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Trudy
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# Posted: 16 Apr 2012 12:24pm
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The ranch that has been in my family for 120+ years is being sold  and I do not have enough $$$$ to buy it. I am, however lucky enough to be able to buy the one piece from that was set aside years earlier. On the ranch there are several old buildings including the old homesteaded cabin (built in the late 1800's) that I would like to use on my property if possible. Most of the wood is not rotted, but it is very weathered. Is it sound to reuse these logs to rebuild?
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Trudy
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# Posted: 16 Apr 2012 12:28pm
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Here are some pictures.
The original homestead and addition
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Barn Interior
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Old building used to store hay in recent years
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The old barn
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Trudy
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# Posted: 16 Apr 2012 12:33pm
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And a few more.
I would really like to use some of these to keep them in the family, but don't know if the weather cracks are a problem.
Thanks
A look at some other buildings I don't have close pictures of
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sparky1
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# Posted: 16 Apr 2012 08:34pm
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Hello Trudy;
I have (2) old Tobacco barns (1) is badly rotted NW corners--here where I am that's the corners that rot.
from what I have been told---spray different color s on N.E.S.W on the inside keeping the logs in the weather as they always were. keeping them IF you can in the same order.Bottom to top.
when tearing it down---keep it dry as possible changing the angle(inside outside) they were, prevents them from warping if they get soaked-(hopefully not. I'm not a wood man or contractor---just going by what I was told when I do (1) one of mine.good luck---keeping something in the Family.
sparky1 in Southern Va.
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brokeneck
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# Posted: 16 Apr 2012 11:51pm
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Cool stuff I'd lovve to use 'em -- any chance you can make a plan of the original house and use all the rest as well to recreate it --how cool would that be --
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Malamute
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# Posted: 17 Apr 2012 12:53am
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Are you going to move the buildings or renovate them in place?
If move them, I've heard of people using a deck of cards, cutting them in half, and stapling the halves on the corners to get a match when reassembling. Use a suit per corner to keep it easy.
Do a google image search of "Old Trail Town", they have many old log buildings that were saved and relocated to their site. Your logs look fairly weathered, but usable. A few may need to be replaced or patched. The new chinking material (Log Jam)is very good about sealing up the joints between logs, and "Log builder" is a similar material that's good for cracks in the individual logs rather than the jonts between them. You'll need to get the logs off the ground, on rocks or other stable material to get a stable building and alleviate rot from the ground.
There's another way to chink, and cheaper. It's the old "new high tech" method. It used one part portland cement, 2 parts gypsum plaster, and 3 parts coarse sawdust (like chain saw sawdust). It makes a pretty stable chinking material, far better than mortar. There's more to it, if you want to know more, I'll elaborate.
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Trudy
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# Posted: 17 Apr 2012 10:02am
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Thanks for your replies. We are hoping to rebuild the old homestead cabin on our property. We will be moving the logs about a 1/4 mile. My hope is to move the logs to our property this summer, and then build next fall. I was going to store the logs off the ground on some other wood until next summer when we will try to build it. Are there any problems with this. I like the idea of using the cards to mark the logs. I might try to find some plastic ones that might last better. Either this fall or next summer we will put in a foundation and then rebuild the cabin, as close as it was originally, on the new property. I am hoping to find a few remnants of the the original interior finishes so I can recreate them. I can't tell you how excited I am, I just hope I am not getting in over my head.
My first thing is to figure out how to take it apart. I am hoping to use and old hay elevator to move the logs from the cabin to the trailer we will use to move them. And the roof. I'm not sure it is safe to climb up there, and am not sure how to remove it. If there are any websites or books on the subject, I would love to hear about them. Thanks.
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Trudy
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# Posted: 17 Apr 2012 09:44pm
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I just talked to my uncle and the cabin is ours if we want it. Now I need to hire someone to make sure I do this right, but I have no idea who can do that. The cabin is in Summit County Utah. If anyone how to find someone who does this kind of work please let me know. Trudy
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Malamute
Member
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2012 06:57pm
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The logs may not be as heavy as you think. They don't look that large. If you have any manual labor help, they may be movable by hand.
Taking the roof off should just be a matter of disassembling in reverse order from building it. If the roof isnt going to be reused, just cutting it up in sections may be simplest/quickest. A sawzall may be handy for cutting nails in joints, whether saving the parts or not. Have some good, longish metal cutting blades, and a few longish wood blades.
The cards should hold up OK for as long as you'll be storing it. Some of the card on the cabins at Trail Town have been on them for years and are still readable. Just staple them on with a hammer takcer stapler, or hand power stapler. I'd take digital pics of the corners after tacking the cards on. If you lose any of them, it will make more sense.
I'll see if I have any pics of the cards from Trail town. I don't recall exactly how they did it. The wife of the couple that built trail town has passed away, the husband is in a nursing home and doesn't remember much, sadly. There may be another guy I can ask, he helped them move some of them I believe. I now others have used the system, it may show up in a search.
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fpw
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# Posted: 19 Apr 2012 08:44pm - Edited by: fpw
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Make sure you mark the logs before you take them apart. They only go back together in the same order you take them apart.
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