Dovetail Style Shell Kit

Recently, we built a Dovetail style shell utilizing large Douglas fir logs which we harvested in a U.S. Forest Service salvage sale, on Long Creek, about 10 miles west of our log yard. We milled them into large timbers, 8 " thick and an average 18" high. Then, we joined the corners with handcrafted, dovetail-style notches. The walls are 9 ft. high.

We consider the inter-mountain, high elevation, standing-dead Douglas fir logs a superior building material. The massive, 8" thick timber walls will provide excellent insulation.

This shell is available For Sale, as a kit, and can be seen at 4560 U.S. Hwy 26, nine miles west of Dubois, WY.

• It is 2867 sq. ft. on the ground floor, including a 20 ft. 4" x 9 ft. 4" double entryway.
• The inside dimensions are 48 ft. 5" x 40 ft. 11".
• It includes a Tie Beam with three Support Posts and Floor Joists for a loft.
• The optional Loft is 700 sq. ft.
• There is an Engineer's report for the foundation.
• Drawings of the four elevations and a suggested floor plan are available upon request.
• It was designed with a large Sun Room for potential passive solar benefits.
  
• The timbers can be numbered and disassembled and loaded on a flatbed truck for reassembly on your home site.
• Tim Rogers can supervise the reassembly.

Picture Gallery

The archway is part of our western heritage.
It often includes a sign or a gate.
It seems to say "Welcome".
Welcome to our picture gallery.

Samples of Weathered Wood, Both New Construction and Restoration

Piece-en-piece Style

Piece-en-piece construction is an old and honorable method of building. It is closely related to timber framing.

The vertical members are slotted to hold the tenons at each end of the horizontal logs.

The primary advantage of this style is that it allows for the construction of large buildings with relatively short logs.

Round notch, chink style

Historical restoration and renovation of the "Chapel of the Sacred Heart", Grand Teton National Park, 2001-2002. This is a round notch, chink style method of building.

The pictures were taken before and after log oil was applied.

Saddle notch, full-scribe style

I had the pleasure of working with two instructors from the renowned B. Allan Mackie School of Log Building on this log home, in Montana.
This demonstrates the saddle notch, full-scribe style of construction with framed gable ends. Full-scribe is also known as Swedish cope.

Framing with log accent style

This home was built using conventional
2 x 6 framing with log accents.

This is a demonstration of logs and stone which is then incorporated in to a framed home.

Dovetail style

This is a demonstration of a Dovetail style
log home. The 8" thick wall timbers average
18" in height. We salvaged the timber
locally from a stand of 300 year old Douglas fir
trees which were recently killed by the bark beetles. We then fashioned it into this 3 bedroom/2 bath log home with a loft. It is currently for sale. Additional information and pricing is available
upon request.

Burl Wood Bed

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