor to ceiling. They are great for ventilation but these days, not so good for security.
Maybe an outdoor kitchen to keep the heat out of the house?
This message was edited Jan 30, 2011 7:23 AM
Wow! That is a neat building system; I don't know how I missed seeing it before.
Thank you Podster. I really love your photos.....Can I copy and save your photos to my computer for offline reference and to show my grandfather?(80 yrs old and wishes he was 20 again) He is excited too.
We are excited to build a home. I keep changing the floor plan. I don't want to build it and then wish I did it differently so I want it to be right before we build. We will start on the foundation this Spring. I am sure it will take us a long while to get it done---doin it ourselves---between home chores--work---etc............
We live in a mobile home and we haven't decided if we will sell the mobile home later to help finish the building or not or just move it and rent it out.........decisions decisions.
Meanwhile. I did find a link on details of how someone else built a Landscape Timber log cabin featured home and it is beautiful inside. I would like to share that link. There is not very many people out there who have documented their Landscape Timber Homes. I do not plan to build my home exactly like the one in this link, but learning the dos and don'ts and suggestions are always a plus.
Each topic tab at the top of this link page gives his next steps on information. He did not include the construction pictures of his timber home.----just the final pictures.
http://www.jimdavidsoncolumn.com/timberhome/?type=general
I found a few more who built homes with landscape timbers at homesteadingtoday.com
I also want an attic fan. Not sure yet what kind of windows I want.
I do want the home to be 2BR 2 BA, 24x64, and I want a fireplace. We have no experience at all with
fireplaces. We do know how to build and construct but not experts on weird special angles and what have ya.
Hubby has worked with construction most of his life and has been a painter all of his life.
We do not know much about foundations----we know what is required but not experienced.
And we are not rich ---so this will have to be done a little at a time but also scheduled out so nothing is ruined in the weather during a long wait for money to move to the next step. We realize that when we start building the floors--the walls have to go up then the roof to dry it all in as fast as we can get it up then we can slow down again while we finish all the doors, windows, plumbing, electrical, etc............
Thank you for all the helpful tips. They will always be welcome.
off to buy more graphing paper ----- I am running out again.
You are welcome to save those photos and share with others if you want to show them or ask questions. I do not mind. Wish I knew more about the actual home building. I appreciate your sharing any links you find also.
On your foundation, are you doing pier and beam or concrete? In this area, we have expandable clay which will crack a slab quickly. Most folks do the pier and beam but not us. Our home foundation was walled with concrete blocks which were stuccoed. After all the past years of drought, the slab has cracked and we have a mess.
Just to share a couple of "wish we had dones"...
I wish we had looked into radiant heat in the floors. I always thought it would be neat to have water tubing run under the flooring and have that water tubing circulate thru a wood heater. Warm water would circulate thru the flooring and put the heat where you need it as it rises to the ceiling.
We have two fireplaces in the house and DH used to have a fireplace in his first workshop. Fireplaces are o.k. but a lot of heat is wasted. In the greenhouse, he put in a small cast iron heater and I love it. I have wished many times since that we had done that in the house also. There has never been a problem with it not drawing and no struggle to start a fire with very efficient heat.
I'm sure others will have suggestions for your timber home also... good luck!
I have finalized my floor plan rough draft and I am comfy with it and don't think I would have it any other way. Now all I have to do is make several graphs--- one with just floor-walls with measurements and one with furniture and appliances, etc........ Hubby likes his building plan without my furnishing on it.
My current set-back is=====I want to build my home where our mobile home is sitting....This makes things a little more difficult. If I am able to sell it, I won't have a place to live while we build but I do have a 12x24 storage shed, a barn, three commercial greenhouses , a 16x24 seedling house and a grandfather who lives next door. But I really hate living with others. I prefer to rough it out. 12x24 storage could be temp mini kitchen and bath with sleeping area----or even pop up a tent on the 8x 64 deck that I want to keep in its place and reconstruct for the cabin home. The 64 foot deck has a second story upper deck and one end has a 8x12 pergola addition while the other end is roofed in =porch.
Have many decisions to make and things that have to be done before we can even start construction.
Meanwhile==we can collect and store items needed for the construction that does not ruin if not used right away===like fixtures, electrical, lighting, etc...... I already have one 6ft bath tub, a 6ft oak base cabinet, an amber chandelier, hardware, and so much more stored in the garage.
We have an 11 year old son at home. Living it rough would be a new experience for him but I think he would learn
a lot. He is my lazy child. My other son lived it rough a few times in life. He is in the army and in Afghanistan once again and been there almost a year. Instead of calling him a redneck--which he is----I call him my Rough Neck. He is One of those children who played in the back woods with his cousin , cooking toads and little fish on sticks over a fire and got sick on nasty toads too. Memories........
Podster
I have always liked the cast iron heaters. they are lovely and I love cooking on them with iron skillets and kettles.
I wanted a two sided fire place===inside and outside the home for BBQs and grilling but we don't always get what we want. Some things remain a dream. When I was a child, we heated with fireplaces and cooked on wood burning Stoves. That was a very hot life.
Steak is my favorite food. (yearling bull in the pasture waiting for the Grill) one reason why I would rather have a fireplace--------cooking steak in fireplace during the winter using hickory wood.........fantasy land.
And your greenhouse looks so comfy and cozy. very nice.
I have read some information about the hot water heating and I don't think I want to try that one.
We do want to run the electrical in a manner that we could easily install solar panels for lighting in the future.
off to work in greenhouses.
Happy Gardening
oh yeh.
we are doing pier and beam.
we live on orange clay.
I don't know yet what we will use as underpinning.
Looking into that.
Sounds like you will be living the good life. Do you do any homesteading like raising animals or gardening? You have a commercial GH? What do you raise?
I have square foot gardens all over the place. Plus a small garden out back------50x 100---plus the pasture land. I have guinea hens(14). I use to have chickens but got rid of them cause they wouldnt stay out of the garden and they wouldn't stay off my Truck. somewhat picky about my truck. I got it for my birthday - in 2006. -it is a 2006 Extended Cab Silverado 4 door. (paid for now) I touched it up with some extra features---like chrome toolbox, chrome step rails under the doors, etc........It is a family work truck. Front tag says Cricket. Has the bug shields and side window shields.
Have a tractor---Mahindra--2008---bush hog, boxblade, 5ft roll tiller.
I grow tomato produce and I sell hanging baskets , vegetable and bedding plants. All sizes---right here in my front yard. Front yard is huge with huge circle drive and parking area. Have 10 acres here with a few rental mobile homes.
I raised the bull on a bottle when we first got him- oct 2009--so young he still had his umbilical cord---maybe 2 wks old. I wanted to get him a girlfriend so i could eat her babies. Ha---that sounds freaky. But------he really looks good---for the grill. Dunno if i can wait. He wasn't cut---rambunctious bull---knock you on your butt. Holstein. Pretty.
I think we might have a buyer on the Mobile Home. Crossing my fingers. They are deciding if they want to pay the price. Should know in a day or so.---I am impatiently waiting---figuring. They wanted to know how long it would take for use to move out. ummmmmmmmm a week--maybe. or two? sigh.
I would have to move alllllllllllllllllll my sfg beds which are raised concrete beds. I will have to store the soil somewhere. uggg . Move everything out of the shed into the garage, pack and store my furnishings somewhere? and and and. Plus during all this i will have to continue the greenhouse business and I have tons of seedlings growing in a seed house out back and I will most likely have to move the seedling house and seedlings to get the mobile home out. Our other home burnt this past year and we bought this mobile home 6 months ago and I am tired. But if I am goin to build a home --i want to do it now before i get tooooooo settled down again. then i can rest.
I am doing SFG this year for the first time. I moved and don't have enough flat ground to have a proper garden. I only have 2 small beds built 3 x 5 but I have a few containers and I will be growing my potatoes and melons in empty feed sacks. It will be plenty for DH and me to eat.
I hear you on storing the dirt. I gardened in flower beds because I lived in town and when we moved I took all the dirt with me. It was all on ground cloth so it was easy to get up. It was dirt I had been working on for 4 years and I was not leaving it behind. They razed the house and would have thrown the dirt in the creek. I had bought it all any way so it was mine. I still have some of it in sacks and I am going to finish my beds with it. It's like black gold. Top soil mixed with composted sawdust and horse manure. Grows tomatoes like you have never seen before.
I would love to have a GH but I will settle for a hoop house.
Holstein bulls get HUGE. If I was raising beef for the freezer I'd pick a different breed. Holsteins are raw bony and a lot of their weight is bones. You'd likely come out cheaper if you had a cow and had her AI'd by a vet for a beef breed calf. That would eliminate the cost of feeding a bull and the danger of dealing with one.
I have goats for meat, milk, butter and cheese. At least, that is the plan. I have a billy in with them now to breed them. In 5 months they should kid. Then I will bottle feed the kids after 2 weeks so I can milk the does. I will sell the kids and eat a couple too. I had 3 does but traded the older, mean one for some hay. She had a vendetta against one of the other does and kept running her through the fence. I had to keep the mean one chained up in the goat house. I borrowed the billy from a friend and will send him home in a week or two. He is a cute little guy and easy to handle. Very good natured but he STINKS!! That is one reason I do not want one of my own. You have to keep them far away from the milking does or it will ruin the milk.
Sounds like you have your hands full. I do not envy you but it will be fun to build your own house.
How did you get into the GH business?
11 years ago, I was in college and completed Accounting and Business Management. But I got pregnant near the end of my courses=====a miracle because I never could carry to term before except my first child(son) 10 years before that. So there I was. Pg and carried to term and didn't want anyone else to raise this precious gift of mine. I loved gardening so I gradually opened my own greenhouse business. It was extremely difficult during toddler years. Most of the time "he" just played in a wheel barrow full of soil while I worked close by. I would expand the business every year with Tax Refunds---buy supplies---etc.... 11 years later, I am still in business and most likely will be til I am too old to work. (am 41 yrs old) It has all been self taught. Read books, read the internet.
I have no employees and do every thing myself. Hubby helps me ship in supplies. I have to travel 3 hours next week for supplies and 3 hours back. It is cheaper to go get it myself than it is to pay for freight.
SFG: do you visit the SFG foundation website forum?
Square Foot Gardening the concept. LOL At least I shouldn't have many problems with weeds.
Congrats on your business being a success. There is a lady on here who has a similar business but she only started last year. She goes by Taynors. I think she does the Mike McGroarty business.
checking in to say we have sold the mobile home and the sale closes on Tuesday. I am sure this is what I want to do but at the same time i ask myself==what was i thinking? It's all happening pretty fast. Too fast to think.
We will prepare the shed to move in. Putting up insulation blackboard. Putting the bath tub that will be in the new home into the shed--- also the hot water heater will be in shed---and oak kitchen sink base and sink will be in shed and all can be moved into new home later so there is no waste. Even a toilet. It's all crazy really. Me and hubby will have our queen bed and son will sleep on our couch next to bed. Good thing he goes to school til end of may---1st wk of June.
You know hubby will be rushing to get a roof on house by end of May. ROFL. Will have a microwave, coffee pot, electric hot plate, slow cooker, gas grill with side burner, charcoal grill. At least the power bill will be lower and we can spend the savings on new home. some shelves for groceries, a space for tv. Gonna be like sardines. Later will have window air unit when it starts warming up. Spring is around the corner.
It will be fun to follow your progress. The cramped quarters should inspire progress. Good luck!
What an adventure!
Please keep us updated and post pics. Thsi is exciting.
We finalized the mobile home sale. It's no longer mine. Very scary.
Have the storage building wired up, hot water heater, toilet, sink and bath faucet sets, and plumbing stuff.
I have to go shopping tomorrow for a Shower and a kitchen base cabinet. I bought all the faucets and the kitchen sink that I wanted in the new home. When we buy the wiring for stove, hot water, dryer, we buy it in the length that we
would need in the new home---so there is no wasted wiring----just transfer to home later.
Our neighbor is letting us use a section of his 80 foot concrete floor barn to store
most of our furnishing in. Which aint much since our other home burned down in May last year. I don't have no where
near what i use to have.
During all this packing and moving, I have to tend to the greenhouse business too. Right now I have tons of seeds to sow and tons of seedlings to transplant and my own Square Foot Garden to maintain for spring plantings and been moving some of the sfg so they can move the mobile home out.
I'm not screaming yet but will be by the weekend.
You are in my T&P. You are making some very wise decisions. You must have built your own home before?
Never built a full size home . Have built on to other houses and restored houses. Even watched others build their home. We know most of what we are doing but not everything. We have a few construction friends standing by in case we run into a problem. This is the first time we ever had enough courage to build our own home---from scratch---and on our own.
God Grant me the Serenity to accept
The things I cannot Change.
The Courage to change the things I can.
And the Wisdom to know the difference.
Well said!
We chickened out on building with landscape timbers for the entire house. It's new to us and
we need a home before winter. Decided to build a standard 2x4 frame home.
Sorry for those who were looking forward to seeing a landscape timber home being built.
I can't say I blame you. And as I refered to above, you can help but worry about what the landscape timbers are treated with as you don't want to cause extended health problems from saving money on the construction.
Best wishes with your construction. We'll still like to hear your progress and see photos.
Sorry you won't get to have your whole dream but we'd like to follow along on your new dream!