This week I stopped into Freymond Lumber (Log Home Supplier and Millyard in Ontario) to decide on and order the wood that would be used for the second, framed, floor of our log home.

I went with ‘conditions’. And rules.

Our budget is tight so I couldn’t order the log home siding that Freymond mills and supplies. Gosh it’s beautiful though – it can turn a framed house or cabin into a log home with just a few nails. You can stain it any color you like!

Our log home siding (upper floor) would have to run horizontally – same direction as the logs themselves…

I had really hoped, since we were changing the ‘face’ and ‘fabric’ of the building that we could also change direction. This would have made the log home appear taller, and more visually interesting. With the siding running parellel it may end up looking as though we either (a) cheaped out and tried to ‘fake it’, or (b) weren’t design aware enough to switch direction.

In fact we are cheaping out a little, but this is more about saving time than it is about saving money (even though the latter is just as scarce as the first). If I were to run the wood siding vertically we would need to add strapping to hold the siding to the gable ends and dormers – which equates to time that we just do not have.

I am in a big rush now to move into our log home.

Speaking of the ‘rush’…this project feels as though it is taking forever. Every step we make seems to take an entire day’s work! Initially it all went so quickly but with the angles on our roof and the daily Ontario rain through the summer of 2008, we hit brick wall after brick wall – barely treading water with a few hours of work here, there, and half a day or so every weekend of productivity. It’s frustrating.

Back to Siding the Log Home

Thankfully when I arrived at Freymond Lumber’s mill and yard, LeeAnn Freymond herself pulled in! I rushed her right in the door, whipped out my architectural plans, and started assaulting her with questions. I needed her design and building advice.

If you aren’t a local around here and you don’t know LeeAnn, you should! She’s beautiful (in body, face and spirit).

When I first met LeeAnn (6 years ago or more) I was a little intimidated by her – but that was all my own doing. LeeAnn had it all and I felt as though I had so little to give, share, and be. LeeAnn is stunning in appearance, in great physical shape, joyous, a mother of three interesting, polite, intelligent and grounded children. She lives on a beautiful piece of property will a nicely decorated home and is happily married to an equally wonderful man.

Back then, LeeAnn didn’t take long to pick up on my insecurities (even though I hide these well), and set out to make me feel valued. Little did I know that she was setting an example for both myself and my daughter. (She will, of course, cringe if she ever reads this – but she’ll do it gracefully). She is a fine example of being a woman with her own mind, understanding her own skills, and a help to the community.

At any rate, LeeAnn is multi-talented, but today I needed her sharp business mind and eye for design. Save money, buy lumber, and envision it on the house.

For the record (Eric take note), LeeAnn also wants to see the wood siding we chose to run vertically.

We chose an 8″ V channel lap board that is 3/4 undressed. It will provide enough texture to the upper floors and dormers of the log home to keep it visually interesting – even though it will be running horizontally.

Time Waits for No Man or Woman

The very next day, Freymond Lumber had the siding delivered to our home and ready to stain. Lou Freymond had it wrapped up tight in lumber tarp, just in case I didn’t get to it right away.

However, since time is of the essence and we had already purchased the stain – plus two consecutive days of rain-free weather was on the horizon – Veronica and I got right to work staining and sealing the log home siding.

Veronica brought her pup Pixie – who spent most of the day chasing rabbits through the field and taking breaks to sleep on the 2 x 12 stacked lumber which would eventually be our rafters.

Pixie is just one year old and the tinyest Jack Russell pup you’d ever meet – but she’s loaded with personality! She’s kept us smiling through most of the trauma of losing our family home to fire, and helps us not miss our other dogs quite so badly. Pixie was great buddies with my orange tabby – who is now gone forever.

The challenge of our log home build this weekend was placing the ridge beam. A ridge beam is a laminated, extra-strong product that spans the width of the roof. All roof rafters hang off this beam essentially tieing the entire house together. Our was an industrial strength ridge beam that weighed well over 700 lbs. Since we were building this house by hand, our architect confirmed that two beams, placed side by side, had the same strength as one wide beam.

However, with two thinner beams we were challenged by laminated boards that were somewhat ‘floppy’ and apt to bow in the middle every time we moved them.

Even still we were left with the need to hoist two 350 pound boards, 40 feet long, 35 feet or so into the air, to place into the pockets of each gable end.

We did not have a boom truck, but we did have brute force, German ingenuity, and an intense desire to get this log home built as quickly as possible. The beams were first carried up from the ground, to the top of the wall (first floor) 18 feet up. They still had another 15 feet or more to go…

Eric on one side, Peter and Richard on the other. Both stood on scaffolding and literally ‘man-handled’ the hositing of the ridge beam.

• Long ropes were attached to each end.
• One long 2 x 6″ board was attached in the middle.
• As the men pulled the beam to the top of the house, we steadied the middle of the beam by holding and guiding the attached 2 x 6. We just had to make sure the center of the beams stayed somewhat level with the sides but eventually we ran out of height and it was all up to the men to place the beam correctly.

This entire process stressed me to no end.

All week I had felt no different than a yappy, wimpering chihuahua over this part of the build. I had never seen this been done and so many people advised us not to do it this way. If this part of the build went wrong it had the potential to take out some of my dearest friends and husband in the process – not to mention delay the building of our home by weeks. I wimpered and sniveled and yapped and carried on like a New Jersey housewife the entire time…

At the end of the day we all took a deep sigh and thanked the ‘powers that be’.

Richard assured us afterward that, “…after this, the rest is gravy…”

It’s time to build the third 2nd floor wall of our log home – the gable end of our open to above concept great room.

The photo below shows the ‘openness’ of the space we began working with. We need to build a 14 foot framed wall with a 12/12 pitch, spanning the narrowest width of the log home at 28 feet. This is no easy task since we have no nearby floor space to construct the wall and no means of hoisting the wall into place once built.

We solved this by moving the supports for the other in-place gable end of the home and building today’s project in the second floor bedroom area. Honestly if I knew anything about building houses before I began this project I would have worked with the architect more to design a second floor that was easier to build and easier to enclose. On the other hand, when finished we will have a one-of-a-kind, beautiful home that we proudly built ourselves with the generous help of a few friends.

Today we had Richard on hand to help and we couldn’t have done the job without his help. When Richard arrived the new gable end was nearly completed and ready to slide, swing, pivot into place. We only have the outer rim to work with and the center beam on which to pivot this monstrous gable end on. Then we’d have to lift it onto the rim, no room for error, a 6″ base to sit on a 6″ sill. If we miscalculate or aren’t strong enough to hold it, the wall will crash to the ground below – 20 feet down, plus 14 feet of freshly built wall.

Eric and Richard took the time to devise a plan and re-assess along the way on the best method for moving the wall over to the other side of the house and into place. In the pictures below you can now see the gable end resting on the log wall sill, ready to hoist. To give you an idea of sizes, Eric is 6′5″ tall, 230 pounds – perched on the corner of the wall.

Richard is also on the log wall sill at this time, assessing the alignment. If he slips backward, he’s dropping over 20 feet to the ground below.

Eric and Rich hammer in some small guides to deter slippage of the gable end wall off the sill when we hoist. These small supports will not prevent the wall from crashing down the side should we mess up, but it does minimize the risk – and we’ll take every little bit of help we can get!

It never ceases to amaze me how some people can be so comfortable on the edge of high surfaces with minimal footing! If you look at Richard’s stance, as he stands on only 6″ of surface – his shoulders, his hips are relaxed and casual. Eric is the same as he straddles the wall and adjusts the framing on the sill. Also, look through the windows to the space that was ‘open to above’ in the first photo of this post – and you’ll see the wall we are about to hoist – 34 feet to the highest point from the ground below.

A Series of Steps to Raise the Gable End

Although it seems a small task – and only one small part of building this log home, the stress level is high. There is no amount of strength that could hold this wall should it start to slip. Slipping also has the potential to hurt any one of us if we don’t have the quickest reflexes on knowing when to let go should trouble ensue. Not to mention the waste of time and lumber should we mess up.

We take the raising of this end wall in stages. Eric builds a makeshift pocket out of the space he left for the ridge beam, which allows us to push the wall up with a 28 foot ‘pole’ – nothing more than 2 2×4’s nailed together.

Our journey begins with a 4′ 2×6 board. Richard holds the wall up, while Eric finishes building the pocket.

You can see how this make-shift pole, in this make-shift pocket, lifts the wall into place. Richard is standing on the very edge of the loft floor in this shot.

You can also see two 2×6s protruding from window frame sides. We used these to guide and hold the wall. Richard on one side, I on the other, and Eric hoisting from the center pole. We’re about 2/3 up in this shot and take a break to snap a photo and breathe! The center pole rests on a wedge of 2×4 nailed into the floor while we assess and rest.

At one point we think we’re done. The gable end seems to be sitting on the log wall sill correctly and the angles seem right from 15′ away, but Richard checks first and finds that we are at least 5 degrees slanting inward still – another foot of pushing from the loft floor – and he places a 14′ 2×8 along the log wall to give us a better visual of how far we still must go.

You can make out the 2×8 being held in the center of the gable end in this shot of Eric loosening up the supports again for one more heave.

Here’s a shot of the end of the day. We left early as we’re out of lumber to move into the next phase – building two small dormers that will flank the front door, then rafters, then roof sheeting.