Melissa's log home

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Oh Melissa, words cannot describe how wonderful, and creative and thought-provoking the pictures of your home are. It has left me with a million questions. May I ask a few about how you did things? It may generate some other discussion of how to do things.

Obviously you and your husband are very talented! (understatement)The beds are so unusual--can you describe them more indepth? It looks like you have used barn wood for some and also in some of the interior paneling. Is there a story about the barnwood?

What about flooring--Is it all the same. One of the bathroom pictures that shows a toilet shows a beautiful floor--what kind of wood is that?

I thought since your husband works construction that he may have been able to get things on jobs--so Im guessing that there are many different materials used.

In the kids bathroom it looks like there are stone walls (not cinderblock)

I've never seen a combination log/partially underground home--what a marvelous energy saving idea!!!!! cool in summer, warm in winter. How old is the house? I've always wanted to know the long term experience with an earth home--have you had to replace materials or wood. Perhaps not since it looks like that end of the home is cinderblock (ingenious!)

I like so many things there and it gives me ideas for the home we want to build so I hope you don't mind the questions. I hope to make some furniture and do some of the work ourselves.

Oh--is that a claw foot tub in the kids bath? If so, why did you enclose it? Is there a story behind that tub? I am looking at getting an old tub myself for our house. The old ones are fantastically lower in price than a new clawfoot. Just have to find the right barnyard to get one.

Thanks so much!

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), January 19, 2002

Answers

Hi Ann! Did you get a chance to read the log cabin thread? It is on the new answers page right now, about 10-12 questions down. This explains a lot of it.

Now I will answer your questions one by one!

Cale built all of the beds except Kadia's. Lindsey's is walnut, full size with 2 shelves. Megan's is oak, twin size with shelves all the way to the ceiling. Brady's is cherry,full size and we used some slabs that still had the bark on them for the ends and the rail across the top. Ours is made from barn beams, that are notched together. Most of the materials in the beds were free except for screws and bolts. My step-sister worked for a hotel, and when they changed mattresses we were able to get all we wanted for free. We scrubbed them well with bleach water and left them outside for days to air out and they were fine. They would only use the matresses for a few years. I know some would not do this, but after we washed them up, we weren't too worried about it!

Cale tore down a whole barn and saved barn siding and all the beams. We used this for a lot of things. Mainly the 40 foot interior trusses that span the living room/ family room. I wish you could see them better than the pictures show, becasue they are beautiful. We used barn-boards for the ceilings in the LR, family room and kids bath. Also the entrance way. We used beams for our dining room table, and our bed. The barn was a part of the original farm that our property is carved from. The coal mine was going to burn it, but they let Cale tear down what he wanted first. This saved us thousands on trusses alone!

Pictures of the entance way, the porch and the dining room did not turn out. I am a bit disappointed by the quality of the pictures,as I have a good camera and have never had such awful pictures. Maybe it was the film or the developing? I don't know!

Cale did get some things from jobs. But we cut all the logs ouselves (100 white pines for the main structure). Plus many other kinds for the rest of the house, like oak, poplar, ash, cherry, sumac, cedar, and walnut. Cale used a friend's sawmill to mill the logs himself.

The slate we saved from old barns, and bought some from the Amish we know. We have thousands of sheets on the house, and have about 5000 sheets stored in our woods to use for other projects.

The kids bathroom does have stone on two walls and logs on the other two. The tub was just flat on the bottom, so we enclosed it with stone. The side that would show was all rusty and not very nice, so we covered it up and set it up on 8 inch block to raise it up. There is a big stone step up into the tub. These stone are just sand-stone. Cale got the tub off of a job, and it is so heavy we could barely move it! We put it in place before we even built any walls.

We started on the house 12 years ago this April. Everything outside is built with concrete block. Everything underground has been plastered with mortar, tarred and covered with plastic. We placed the French drains below the footers, not on top, as many do! And filled around the house with gravel to within a foot of the top. I will take some more pictures to show how high it is. The house sticks out about 3 feet, so we could put windows in each room in the back (bedrooms and bathrooms) Then all the block that are showing were covered with roofing slate. They look pretty neat, with all of the different colors. I will try to get a picture on a sunny day, and it looks better!

The floors in the house are all different. The bathroom you are referring to has cedar. The living room is locust, the kitchen/dining/ kids bath are all a black/gray swirly tile called "Dubenesque" These are great as no dirt shows. Kids bedrooms and ours are a wood-look vinyl tile. I like these, they are lighter in color. The family room is tile, with a red carpet over them. The red is pretty with the casual look of the room.

As to building furniture Cale has made many pieces including the bird cage, coffee table in family room the benches in the Kitchen, the dining room table and computer desk, the coffee table and end tables (made from stone) in the Living room, 4 beds, the cabinet in my bedroom, my desk in the office, his gun cabinet, and all of the kitchen cabinets and countertops.

When we started here, there was nothing, and we have done everything from excavating, plumbing, electrical, cutting logs etc... ourselves. The only thing we have had help with is hiring some people to help pour concrete. Although Cale is a finisher, he couldn't manage wheeling and finishing 10 yards himself, so we would get some help for that. We also had a few relatives help with setting the trusses on the main house. It is 80 feet long, and took 41 trusses, which we set in one day, and plywooded.

We have never had any trouble with water from the underground aspect. It does stay warm in the winter, and cool in the summer. I hope I have answered some of your questions and if you have more let me know. I am going to try to get some better pictures if possible!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 19, 2002.


I know some are wondering about the ten yards of concrete, that is all we would do at once. But with the whole house, the footers, and the porch, we have about 55-60 yards of concrete. That was by far our biggest expense!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 19, 2002.

Thanks so much. If you don't want to answer more, please don't but I am interested in incorporating some of these ideas in our home.

It looks like you have panel up on some of the cinderblock walls--was it hard to do and does it hold up well?

How has the cedar held up?

BTW I love your red leather sofa and chair. Red really makes it in the style of home you have and really livens up the room! I want to save my pennies for a leather sofa now that there is no scotchproofing anymore (sigh). I am a little afraid since a friend told me that her daughter's sandal buckle put a little hole in the leather and from there they got a big tear. Could you please how long you have had it and is it worth it? Im soooo afraid to spend that much on a sofa (because I am the kind of person that would have taken those mattresses in a heartbeat!!!)

Again with the mattresses, it goes to show you that by taking what you can get inexpensively, it allows you to do many things that others cannot afford-- a larger custom-built home, interesting one-of- a- kind furniture.

Economically I think you and your husband have made very wise choices. Both of you could have worked full time at jobs that paid better but it would have not gotten you what you now have. I hope you will decide to stay in your place and NOT sell! IT is not replaceable and frankly the next twelve years will not be as easy on your bodies as the last 12 years:)

I wonder if you put a couple lamps next to you without the lampshades on if it would boost the light in the pictures. If there were sunlight coming in windows in front of the camera or the sides, it may have thrown off the light meter making the camera overcompensate.

I was curious about the tub and wondered if it was because you were missing feet (I found a tub with three feet).

Did you design the house yourself?

On I think your son's bed--from the picture I couldn't tell if they were old wooden skis that were used as footboard/posters? Is there a story behind the shape of the headboard? The wood in these pieces is priceless. I want to make a simple canopy bed and have plans for one that calls for building around a mattress already in a metal frame.

What did you use the slate for? Why not for flooring instead of tile?

What is in the picture of the front--on the left? A bell? I know the picture was taken in the winter, but I could really see some primitive trellises on those front pillars with wisteria and roses growing up them!

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), January 19, 2002.


I'm not sure what you mean by panel on the walls? If you mean inside, it was just firred out, insulated, and then we covered the walls. In Brady's room it is actually very old, grooved trim we got from an old mansion type house. They are pieces about 6 inches wide, which we burnt in places and scraped in others. There is no store bought paneling, it is all real boards.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 19, 2002.

The leather furniture is a reddish/brown almost like a deep burgundy. We have had it for 2 years. We have 2 wingback chairs that recline, and 2 huge couches. We paid over $8000 for all 4 pieces, which was $1700 for each chair, and $2400 for each couch. They were special order, with a heavy grade of leather, and guaranteed for life against tears and such. Was it worth it? Personally I would have never paid this much myself, but Cale picked it all out!!! I just sat there in stunned amazement, and someday I wil tell you all the whole long, funny story! The kids are very good about not wearing shoes, but we don't really worry too much about it. A house is to live in after all!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 19, 2002.


Sorry, I keep forgetting what you asked! Brady's headboard is just a slab off of the sawmill. When you start sawing there are always some pieces that have the bark on them, and we have saved them for different things throughout the house.

The slate has been used outside for siding, on the overhangs, on all the buildings like the barns and chicken coop and wood shed. We used it for countertops, inside walls, and for the ceiling on our porch, also for the inside of our showers. We didn't use it on the floors, because we just thought it would be too much slate! And we want to eventully do all the floors in wood.

I designed the whole house myself. If I did it again I would change many things. We aren't sure if we are selling or not! We were offered $275,000 and that is a lot of money around here. So we are still thinking about it. The woman is still interested . My inclination is no, and I think Cale agrees with me. The kids don't want to move, and that is a big consideration. But we have been casually looking around for some property.

I'm not sure about the front, unless it is the bird-feeder,and there is a concrete bird bath there also. In the front of the house I have planted English Ivy, and the pine-like trees. I have a big rose bed off to the right of the house, and a big herb bed along the fruit cellar, also perennials all along the front.

If you have any other questions. I don't mind!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 19, 2002.


Ann, the cedar is great. It was very dry, had been cut for about 8 years before we used it. We put an antique oil finish on it, and I usually wipe it down by hand with some Murphy's oil soap. Of course, it is just Cale and I using this bathroom, so it is not as wet as the kids bathroom, which is routinely flooded! Brady likes to fill the tub then slide back and forth in the tub making a huge tidal wave with water splashing all the way across the room (12 feet away.) So their bathroom was made to be water-proof. It doesn't hurt the stones or the logs though!

Another question you asked was about the treatment of the logs. We just scraped the bark of, and put antique oil finish on them. NO pesticides or anything. Since all the logs are inside there is no problem with water or insects. When I clean I use some Murphy's Oil soap (or the generic brand) and it shines them right up again.

Please let me know if you have any more questions. I wish you could come and visit!

I was thinking of making a video, which could be passed around to anyone interested. My videos always turn out nicely, so that would be a way to really get some ideas. Let me know if anyone is interested!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), January 19, 2002.


Melissa.....I had to move off and leave my log home in Texas but hope to build another. I was just wondering if your pictures are still on line..I would love to see them.

Ruth

-- Ruth Guida (RuthieG@attbi.com), September 24, 2002.


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