My hubby and I have seen the ad from Alaskan Cabins in Countryside. We were wondering if anybody had sent off for the plans or have actually built the sucker????

$1,500 seems awefully cheap for a log cabin even if you get all of the wood from your acreage.

-- Stephanie Nosacek (possumliving@go.com), August 08, 2000

Answers

The cost is probably for a cabin with no electricity or running water. We haven't built a vertical log cabin, but I would be leary of the concept. With horizontal log construction, as there is shrinkage, the logs can settle onto one another (if ypou allow for this as you are building). With vertical construction, shrinkage will open up big cracks in the walls between every log. One way to build with short sections of log is piece en piece, where you build a timber frame, and fill in with short sections of logs laid horizontally. Personally I think that would be a lot more work than building a regular log cabin, but if you only have short peices to work with, it would be a good option.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 09, 2000.

We live in interior Alaska. Most of the vertical building we have seen involves 6 to 8 inch logs. There is also a new compound to use between the logs. I agree with Kathleen that the price must be the cabin alone. I f you wish the name of the compound I can ask my friend who uses it. Just email me directly.

-- Norma Lucas (trooper806@webtv.net), August 09, 2000.

Hello, I have never used the advertisers plans, but I live in Interior Alaska and there are lots of vertical log houses around. We built a cabin last summer that is part vertical, part horizontal. We did this mainly because, after driving around looking at places, I found the all vertical buildings unattractive. We wanted to use short logs because they were easy for two people to handle without a boom. It looks nice. The problem with shrinkage is exagerated in the vertical logs. I wouldn't use any permanent chinking the first year it's up. Our logs were down and peeled about 6 months before building. If you have more time, I would let them dry longer. We just built a sauna this year out of the leftover logs, they were nice and dry. As for cost, obviously, $1500 is for a dry shell, and probably doesn't account for a floor, unless you live where lumber is much cheaper than here. Just tin for our 16x24 was about $700. We probably have $1500 in our roof, (rafters, insulation, tin, sheetrock). Logs are an inexpensive way to go, if you have timber, but it takes longer to go up than frame. The nice thing is when it's done, you don't have to insulate with fiberglass (except for the gaps between the logs)and you don't need sheetrock, vapor barrier or paint! Use the log oil ment for indoors on the inside. The outside stuff takes forever to be odor free. We had a bandsaw mill here for construction and it saved us lots. We were able to cut our own floor joists, though we did buy the rafter material. If you have to peel, the Log Wizard that goes on a chain saw will save lots of time if your logs are cured. Good Luck, Jill

-- Jill Schreiber (schreiber@alaska.com), August 10, 2000.

May I offer a quick solution to your concerns about Vertical Log Construction.... www.loghomes.co.za Anyone can contact me for free information about this very misunderstood style of building that boasts the oldest wooden structure in the World -845 a.d.

We have trained 640 people in the past 5 and a half years in a week long course in South Africa.

-- Jaco Scholtz (Jaco@loghomes.co.za), December 23, 2000.

Check out the cabins on http://www.alaskacabin.net

-- marty van diest (marty@alaskacabin.net), January 26, 2001.

Never built a vertical log structure myself, but my great grandfather along with my grandfather and his two brothers built a number of cabins up in northern wisconsin. They used vertical log construction for one of them and it has aged very well. Appearently there were a number of ney-sayers at the time when they were going about building it. They said that it would not work and would not last. It seems like a system worth considering.

-- Jason Foster (jkfoster@mail.com), November 24, 2001.

Try my web site www.vertical-log-courses-homes.net

-- Rob Varey (robva@telus.net), January 28, 2002.