There are many things that you have to take into consideration but the most important thing you might want to think about is the timbers. The most important thing to a log cabin is the logs themselves. Without the logs, you are not going to have a log cabin. There are many things you have to think about when it comes to the type of wood to use. There is the moisture content that is found in the type’s logs and the way the logs that you use. You also have to take in account that the logs can shrink and expand when they are heated. Also, as the logs dry out, they can get small cracks in them and slowly open up over time. There are 4 main types of logs that you can use to build your log cabin.
When you are choosing the logs for your log cabins Ireland, you can use green logs, or the logs that are freshly cut from the forest. The logs that are brought right to the mill to have their bark removed are considered to be a green log. The green log is not referring to the color of the log but to the freshness of the log itself. With these logs, the moisture content is based on the species of the wood. They all vary because there are different moisture levels in each species of the wood you are using. The moisture content is different between oak and pine. So depending on the species of wood you are going to use, you have to take that factor when building your log cabin.
Another type of log that you can use is called an air-dried log. These logs are cut from the forest and brought to the mill. There they are stripped of their bark and stacked with spacers so the air can get between them to dry. When you are air drying logs, it takes about a year before the logs are ready for use. A year’s time is the minimum but it can take longer depending on the thickness and the amount of water in the log. When you are during these logs, it is best to keep them under a some kind of shelter so the rain doesn’t affect the drying process. Once the logs are dried, the mill ships them to the customer so they can start construction on their log cabin.
If you don’t want to wait that long for the logs to dry, you can get a log that has been artificially dried. These logs are called kiln-dried logs. These logs are brought to the mill green; the bark is peeled off, and then put into a giant kiln for the drying process. This speeds up the curing of the log by 50%. By using a kiln-dried log, you can go from a month right down to a few weeks until the log is ready for building. These logs are great to use for the walls because the shrink factor is a lot less and so is the cracking.
The last type of log that you can use is what is known as an engineered or laminated log. These logs are man-made and produced in a factory. These logs are glued together and then pressed to make the lumber look like a log. These logs are assembled with lumber that is no more than 2 inches thick. All of the lumber used is real but is glued and then pressed and dried so they resemble a log. These logs can be ordered right from the factory and shipped out to the job site so you can start building your log cabin. The drying time is reduced to a week for this type of log. After the log is done drying, it is sent through a planer to make the surface smooth.
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