The Log Cabin Book: A Complete Builder's Guide to Small Homes and Shelters
240
The Log Cabin Book: A Complete Builder's Guide to Small Homes and Shelters
240eBook
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Overview
Photographs and drawings provide clear images for a variety of wilderness homes, including floor plans for The Block House, Wildwood, Crow's Nest, Idlewild, and other rustic retreats. Rich in nostalgic charm as well as useful applications, this manual offers priceless guidance to handymen, woodworkers, and hunters as well as those interested in small houses, construction, and home history and seekers of off-the-grid, environmentally friendly living.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780486816326 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 10/07/2016 |
| Series: | Dover Crafts: Building & Construction |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 240 |
| Sales rank: | 1,004,269 |
| File size: | 15 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
The Log Cabin Book
A Complete Builder's Guide to Small Homes and Shelters
By Oliver Kemp
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 2016 Dover Publications, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-81632-6
CHAPTER 1
MAKING PLANS
PLANNING the woods home is a period of considerable pleasure. Everything about it will suggest the forest and the remote lake, where the big trout hide, and the deer come down in the evenings to feed on the tender grasses at the water's edge. It brings that great season near to which we look forward year after year from the city home.
The pleasure thus afforded is, however, but part of the satisfaction, for, guided by a sure knowledge of the possibilities and limitations of the subject, your plans will save you an infinite amount of work and time when the building operations actually begin. Then if one is careful to erect it in a commanding position, and will take the necessary care to adjust it to the surroundings, the resulting harmony and utility will be a source of constant satisfaction.
In the matter of fitting the cabin to the site, you have a tremendous advantage over the builder of structures for other situations than the woods. So long as you stick to the one-story or story-and-a-half building you are safe, for the log cabin will belong to its place as surely as if it grew there. After all, are not the bowlders gathered on the ground where the future cabin is to stand and the logs felled in the encompassing forest? There is nothing new about it; chameleon-like, with a simple touch of stain on the roof, it will take on the color of its surroundings, particularly if you, as the builder, do not get in the way. Let the material of the building show frankly for what it is. Let each part do its work honestly, and you need not fear for the attractiveness of your home. Its success will be measured not by its size nor by its architecture after all, but by its comfort.
Fortunately there will be an outlook from every room, and we can let the light and air in from every side. The living room, with its high ceiling, will be given the choice of views, and we will call this the front of the house. In order to get all the out-of-doors possible into the house, plan for windows that are long rather than high.
Consider them as frames for the view, and while many windows are desirable, yet you must not forget that furniture of a sort must come into the calculation. Many a room has been built with no space left for the bed. It is commonly said that a house cannot have too many windows, but a great number of windows does not necessarily insure the greatest amount of light, nor the best ventilation. But then again, in the woods, you will be surprised how dark the surrounding trees will make your camp.
Casement windows lend themselves very well to our style of architecture, and whenever they are used, should invariably open out. However, it is almost impossible to make them wind and stormproof, and they are always clashing with the screens.
Whenever possible, bring the chimney into the center of the house, to insure a more even distribution of the heat, and also make possible the connection from adjoining rooms with stoves, should the occupancy of the camp in fall or spring make these desirable.
For a similar reason, arrange your kitchen so that it can be absolutely shut off from the rest of the camp when desired. On very warm days in the woods, when the gentle zephyrs play around the tree tops but forget to come lower down, you will get the point of this argument. Be sure to look up the regular sizes of windows and doors that are furnished the trade from the factories, so that you can make the proper allowances.
Keeping the building down to one story will make the labor of construction comparatively easy, and the care of the house will for the same reason be made much lighter. This will give you considerable space overhead for storage, or even sleeping rooms. However, plan to save your living room all the space clear to the roof. Such an air of largeness and comfort is to be gained thereby, with the only drawback of a difficulty of heating, though with even a moderate fireplace a room eighteen by twenty feet, with a twenty-foot peak, may be kept thoroughly comfortable except in the bitterest cold of the northern winters.
The veranda will be the most-used part of the house during the summer season. It should, therefore, be made generous in its width — ten feet is not too wide — and as long as conditions will admit of. Thus all the family may occupy it at one time, and during the very hot days, when eating out-of-doors is a luxury, it will be turned into a dining room far more attractive than any you could plan.
On a wide veranda hammocks may be swung without their excluding large and comfortable chairs, and here, even on a rainy day, one will scarcely be forced indoors. But if so, the chances are that the chill dampness will make a fire desirable. You will not suffer a loss with the exchange.
Set the windows of the sleeping rooms about four feet from the floor. It is curious how much of an added sense of security and privacy this will give. For there are those who feel uncomfortable in sleeping for the first time on the ground floor.
Measure carefully every inch of the way in your plan, and consider well the utility of every space ; thus you will not find yourself cramped for room, and, on the other hand, you may save yourself considerable expense of labor and money.
You are not an architect, so be modest, and do not strive for architectural effects. Confine yourself altogether to ascertaining how few rooms you can get along with, and how to get those rooms to fit into the given space, so that each one will be large enough to fill the requirements. That is all.
When the plans are satisfactory, you will make out a list of things required and send your order for them at the earliest possible moment. Two months before needed would not be too soon in the South, six weeks in the North and West. This is not figurative language. I know of what I am speaking. Your list will look like this:
Number of logs needed.
Number of windows and sizes. (Include if possible frames, finish, and casings.)
Number of doors and sizes. (Include if possible frames, and finish.)
Amount of lumber for roofing and first floor, also veranda (This may be the cheapest grade of spruce, planed on one side.)
Amount of hard pine flooring, two and a half inches wide, planed both sides.
Number of shingles. (Extra 1, cedar.)
Hinges for various purposes.
Round-headed screws for window casings.
Screws for all the hardware.
Locks.
Window fasteners.
Wire nails. Lath for shingles. Tenpenny for roof and floor boards, etc. Finish for windows, doors, etc. Spikes for rafters, etc. Eightpenny floor for flooring.
Building paper.
Creosote stain.
Number of barrels of lime.
Iron supports for fireplace arch.
Sheet lead for chimney.
Sink and short lead pipe for drain.
Firebricks for lining chimney.
Plans for the smaller "Hunting Camp" will require much less material than above.
However, I should advise a careful study of your requirements even in this case, so that time may be saved when you have reached the ground and are ready for business.
The pitch of the roof is important, and particularly in regions of heavy snowfall. A fairly steep roof is therefore desirable, both to lessen the strain and to prevent the snow water from being backed up under the shingles when a thaw is followed by a freezing period.
Over the bedrooms and kitchen, etc., a floor of hard pine, planed on both sides, may be laid, and this will always give you considerable space in which to stow things, or, as mentioned elsewhere, may be turned into a sleeping room, with spaces between the floor and the roof on either side of the room partitioned off for storage.
Avoid hip roofs if possible, though occasionally, in a rather long stretch, they may be used to lessen the monotony. Try to keep the whole structure under one continuous roof, for the sake of economy of time and money. The construction of a hip or a valley roof is not difficult, but they present features that require care in building that they may be water-tight and strong.
The matter of rustic effects in the porch railings, etc., is one allowing a wide latitude to your inventive faculties, and the entire outside of the camp may be given a special stamp of individuality by a proper handling. In regions where white birch may be obtained, one could ask for no finer decoration.
CHAPTER 2THE FIREPLACE
YOUR lodge in the wilderness demands a heart to make it lovable — the fireplace. And you will want a generous hearth built for service rather than for show, thus will the old ties with nature be renewed.
And do not fear that building for service will detract from its beauty. My word for it, neglect its architecture for its utility and it will still "look right," though here as elsewhere we want no sham honesty or fake simplicity. Build it for the purpose intended, and when the chill gray days do come it will warm your very soul with cheer and make the home complete.
A fireplace of stones, with its rough-hewn log shelf, falls at once into complete harmony with the cabin and its life. It needs no adornment, yet everything, from the flintlock gun to a snowshoe, seems a part of it.
Select your stones with a care for their coloration, and the moss and lichens clinging to them.
The opening should be three or four feet wide, or even five; if the room be very large, about two feet deep, and not over twenty-five or twenty-six inches high. To hold cordwood, the dimensions are about four feet six inches wide and three feet six inches high. A fireplace should not be too deep, or an important proportion of the reflected heat will be lost. The sides should not be set at right angles to the back, but should slant to nearly an angle of forty-five degrees.
Now, the draught of a fireplace is most important, and a mistake in the construction is almost impossible to correct. Slope the back of the fireplace inward toward the front, terminating at the throat about four or five inches above the front of the arch. It should be drawn in until the throat is narrowed down to almost three inches. This will leave a ledge which will accelerate the draught, and form a shelf to prevent too great a volume of air from rushing down the flue.
Have the flue large; it should not be less in area than ten per cent, of the area of the opening of the fireplace. Constructed in this way, you will have no trouble from a smoky fireplace.
Under no circumstances attempt to build the chimney with a woodwork support. Dig down in the earth and lay a solid bed of rocks and mortar as a foundation, the full size of the chimney and the hearth, which should be about twenty-four inches wide. This will keep the woodwork well away from the fire. Neglect of this point, where I rested my hearth on woodwork, came very near to having serious results. Corbels may be built out to receive the ends of the floor joists.
The fireplace should be lined with firebricks, and iron bars must be put in to support the superincumbent brick or stonework. Do not trust too much to your arch, if you have one. A couple of iron bars, about two inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick, will make all secure.
Mortar is not difficult to prepare. Get unslacked lime and put it into the box which you have made to hold it. The lime is now to be slacked by wetting with water. As you throw the water on it will heat up and steam, and enough water should be added from time to time to keep the lime from burning or slacking dry; it should be kept about the consistency of thick paint. Lime should be slacked for several days before the time for using it.
To a cask of lime add six bushels of sand, and stir until the lime and sand are thoroughly mixed. It should be thinned with water until it mixes easily with a hoe. It should stand for two or three days until ready for use.
Cement will greatly increase the strength of mortar, and, when desired, should be added in the proportion of one or two quarts of cement to each pailful of mortar. Remember that, with cement added, the mortar will set much more quickly than it would otherwise do.
Keep your work plumb by means of cords fastened by nails in the roof and floor. As your work emerges from the hole in the roof, select small and flat rocks and insert some sheets of lead, cut ten inches long by eight inches wide, in the different layers of stone in shingle fashion.
After the chimney is completed the shingles may be inserted in the layers of lead, and so make a tight joint around the chimney.
Now, if you are unfamiliar with the building of a fire, you will be vastly entertained by your inability to get the thing to burn. One after another the various members of the family will be inspired to try their hands and lungs. For pure cussed contrariness, an open fire takes the honors. When you have all given up in despair and left in disgust, the thing is apt to start up of its own accord.
The shavings which have accumulated during the building of the camp should be kept for this time. Between the fire dogs a generous supply of dry shavings; on top of them, a few short, thin pieces of larger wood; resting in the fire dogs, three sticks of wood with a space between each stick. Across these, three more sticks, and across these, two more. Light the shavings. When the fire is burning well a large greenwood log of maple or beech may be put against the back wall as a back log. On top of it another green stick should be laid and the fire drawn out to the front of the fireplace. A slight replenishing from time to time will keep a fine fire and the back logs will burn all day. At night the fire may be banked by covering the embers with ashes. In the morning this covering may be raked off, and fresh sticks laid directly on the glowing coals will soon spring into life again.
Soft wood will crack and sputter, and it would be dangerous to leave a fire without some protection. Even the hard wood will at times throw burning coals out into the room. A fire screen is the solution, and is easily made of quarter-inch wire screen, fastened to a frame of quarter-inch steel wire. The screen should extend an inch all around outside the opening of the fireplace. It should not be flat, but should be from three to five inches deep. This will prevent sparks from flying out of the crack between the screen and chimney. The shape can be had by bending the screen over a box or similar form.
If a crane is contemplated, it should be put in place during the building of the fireplace. In the North, where beans are a prominent part of the bill of fare, it would be well to have a "bean hole" built in the center of the fireplace. Make it about twelve inches square, and provide a stout iron lid to cover it. An iron pot with an eccentric-clamped lid may be kept here. Pork and beans cannot be cooked better than in such an arrangement, with the hot coals covering it and left overnight.
CHAPTER 3THE AX AND THE TREE
THE one indispensable tool in the building of a log cabin is the ax. I know a man who, with no other implement, can erect a marvelously complete cabin; but this degree of efficiency we ordinary people may not hope to attain.
If you be wise, then, purchase the best ax possible. The cost of this will not be over $1.25. An inferior one may be had as low as 75 cents, but the steel is not there. Long before the camp is finished you will have discovered that an ax which bites in deep and holds its cutting edge is desirable. Axes come of varying weights, but for the average user one of three and a half or three and three-quarter pounds is about right.
Perhaps it has not occurred to you that the "handle" or helve was a thing to be considered, yet the dealer will put out an assortment which, if you examine them, will be found to consist of crooked and straight, thick and thin, and varying combinations of these. If you have never handled an ax, you will have some difficulty in deciding. Your only guide probably will be, after selecting one fairly crooked, to purchase the one which feels best in your hand. If your fingers are short, do not get a handle too large in diameter, and vice versa. Neglected, this point may occasion you a painful period of cramped fingers. I have seen men in the woods (and they forget to complain of any hurt) whose grip had to be loosened by the aid of the swinging hand. An extra helve should be taken always.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from The Log Cabin Book by Oliver Kemp. Copyright © 2016 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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