Log house Wikipedia. A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term log cabin generally refers to a smaller, more rustic log house, such as a hunting cabin in the woods, that may or may not have electricity or plumbing. Clearprog Windows 7. Log construction was the most common building technique in large regions of Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Baltic states and Russia, where straight and tall coniferous trees, such as pine and spruce, are readily available. It was also widely used for vernacular buildings in Eastern Central Europe, the Alps, the Balkans and parts of Asia, where similar climatic conditions prevail. In warmer and more westerly regions of Europe, where deciduous trees predominate, timber framing was favoured instead. Sawn logs, logs sawn to a standard width, but with their original heights. Milled also called machine profiled, made with a log house moulder Constructed of logs that have run through a manufacturing process which convert them into timbers which are consistent in size and appearance. Handcrafted log houses have been built for centuries in Scandinavia,1 Russia2 and Eastern Europe, and were typically built using only an axe and knife. The Scandinavian settlers of New Sweden brought the craft to North America in the early 1. Native Americans. Possibly the oldest surviving log house in the United States is the C. A. Nothnagle Log House circa 1. New Jersey. Pre fabricated log houses for export were manufactured in Norway from the 1. Jacob Digre in Trondheim, M. Thams Co. in Orkanger, and Strmmen Trvarefabrik at Strmmen. They were factory built from sawn or milled logs, numbered and dismantled for transportation, and reassembled on the buyers site. Buyers could order standard models from catalogs, custom made houses designed by architects employed by the companies, or houses of their own design. Log houses from Thams were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle 1. Paris. During the 1. American milled log houses appeared on the market, using logs which were pre cut and shaped rather than hand hewn. How To Seal Cracks In Wooden Door' title='How To Seal Cracks In Wooden Door' />Many log houses today are of the milled variety, mainly because they require less labor intensive field work than handcrafted houses. There are about 5. North America which build the handcrafted, scribe fit type of log house. Componentsedit. Scribe fit handcrafted logs. The logs in log houses have a varying degree of moisture content all logs have moisture when freshly cut. In the case of handcrafted logs moisture will naturally leave the timber, drying it out until it stabilizes with its climate. This drying out causes movement and shrinking of the logs diameter. As logs and timbers dry, the differential shrinkage radial versus tangential causes small cracks known as checks to open slowly over time. What does Flex Seal contain Its a specially created thick, rubberized coating that can be sprayed out as a liquid and fills into cracks and holes creating a. How to Paint the Exterior of a Wooden Structure. Heres how to paint the exterior of a wooden structure. Begin your preparation with a power washer. Although it can. Chinese calligraphy is a form of aesthetically pleasing writing calligraphy, or, the artistic expression of human language in a tangible form. Checking is a natural process in both air and kiln dried logs. This occurs in all log houses regardless of construction method or how the timber is allowed to dry, and is considered normal. Milled logs are processed in a different manner from handcrafted logs. Logs destined to become milled logs may become one of several types, depending on the desired quality and results. Green logseditLogs that are cut from the butt forest, brought to a mill or to a log house construction yard, have their bark removed and are used to build a log house shell handcrafted log houses, or sent through profiling machines manufactured logs are usually referred to as green logs if they have not been air or kiln dried. Green does not refer to color, but to moisture content MC. The actual moisture content of green logs varies considerably with tree species cedar, fir, spruce, pine etc., the season in which it was cut, and whether sapwood or heartwood is being measured. Green logs may have a moisture content ranging from about 2. MC. 6One type of air dried log is dead standing, which refers to trees which have died from natural causes bug kill, virus, fire etc. Standing dead trees may be cut one month or several decades after they died, so the term dead standing does not necessarily mean the logs have dried down to equilibrium moisture content. Dead standing logs can be green, or more or less dry. After construction, green logs dry in service in the log building. Within about four years, green logs which are part of a completed log house reach equilibrium with local conditions and have an equilibrium moisture content EMC of between 6 and 1. The actual EMC varies with local climate, season and location. Air dried logseditSome log home companies let the fresh cut logs or milled timbers sit outside in the open air to dry naturally. The timbers may be stacked with spacers known as stickers between them. This process allows the moisture content of the logs to naturally fall as the timber dries. In areas of high humidity, it may require as much as one year per inch of log thickness to dry. Arid climates may require less. A log with a diameter of 8 inches will usually reach equilibrium in about 1. Rocky Mountains of North America. Air circulation is critical or the logs may begin to rot before properly drying, especially in humid regions. If the logs are to be dried to equilibrium with the local climate the process may take several years, depending on the location and size of the timbers. In some environments, the logs must be kept under some type of roof or cover to reduce the impact of rain storms on the drying process. Once the logs have dried for the desired length of time, they are profiled prior to shipping. Profiling usually does not take place until shortly before shipment, to ensure that the logs stay as uniform as possible. It is uncertain whether this process is advantageous it depends on many factors such as local climate, wood species, its size, and the location of the log structure. Kiln dried logseditMills that have a kiln on site have the option of artificially accelerating the drying process. Green timber is placed inside a large oven, where heat removes moisture from them however, they can suffer severe checking and cracking if the kiln controls are not properly monitored during the drying process. Use of a kiln can reduce the drying time from many months to several weeks. Kiln drying usually results in an average moisture content of 1. In North America, logs reach equilibrium moisture content at about 6 and 1. Glue laminated timbereditLaminated or engineered logs are a different approach to log house building. Full trees or alternatively sawn cants unfinished logs to be further processed are brought to a mill with a dry kiln, the bark is removed and the trees are sawn into boards usually no more than two inches thick. These boards are then taken to the dry kiln, where because of their size they can be dried without causing severe damage to the wood. Timber destined for glue lamination must be brought down below 1. The drying process varies on the species of lumber, but can be done in as little as a week. Once the drying process is complete the planks are sent through a surfacer or planer, which makes the face of the lumber perfectly smooth. These planks travel to a machine, which then spreads a special glue on the interior boards. Depending on the type of glue and type of mill, there are two ways to finish the lamination process.