HOME ON THE LINKS

We have a building site, Lot 83 in the Sawgrass Addition of the Lake Arrowhead development in central Wisconsin. It offers wooded seclusion within a recreation community, views of the 18th green and pond on The Lakes golf course, and a shape that accommodates a long footprint with a garage built at an angle to the home.

We’ve put the finishing touches on the 2,377 square foot plan. We started with the Mountain View, a standard 2-story plan offered by Golden Eagle Log Homes, our partner in the Showcase Home project. The beefed-up final design includes almost 700 new square feet of living space and a first-floor master suite complete with a jetted tub.

And we’ve chosen Golden Eagle’s 8x8 double round full-log system to build the home. We are ready for construction.

THE PERMIT PROCESS

Before construction could really get underway, the site had to be prepared. But before that could happen, we had some paperwork to handle. Permits had to be secured.

“You can knock down trees but you can’t dig holes before getting the permits,” says Golden Eagle project manager John Batzer. Before anything else could happen, Golden Eagle had to visit:

• The Town of Rome, to get the sanitary permit for the septic field.
• The Lake Arrowhead Homeowners’ Association, which had to approve how the home was sited and a number of other items dictated by the development’s covenants.

“They had a say in what color it is,” Golden Eagle construction manager Bob Strosin offers. “For example, we couldn’t have white. We had to have natural earth tones.”

This step obviously won’t apply to most log home projects, but Strosin says it’s the kind of thing you need to be aware of. “Things can get delayed fast. In the winter, they don’t meet often,” he says. At Lake Arrowhead, however, the building inspector will not issue a building permit without the Association’s blessing.

• The Building Inspector, who required the name and license number of the general contractor (in this case, Golden Eagle Log Homes); the sanitary permit number; the names of the plumbing, electrical and heating subcontractors; and a copy of the energy audit. (The State of Wisconsin requires this document, which shows a home’s projected heat loss based on windows, roof,wall insulation, etc.)

The home is about a half-mile from Lake Arrowhead, so Golden Eagle didn’t have to get a water frontage permit from the Town of Rome. If you are building near a lake, river or other body of water, your bank may require a floodplain investigation as well. With the stage set, it is time to clear and excavate the site.

CLEARING THE SITE

Besides securing and filing the necessary paperwork, we had to check tree and brush removal regulations. Most homeowners try to preserve a site’s natural features, but clearing the site has to be done with precise balance between regulations, practical working needs, safety concerns and the homeowner’s desires.

In the case of the Double Eagle, tree and brush removal were strictly controlled by Lake Arrowhead’s homeowners’ association. The development’s rules prevent tearing out brush unnecessarily. That meant the home’s foundation had to be raised three feet above grade to access views of the green and pond.

It also meant that our desire to maintain the site’s privacy was in concert with the development’s regulations. In the end, excavating contractor Bohn Trucking had to destroy very little brush (only that which had to be taken out to accommodate the foundation) and removed about 30 small trees from the entire lot. Most of those were taken off the rear of the lot to improve the view of the 18th hole, green and pond.

Batzer reminds homeowners of this: Most excavators will want to pull out all trees within 25 feet of a house so they can pile dirt and get a bulldozer in close.

“A lot of people don’t think about that,” he says. “You say to people that you’re going to clear out some trees and when they first see it without the house they go, ‘Oh man!’” He adds that the initial shock wears off as the project moves along and a foundation, then a shell, then a completed house fills the void.

“Most homeowners miss seeing that big hole surrounded by mounds of dirt,” Batzer says. But when the house is done, “you see why the trees are removed. The whole site is filled with the house.” To ensure no more trees and brush were removed than necessary, Bob Strosin roughed out where the house would sit on the lot, using flags (around 10 in all) to mark each of the home’s corners. This set the home’s position in relation to trees, the future driveway and the septic field. The homeowners’ association had to approve the location, which was eventually rotated 15 degrees and moved 10 to 15 feet to the west (closer to the front lot line/road) to create a buffer between neighboring homes and the house.

WATER SYSTEMS AND EXCAVATIONS

Municipal utilities are not available in the Lake Arrowhead development, so the Double Eagle uses both a well and a septic field. After clearing but before excavation is the ideal time to install both systems if they’re being used.

It’s a good idea to dig the well at this point for several reasons. If you encounter any problems finding potable water or good water pressure, you can likely adjust your home’s site without major costs.

If necessary, you can delay installation of the septic field until later in the project. This will free up space for construction parking and materials storage.

With permits in hand and the site cleared, we were ready to get down to digging. Backhoes scraped, rammed and dug their way through mostly sandy soil. Topsoil was set aside so it could be replaced when the foundation was finished.

Throughout the excavation process, Bohn Trucking was careful to avoid overdigging. This was more than a cost-saving measure; it also kept the soil disturbance to a minimum.

The Double Eagle’s site presented few excavation problems, but you may have to blast through rock, wade through wet muck or preserve animal habitats in your own project. Talk to your general contractor and excavating subcontractor about any concerns before you begin to dig.

SETTING THE FOUNDATION

If you’re at all familiar with the basics of home construction, you know pretty much everything you need to know about foundations for your log home. You have the same design choices — full basement, crawlspace or concrete slab — and the same material choices — masonry block, poured concrete, precast concrete or wood — available to stick-frame construction.

Slabs are economical but limiting. You’ll miss out on storage and living space, you’ll be walking on concrete and you’ll be forced to cut through that concrete if you want or need to make any changes. A crawlspace is another economical option but almost as limiting as a slab; with a crawlspace, however, you’ll have a little more flexibility when it comes to storing and accessing mechanicals and you’ll walk on a more forgiving wooden sub-floor.

The Double Eagle was built on a full basement, the most common choice among all homeowners. Basements are most often constructed of masonry block or of concrete poured into forms set on previously-installed concrete or masonry footings designed to distribute a home’s weight load.

You shouldn’t have to make any special considerations with your log home’s foundation. The 8x8 full-log used on the Double Eagle is supported by standard footings and foundation; larger logs or greener logs may require a larger foundation. Snow loads, floor loads and soil type will also affect the size of your foundation. This was a sandy lot, so putting in the foundation was easy.

“If you’re digging in gravel or clay, you may need to do more make a heavier foundation, use drain tile, install additional waterproofing,” Batzer notes.

Rich Weiler Construction did all of the concrete work on the Double Eagle project, including the footings, foundation and driveway. Weiler’s crew poured the footings shortly after the basement hole was dug, then moved on to the 9-foot basement walls. Once the concrete forms were removed, the concrete walls were water-proofed and the basement was backfilled. The garage walls were poured next, the basement floor last. In this case, no drain tile was installed.

“The whole area is so dry, we didn’t need to,” Batzer says. “It’s all sand there. With a wet site, you’ll probably need to use drain tile.” Batzer adds that local codes may require drain tile; in Wisconsin, state code demands installation of drain tile everywhere except where local building officials decide it’s unnecessary.

SUBFLOOR

Golden Eagle chose an I-joist floor system from Boise Cascade for several reasons.

“There are things you can do with them that you can’t do with standard lumber,” John Batzer says. That includes spanning longer spaces (the longest joist in the Double Eagle measures 32 feet), which in this case eliminated splicing. The I-joists also provide a “silent floor” considered by most to be superior to a conventional lumber floor.

Wausau Supply Co. cut the system based on detailed copies of the home’s layout and floor system, which showed each beam, header and bearing point. Installation is fairly simple.

This article previously appeared in Log Home Design Ideas magazine.