How to make this into a log cabin
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Hi JJ,
I do have some pictures i got from a cabin in Belgium. I looked at those many times because some of the timbers resembles so much the wood that we have. However, at some points they differ (holes at different locations).
Anyway, you are right, they can be helpful so i'll post them anyway.
(btw, i also wrote to some 'cabin-shops' in Holland en Belgium and sent them some foto's of the timbers we are having but they did not recognize them so were not able to tell us what the cabin should look like).
Appreciate all your help!
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There needs to be some questions answered to properly put this together
1.) does this cabin use a concrete floor or raised wooden deck?(i think its a deck design using <balk 10> as footings/piers that actually rest against the ground)
2.) is the floor completely covered by posts, OR is it a beam construction, and the "actual" floor base material is not included here?( that would be my initial impression, but there are so many <balk 4> with work nicely as a sub floor, but of course would be a complete waste of material to do it this way)
3.) does this cabin have a porch? (it seems <balk 9> makes up the walls, leaving noting that would properly make more walls, but i can see a porch here. Do you want a porch?)
4.) you mentioned rooms, how many rooms do you want? one open room? more?
One complication is that some pieces are probably meant to be cut on site for the installation. Even so-called ready to assemble kits require some cutting on site. What are your thoughts on the above questions?
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Hi JJ,
good questions. I do have some ideas of course, but i did not want to put you in some direction because i have been doing that myself and by doing so, i could not solve the puzzle so maybe you have other ideas which makes it possible to solve it.
However:-
i also think it would be a raised wooden deck, placed upon the footings (all new English words to me, but i think i know what you mean)
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i think the floor base material is missing. If you would use all the material for the floor, it would be very hard to walk on (all these half circles), so you would still have to put some board over it to have a flat floor. That's why i also was thinking about a beam every 70 centimeters and then some board of say 1.40 meter on top of that
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I am not sure. The porch itself is not that important, it would be nice to look at ofcourse but not necessary. I was trying to create the cabin itself and if i would have leftovers, than i would probably use them for a porch.
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We thought about that one, i think the priority is to create something 'as big as possible'. I mean, if creating an extra wall to create an extra room means that the cabin itself will become smaller, than we rather have one big room. But then again, if we have a lot of leftovers that can be used to create an interior wall and the room itself is big, than maybe we can make that one.
For the size, we are not sure, if you calculate the (how do you call that: Width X hight) of all the wood and calculate some more, that in theory it would be possible to make a cabin of 4.20X8.40, but i don't know how. Should this be possible, than an extra room would be nice maybe, but if it is going to be a cabin of 4.20x4.20, than an extra room is not really necessary.
I think you are right, some pieces will have to be cut on the spot. There seems to be no specific beams for the window or the door, so i think that have to be cut afterwards. However, the beams all have holes, so if there is a hole, i expect that one to be there for a reason and hope that we do not have to make new gaps (but if necessary, well, so be it)
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OK i have taken a long hard look at this cabin and here is my synopsis.
<balk 1> wall
<balk 2> king-post
<balk 3> floor-beam/joist
<balk 4> ?wall?
<balk 5> floor-beam/joist
<balk 6> wall
<balk 7> floor-beam/joist
<balk 8> ridge-beam
<balk 9> wall
<balk 10> ?footing?/block
<balk 11,12,13,14> spacerA typical cabin roof is constructed of a main ridge beam with either a king post at each end supporting it or the cabin walls supporting it. I think that is what you have here. Then standard nominal lumber is used to build a roof(2x joist) and usually it is covered with a metal(modern) of shingle roof. Of course there are many ways to build a roof, but i would think you would want to keep the weight overhead to a minimum.
I have tried every way(i can think of) under the sun to make this work with no success. This leads me do 2 common sense conclusions
1.) you miss counted/measured some lumber pieces and/or their notches.
2.) This is not a complete kit and/or is a hodgepodge of two or more kits.I am leaning more towards #2. Many times when an organization donates something to a non-for-profit or what-not, it may not be complete/new, or whatever. There could be many reasons including a tax write-off, customer cancellation, parts not to spec, etc... These are the only conclusions i can draw from this puzzle.
I will continue to ponder this problem, but at this point i have no new ideas left.
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Hi FenS,
i'm a log home designer. All the logs should have a number on it. Normaly you have a Cut-Sheat where all logs are shown with the number on it. I know you have no drawings, but you should look at all the logs for the numbers, than you could figur out in witch possition they should be placed. It will take you some time to do it, but it would be the easiest to build the log cabin.
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Hi DesignerGay,
you are absolutely right, but by the time i first saw the log cabin, almost all of the numbers were already gone. Either they were not readable anymore, of there was only a nail left in the log. I have written down some of these numbers back then, but by now they do not make any sense to me (i should be able to find the picture of the drawing i made back then.
Would you be able to give some hints if i would only have a few numbers? (i am not even sure that i now on which log the number was because the first time i wrote down some of the numbers, all the logs were lying on top of each other and i could not figure out what kind of log it was)
I will try to find the picture i made and will post it anyway (i keep feeling sorry that i did not do that right away because even things that might not help me by now, might be interesting information to one of you...)Thanks again for your help, appreciate it
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The only thing you can do, try to put the logs together like a huge puzzle. Build it right next to the place it should be build.
Than put each layer on a own pile. If you start cutting the logs you are lost, because for the last few layers of logs you will run out of material.Do you remember who donated the log cabin? Could you ask for the compay witch cut the logs? May they will have an old cut-shead.
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We do know the people who donated the cabin, but although they are willing to help, they also can not give more information. They have given all they had but do not know from which company it came, that's why i have written some of the complanies that i could find (no luck). I agree that we should only cut if we are sure that the rest can fit but actually cutting is something i hope not to do unless there really is no other way.
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What hight has one log? A standarthight are between 7 and 9 layer. Do you speak german?
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Ein bisschen
(with the help of google translate maybe...
One log itself is 15cm high (round), minus a little gap so it fits exactly on top of the previous one. So actually 13,5 cm.
I think that a normal height would be around 2 meter and a little so about 15-20 logs?(google translate:
Ein Stam selbst ist 15cm hoch, minus ein wenig, damit sie passt genau auf der vorherigen auf. Also eigentlich 13,5 cm.
Ich denke, dass eine normale Höhe würden sich auf etwa 2 Meter und ein wenig so ca. 15-20 anmeldet? -
It schould be at least 2,40m. For example, you need 2,00m for a finished door opening to walk thru without hidding your head. i would say it will have 17-18 layers of logs.
As i menshend earlier, the best thing to do is to build the cabin once before next to the building place. Than take it apart and put each layer of logs on a own pile.
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I don't now about you DesignerGay, but i prefer to do my designing in the virtual world. "I can move 1000 logs with a single mouse click", and at the end of the day will still have enough energy for my wife
Have you looked at the model to see if you can make sense of it?
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i got my SketchUp last week, i am at the beginnig to find out the first steps. If he hab the parts also for ArchiCad, than i would have it done in a short time.
I know the blue peaces are used at the corners from the building, not for supporting the porchroof. -
DesignerGay
I agree about the short pieces.
1.) For this model, all you really need to use is the move tool, select tool, and rotation tool(Just FYI, you will probably find it easier to rotate a group with the move tool. The rotate tool can be a little confusing at first)
2.) You may need to group(Right Click->Make Group) un-group(Right Click->Explode) there is no need to make a component, FenS has already done that.
*One Warning though when using the move tool, do not push Control or you will make a copy, if you do by accident, just push Control again and the little "+" sign will disappear.
Hopefully with your experience, you can help us put this puzzle together.
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Something isn't right with the logs he gave in his file, there are to many cut-outs. he wrote the cabin will be 4mx8m, but i can't get an 8m long wall without holes in the middle of the wall.
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Somewhere there lies the problem,
i am almost certain that the pieces i have drawn are correct and measured correctly (i really have lifted every beam myself and measured it (each of them waying a lot!)),
but indeed, if you try to make a cabin of 4x8 meters, then somewhere along the way it goes wrong. However, if you only make a cabin of 4x4 meters, then you have so many left, that i am thinking that an extra room should be there (or we really do have some mixture of 2 cabins?).BTW, I have tried to find the picture with the numbers that were still readable, but haven't found it, i might still have one at work, if so, i will post it tomorrow.
I once made an effort in creating a 4x8 cabin and actually thought it was a good one, but when i tried it on a next trip to Bosnia i found out i missed a spot somewhere so that one was not possible also, I will try to make this one in SU and post it, maybe this give someone an idea..
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Fred,
Here is attempt #2.
I think balk06 should be a rafter, but the notch does not seem right.
Perhaps you have the notch incorrectly modeled?I have enjoyed the challenge so far
Best,
Charlie
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Charlie,
Nice improvement, you have some good ideas in there.DesignerGay,
I think what we have here is a hodgepodge of cabin parts. I am going to start a new plan that will involve modifying some of the parts(as little as possible). But this way FenS can use every timber he has available.PS: go to ( Window -> Outliner ) there you can browse all the comp/groups in the model. <balk 9> makes a nice 4m x 4m square.
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Hi All,
in Holland it is midnight right now so i really have to go to bed, but i am so happy that you enjoy working on this problem! This is really helping me a lot (and keeping all the wood from going into the fireplace
I will take a look at the new skp you have posted just now, but will insert mine also.
I am not that good in moving yet so the parts do not really touch everywhere, but i think you will understand what i was trying back then.
The first three layers are for making the fundamentals,
In layer 4 i used beam 4 and opposite of that i used beam 9.
In layer 5 i used beam 9 and 4 on one side and opposite of that i did the same.
In layer 6 i turned around what i did in layer 4 (beam 9 and 4)
in layer 7 i turned around what i did in layer 5 (beam 4 and 9)
and then i repeated layer 4, 5, 6, 7 several times.
(in this skp i did not move the parts, i sometimes copied them so the leftovers are not correct).
In this 'solution' i would have to cut some beams (for instance the pile of beams sticking out and the overlap between beam 4 and 9.
(i can't remember what exactly, but there was something wrong about this solution which made me stop back then but i'm too tired right now to see what it was).
Thanks again for your support!
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Well, i have taken a look at an old excel-sheet i made with some caracteristics of the wood, but that was not really helpful (i tried to read the numbers on the logs, but i did not have the time to move the logs themselves, so i did not know which number corresponded with which log).
However, these are the only (strange to me) numbers i could read back than and wrote down:
C2-31 or C23-1?
B9-1
N18
B214
B165
N21
C15
C61
C22.1
B23
B231All the labels (i don't know if this is helpful) were nailed into the log on a side which did not started with a gap, except for B23, that one was nailed to the side with a gap. (and unfortunately i did not write anything for B214 so that (and all the other beams are a mystery)
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