Log Cabins 2 Go by Gastineau Log Homes is a new concept using full log wall construction in a park model housing unit. The Log Cabins 2 Go are manufactured in a controlled environment and they are completely finished and ready to enjoy upon arrival at your site. The log construction includes dovetailed corners, are sealed on the exterior, varnished on the interior, and they don’t exceed 410 square feet. This is the only full oak log park model available in the world! (Don’t confuse this with a park model with log siding on the exterior. The Log Cabin 2 Go has full log exterior walls and is built like a real log cabin!)

Here is a picturesque 400 square foot Log Cabin 2 Go that offers its owners a rustic retreat in the heart of Missouri. The couple has roughly 10 acres with a little pond where they can fish and enjoy the outdoors. The owners are retired and their children and grandchildren live in the St. Louis area and visit often to get away from the hustle and bustle. “This getaway home was planned so that it was close enough where the owners could drive to easily, but still is out in the country,” says Lynn Gastineau, of Gastineau Log Homes.

Log Cabins 2 Go was the brain child of Lynn Gastineau and these units offered the perfect weekend cabin, especially in locations where it is difficult to site build or there are property restrictions. Hunting cabins, art studios, and guest cabins have been popular for consumers and camps are using them as rental units for lakes and other recreational areas. Each Log Cabin 2 Go unit has cathedral beamed tongue and groove ceilings. All of the floors are finished with 3/4″ solid oak flooring. Each cabin has a green metal roof and is complete with a 100 amp electrical box and a 20-gallon electric water heater. The kitchen and bath are fully functional and include custom wood cabinets. Although titled as a recreational vehicle, a Log Cabin 2 Go feels like and is built like a true log cabin. It makes it the perfect cabin to go to, anytime, anywhere.

For more information, visit: http://www.oakloghome.com/LogHomePlans/LogCabins2Go.aspx

Note from editor: Base price $39,300 with a lot of optional extras that you can add on: http://logcabins2go.com/specifications.htm

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

We just finished up with our latest cabin and wanted to share with you the results. The cabin is in Philipsburg, Montana. and was built for a couple from New York as their retirement home. Following are the specs and some photos.

18×24 Cabin on full walk-out basement; 3/4 loft to be used as guest room/office, main floor: bedroom, bath, kitchen, great room. Sliding doors to bedroom and bath as a space saver. Basement unfinished – to be finished by owner at a later time.

Off grid; powered by remote start 10kw Eaton propane generator (small building to right of cabin); heated by propane stove in basement and wood burning stove on main floor. Appliances are propane. Oversize pressure tank to hold water so that the generator does not have to be run every time you want to use the water.

My cabin was built by a modest Amish community in north central Wisconsin. I had it delivered June 2010 and it is finished as of Oct 1, 2010. I had septic installed and a well dug and all that goes with that. Electric had to be established and phone service.

This was a completely undeveloped piece of land on the lake I was raised.

Now I have my own version of my childhood dream. What I learned in this process is that if you want something bad enough, you will make it happen. I have this now for my future and for my soul.

The cabin is 12X20, the porch adds another 8′ to the front which I screened in, and the loft is about a third of the footprint. I am in love with it.

Loft Bed

Kitchen

Living Area

Bathroom

View from loft

Porch View

Paradise

Final setting

Cabin delivered on flatbed truck and than porch added

Cabin Pre-built at Cabins To Go and than relocated to final setting

I have always wanted a log cabin, just some little place to get away with my thoughts and relax. I had helped a friend with the building of his log cabin back in Michigan and found out how difficult it could be with the heavy logs to move around and get into position. This wasn’t anything that I wanted to attempt on my own.

After doing a lot of research on the web I soon found out that a simple log cabin wasn’t exactly what I call cheap and nothing was available locally if I wanted to do it myself.

When I saw the laminated log cabins, suddenly a light went off in my head and I wondered if it were possible to do that myself with ordinary lumber. The next day I put a few boards together to get a better idea of what it would look like and then my idea really took off.

I had already planned on building a garage so this was the perfect way to test my theory with minimal problems.

With this idea you basically are just gluing and nailing three boards together into a tongue and groove log that will interlock into the log above and below it. Before the log is stacked I just planed the corners to give it that groove between the logs that make it look like a log cabin. Construction adhesive is also applied between logs.

I didn’t do a lot of measuring for the logs. I just used 2″ by 2″s as spacers for the clamping jig to eliminate most of the measuring. I also used a 2″ by 2″ as a guide so that I didn’t apply construction adhesive or nail into the wrong areas. I used a nail gun but there is no reason that it couldn’t be done by hand nailing.

For chinking the small cracks between the logs I used more construction adhesive on the inside and outside to seal everything up and make it even stronger.

To my suprise this turned out to be pretty low cost as well as efficient. My walls for this 24′ by 35′ garage only cost about $3000 and is nearly all twelve foot, 2″ by 8″ lumber.

This method of alternative construction gives you something that the others doesn’t, the ability to easily resell it if necessary.

I finially have my own piece of heaven here in beautiful Middle Tennessee.

My tiny house is a log cabin. I’ve built bedroom additions, renovated spaces like a garage, and built a 2-story, 200 square footprint workshop that would make a very nice dwelling, if I didn’t make stuff downstairs and store things upstairs. But I’ve always wanted to build a log cabin. And I like projects. And hand tools.

You can read more about my motives and methods, this region, and its (the cabin’s) progress and eventual use on my blog, coldholler.blogspot.com. I love to receive comments or questions there!

I think the origination would be described in chapter 1, and in chapter 16, and some others around then. The timeline began in the early spring of 2010 and won’t be complete until I chink it next May or June.

There is still plenty of work to do but the construction phase of the cabin is for the most part complete. As a result my journal entries will probably be considerably fewer from here on out.

Thanks again so much for sharing my project with your readers. I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. On a final note I wanted to remind everyone that The Shed Blog is now accepting entries for the 2011 Shed of the Year Competition. Of course I’ve entered the House of Fallen Timbers. I encourage all your readers to take a look at the entries and leave comments for the makers of the sheds you would like the judges to reward.

Thanks again Kent and thanks to all the Tiny House Blog readers who have visited the House of Fallen Timbers. I made a short video to celebrate. It has been a blast!

Thank you David Lottes for keeping us posted on your great little project.

Since the last update I finished the walls and stacked the purlins, gables and ridgepole. I’ve had a couple of nice weekends weather wise and it’s a good thing. Stacking the purlins was a monumental job. I wanted to be sure and use good strong logs to support the roof but I don’t have the know how to contrive a device for lifing so it was all elbow grease.

Now to finish trimming up the gables and securing the salvaged sheet metal, then I can see if my found bags of concrete are still in usable condition for chinking.

A friend of mine loaned me a copy of The Foxfire Book with a chapter on building log cabins and it confirmed my theory that sealing up the gaps in the walls with small scrap logs is a traditional time tested method. It even shows an example of a cabin that used concrete for chinking so that made me feel much better about my plan. Hopefully the September update will show a sealed up cabin with a finished roof!

Without all the snow and rain here in southwest Colorado, Lyle and Wolf at Jalopy Cabins have finally been able to complete their latest cabin, the “Ski Hut.”

If you missed the earlier post here is Jalopy Cabins mission: In keeping with our mission to use primarily reclaimed, salvaged, or some one else’s mistakes (ie the windows on this cabin) we were able to build this new cabin just the way we wanted.

The logs came off of the ski resort about 30 minutes from where we live and were from all the clean up they did for the slopes before the season began last year. The hand peeled round logs were more work but really worth it in the end.

All roofing was salvaged from an older house along with the rafters. The door was salvaged, repainted and given new life with a working door knob.

The windows were someone’s custom order that they didn’t like so we were able to get these nice new windows for a great deal that is also inline with our goal of having energy efficient cabins.

All new insulation was used in the ceiling and floor to also help with energy efficiency. The ceiling has high density foam and the floor has radiant energy insulation.

To see earlier photos of the cabin in progress, check out our website at www.jalopycabins.com

The “Ski Hut” is for sale and we are asking $18,000 and can help arrange delivery and setup on your site.

If you have any questions please email us at info(at)jalopycabins.com

The walls are half way up now! I’m still on target to get under roof by August but I’ve had some real weather issues. We had over 8 inches of rain in June and the heat has been stifling for the last three weeks. This combination has led to a huge explosion in the mosquito population. I hadn’t thought about weather conditions being such a challenge.

Rain makes the logs slippery and dangerous and on dry days the extreme heat makes working long hours in the sun just as dangerous as slippery logs. We have had several cases of West Nile virus here in Illinois over the past few summers so this heavy mosquito population is no small threat to those of us living in the woods. I watch the weather much more closely than usual hoping for a nice dry morning with a good breeze to carry the nippers away come Saturday morning.

Thanks again for sharing my journal and have a great day!