[logluvr]

Husband and I have talked for years about building our dream home.
After 15 years of marriage and numerous things that have happened we started building last year.
We had always talked about a log house.
So after 5 years of really looking, 3 years of designing and 1 stressful year of finding the "right" log home manufactor we started.

Part way into this I thought we were crazy, but here is what had happened.

The digging of the foundation between rain storms

All Done with the dirt work

Cut the water line and sewer line, digging to find it

Pouring the footings

The guys doing the concrete were the second guys we hired. First guy called us 5 days before the builders were due at 7:30am and said he was overbooked too bad, bye. We just happened to catch these guys between jobs.

Wall forms going up

 

[logluvr]

Pulling the wall forms

Pouring the floor

The house to the right is our current house. Parts of it are old homestead shacks that were pulled up with a tractor and added on to the original house. It is over 100 years old. Basement is collapsing and the house is sliding to the coulee.
Would have cost us just as must to fix it up as it is to build a new house.

Basement framed by the builders and putting on the floor trusses

First row of logs

 

[logluvr]

Inside looking at the office and 3/4 bath

Kitchen

Livingroom

Master bedroom

Masterbath

Pantry and closet

3/4 bath

Roofing trusses going up

 

[logluvr]

Roof going on our builders were making me nervous, I hate heights.

Got it stained

Polyureathaning the interior of the house got all the upstair windows and doors stained and polyureathaned

Hubby did the basement fir out and put up the insulation board. Sure made a difference in the basement after it was up.

Sons room

Daughters room

basement bathroom

 

[logluvr]

The "man cave". Hubby worked through most of the winter running the electrical in the basement.

Storage room/furnance room

Craft room

Under the stairs

Kitchen and livingroom

Masterbedroom

Kitchen window

I love these knots in the logs.

 

[logluvr]

Hubby has 2 more lights to put in in the masterbath and then he is going to do the upstairs outlets. Then the electrical will all be done.

Big project we will have this summer is getting the stain we put on last year media blasted off. It is peeling off.

Once this is all done we are going to start the plumbing, then onto the HVAC and then onto sheet rock.

 

[BigJim]

That is nice, it is really going to look sharp when ya'll are done. Just one question, why aren't there any trees growing there?

 

[kwikfishron]

Looks like you're having fun.

I always install the drum set just before the plumbing too.

 

[logluvr]

We are in central Montana not the mountains. My orchard is not pictured.

Son has very little room in his current bedroom so he practices up there. He bang them as loud as he wants.

 

[epson]

That is nice, it is really going to look sharp when ya'll are done. Just one question, why aren't there any trees growing there?

That’s because he used all the trees to make his log house….:whistling2:

 

[logluvr]

I forgot we get hit with -30 below temps out here and without protection it will kill the trees.
Losing our current windbreak of pine trees the pine beetles are out on the plains too.

 

[epson]

That’s a very nice home you have their. Hope you and your wife spend many happy years in that home…

 

[oh'mike]

Outstanding ! Thanks for the pictures.----What kind of heating system are you planning?

30 below---yikes----

Looking good.

 

[logluvr]

We put in a Lennox forced air furnance. Going to add AC to it too.
Looking at also putting a pellet stove in the basement and a wood burning fireplace upstairs.
We got an old Home Comfort wood/coal stove that my husband's Grandmother bought out of the back of a peddlers wagon back in the 30's, going to put it in the kitchen area.

The plans also call for a 3/4 wrap around porch, but we might do a full wrap around porch.

 

[shumakerscott]

Congratulations. I was wondering why you went with a closed truss roof and not open vaulted? Keep the pictures coming. dorf dude...

 

[no1hustler]

Looking good! I used to build log homes. It was a lot of fun.

 

[logluvr]

shumakerscott it was mainly cost. We had a choice of waiting another year or 2 and getting a loft too with a catherdrail roof or start last year and get into the house sooner.
So we did the closed truss roof instead.

 

[Gary in WA]

Nice rolling hills. Odd the Building Department didn't require perimeter slab insulation or a vapor barrier (unless the soil didn't warrant it- looks very sandy). Find your Zone on map or city below map: http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/irc/2009/icod_irc_2009_11_sec001_par001.htm

Slab insulation for your zone: http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/irc/2009/icod_irc_2009_11_sec002.htm

V.b.: http://publicecodes.citation.com/icod/irc/2009/icod_irc_2009_5_sec006_par004.htm

Gary

 

[gma2rjc]

Beautiful! Thanks for showing us!

Sorry to see the stain peeling like that. It's a shame to have to re-do such a big job after just one year. Do you remember what brand it was?

When I saw the picture with the white house in the background, I thought, "The people in that house must be wondering why their neighbors built so close to them". :laughing:

I'm looking forward to seeing the progress of the whole house, but especially your craft room when it's finished.

Barb

 

[logluvr]

Well Gary you missed the fights last year over several issues.
I won luckily. Hubby wanted cheap and I wanted done correctly.

What you can not see unless you look closely at the picture where the roof is going on the foundation walls have a sprayed on water vapor covering that was done before the backfill. It was sprayed right over the footings, it is similar to a sprayed in bedliner. We also put down washed gravel and weeping tile on the 3 sides.
Yes it is sandy soil. It has cretaious sandstone under it. It was so hard the excavator could not get to the depth required and we had to move the house 3 feet to the west.