We finally caught the interest of Bill’s brothers who were very handy with tools. Brother St. Clair came from Virginia to lend a hand with the roofing and taught Bill what he needed to know. Measure the spacing with a shingle. Or something like that. And our daughter, Clare, joined them and what they did worked and no one fell off! Our son Louis’ claim to fame was holding the roof beams in place while Bill did the hammering.
Then came brother Hugh from Texas who knew exactly how to put in the flooring. We used 6-inch grooved pine flooring that was 2 feet thick. The ceiling of the first floor was the floor of the second floor. That always felt like cheating or some kind of trickery to me. The good thing was Bill was willing to take the advice of these younger brothers in exchange for their help. I loved seeing them having fun and happily working together.
I had always thought we would have a fireplace. Log Cabin, fireplace! They go together!
When I fought for my fireplace, Bill asked me, “Do you want a fireplace or windows? Do you want to heat the inside of the cabin or outside?” His logic was sound and then he confessed that he had no idea how to connect logs to a brick chimney.
So, I saw a picture in a magazine of a lovely wood burning stove with legs and a decorative door. I wrote to the man who had the stove in his house and asked him what kind it was. This was before Google, remember. He wrote back that it was a Vermont Castings Resolute. We found it and I am now using my second one. Messy, and won’t burn without wood, but great heat.
We installed a four-ply aluminum make-believe chimney that I had no confidence in. But it hasn’t burned down the house yet. When installed up through the ceiling, into the upstairs and on to the roof, it created a perfect space for a 15-foot closet. Of course, poor Bill had already finished the space with no closet. I got my life-saving closet and decided the chimney was perfect after all.
With our style of log cabin, you have inside and outside chinking between the logs. First, you cut strips of regular insulation, rabbit wire for the cement to adhere to on the outside and carefully cut and fitted strips of lauan for the inside composite to adhere to. The composite looks just like cement but is recommended for the inside. Never understood why, but we ordered several 5-gallon buckets.
I came home from work one day and found Bill in the back on a ladder in the corner of the cabin. He was starting to chink and he had cement running down his arms and on his face. Both hands were covered and he was totally frustrated. I unwittingly said, “Oh goodness, I’ll give it a try.”
I had no problem with the chinking, just like icing a cake! Slow work and tedious, but I was proud that I could do this, because most of the hard heavy work had fallen to Bill. That pleasure dimmed a bit when I had to have carpal tunnel surgery after it was all done.
Five years after the start of construction, we moved in. Doing this big project and hard work really strengthens a marriage. No one is leaving all that accomplishment with the other one!
Maybe it didn’t take a village to build a log cabin, but it sure did take a family. That must be why they all love it.
Jeanette Smith, 95, a Blythewood resident, has been active in the community’s civic affairs for over 50 years.