Thanks Stephen for this beautiful Tiny House in a Landscape photo.

*Updated with interior photos and more details

This cabin was built with “skinny-D” (my term) logs, cut on site, laterally down the center, to make two logs. The cabin is twelve foot by twelve foot, and the log work was done in less than six days. From standing timber to a log set in the wall takes an average time of one hour per log. If you are in a remote location, and have good timber, this is about the cheapest way to build a small cabin. This cabin is located about two miles off the Yentna River in Alaska.

You can see that the Skinny-D logs give a nice flat surface, and can be made smooth with a planer and sander, but I have left it rustic. The wood stove is made from a 55 gallon barrel with the middle section cut out and re-welded. The chinking is primarily with a regular latex caulk, and a few areas are stuffed, but gaps are less that 1/2 inch. The logs are attached with 4″ self tapping screws driven at an angle from one log to the upper and lower log. The top logs are pinned with 1/2″ steel pins and 1/2″ hardwood dowels. The roof is an 8/12 pitch, with 2 x 4 rafters on 24 inch centers with 90 pound mineral roll on the outside.

The loft is 8′ x 12′ and can sleep three. There are two bunks on the main floor, plus a small dinner table, a kitchen area and some shelves. Access to the loft is by a ladder at the end of the bunks. Lighting is from a 12V system with 3 8 watt fluorescent lights power by a car battery that is charged with a Black & Decker jump starter unit that is good for about 3-4 days in the winter.

We have stayed nights when the temperature dropped to -25 F and stayed plenty warm. Two people is max for comfort, although it will sleep 4 without being crowded.

In the summer we go by boat about 35 miles from the closest launch in Willow, and then ride the half mile from the dock by ATV. In the winter we go by snow machine, right to the cabin door.

Here is the listing if you would like more information: http://www.ranwrealtors.com/wis/maildoc/a005K44039.html

I agree and hope the next owner of the home treats it well too. Thanks for sharing Dick, I really appreciate it!

Well, here in Montana, another winter is almost past. This one seemed to go on like the ever ready bunny. Around the middle of January I decided over a cup of coffer to build a small log home next to our office I share with my wife. Most of the things that I have built in my career have been stick built (dimensional lumber) so this was something new and stimulating for me.

Finished cabin

A friend in the next valley over did the log work and what a craftsman he is with his trade. We stacked the logs on a deck, lagging the first log into the six by six pressure treated plates We pinned all corners with sixty penny spikes, three quarter inch pipe through the logs in the field and used long log screws for the rafters. We insulated the roof, handmade the front door, installed double pane windows, chinked and trimmed it out.

Notice the beautiful fit

I wanted to finish out the inside with a kitchen and bath, but everyone that stops by had a different idea for its usage, so I thought I should leave that with the permanent owner. The cabin measures 16 x 24 with the 4 foot deck.

You can contact Paul via email paulmcmullin@hotmail.com

Lagbolt to the deck

Spiking the corner

Fully stacked

Cutting out for the rough bucks and windows

Two layers of high R value (6 per inch) foam with two by four sleepers for sheeting

Hinge on handmade door

Chinking over backer foam

Log scribe work on a valley jack

Door and window detail

Rafter and interior detail

What is your tiny house dream? Please share it with everyone via the comment section below. Have a wonderful weekend!

By: Estemerwalt Log Homes of Honesdale, PA

Photos:  http://www.estemerwalt.com/log-home-photos/exteriors/m-logcabin1.html
Photo Credit: Estemerwalt Log Homes/ www.estemerwalt.com

This Pennsylvania log cabin is a year-round rustic hunting and fishing retreat – the perfect outdoors getaway, and the very definition of aesthetic simplicity.  While not teeny-tiny, this little cabin is a marvel of simple efficiency.  The 1,200 square feet of living space relies on nooks to delineate space functionally; two small sleeping lofts meet at a spiral staircase, and there are three more beds on the main level.

Furnishings are sparse, as are amenities: this home is completely off the grid.  There is no running water – only an outside well and an outhouse. There is no power – the owner brings a generator with him when he’s there, and the log cabin is heated only by the woodstove and fireplace.  (The photographer brought a generator with him for this photo shoot, to light the cabin.)

Located two miles from the nearest road, this property came with a run-down cabin the owner initially planned to restore, before he realized a newer place would better serve for a hunting and fishing retreat. The logs come from Estemerwalt Log Homes, a 5th generation, family owned company with 125 years of experience in the lumber industry. The logs for this cabin are milled 10” round eastern white pine, and made the voyage to their final home here several logs at a time, due to the remote location of this property.
This is one home that fits its surroundings perfectly!

One was taken in the fall, one in the winter and one in the summer. Sandy loves this scene and has passed it many times and would like to get a closer look someday. Thank you Sandy for sharing your part of the country with us.

Summer

Fall Colors

Winter

I was stunned by the similarity of the House of Fallen Timbers story to my own. I live in rural Southeast Lower Michigan, and my 2.25 acres has been ravaged by the ash borer problem. So last winter I had quite a few dead ash trees to cut down and clean up. Like David, I had plenty of burning wood, and I was afraid they would start falling down and causing (safety) problems, and I was also tired of how bad they looked, as well as having to clean up all the shed during windy conditions. But I got to looking at them, and at how many “straight” sections of log they had in them, and I thought “Hmmm…crazy idea, but I wonder if I could build a small log cabin from the straight pieces.” I also had seen Dick Proenneke’s PBS special, and was impressed that a single person could do that.

So on January 2nd of 2010, I started cutting down trees. A friend helped me, a guy who burns wood for heat, and I told him that if he helped me cut them down and cut them up, he could have all the crooked stuff to burn. It took a while, but we got them all cut down and stacked the straight ones in drying piles, and he got quite a few loads of excellent firewood out of the deal, which I helped him cut to burning size pieces and load onto his trailer. He was happy, and so was I.

Making a long story short, it’s 11 months later now, and I have ended up with an ash log cabin. The only thing I have left is to install the stove pipe so I can burn wood for heat in my Grandfather’s 1887 wood stove that I have in there.

The costs for building were minimal, as I attempted to (and took great pride in) using resources and materials I had already laying around or could recycle from other sources I could find. I did buy some things, like the USB sheets for the roof and floor, 3 insulation rolls to stuff between logs, hinges/handle for the door, but that’s about it. It was a great project, and I learned a lot, and gained great appreciation for the pioneers who did this type of thing for their families to provide them with shelter. I also pretty much did it solo. Besides the friend helping me cut down the trees and stack the logs, one other friend came one Saturday and did some odds and ends – peeling some logs, doing some notching, etc… – more because he was excited about what I was doing and wanted to learn how to do some of those things than out of necessity. Other than that, I did the rest myself, including the nut-busting-back-breaking moving around of VERY heavy hardwood logs. Luckily, I got through it without any big accidents, though not without some scary moments, particularly getting the real big logs up to higher and higher levels.

So I just wanted to share some thoughts and ideas on our projects. Congratulations on your own completions. I share and understand your efforts, and give you credit for all your work.

Sincerely,

Don Richmond
drichmond (at) altair.com

This is a tiny old log cabin in the town of St. Elmo, Colorado. Pop. 3 during the winter, more in the summer. It was a fine fall day as the aspen were turning in September, 2010.