×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Log Cabin/Home Design

Log Cabin/Home Design

Log Cabin/Home Design

(OP)
Any information or data regarding the design and/or analysis of "Log Cabins/homes" wll be appreciated.

Thank you   

RE: Log Cabin/Home Design

I suggest hiring Real Log Homes or Timberpeg out of NH. They are a good firm and it sounds like they may have a bit more background in the subject than you.  

RE: Log Cabin/Home Design

you can also contact the "International Log Builders Association" in Lumby, BC (250-547-8776).  They have a lot of good information to include log span tables and construction techniques.

As for the lateral design though, I would contact a local structural engineer who has dealt with these structures.  They are a very different animal structurally in lateral performance.  I have designed many over the years.

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto:  KISS
Motivation:  Don't ask

RE: Log Cabin/Home Design

I've been engineering various types of log homes for about 15 years.  There are many methods of fastening the logs together each of which requires slightly different analysis. The ILBA does issue beam span tables but don't tell you what they are based on.  Here are some articles and helps that have come out in the last few years.  They are helpful in figuring out how to analyze. There are also some other threads on this forum about log home and log shear wall design.  
The ICC 400-2007 is the code for prescriptive design and gives TPI timber values for whole logs which up until now were hard to get.  Most grading societies don't give values for whole round logs.  The restrictions on seismic, wind and snow make ICC 400 not valid is about 1/3 of the US where you would normally build a log home or cabin.
Remember you can't use the entire round section for analyzing round beams in bending or compression.  NDS 2005 for round piles lets you use the properties of a square with the same crossectional area of the enclosed circle.  ASTM D3957 requires you to use the properties of a square that can be fully incribed inside the shape of the log.  The ASTM spec is quoted in ICC 400 and 2009 IBC but ends up being very conservative (50% for Moment of Inertia and Section Modulous of round section h=b=0.707*dia).  I normally use the NDS which gives about 75% of the section modulous of the full circle (h=d=0.86*dia).

The ILBA in conjunction with other groups use to offer a week long class in Fort Collins and Estes Park Colorado on design and engineering log homes.  I haven't seen it advertised for several years.

If you have a specific style log home and specific questions the forum can probably answer them.

ICC 400-2007 2007 Standard on the Design and Construction of Log Structures

http://www.iccsafe.org/Store/Pages/Product.aspx?category=&cat=&id=879LOG07_PD-X-IC-P-2007-000005

ILBA Log Building Standards

http://www.logassociation.org/resources/standards.php

March 2006 Structures magazine

http://www.structuremag.org/archives/2006/March-06/march2006.htm

Good luck.  Log homes are fun and challenging.
  

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources