The structure was designed by Universal Design, of Ferdinand Indiana based on specifications provided by myself and Gastineau Oak Log homes, New Bloomfield, Missouri.,

The structure was built to serve, longer term, as a machine shop to support the kennel and farm. Near term it was intended to be a temporary living dwelling. As such, many amenities exist which clearly would not be needed for a shop but provides lots of near term and long term flexibility.

Gastineau provided non kiln dried 8” diameter, 20’ long, oak logs. Kiln drying destroys all of the natural insect defenses of oak so naturally dried, keeps those defenses alive. Down side is you must account for shrinkage of the log diameters and therefore wall height.

We wanted to keep the natural oak color so the outside is sealed with clear TWP which does not inhibit UV. As a result the outside should be power washed and sprayed with TWP, each year.

Further the farm soil is generally lomus and therefore very wet and unstable. As a result we spent a lot of time in the design of the foundation and meticulous attention to detail.

The foundation is 8’ deep and is made of steel re-enforced, 8” wide, poured concrete with 6” thick poured concrete slab under the oak porch. At each vertical support of the porch, there is a 3’x3’ poured concrete footer (again, 8’ deep) to insure no movement of the porch nor the foundation.

Within the excavated 22’x22’ foundation, we used #57 crushed limestone to fill the interior to insure now standing water would be retained. The floor of the log structure was done by pouring a 6” thick slab with inclusive PEC tubing for hot water heating. This is supported by a 40gal, gas fired water heater, in line pump and manifold.

The roof of the porch is supported by four, 8”x8” wide vertical oak posts and since the wall the home will likely shrink, we put an adjustable jack under each post and a leveling system to help in doing an annual adjustment of the jack to keep the roof level.

The roof is of course, Standing Seem, kynar coated steel and was designed to insure no openings were needed in the roof and therefore guaranteeing no water leakage, ever!.

Amenities;

§  Custom built Oak front porch

§  Oak interior trim

§  Anderson windows

§  Full Bath, Tiled floor

§  Full Kitchen, Custom Oak Cabinet Work, GE Refrigerator, Kenmore Stove

§  Hot Water floor heating

Many pictures of the construction process and the end result have been provided below.

It should be noted that the construction was done with support from a nearby Mennonite construction company, Amish helpers, my right hand man Keith and myself. Enjoy the ride