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Unloved juniper trees providing logs for home
Monday, June 29, 2009 | No comments posted.
MERRILL. (AP) - Terry Wilson had always wanted a log cabin, so she and her husband Mark bought a chain saw and built one. Out of juniper.
The tree is iconic but unloved in Eastern Oregon. It sucks up huge amounts of often-scarce water from the ground and has little known commercial value.
But build they did, completing a 1,600-square-foot, three-car garage and loft with juniper logs from their 80 acres just south of Merrill. The project cost about $25,000.
They had little construction experience, but decided on the juniper project after looking at kits for pre-made log homes.
They plan to begin construction on the companion cabin this summer.
"This was our experimental thing to see if we could even, in fact, do it," Terry Wilson said. "And it worked pretty darn good."
Ever since the couple met eight years ago, cabin construction has been a common interest.
"(Mark's) a big researcher," Terry said. "The more he figured out, the more he figured we could do this."
Garage construction began in June 2005 and concluded in August 2008. They plan to live in the loft until they complete the house.
"The only thing we didn't do was the slab and the shingling," Mark Wilson said. "We did everything else."
While they built the garage and loft on weekends they stayed in an 18-foot travel trailer. Both work full-time during the week.
The couple used 130 eight-foot logs on the garage. They decided to use an older French Canadian style where logs are positioned vertically instead of horizontally.
Builders using the horizontal construction method often have to adjust door and window placements because of wood shrinkage during house settlement.
"Our garage had almost no settling," Mark said.
They used 22-foot tall posts for interior supports and poured concrete for the base.
They used radiant heating for the floor, in which a winding hot water tube is installed and connected to a stove outside.
When needed, 186-degree water is pumped through the tubes. "You walk on it in bare feet and it's warm," Mark said.
"It's actually exceeded our expectations to where we're going to build the house like the garage," Mark said.
The tree is iconic but unloved in Eastern Oregon. It sucks up huge amounts of often-scarce water from the ground and has little known commercial value.
But build they did, completing a 1,600-square-foot, three-car garage and loft with juniper logs from their 80 acres just south of Merrill. The project cost about $25,000.
They had little construction experience, but decided on the juniper project after looking at kits for pre-made log homes.
They plan to begin construction on the companion cabin this summer.
"This was our experimental thing to see if we could even, in fact, do it," Terry Wilson said. "And it worked pretty darn good."
Ever since the couple met eight years ago, cabin construction has been a common interest.
"(Mark's) a big researcher," Terry said. "The more he figured out, the more he figured we could do this."
Garage construction began in June 2005 and concluded in August 2008. They plan to live in the loft until they complete the house.
"The only thing we didn't do was the slab and the shingling," Mark Wilson said. "We did everything else."
While they built the garage and loft on weekends they stayed in an 18-foot travel trailer. Both work full-time during the week.
The couple used 130 eight-foot logs on the garage. They decided to use an older French Canadian style where logs are positioned vertically instead of horizontally.
Builders using the horizontal construction method often have to adjust door and window placements because of wood shrinkage during house settlement.
"Our garage had almost no settling," Mark said.
They used 22-foot tall posts for interior supports and poured concrete for the base.
They used radiant heating for the floor, in which a winding hot water tube is installed and connected to a stove outside.
When needed, 186-degree water is pumped through the tubes. "You walk on it in bare feet and it's warm," Mark said.
"It's actually exceeded our expectations to where we're going to build the house like the garage," Mark said.
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