The Owner-Built Log House: Living in Harmony With Your Environment

by B. Allen Mackie (Author)

"B. Allan Mackie demonstrates to anyone who has ever dreamed of having a log home that ownership is within reach."
-- Log Home Design

A decade ago, B. Allan Mackie was nearing completion of Ardea, the log house he built on Shanty Lake. He shared these experiences in the original edition of The Owner-Built Log House. In this new edition he continues his personal journey, which led him to complete Ardea and realize he had yet to build the perfect log house. This book is a testament to Mackie's most treasured desire -- to reproduce the life and style of the pioneers.

In this unique book, Mackie provides a thorough, expert and practical guide to building a log house. He demonstrates that, with the will to learn, the average person is more than capable of building a log house that will serve for years to come.

This profusely illustrated book is both a technical manual and a photo essay. Mackie, renowned for his skill, recounts each step day by day. The chapters cover:

• The purpose of building a log house
• The building tree
• Making a set of plans
• How long it will take and how much it will cost
• Choosing a site and tools
• Log walls
• Notches
• Roofs
• Windows, doors and stairs
• Interior and finishing touches

Mackie also carefully addresses such issues as building ecologically and harvesting trees.

This new edition of The Owner-Built Log House includes a new chapter that covers the building and finishing of two additional log houses, which were only in the planning stage when the original book was published. Over 30 photographs take the reader carefully through the process of building the author's main house at Shanty Lake as well as a new and smaller retirement home in which the author currently lives.