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Decay in House Log

Started by sleepy, February 07, 2008, 08:55:45 PM

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sleepy

Yesterday I ripped a sill log for our log home. This afternoon when I was dressing the flat I found a spot of decay that was hidden inside the log. Fortunately most of the decay was contained in the slab and only a little was in the remaining log. The log is sound on the exterior. I probed with a screwdriver and found the decay was not very deep. I took the nose of the chainsaw and cut kerfs to remove all of the decay on the sill log side. I was wondering if I flood fill these kerfs with penetreat will this log be ok. (Penetreat is a product similar to timbor)
The first picture is of the slab side. The second picture is of the finished sill log with kerfs.





"I would rather try and fail than to never have tried at all"

Loghead

Is it worth the risk?? :o  easy to change now!! ;) how about in ten years? :(
lovin anything handcrafted with logs!!

sleepy

I know the easy thing to do would be to use another log, but I'm kinda limited on the logs I can use for this. My logs are a little on the small side and I need a log long enough with a big enough tip to give the height and width I need. Those pictures are not the best in the world I took them at almost dark. The decay is something that was happening in the living tree.  In the picture it looks like a big rotten spot but it is dry and crumbly in places. As a side not our house will have wrap around porches so the logs will not be in direct contact with rain.
"I would rather try and fail than to never have tried at all"

Don P

The whiter areas look like incipient decay, you describe brown cubic rot and I see bluestain to the extent it would make the wood more "hygroscopic", or water loving. I'd say its weenie roast time  :-\

beenthere

Is this oak ?  Is it the temporary construction you spoke of earlier? If so, can you put in a replacement at a later time...when the reconstruction takes place? 

I'd say find a log without the decay...but you know your constraints best.

Dec 31
QuoteI should have explained we're building a handcrafted log home from scratch on a temporary foundation much like other handcrafted builders do. Once the shell is complete we will dismantle and move it to the permanent foundation. ............
south central Wisconsin
It may be that my sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others

logwalker

How deep are your eaves? Will the sill logs be protected from constant exposure to moisture?
Most of those borate products I believe are water soluble and will leech out if there is a persistent moisture problem. If you can guarantee they will stay dry then I would probably treat it heavily and use it. I know how the constraints of log supply can be and have had to make concessions also.
Let's all be careful out there tomorrow. Lt40hd, 22' Kenworth Flatbed rollback dump, MM45B Mitsubishi trackhoe, Clark5000lb Forklift, Kubota L2850 tractor

barbender

I'm with logwalker, if it is going to be kept dry use it. I figure if you're building a log house that can get wet it's all gonna rot anyways.
Too many irons in the fire

sleepy

Thanks everyone for the help and input. It is appreciated. I think what I'm going to do is go ahead and treat the log with penetreat like I've been doing and flood fill the kerfs. I'm keeping the logs covered with plastic and leaving the bottom open for air circulation. This will keep them dry.
I've been in the road for the past couple of days and it has dried out a little more. It looks like the saw kerfs removed all the decay that I can see on the sill log side. I really think that most of the decay was on the slab side of the cut.
I'm building on a temporary foundation so I can keep a watch on this log from the bottom. We hope to be moving the shell next fall/winter. If we have a problem it will be easy to replace the log then. I'll go buy a log then if I have to. After we get the roof on the house this log should never get wet with the wrap around porches. Below is some better pictures of the slab side and the sill log side.
By the way barbender, love the pics of the house your working on.
Thanks
Sleepy

Slab Side


Sill Log Side
The dark areas inside the kerfs are shadows from the sun.
"I would rather try and fail than to never have tried at all"

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