Where did those bulls go??

I took a break with my family last week to chase a few bulls. Looked for three, but only found one, so we took it back with us. Dane and Lindsey joined me on this ride.

Last sill log, July 21, 2009

The last sill log has been installed. While I wait for the deck footings to be dug, I have chosen the four logs for the next round. There will be a total of four doors on the main floor, so I can use shorter logs for this round on three of the sides. I will peel them tomorrow, set them up and scribe them, and cut all of my notches. I will then mark out all the electrical outlets so the wiring comes out between the basement wall studs and the floor joists. I will drill through the second round of logs, just into the sill logs. I will then remove the second round of logs and finish the holes through the sill logs for the outlets.

Once the holes are all drilled, I will replace the second round of logs, secure them to the sill logs with Oly Bolts, and drill holes at the inside center of the logs into the holes I drilled for the electrical outlets. I will fit all the outlet boxes and run the wiring after the house is dried in. 

Making changes to floor plan.

Here I am planning changes to the floor plan with my family on their Montana Trip.

Here is Lindsey Peeling her first log!

Amanda is taking a stab at peeling her first log.   

Here is my Wife, Betsy doing the Log Peel. Notice the perfect execution!
My family wanted to make sure I knew how to peel a log.

Logs, logs and more logs. Third sill log.

This week we cut 28 logs in Elk Park, and hauled them to the building site. I now have the last sill log and plenty of logs to keep me busy for a while. While talking with Myles Carpenter Jr about what he learned while he built his log house, he said he would build the deck around his house before he started laying the logs on the walls. This would have eliminated a lot of work going up and down a ladder to scribe the logs. It would also have made it safer. I have decided to build the deck on the three sides as soon as I complete the installation of the sill logs. I will take a trip to Myles' log house and look at his deck construction for ideas on how to build our decks. 
Here is the third sill log going in. I slabbed the bottom flat, center

lined the log, and marked and drilled all the holes for the anchor bolts. Tomorrow I will scribe and cut the notches and bolt the log to the sill. I will then peel the last sill log and install it. Since there are no anchor bolts to align on the daylight end, the last sill log will go much quicker.

Basement Doors Installed June 30, 2009

Today we installed the basement doors. Now I can clean out the vehicles and the trailer and store everything securely in the basement. It will make it much easier to find what I need. I also won't have to worry about bird nests anymore.

I had a minor mishap yesterday that is costing me some time. I was lifting these double doors off the truck and I slid my forearm across the edge of the frame and a sliver of wood went into my arm fairly deeply. They will remove it tomorrow and I will be back in business.

First logs installed

Here are the first two sill logs prepared and bolted to the sill plate. The next step is to choose two more logs that will be the sill logs on the ends. These two logs will have a section shaved off the bottom so they lay flat on the sill plate, then they will be notched to fit over the first two logs. I will lay out the center line on both of these logs so I can mark and drill the holes for the anchor bolts. Once the sill logs are completed, the logs will go up much faster.

I need to get back up into the mountains and cut and haul more logs next week. I also need to finalize the door and window placements and sizes so I can start using the split log method. This will allow me to use much shorter logs. (Easier to find, less peeling, less waste, etc.)