I helped friends rehab a log-house back in 1976 in Livingston Kentucky (a mile or so from Boone's Trace) it was said to have been 150 + years old back then. Most of the logs were still good except for the ones that lay close to the ground on a shallow stone footer. My friends were able to purchase logs from an old barn being torn down near Dayton Ohio. The house was what I believe was called a saltbox type, two ground floor rooms separated by a dogtrot. The new old logs had to be cut to length and birds-mouths (mortise joints) made to fit the original. Since the floor to ceiling height was not much over five and a half feet (a dirt floor probably preceding the wooden one) we dug out the sub-floor, jacked up the logs and dug footers until we hit rock a couple of feet deep. Once while taking a break, a corner of the house collapsed where we had been digging. The rest of the house hung there while we made stilts with many hurriedly bent nails into oak 2 by 8's.
We chinked it using a stucco mix but might have fared better if we'd used the native clay which was often thickened with horse hair and thinned with hogs blood. I noticed the horse hair when we tore out the old. The same clay was used for joints in the sand stone chimneys which we repaired with mortar.
We didn't have electricity for some time, but after drilling dowel holes with a brace and bit for several hours, my friend Jerry bought a generator.
I would recommend recycling pre-hewn logs from a torn down building if you can get them. I tried out a broad axe and an adz but quickly found out, it is not for the unskilled hand. If the logs are just charred, you might be able to save them.
Larry2
---- Susan Maltby <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Folks, the following was no Museum-L - I thought perhaps some of the
> members of this list could respond - seems a bit more up your alley :).
>
> Susan Maltby, Conservator
> Maltby & Associates Inc.
>
> ----- Forwarded message from [log in to unmask] -----
> Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 11:43:00 -0400
> From: Sabrina Henneman <[log in to unmask]>
> Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Looking for traditonal log house builders
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
> Hello! I just had a guy contact me on behalf of a homeowner who had
> his log house burn. They need someone to repair it in the traditional
> way with the proper materials, chinking, etc. They are in Sparta NY,
> but any suggestions to people anywhere in the country would be helpful.
>
> He has found someone in Virginia, I believe, but he's hoping for
> someone closer and probably so he can get multiple estimates. Most
> searches online turn up the "modern" log building, and he even looked
> through log home magazines with no real luck.
>
> Thanks!
> Sincerely,
> Sabrina Henneman
> Collections Registrar
> Genesee Country Museum
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