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Small Cabin Forum / Off Topic / A West Virginia cabin home

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# Posted: 17 Nov 2024 23:08 - Edited by: ICC
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Here we go at gcrank1’s request. A short story about a home constructed partially from reclaimed old growth square logs and modern stick construction. The property is on the WV-VA state line; national forest on the VA side. The state boundary runs along the ridge so it wiggles a lot. The project was started 24 years ago and took a couple to get to be mainly complete; all the heavy duty stuff done.

The old square face logs are from two early 1800s buildings that were derelict for decades. The structures were bought on site and dismantled. Many logs were too far gone for re-use.

A proper concrete perimeter footing was poured and concrete block walls constructed on top. There is a walk in basement utility room plus some crawl space.

A masonry fireplace is central. The firebox is elevated a little which makes for less bending and stooping when reloading logs and cleaning ashes. There is a fresh air feed from below and an ash dump into the basement utility room.

There is a well and septic on site. No electrical service. There are lots of trees and shade making solar less than ideal. A Generac 12 Kw propane fueled generator was the main power source for a long time. A 48 volt battery system was installed along with a Magnum inverter/charger. The generator would auto-start as needed. A couple years ago some solar panels were installed along with a Midnite charge controller.

The chinking was done in two stages; an outside layer and then an inside layer with insulation between. There’s a bedroom and bathroom on the main floor in the stick framed wing. Upstairs there is a second bathroom. Upstairs is mostly open space with a bed and plenty of floor space for sleeping bagged guests. That encourages guests to come and stay the night but not for too long.

The kitchen has a propane range and fridge as well as the old wood burner kitchen range. Heat comes from the fireplace and a few propane wall heaters for occasional use. As well there is a Mitsubishi split-mini air conditioner/heater.