Log cabin home is a true labor of love, having the opportunity to build your own log home gives you the freedom to finally make your dreams a reality. All those years of waiting, and now the time is finally here!
A Springer, Oklahoma resident shares why building your own cabin over time is worth the wait.
Before you begin building your first log home, start by keeping the end in mind. It is easy to get lost in the details of the planning and building process, so be sure to keep perspective, keep a budget and realistic expectations.
The cabin sits on 80 acres that my grandparents purchased in 1944. We started by spending two years bulldozing and trimming trees to prepare the property for our new home.
Log building is like one-stop shopping. You can skip many of the components of conventional construction like framing and drywalling. It can be affordable with a practical design. During each phase of construction, I tried to keep my standards high and my spending low. I estimate that by doing a lot of the construction work ourselves, we built it for $75 per square foot.
My son and I stacked the 6×12 logs ourselves. After it was dried in, my wife, Tracie, and I did things like painting, staining and installing trim work to keep labor costs down.
One of the best things about the cabin is its size, cozy and cost efficient. It can be cleaned for less an hour, Tracy says. I like ease of maintenance for a house.
The calming landscape it offers, its tranquil, consuming us with inner peace, cabin living is everything we thought it would be and more.