1808 Log Cabin Project | Log Home Diary: Entry #6 | Bob Timberlake

Weather Issues: Rain Plus Snow Equals Delays

Log Home Diary Entry # 6

The snow-covered stakes mark off where the cabin will eventually rest.

Even the best-made building plans can come to a screeching halt and leave your hands tied. It is called weather. We always factor in additional build time due to weather delays—typically two weeks in flat areas and 30 days in the high country. That does not always work out; sometimes you have only have a few days of bad weather, depending on what time of year you are building. In our case, we are only 89 days behind schedule because we elected to work with the current weather conditions: rain—some days three to four inches—snow, freezing rain, and more rain and snow.

The ground was saturated. The grass had plenty of water and was in good shape, but that all changed drastically when we brought in the equipment to dig the footers for our cabin. We created nothing but a mud pit. The grounds went from wet grass to knee-deep mud and a torn-up work area. Even when the footers had been dug out, rain filled them up with water; you can’t pour cement in wet footers. When we poured the footers, it rained again. It was just a continuous cycle.

More so, the subfloor has already been built. It’s all mud covered, and then there’s a wet, muddy building site—terrible working conditions. Then the clean, dry, beautiful, 200-year-old authentic logs, which been stored in the dry and out of the elements, are supposed to arrive at the site. The truck is getting stuck in the mud, the driveway is now torn up, and you’re using a forklift with muddy forks to try to unload these logs and place them on pallets in the muddy areas? I don’t think so. Have you ever tried to tote a 100- to 200-pound log through nothing but mud? It is hard to do.

But enough about the adverse conditions. We decided to hold off a few weeks, let the ground dry out and then break ground. Well, guess what? We are still waiting. The ground is still wet, and as of March 9, we still haven’t broken ground.

In some instances, for various reasons, a log house has to be finished by a certain date to meet deadlines. Although the cabin ideally would be completed by summer 2010, which won’t happen at this rate, we have the luxury of not having a concrete completion deadline. However, I’ll be the first to admit I wish we had it built now and that you all were here sitting by that ole massive stone fireplace relaxing with us today.

But good news: Spring is coming! I’ve already seen a lot of robins this week and two Easter bunnies.

Butch Phillips is the owner of Grandfather Mountain Log Homes.