Guys I would like to build a log cabin for a small hunting camp (about 200 sq ft) but there are no pines on the property but I have a lot of soft maple in the swamp that are straight and very few limbs, I would like to know if they could work?
Soft Maple for cabin?
- Thread starter frogy
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timberwolf
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Maple has a very low rot resistance if it has any exposure to moisture.
chuckwood
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rot resistance
So does pine. Soft maple should be easy to drive nails in. Why not use it and just coat it liberally with wood preservative?
So does pine. Soft maple should be easy to drive nails in. Why not use it and just coat it liberally with wood preservative?
madman39
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I was thinking the same thing!:monkey:
jimdad07
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I would find some hemlock or cedar if you can for the bottom course of logs and then have at it with the maple. Thompson's water seal would work well.
clearance
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Hemlock is called hemrot here, only used for inside use. Whats up with pine? Lots of places built with pine logs.
jimdad07
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I apologize, I meant to say tamarack. I have a friend who built a camp with tamarack about fifteen years ago and it is holding up quite well, of course it gets treated every couple of seasons.
RPM
ArboristSite Operative
Just get it up off of the ground and out of the dirt...couple of sono tubes and build the floor on some large CSM beams?
TraditionalTool
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There isn't much wood that won't rot when exposed to water...and to compound it water attracts bugs also, so you get the double whammie!
Almost all log homes that are not maintained properly will get rot if they are not sealed properly and left to the elements. That rot attracts bugs, and the cycle continues but even worse.
Nothing wrong with soft maple, heck, I think any wood could work for a cabin, just use a good stain/sealer on the wood. I like Sansin, it's water based. I'm planning to use it on the log home I'm building, and have tested it on the inside of my home office/workshop. My log home is being built mostly with eastern white pine, but rafters will be Doug Fir. Leave the ends exposed and don't seal it and they're sure to rot also, as you suggest for the soft maple. Taken care of properly, most any wood will last a lifetime and then some...
TraditionalTool
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It's a great wood to work with. Hemlock is known for severe twisting, and unwinding. Any wood will rot when you get down to it, given the right environment. Take care of any of them and they will last a long, long time.
Tamarack is known for checking, and it's hard to work with from what I've been told. I have never worked any of it.
clearance
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Douglas fir is used on docks, it lasts quite a while, hemlock never is. And red cedar, wow, you can rip of a foot of rot and have solid wood, on big trees cut down and left before ww2. Walk into into old second growth sometime, the only logs or chunks left will be cedar, everything else is gone.
But you are right about looking after it, big overhangs and steep roofs help a lot as well.
isaaccarlson
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just make sure you have good overhangs
they make or break a cabin. If they are too short you get wet walls. go for about three feet.
they make or break a cabin. If they are too short you get wet walls. go for about three feet.
TraditionalTool
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I had some cedar I was carving with a chainsaw, the bark is brutal on the chains as it contains a massive amount of silica in it. The wood itself is sure beautiful, once the bark is off.
That is the key to most all homes built with wood, the bigger the overhang the better, and if you can have wrap around covered porches, all the better. I wanted a full wrap around porch on the log home I'm building but had to make some sacrifices and settled for full length front and rear porches, the rear has a patio below for the walkout to give me another covered area, but I'm pouring cement on the floor (hence a patio).
timberwolf
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Yes, all wood rots, none will resist rot for ever. Just maple is one of the worst in this area, right there with basswood and birch. Softwoods (pines, spruce, larch, ceder ect)at least have some extra resins and tanins to help them out. A good way to look at rot resistance is how long dead trees stand. If a birch or basswood dies they seldom stand for more than a year or two, maple or poplar not much better. Dead elms in fence rows and dead cedars in flooded beaver swamps often stand decades. Even standing dead pines and spruce will hold up 5-10 years.
Maple or birch gets nailed really quick by fungus and spalts, pine (lots of range there between spiecies) does not infect so easily with fungus. A maple board left on the ground will spalt in just a couple months at least in the climate of this area, about a year and the board would have no structual strength. Seems the oaks, cedars and even elms are amoung the best though for common woods that stand the test of time.
But like was mentioned the key is to keep the logs dry no matter what they are. The pioneers no doubt either built homes where the wood was good or built with what was on hand. No matter what the wood a log structure is likely to be still standing half a century after a chip board stud framed building has crumbled.
Lots of old log buildings and homes in this area, many well past 100 years old some 200 years.
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TraditionalTool
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And therein lies the problem, you need moisture for fungus and spalting. Any wood will rot with water.
I think we're on the same page, the moisture is the killer for it. In some cases old log homes would be standing, but it really depends on many factors. Not all of them are standing today from 100 years+.
Most of those are probably dovetailed. The half dovetail sheds water away from the joinery, one of the reasons I'm using it on my log home.
Also, it was common for folks to cover the log homes with siding, since there was an association with "log cabins" for housing slaves. Having a home that resembled a log cabin wasn't desirable, so a lot of people put siding on them, and still to this day more and more are discovered as they peel the siding off. Also, because of this association, Mackie makes note in his books why he doesn't use the term "log cabin", and I kind of agree and don't tend to use it myself, and just call them log homes or log houses. Modern structures are nothing like "cabins" for the most part anyway, and have modern appliances just like modern homes.
You made a good point though, because people would often use the wood they had on their land, and I don't think soft maple will be any worse than any other type of wood, if cared for properly.
I would suggest:
1) keep the sills off the ground, raise the foundation at least 1 1/2' - 2', so that the water doesn't splash up on and rot the bottom logs.
2) big overhangs on the roof. The larger the better. If you can have them 2'-3' that will protect the logs/wood better.
3) Don't stick the ends of the logs/wood out, IOW, don't build with outrigger type eaves. That was common in the Arts & Crafts era, and it looks really cool (check the Gamble House out), but when they restored the Gamble House they learned that all of them rotted, and they spent an enormous amount of money restoring them to original. I think they should have covered them with copper or changed them, but they would not have been original. There's a lesson in the Gamble House, that even Greene & Greene did in fact screw up on their designs. We have the advantage of learning from the past. A great book on buildings, although I warn you he is not too fond of timber structures because they are difficult to maintain, "How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built" by Stuart Brand.
4) Apply and maintain stain/sealer on a regular basis, and make certain to continue to check for bugs. Spray borates on the logs when you cut them, and seal them good, when built. But don't forget to continue checking. If you see/hear woodpeckers on your house, that's a sign there is bugs in the wood, otherwise they wouldn't be pecking. Keep an eye out for carpenter beetles, carpenter ants, etc...
As long as you keep the wood dry you should be fine. Raising the foundation is important as the water will splash on the bottom logs/wood otherwise and that will wear the stain/sealer off and eventually cause rot.
log type
My father built a log hunting camp in three stages starting about 60 some years ago. He used poplar logs which around here are definitely not in the top five of species for rot resistance. Today I would call it in excellent shape considering it got used 2 - 3 weeks a year, it's in the shade and I don't think it ever had preservative on it. What it does have is a good overhang on the roof. He built it with the poplar because they were there, the right size and straight. To each his own.
My father built a log hunting camp in three stages starting about 60 some years ago. He used poplar logs which around here are definitely not in the top five of species for rot resistance. Today I would call it in excellent shape considering it got used 2 - 3 weeks a year, it's in the shade and I don't think it ever had preservative on it. What it does have is a good overhang on the roof. He built it with the poplar because they were there, the right size and straight. To each his own.
Sawyer Rob
Addicted to ArboristSite
That's the secret, big eves and get it up off the ground. Then keep a good roof on it, and it will last a long long time...
Those three things are "by far" more important than what kind of logs are used.
Rob
TraditionalTool
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A sono tube is a circular piece of cardboard that you pour cement in. There's some pics of what they end up looking like in the gazebo thread. Here's the pic:
Typically you wouldn't put the entire house on them, and more often they are used for porch posts, and what I plan to use for my porches. Often people will put rock around them to make them more attractive.
jimdad07
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A sono tube is a circular piece of cardboard that you pour cement in. There's some pics of what they end up looking like in the gazebo thread. Here's the pic:
Typically you wouldn't put the entire house on them, and more often they are used for porch posts, and what I plan to use for my porches. Often people will put rock around them to make them more attractive.
Nice looking project
