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butt and pass decision

I have not made a solid decision whether to do butt and pass od saddle notch for the 8 sided log cabin I want to build yet. Just looked kind of nice in butt and pass,but a friend of mine who is also building a dowel model of it is doing his in the saddle notch corners. So,is the saddle notch corners a stronger and better way to go even tho my logs will be D cut??

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Permalink Reply by Konocti's Wigwam on January 25, 2010 at 12:34am: Kathie,

When I first was interested in log homes, I was attracted to the Gem Lake design by Rocky Mountain and Pioneer. The later is handcrafted, the prior is milled. I learned that it is difficult to design and build round homes out of logs, as it is to divide them up into usable space. See the link of a Pioneer built Gem Lake home not far from where I live.

I think we all prefer to have something different, and these round/octagon/non-square structures offer an attraction to us which is different than a traditional home. As I scaled my log home down so that I could complete the build myself, I came to realize that the house is but one aspect of a home, the home includes the surrounding property which has a lot of potential to separate it from every other home.

Round homes end up providing triangular rooms, which makes it much more difficult to work with. We all need to decide if that added difficulty is worth it for each of us.

Cheers,
Alan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Konocti's Wigwam on January 25, 2010 at 3:05am: Kathie, check out my latest blog post for one of the most incredible octagon homes I've every seen, built mostly of stone and renewed timbers. The picture gallery speaks for itself.

Cheers,
Alan; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kathie Wood on February 6, 2010 at 12:10pm: How do I get to your blog?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Konocti's Wigwam on February 6, 2010 at 3:04pm: Kathie, the house linked to from my blog is the blog here on LogHomeU, it had the fireplace picture that you saw, if you click on that fireplace picture it should take you to the home.

The home is mostly stone with recycled timber from the main structure.

Try this link, if you don't get the page when you click on the link, copy and paste it to your browser.

http://traditionaltoolworks.com/carl-jennings-home/; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Warren on January 25, 2010 at 10:45am: It's difficult to get a good picture of an octagon, but here is the one we did in 2009 and set up in December. It is saddle notch corners and they are much stronger than a butt and pass.

Bob Warren
Khita Log Builders Ltd.
www.khita.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kathie Wood on February 6, 2010 at 12:08pm: I just looooooooove it ! Just looking sat this pic made me feel like it was my octagon log cabin going up !!!!!!! May I ask how wide this is from wall to wall? Shor looks like exactly what I am thinking of building! Thanks for sharing this pic!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Warren on February 6, 2010 at 2:04pm: The walls in that building are 20 feet long, centre to centre. Makes it about 48 feet across and around 2000 square feet.

Bob Warren
Khita Log Builders Ltd.
www.khita.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kathie Wood on February 6, 2010 at 2:53pm: Thanks for the reply Bob and actually I can see your corners look very strong with the saddle notch method of building. Is that sturcture you build above all to help raise the logs to the center pole and may I ask how you attached those to the center pole at the top? You are giving me much more faith in building mine myself with all your answers and I shor greatly appreciate it and all the help I can get ! Thank you !!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kathie Wood on February 6, 2010 at 3:58pm: another question I need to ask-----------are you or have you built on dormers on this roof? Plus did you make those log rafter holders? Couldn't think of the right name for them! LOL !; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Bob Warren on February 14, 2010 at 2:34pm

Kathie,

I was back at the site where this house is located the other day. Problems with the first framing crew but the second ones are doing good work. Took 2 guys a month to frame the roof. The steel brackets at the top of the centre pole where the ridges and log rafters attach was done by a local steel fabricating shop. Somewhat over $1000 for that. It is complex.

The first time I built this design there were 8 hips and dormers were added. You can see some pictures on the first page of my web site. This time no dormers but the 4 ridges give 4 gable ends.

A crane was used for all the building at my yard and for re-assembly. Took a little longer than expected, as the house is high off the ground and the crane operator could not see us after the first few hours. Relaying hand signals slows it down.

Here are a couple of pictures of what it looked like as of Friday afternoon.

I know that you want to build something like this yourself, but I hope this and the pictures can convey some idea of the scope and difficulty. Really not a project for an amateur.

Bob Warren
Khita Log Builders Ltd.
www.khita.com

Attachments:

IMG_0266.JPG, 2.6 MB
IMG_0276.JPG, 2.5 MB

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Permalink Reply by Kathie Wood on February 15, 2010 at 1:09pm: Oh boy I am very thankful I am not building a complex roof as you are! Mine will be a normal octagon roof-----------lol ! Am trying to figure out the amount of metal sheet roofing that I will need at a easy to handle 3x10 foot lengths tho. Outer walls will be about 9 foot high,wall lengths will be at least 10 foot. This is a 32 foot from flat wall to flat wall cabin,so 16 foot is center. Could you help me figure out how many of these metal sheets I will need? Oh yes,overhangs will be 2 foot. I would shor appreciate all the help I can get---------please. Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!; ▶ Reply to This