|
|
Post by smwon on Oct 1, 2006 22:03:56 GMT -5
Ok... please bear with me here, k? What size diameter logs should a person use for a house (in Alaska) and should they be scribed the full length of the log and notched?
Other than log and frame what do people now build with in Alaska?
|
|
|
|
Post by Freeholdfarm on Nov 9, 2006 1:26:28 GMT -5
You asked what size logs: you use the biggest ones you can get, especially in the Interior. The bigger the house, the bigger the logs need to be. (More mass, because there's more space to heat.) You can heat a tiny cabin made with 6" 'D' logs (the kind that are flattened on three sides, left round on the outside). I think the biggest we were able to get in Tok from local logs were 10" 'D' logs. Anything bigger would've had to be hauled in from outside the area. The 10" logs were adequate, if they didn't twist and crack badly, and if they were really well chinked. A lot of people use splines in addition to the chinking, to help keep from having drafts.
As far as other methods of construction, look at the materials available on your land, and use them as far as possible. If I ever make it back up there, I'm going to use something similar to Mike Oehler's $50 and Up Underground House Book with three or four feet of dirt on top of it and almost no windows (similar to Eskimo housing, in other words). It should be very easy to heat.
Kathleen
|
|
