how to build a log home yourself

[bill]

The situation is this:
We want to build a house in the bosom of nature in the Bryansk region, a few kilometers from the village where there are relatives. We plan to do everything together without superintendents, builders, and other people that could deceive. An excavator and a similar technique in that area is excluded because the expected location is in a field, surrounded by the forest. Communications like a plumbing and a heating through the woods is not easy to carry out and we do not need it because we are planning to make a brick oven on the first floor (by the way is also very important moment in the construction sector). It has two floors, with a loft. Everything is a country style. For a permanent residence! The fact that we are not builders, and we can not solve a lot of questions. We decided to find out in advance all the best, and then you do.
It is difficult but not spare forces.
1. First, which material to use? a brick? an aerocrete? or a ceramics? (Not wood), or from any other material? (Given that everything will be done with hand tools, no stationary machine tools).
2. How to make the ceiling (a floor) between the second and the first floor? Which is the material better and easier? Let me remind you no heavy equipment like a crane.
3. Since electricity is not available there, we will keep products in the cellar. Then the question arises, what about the foundation, as it is better to do in this thread? Again, how deep and how generally do a foundation?
4. In the Bryansk region the climate is not always pleasant, especially in the winter, as all that then build at minus 30 fridge did not the whole house? In the summer there will be a sun. As smooth as climatic difficulties?
5. "plus - minus" I would like to know from experts in these cases for how much we expect? (Doing it all ourselves).
We sketched the plan of the house, each floor with two rooms of, it turns out a rectangle box of two floors of the same size, divided by the partition in the middle. (Only 4 rooms)
Just to be close to this house is a quite big room for the cattle at the top of which is a barn (again, from what and how to make it safe, for centuries, and the cattle in the winter is not dead)
Adjacent to another room for the wood, the same workshop (to fix that and so on.)
Adjoining the building is not so important at this stage, right now, we should determine what and how to build the house itself. We live in it and raise our children. The question is very important. I understand that the project is capacious, complicated by many factors, and therefore appealed to the people's way with his wisdom. Please help us with tips on how to? what? from what? I read a lot of sites.
We are looking forward to your assistance.

[constructor]

If a heavy machinery is not possible, then raises the first question, how you will bring the building materials? On foot or by hand? A lack of electricity, well, I do not know, certainly our grandparents lived in such conditions, and may you enjoy it, but for the fact that the children should be doomed to a primitive life? There is a first question to you, whom you call? By the way you forgot to mention architects / designers who usually "draw" and consider the home before someone builds it. Who are not professionals will be able to properly advise something. What century are you from? You use the Internet but how will you grow the children without good conditions? And a school?

[bill]

Thanks for the link, we looked it, it was interesting. So, we have similar plans, but we would like still a material for safer foam. We have 2 floors. And since there are similarities – the oven made of brick, a well, a creativity and so on. As for materials handling we do not think that someone agrees to drive the crane there, a car with bricks is okay. At the expense of children, there is a school there, and we don’t want to poison them in stone jungles. And there is no age limit here... If we don’t consider the transport difficulties, what material to choose to build a house?

[buldozer]

Excellent conditions to isolate ourselves from a society and live in the nature, in own "bunker". But this is not the place for most of a budget home, but for a very energy-efficient and expensive:
* A home should have a very good thermal insulation and a small size.
* Solar or wind turbines to supply an electricity.
* A solid boiler fuel for a year or two of autonomy
* a well
* The Internet, possibly available 3G? If not, then there's only a satellite or a directional antenna.
* A cellar with a constant temperature for non-volatile storage of a large amount of stock.
* Cameras and a high fence. And a means of self-defense, as in the case, you will expect the help from anyone. Deep inside I also want such house, but for the money it is too expensive. And to live in our time, with a family in the woods as a hermit, even without electricity is nonsense.

[bill]

A very interesting list of items, thank you for understanding the situation. Basically, about living without electricity, we had a few options on this topic, but all depends on one thing - we need advice. We do understand that we need the electricity if we can cook on the stove, the lighting, and the same relationship with a civilization is not a question not for a brick oven. We agree, of course, with all these points, but the question is the same -How? We hope very much that you tell us about the construction and about those items. Again, how to make a cellar, so why then lay a foundation? (Given that everything will be done with hand tools, no stationary machine tools). Why do everything by hand.
At the stage of construction, you can buy a petrol generator; it completely covers the electricity needs for the equipment. Many people including me have the electricity after that box.
I bought a small generator of 2.2 kw which costs about 10000 rubles. Of course, it is weak for welding, you can grab, but I can’t treat long seams (an inverter). This money saved a lot of time. Yes, and for the future it will be as a backup power source.
And with the heavy equipment such as cranes, I think no problems. The question of value, to pay a crane way, how cares where to work. You will need for 2-3 times depending on the foundation you lay and an overlap. For example 2 people, not builders, how have never laid plates. 7 boards 1.2 x 6 for 1.5 - 2 hours of a slowly work.

[baltazar]

In general, my advice to you, take in the rent (or maybe free) a house in the village, the most simple one, there are a lot of semi-abandoned villages, and profit in it at least six months. Many questions will disappear. If we sum up all of "advice", then throw this venture - without electricity and the Internet this is not a real life. If there is a road, then we can build and live.
If you build everything yourself except a base, you need to choose between a frame house (species – a timber with insulation) and a brick house (all kinds - cinder blocks, etc.). The logs are still hard to carry. The problem of the electricity solves by generators and renewable sources - wind turbines, solar panels.

[bill]

All the things that you have written here in my opinion are a complete utopia. If you have a dream of your own home, you can begin it realize, accumulating the necessary funds. You are young people and you can earn money. While you accumulate some money, you will be able to well understand what kind f project you want, a concept (what you want to do is not an option at all), hearken to the construction technology, building materials market. For the issue with the electricity enough options were offered. We want to ask another one option. There is a little river there. It is very interesting is it easier and cheaper to get energy from it? (In the summer anyway). Well, in this version what kind of device do you need? We can assume that there is the electricity there. The problem of heating was also partially solved. The fact is that a proposed oven with a generator will not heart a house completely, I would like that on both floors, it will be warm. I think there are no problems with the well. As for the protection of the home it is very early to speak. I would like to know how to build. A point that we need a cellar with a constant temperature for the storage of a large supply of food is extremely inadequate. I want to stay at the question: How build such a reliable cellar, and of course, a question of a foundation. What kind of foundation is needed?
Thank you very much for your support and very helpful pieces of advice.

[Summer]

It is really interesting. If this is not a delusion. We can live without the Internet, but without the electricity it is harder. In some technical journal I read about a homemade hydroelectric, the rope is stretched across the river on the rope there are s-shaped blades and a generator is twisted. It works under the ice. I will believe the reality of your plans, but two stories ... After a few years in the area the woods will go for the firewood. If someone finances and you just build, then you will have time in your life to live in it. But your children will grow up and leave. The second floor will be closed, leaving yourself the room next to the stove, if at that time you wouldn’t divorce. (there are so as many examples). But try.

[constructor]

I think in your case the well will be the best option.
1. If you chose the well, so it will be definitely a pump and it will be electric.
2. It is very rare to use the water from wells for economic targets, not to mention drinking without treatment facilities, and they require the water under the pressure.
3. A price of the well. To drill a meter 1500 to 5000 depending on the depth, geology, material casing, etc.
4. A price of treatment facilities is about 1000 rubles to 250000. Usually, it is about 50,000 - 100,000 rubles. Would you say your budget? Well, a construction time.

[bill]

As for the well you words are reasoned and persuasive. It is real to dig the well. As for the date, of course, we will begin in the spring, when we can keep preparing until the fall comes with the rain and the cold, and other hardships. The building will be complicated. As for the finance, of course, you want to do it cheaper, but we always choose the quality. As for the generator that works under the ice it is an interesting idea. Where is subtracted? Could you tell me? But dear experts, I would like to define what could be better to build a house? With the energy I think is much clear. There are a lot of options, choose whatever you dearer. The heating is also the option not quite fantastic. But what material to choose?

[baltazar]

So, you want to build a 2 storied stone house together in the non-working hours (in the evenings and during the weekend) for a single season without using the heavy equipment. I think it's not real. You can choose a frame house or a wage labor. From my experience. One storied house 45 sq. m with a basement. I almost did it myself (except the walls, I had to order them because the cold was running out and I wanted to cut off). With the full participation of heavy equipment, i.e. the excavation excavators and loaders, for the plates there was a crane, for the concrete – a mixer, trucks and loaders. On May, the construction will be 2 years old! And the work was not interrupted in the winter! Today, I do finishing, I spent one million and I am still thinking for the finish and a fence I will need 200 thousand rubles. That's true with communications, there is just not a gas. About the power plant. Judging by the pictures, which remain in the memory, it was the magazine "A young technician", but a very long time ago, in the Soviet era. Without technics the house can be constructed too, but to bring up the materials is so hard. You need a horse at least. Building without the electricity is also possible. I do not want to connect the electricity, until the walls raise, but my uzbeks talked to my neighbor and threw away a carrier to charge cell phones. And they used gasoline-powered tools. When in the countryside we drilled a well, a depth of 30 m, we have several years to pump the water by a hand pump. It seemed easier than before with a bucket. You can quickly build a house if you bring a ready framework. A frame house with the cattle will be by taken away by mice.

[expert]

If you have a plant of aerocrete nearby, then I would recommend to build from it (it is a great option for two and then you can easily manage, especially if there is a factory for a concrete, it is for the foundation and concrete slabs on the floor). It can be easily done from a block width of 300 mm, but it can be unsuitable by the heat saving and you will have to do out of 380 (and this one is not for only one person to pick up). In any case, in our region the people make it for one season. You can use the electricity and the water heater from the sun (there are special solar heating vacuum collectors), in general, if you have the sun, so consider this option, if you don’t have it then consider the hydroelectric and wind generator (you will need it).
In your situation, I do not see any unsolvable, so calculate everything to have enough finances.

[Summer]

And did you actually live without amenities? I think that no. And you didn’t grow up children. I lived in an old house on the second floor, where from all of the amenities thankfully was the electricity, but I wearied the water from the well, my husband was at work day and night, and was at home with young children. Now imagine yourself if you have the small children. There is no electricity, and you will live with an oil lamp and will breath of a burning kerosene, the ecology rests, then you will wear 10 buckets of water from the well, then heat on your stove, then everything should be clean and washed by hands, then clean the whole house without a vacuum cleaner and a light, but keep in mind that you need to prepare dinner every day, because you will not have a refrigerator and to climb into the cellar three times a day for your lunch? And when you will grow your children, you will have animals, a garden that should have maintenance, and you will always carry buckets of water by hands. Not a life, but a PARADISE. So, of course you will not go to work from your desert? Just as long as you are young, but when get old? How many old people in the villages are shown in old-ruined houses without facilities, they have not washed for months, because it's cold, and there are no forces and means for heating. I will not wish that life to my children and grandchildren. As I understand you have neither the knowledge nor the experience to build but what do you have - money, time, or just fantasy? Some kind of delusion. Why not to build the house in the village near your relatives?

[Summer]

I have a lot of questions in my head.
First, the author is only 21. I can not understand what encouraged such a young man to move into the "wilderness" (sorry, but it is so, without electricity, gas, and so on and so forth) . And I also love a wild nature but as I present that I have to live like that ... Not really. Secondly, to equip a life in the country you need considerable investments. But as I understand you need a budget option.
Thirdly, it is not clear how are you going to live? Will you work in the city? How much time to drive it? What kind of transport? If you decide to become farmer, then there are other requirements? Something about the way of life I still would like to know more. And it will be easier to advise something.
4 th. A 2 storied house in in the wilds? How you are going to heat with the oven? Then, you really need to put solar panels (but they still have batteries and a bunch of stuff) and make the additional heating convectors.
IMHO if you live like that, as you want in the countryside, the work in the city is out of the question, to coach the water, to feed the cattle, to heart the furnace, to prepare woods, to water the beds with a bucket from a well. Have time to turn around! In the villages, the people live well with “the fruits of civilization” such as electricity and gas. (I know it well as we go to the husband's parents, who live in the countryside and keep a livestock).
5th. And the children! You will carry them somewhere? First, it will be a children garden, then a school, then sport sections and music clubs. The time to "go back and forth," to prepare a dinner, and to water the garden, to feed a beast and so on.
You have really unrealistic plans.

[baltazar]

In your case (if it is real) you need to build a framework. Since you're so eager to live outdoors. And the foundation under it should be a basaltiform (i.e, independently, without a mixer) and with the ceilings there will no problems. You will have them wooden anyway. Everything (plates, a monolith) will be only with the involvement of technology. And you wrote nothing about the ground... How to advise?
I did not want to offend anyone. But I have strange feelings. As I misunderstood something. P. S. Personally, my husband and I decided to build a house and moved to the country for a permanent residence because we will be retired soon. And in the near future there will be time for the "garden".

[buldozer]

A very interesting topic! I remember when I was 6 years old my father (in jest or dreamily) proposed to build a log cabin on the banks of a wild Siberian river.
As for your questions ...
1. How to make a cellar? A lot of things depend on the soil and the ground water level. If the groundwater level is high, so, you don’t need to make the cellar. Only you will suffer from floods. If the groundwater level is low (a water depth), it is possible to make the cellar under the house, and it can stand alone (in villages the people like them). If you make it under the house, so the foundation will be done below a freezing level. Then you will automatically get the basement walls.
2. A foundation. If the last conditions are good, then you will be able to make a foundation yourself. It is desirable yet to invite a hired team, as your hands will hurt to mix a concrete.
3. Walls. My personal preference is a warm ceramics. The same brick (i.e a burnt clay), but warm.
4. Overlaps. Without technics and without a concrete the overlaps can be done on the wooden floor joists. Nothing complicated. Quite budget. But it can creak and burn.
5. To cover the roof with a galvanized metal, no one to show it. It does not look pretty, but functional.
6. An electricity. All mechanical methods (a back into the river, a windmill) of the road, require a good service, they do not always work, etc. The easiest way to put solar panels, a battery and an electronic unit managing its charge from the solar panels. It is quite expensive, but very reliable. This energy is enough for a refrigerator, lights, a TV set, a computer but not all at once. A kettle and other powerful consumers, of course, will not work. But you can pump the water into the house.
7. A heat energy. The house must have a hot water tank (it is pumped with the pump, see above). The tank is heated by the oven. The water used to wash yourself and not only.
Furnaces should be several. One will be used throughout the year for cooking and water heating. The second one, in addition to the first, for the winter heating.
In general, everything becomes quite not easy. But if there is a desire and a savvy, you can provide acceptable living conditions. Good luck!

[constructor]

Here is a forum with a bunch of information, an important part of it in the initial stage it is possible to master, and many issues will go away by themselves. If not, then ask. Do you wish to completely solve your problems, then how. How are you going to build a house without additional forces, if you have so many major issues, and a lot of small questions will arise? Especially, you are unlikely to be advised something specific. There are also different themes of subforum, since types of foundations, a wall material, a roof, etc. Every builder for some reason chose that option, then it is better for him.
First, you should decide what kind of wall material (there is enough information on the forum and in the Internet), a type of foundation and you should know surveying. And then go to the appropriate subforum and ask what does remain unclear? So, you get help quickly and will not consider different options that you will be offered, and there will be may. Now, we have decided to choose an aerocrete 400 mm and a monolithic foundation slab 30 cm, slabs between the first and the second floor, an attic. There will be two full floors and a cold roof. And when we have just decided to build, the solution changes very often. First, we wanted SIP panels (a quick and easy trimming), concrete blocks (cheap and warm), we considered at some point a frame house (but I do not want the wood because of its flammability), we eventually considered an aeroconcrete. The same thing was for the foundation, we have made decision for a few times. We also considered the second floor and the attic. But we decided to complete the 2nd floor, because the attic should be also properly done, because we want to build primarily on our own. And the roof was different – a hipped gable roof and a settled roof. So, this is your decision and it will be your own.

[bill]

Thanks a lot, a whole wealth of knowledge. About the way of life, some people thought that we wanted to live without any benefits at all, in principle, and to go for a work to the city. But, no!! About the way of life where to get the electricity there were offered a lot of options there. Then, there will be the same light bulbs and not a slip. We are not going to get for a work; the whole work will be in the same place – an economy. You were also speaking about the children. And I explain it. There is a quite normal school, not a Moscow sample according to the latest standards, but still. The children get an education here and not the worst. How to grow children in a village we know not by hearsay. (Which is why we are so worried about the cold, there are heavy frosts here).
As a construction after hours not on the weekends, but every day. As for proposed versions and different information, thank you all. Thank you for sharing your experience. As for the material the warm ceramics are a good option, but a brick, is obviously popular. Advantages are compelling. As for prices, they are not scary. We didn’t expect the indulgences. It was written that we need at least a horse, it is not a problem. The variant with Kamaz is good, but with the crane I see some troubles. The question arises with overlaps between floors. If we do from the aerocrete as we read on various sites, we will need special dowels. The coverings are made differently with this material. Then, how realistic is complicated the construction in that way? To avoid the change of decisions, right now, We are working to find the information.

[baltazar]

I do not understand, frankly, about plugs for the device? The only thing that a concrete differs from other materials is the fact that it is fragile. For the overlap of devices (for supporting joists) the builders make laying nets (a concrete with reinforcement). It will be a support for the beams. No other devices are not needed. We also plan to build a house from GSB with overlaps between the first and second floor by OSB wood beams.

[expert]

About dowels and overlaps you have confused two separate issues. As it has been already written, the beams for the overlap should be laid on nets. It is not necessarily to do it monolithic. You can (of course you need to consult with an engineer / architect who will do the project of a home, and do not take my words) fold into three bricks. On this construction beams are placed. As for the wall material. First, if the house is near the forest, then you should put a question of a fire protection, and therefore probably will not fit. Remember how burnt out the whole villages in a few minutes during the forest fire attack. Secondly, if you want to build from silicate blocks, remember that they are very heavy (about 40 kg. for one block 600 x 300 x 385). It requires a crane for unloading, it is not a sand-lime brick, which in extreme cases can be brought and dumped by trucks. So, that in my humble opinion the best option is a brick, followed by warming of walls.