Hand-Hewn Log Home Chinking

I received an amazing email from someone that had purchased a home and soon discovered upon beginning restoration and remodeling that underneath the clapboard siding was a hand-hewn log home. What an exciting find!

Some may grimace at such a find as it does open up a host of unanticipated situations with which they must tackle beyond the norm of home restoration. A find such as this may also drastically change the original plans.

Hand-hewn log homes are a different beast than the typical log home. Where natural logs (round logs) are used to build a home the intention is to leave the logs exposed – no further siding would be used. But historically the hand hewn log home was a method used to construct walls – both interior and exterior to which an exterior or interior wall surface would be adhered. The log construction was merely a method but not intended as a finished surface.

Typically the outside of the home was sheathed in clapboard. This covered and protected the log construction. The interior walls would usually be plastered leaving little evidence that the walls were constructed of log. Throughout time tastes changes and many people upon discovering such found the dovetailing so beautiful that they would rather expose the walls in all their glory.

The first photo is a large farmhouse that I visited recently. It is mostly untouched from when originally built in the mid 1800s and underneath its original clapboard siding (still intact on two sides of the house) its walls are hand-hewn log. The north side of the house – as we view here – siding was removed and asphalt shingle was applied years ago by a previous owner. The new owner had just removed the original clapboard from the back of the house seen here with the porches and discovered the logs. Stumped as to what to do they asked me to visit.

No doubt the craftsmanship and charm of hand-hewn walls are stunning however, exposing hundred year old wood and chinking to the elements require a few more steps in order to preserve and protect from the weather. Ill do my best to approach these precautions and steps in coming posts.

The corners of hand-hewn log walls were joined using a dovetail – a time consuming and laborious process. The space between the logs was chinked however the chinking was a bit different than that of chinking in round log homes.

The gaps between the courses of logs on a hand-hewn log home can be quite substantial. Chinking gaps on a round log home are typically about two inches however on hand-hewn log homes those gaps can be as much as six to eight inches or more.

Chinking such a large space is a bit of a different animal and the chinking procedure that I described in earlier posts would need to be adapted for this application.

In doing your research you will find that many times that the chinking between the logs of a hand-hewn home is further supported with field stone and sometimes slats of wood. To fill the space using just mortar chinking would be not only difficult but incorrect.

In these photos you will see a recently restored-hand hewn home. Restored is a bit of a misnomer as the original clapboard was removed. The exposed logs and chinking clearly show the large stone used however, the chinking mixture used is the same as in my previous posts.

Here is another photo example of the chinking on the log home seen above. As you can see the gaps between the logs are almost twelve inches and more. Clicking on the photo will give you a larger view so that you can see in more detail.

Roof overhangs on this house are not like that of typical log homes. On a round log home the roof overhand should be at least 2 feet and preferably 3 feet to help protect the logs from the elements. In the case of hand-hewn homes where the original siding has been removed the logs were protected by the siding and roof overhangs were more like that in standard construction.

Since the siding has been removed additional attention will be needed to help preserve and protect the logs. I will post a formula of a mixture of boric acid and propylene glycol for the preservation of logs in an upcoming post. The mixture can be sprayed on using a simple garden sprayer with some safety precautions. This mixture will be drawn into the wood and help to ward off wood boring insects and mold.

I will post some photos of the home from the couple that emailed me if I receive their permission to do so along with a brief history of their exciting discovery.

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