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Show l- - it - : - V"' ' S I'-' i if - - . . . x -. t". - ' i':' i - ; . . , - ?'iK- - f ' ' . . ' - f -1 I vm5 ' vv'iv-'' ' t -i WE'D DO IT AGAIN By ROSELYN KIRK Roughing it in a trailer during the summer months while they worked to complete their log cabin house was fun in July and August, but as the nights begin to get colder, the Roger Blackham family, Farmington, is hopeful that the basic construction work will be completed so they can move into their log house in October Oc-tober before the snows come. LARAINE BLACKHAM said the family sold their house at 450 South 100 East, which was located across the street from the log house, now under construction. They moved into a trailer and a camper behind the log house construction site. Construction began on June 16 when Roger and the two older boys Gary, 14, and Terry, 13, began to dig the footings. Other family members, Jeannette, 14 and Morgan 5l2 helped to bail water and pour the footings. At that time the family expected ex-pected to move into the house in two months, but even working from about 4 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. every night and on Saturdays, the construction is still not complete. LARAINE SAID the children have contracted con-tracted out to do some of the work on the cabin. Jeanette bid $25 for the job and was awarded the bid since her two brothers bid $60 and $40 for the same work. The children and Laraine work under the direction of Roger, who is a builder. Laraine says she spends most of her time covered with sawdust, but still feels that the building project is a good idea. "We thought it would be good for our family to have a building project we could work on together." THE LOG house, which will be three stories when complete, is being built on 134 acres of ground. The Blackhams plan to sell about of an acre for other building lots, but plan to keep the acre itself for stables and horses. The log house is quite different than the log cabins built by early pioneers. It has been engineered to meet the state building build-ing code and to pass the approval of the building inspector. Laraine said that log houses have been slow in catching on in Utah, although they are often constrcuted in Wyoming, Alaska, Washington and Oregon. THE LOGS for construction came from the Uinta Mountains and were cut near Lone Tree, Wyoming. The logs were delivered in the rough cut state and each had to be turned on special equipment until it was a symetrical seven inches in order to meet the state building code. Each log had to be grooved and notched to fit together. Then the logs were cemented together with an adhesive glue, which also provides protection from the weather. After the logs are in place, they are The Roger Blackham family in Farmington are constructing con-structing their own log house. Although the log house it different than those built by the pioneers, it is an old-fashioned old-fashioned family project. burned with a torch to weatherproof them and then bring out the grain. They are treated with linseed oil, which allows the logs to breathe, Laraine said. The inside walls are prepared the same as the outside. out-side. No other insulation is needed, Laraine said, since wood is the best insulator in-sulator possible. THE WINDOWS are also framed in wood and the windows themselves are thermapane to keep out the cold. "We asked a lot of questions before we decided how to treat the logs. But we found the wood burning and linseed oil method would require less upkeep and require care only every five years. Outside the beams are extended to provide both a front and a back porch which runs the length of the house. Inside on the main level is a living room, parlor, kitchen, pantry and washroom and a bedroom and bathroom. A SIX-FOOT wide stairway goes to the upstairs, where a large family room, bedroom and bathroom are located. The upstairs area above the living room has ' been left open so that the main floor extends ex-tends two stories high. "We wanted to see the beams from the ground floor and then at Christmas we plan to decorate a two-story two-story Christmas tree," Laraine said. She plans a tree with homemade ornaments, or-naments, which like many of the furnishings, fur-nishings, will eventually be homemade. The upstairs portion of the house is a favorite of Laraine's since she likes the pitch of the roof and the open beams. She anticipates that the family will spend much of their time in the upstairs family room, which runs the whole length of the house. In the basement an additional two bedrooms, a bathroom and a work room are planned. FOR HEAT the Blackhams plan to use an earth stove, which will burn piles of wood and logs that have been left over from the building of the house and coal when the wood is gone. The heat from the wood-burning stove will be supplemented by electric heaters. The homemade concept con-cept of the house will be extended to the furnishings. 1 Laraine hopes that when the family is settled, she will have time to braid rugs from rags and tat and crochet curtains. She is not sure the family can afford to furnish the log house with antiques, although this is her preference, but she plans to buy some of the furniture unfinished un-finished and stain it herself. The plan is to have the long kitchen table ta-ble with benches in the kitchen area. The kitchen will be built with used brick for the decor. LARAINE SAID the log walls of the house went up quite fast, although they had to be nailed together with eight-inch gutter spikes which required that a four- inch hole be drilled in the log prior to pounding in the spike. Jeanette did all the drilling, while the boys turned the logs. The job was a heavy one as the logs were placed on top of each other. One log weighs about 80 pounds, Laraine said. One of the biggest jobs was nailing down the decking which will ultimately provide the base of the floor of the cabin, as well as the porch decking. THE NEXT project is to complete the roof covering, which may be either shingles or a metal roof. Since a metal roof is less expensive, and faster to install, in-stall, the Blackhams may decide on that construction. If the metal roof is used, they will use a chemical to rust the metal so that the roof will be either rust or black to blend in with the logs themselves. The technique of burning and spraying the inside walls as well as the outside, has resulted in every detail of the grain of the wood being shown. "It's like wood paneling," Laraine said, "except you have the smell of the pine all the time." ALTHOUGH SHE talked about the frustration of housing the whole family in ' a 15-foot trailer and a camper since late June, Laraine says, "We'd to it again. The only real frustration is there's no place to really live. Sometimes I feel like a gypsy and it's getting cold in the trailer." This family building project is to make the family more self-sustaining and teach them to work together. After the Blackhams sell the additional acreage, they will have the house paid off. BUILDING HAS been slower than the family anticipated since they have to do most of the building after Roger returns from work and the children from school. Laraine says she spends all day at work on finishing details, covered with sawdust. saw-dust. "I'm a real dust bunny, she says. "The children don't like to be pushed too much. They worked hard all summer and earned enough money to buy their school clothes. I guess I could sum it all up by saying, 'we'd do it again.' " |