Building a Log Home Using Trees From Your Property

by admin on May 8, 2009

Considering Whether to Build a Log Home

There are many people who have mulled the idea of creating a log home. Maybe they saw some pretty log homes in a magazine or were vacationing in Colorado and stayed in an old log cabin getaway and now they want to build one. There are the kit log homes and then there are the real log homes. The kits most people buy and build with are quite ugly and the posts resemble the form of a flower plant box then an actual log. The pricier log home kits that are hand crafted start to look better but the price dramatically goes up. The most rustic and beautiful looking log homes are the ones that are cut down by the owner, allowed to season and erected by the home owner. This hand crafted log home using pioneering techniques looks like a genuine log home and is extremely affordable to build.

Build Using Pioneering Techniques

Some have said that a log home like the one described above can be built using tools that can fit in the trunk of a car. A log home like this is built with a set of block and tackles which is simply triple block pulleys attached at the top and bottom with rope at each corner of the house foundation. The ideal log home foundation for a project like this is a pier and beam foundation. Four corner posts are erected into the ground inside the pier and beam foundation. The pulleys are attached to a hook at the top of each post and then the rope and pulley on the bottom hangs down to allow for them to be hooked to the logs to be hoisted onto the foundation. The log home is erected with logs cut down from the property until each log has been placed at least 8 feet high. The logs are stacked catty cornered where the taper of the log reverses as you stack them. The logs are held into place by drilling and hammering steel re bar every 2 feet down the top of each log as you add more logs on top of another. The steel re bar allows the whole structure to stay together without a worry that the structure will fall. Steel re bar is also drilled and hammered at the corners.

Finding Affordable Land

Most people run into an issue with trying to find property to even build a log home on. There is a thing called “I don’t want it syndrome” that has run rampant among land owners. These land owners may have inherited land that they must pay taxes on each year but don’t do anything on the land to justify how much money they spend in taxes each year. You can pretty much drive down a county or farm road and find land just sitting without a single cow or crop and find out through the tax appraisal office who owns the land. You call the owner and work out a payment plan for some of the wooded acres on the lot. Or you could even work out a deal where you take 1 acre and are allowed to cut down enough trees for your log home. You then work out a payment plan for this arrangement. The land owner will be happy to sell a portion of his property and the money you are giving the land owner will probably give him enough to cover property tax on the additional acres he has. This is a win win and is easy to do. Not having enough money to buy land is not an excuse when using this technique. A self built log home allows you to be self reliant in regards to your home and the materials you need to build your home. A log home like this is one of the most structurally sound homes you could ever build and will surpass any city inspection requirements in regards to the main structure of the house.

Learn More Details About How to Build a Real Log Home

To learn more about log homes, kit log houses, and how to build a real genuine log home we recommend you check out the log home builders association of North America. This organization has years of knowledge and history on what does and doesn’t work when it comes to planning and building a log home. They can teach you the most affordable way to build a log home using the very ideas and techniques I brought up in this article.

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For healthful good taste, mix up a better bowl of yogurt

by harold on March 31, 2008

yogurtPlain yogurt brings powerful health benefits to your table, but the taste can leave something to be desired. Dessert style yogurts aren’t the answer because they reduce nutrients and add calories.
You can get the benefits of true yogurt and much more by creating your own mix with fruit and sweetener.
These are some of the great health benefits of natural yogurt:
Studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition show that the potential health attributes of yogurt go far beyond boosting intake of protein and calcium. They include the ability to make the immune system more resilient.
The live and active cultures found in yogurt help to protect the intestinal tract. They have great potential as anti-infection agents. And they may help to increase resistance to immune-related diseases such as cancer and infection.
The recommended daily intake of protein  varies for different groups of people. In general, the United States Department of Agriculture recommends that most people get two to three servings of high-protein food such as yogurt each day.
Calcium in yogurt does more than keep bones strong. Studies show a link between calcium and normal blood pressure, to name just one of calcium’s other functions.
Consider these suggestions for mixing your own concoction with yogurt:
* By adding fruit such as oranges, peaches, or pears to yogurt, you get the added nutrients in those foods, including vitamin C.
* Mix with dessert-style yogurt. Go half-and-half to lighten the calorie load Even if you add a little sweetener, you still get the benefits of plain yogurt.
* Sweeten smartly. When you add fruit, you can sweeten with sugar-free sweeteners, honey, or applesauce.
* Use yogurt, or sweetened yogurt as a dip for vegetables or as a salad dressing.

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Try simple changes to fight heartburn

March 24, 2008

People who take acid-supressing medications, especially at high doses and on a long-term basis, could be putting their bones at risk
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine studied medical records of 145,000 people in England. The hip-fracture rate among patients taking proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to treat gastroesophagel reflux disease (GERD) was 44 [...]

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Dip into hummus for a hearty, healthful treat

March 21, 2008

If you keep hearing about hummus but are too busy to find out what it is and why it’s good, we have answers for you.
Its main ingredient is garbanzo beans, also known as chickpeas. Doesn’t sound too appetizing? Just try hummus as a pita chip dip or spread it on crackers and celery sticks, and [...]

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Here’s how to preserve your keepsakes

March 17, 2008

Attention all keepsake hoarders
Here’s how to preserve your stuff
Nearly everyone has boxes of stuff they save. Inside them are old letters, newspaper clippings, vinyl records, photographs, maybe an old wedding dress, and old kindergarten drawings.
Now, authors Louisa Jaggar and Don Williams tell what to save and how to do it in their book Saving [...]

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