The Classic Hewn-Log House: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building and Restoring

208 Pages·2005·22.53 MB·English

by  Charles McRaven

The Classic Hewn-Log House
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The Classic Hewn-Log House
A Step-by-Step Guide
to Building and Restoration
Charles McRaven
ß
Storey Publishing
The mission of Storey Publishing is to serve our customers
by publishing practical information that encourages personal
independence in harmony with the environment.
Edited by Carleen Perkins
Cover designed by Wendy Palitz
Text design and layout by Jen Rork
Art Direction by Cynthia McFarland
Cover photographs by © Linda Moore McRaven:front cover top left, top right, and
bottom right, back cover top; Jonathan Stoke: back cover bottom left;
© Roger Wade/Oakbridge Timberframes: front cover bottom left
Interior photographs by © Linda Moore McRaven, except for the following:
© W. Cody/CORBIS 120; © William K. Geiger 125 bottom right, 128 top, 130 bottom
right, 134 top left; Jonathan Stoke 119, 121, 123 bottom, 129 top right, 133 top; Cindy
Thiede 123 top; © Roger Wade/Boyd Mountain Log Cabins 126 bottom, 128 bottom left
and right, 129 top left and 133 bottom; © Roger Wade /Carney Architects/On Site
Mangement/Rocky Mountain Log Homes 132 top; © Roger Wade/Pederson Logsmith
131; © Roger Wade/Yellowstone Traditions/Peace Designs/Candace Miller, A.I.A. 50, 127
top left, and 132 bottom left
Text production by Jennifer Jepson Smith
Line drawings by © Chandis Ingenthron and Charles McRaven
Indexed by Susan Olason
Copyright © 2005 by Charles McRaven
First edition published in 1978 as Building the Hewn-Log House;second edition published
in 1994 as Building and Restoring the Hewn-Log House.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without written permission from
the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages or reproduce illustrations
in a review with appropriate credits; nor may any part of this book be reproduced, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or other — without written permission from the publisher.
The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recom-
mendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or Storey Publishing. The
author and publisher disclaim any liability in connection with the use of this information.
For additional information please contact Storey Publishing, 210 MASS MoCA Way, North
Adams, MA 01247.
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Printed in the United States by Versa Press
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
McRaven, Charles.
The classic hewn-log house : a step-by-step guide to construction and restoration /
Charles McRaven.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58017-590-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Log cabins--Design and construction. 2. Historic buildings--Conservation and
restoration. I. Title.
TH4840.M34 2005
690'.837--dc22
2005004010
DEDICATION
To Linda, who has shared so many adventures with me, and to our five —
Amanda, Lauren, Chelsea, Ashley, and Charlie — growing up with the
legacy of the American log cabin, learning their building skills at my side.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
So many people helped with the new edition of this book. First, and always,
the guiding force behind my projects, my wife Linda — creating, support-
ing, organizing, photographing, editing, typing. Janet Pitt, our office com-
missar — always on top of it. Margaret Morris, our right hand — always
there to take the pressure off. Amanda, Lauren, Chelsea, Ashley, and Char-
lie, whose photos and energy clarified sticky text questions, and whose
great work at the National Building Museum (every year building a log
cabin) shared their enthusiasm with thousands of eager urban children.
The staff of Storey Publishing, whose work with me throughout the years
has always exceeded my high expectations — Deborah Balmuth, Carleen
Perkins, and Kent Lew. Art Thiede and the late Cindy Thiede for their
wonderful log books and photography. Cindy’s talent, generosity, energy,
vision, and love of America’s heritage will be missed. And, of course, Chan-
dis Ingenthron, whose drawings after almost 30 years of working with us
keep getting better.
To all these wonderful folks, my deepest thanks.

C O N T E N T S
foreword
IX
hewn logs and houses
INTRODUCTION: 1
the american house
1 5
pioneer building
2 17
restoration
3 27
land and site
4 48
design
5 59
acquiring materials
6 66
foundations and basements
7 77
hewing, notching, log raising
8 88
roofing
9 104
a gallery of hewn-log houses
119
windows and doors
10 135
chinking
11 145
floors and stairs
12 154
stone fireplaces
13 162
porches and additions
14 171
lofts, utilities, finishing interiors
15 180
epilogue
190
bibliography
191
additional reading
191
glossary
192
index
194

FOREWORD
for hundreds of years,
building with logs was the primary method of
home construction in Europe and North America. The Dutch and Swedes intro-
duced the log-building tradition to the Philadelphia area in the late 17th century,
and it was the larger German population that disseminated the tradition, with the
Scots-Irish helping to carry it to the frontier. By the time of the Revolution, it had
become the dominant method of house construction in the colonies. In fact, a 1786
survey of 140 houses in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia showed that one house
was of frame construction, one was stone, and 138 were built from logs.
As early as 1803, a distinction was noted between a log cabin — a temporary
dwelling built from rounded logs — and a log house, which was built from hewn or
squared-off logs and was meant to be a permanent dwelling. Few, if any, original log
cabins exist today, whereas a multitude of log houses, often embedded in later struc-
tures, dot the countryside.
Preserving the heritage of the hewn-log building tradition evokes a nostalgia for
those dwellings of our forefathers; it is a vanishing art that needs to be preserved.
Charles McRaven is a consummate craftsman with a vast knowledge of this art. His
50 years of experience are represented here in The Classic Hewn-Log House, the
definitive guide for building, restoring, and preserving hewn-log structures. From
choosing the site and design to selecting materials and demonstrating techniques,
McRaven provides easy-to-follow directions written in a highly readable style that
conveys the author’s hands-on experience.
In this third edition, Charles McRaven has expanded on his lifelong study of the
restoration of hewn-log dwellings, reinforcing his reputation as the country’s lead-
ing authority on log construction and restoration. Just as Thomas Jefferson
described Andrea Palladio’s I quattro libri dell’architetturaas the bible of classical
architecture, one could say that McRaven’s The Classic Hewn-Log Houseis the bible
of hewn-log construction.
K. Edward Lay
Professor Emeritus of Architecture
University of Virginia
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