Log Cabin Kits | Log Cabin Plans

Log cabin kits should carry a health warning if you fancy building a log cabin home or a simple log cabin.Whilst log cabin kits are freely available from many suppliers and manufacturers there are problems that can occur, particularly in relation to settling, with a log cabin kit.

Log Cabin Plans

Log cabin plans and log cabin kits appear very attractive to anyone surfing the internet or aiming to build a log cabin. Log cabin kit suppliers build a log cabin or home in their factory and then disassemble it for shipping to the end user for erection and assembly on site.

The difficulty that arises will occur some time down the road because of the problem of settling which will occur with scandinavian chinkless, canadian chinkless or saddle notch log cabins.This occurs as sure as night follows day because the logs will shrink as they dry out causing problems with settling of your log home and many log cabin kit suppliers make provision for this by providing settling space above doors and windows.
Log Cabin Kits
In fact some suppliers even allow for settlement of the roof over time.

Seasoning of Logs

The key point about settlement is directly connected with the moisture in the logs supplied; the difficulty for a log cabin kit supplier is the commercial reality that the manufacturer needs to dry out the logs very quickly to ensure steady and fast output.

This leads to the log cabin kits manufacturer speeding up the drying the logs process by using either oven drying or kiln drying or blowing hot air at them.The difficulty with this mehod of drying the logs is that the outer layers will dry out quickly but the inside of the logs will still retain a considerable degree of moisture.

The best way to season and dry logs is by leaving your logs out for around a year and ensuring that they are turned regularly for a consistent drying out process.

The benefit of this is that the logs that go into your log cabin or log home will be much,much less likely to cause you problems from settling.

Butt And Pass Log Cabin

One possible solution to this problem is the use of butt and pass construction for your log cabin.A butt and pass construction method does not require you to dry out the logs and you will not need to worry about shrinkage as the method involves

Tight Pinned Log Cabins

The butt and pass method involves a construction method called “tight pinning” which does not require the drying out of the logs and the use of steel pins being driven through the logs.
Log cabin kit homes
In later articles we will take a closer look at butt and pass construction and tight pinning. We will also look much more closely at log cabin plans and log cabin kits and how to build a log cabin.


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