Going to Town With a Log Cabin : Couple Builds It as Solution to Their City Space Problem

In the 1800s, it was called a house-raising. It meant members of a community got together to help a neighbor or friend build his house.

In 1985, it’s still called a house-raising.

In the old days, the house would likely have been built with rough-hewn logs.

Today, the house is built with rough-hewn logs.

Pioneers of the earlier era built their log homes in remote settlements on the vast plains.

The similarity stops there.

Fewer than 50 blocks from downtown Los Angeles, Doug and Jennifer Lacy--with the help of friends and neighbors--have built a small (12x20-foot), two-story log cabin.

It shares the lot with their existing (circa 1909) one-bedroom California bungalow, which they’ve lived in for the last 3 1/2 years. The Lacys occupy the bedroom, and the living room does double duty as a bedroom and playroom for their feisty 5-year-old son, Charlie.

Desperate for Space

“In the beginning we attempted to divide the living room, making room for Charlie and his things,” Jennifer says. Soon Tonka trucks, Erector sets and toy trains prevailed. “We had no idea that Charlie was going to spread out so much. We eventually got pretty desperate for more space.”

And Charlie’s toys weren’t the only problem: Doug Lacy is a piano tuner and a musician, and his piano and other instruments were sharing Charlie’s quarters. With the nature of Doug’s trade, the Lacys had more than a space problem: They had a sound problem.

With the nursery in the living room, there was no place for Doug to practice, work on pianos (he often removes components of pianos and works on them at home) or to meet with fellow members of a steel-drum band of which he’s a member.

And Jennifer, an artist (who, in addition to her painting, plays the accordion), had no room to set up her easel and spread out her paints.

What the Lacys needed was a music room, a living room, a recreation room, a place to explore and practice the arts. Call it what you will; they needed more room.

Two years ago, Jennifer took a course in remodeling at Los Angeles City College, because she knew they had to work out their space problems. She had the idea of building a concrete-block house to be used for Doug’s work and for her creative interests. Her plans for concrete were discouraged by her instructor, who said it would probably exceed the Lacy budget.

About the time the course was ending, Jennifer looked up the hill above their house and noticed a neighbor was building a custom-made log home. She approached him to see if he would be interested in working with them in a similar construction, but he declined because he isn’t a contractor.

Designed Her Cabin

So, based on what she had learned in her remodeling course, Jennifer set about designing her own log cabin--not knowing a source for the logs that would be required.

Always the optimists, the Lacys pursued their course by going to the Building and Safety Department to obtain approval for their house plans and the grading that would be necessary before the start of construction. There was a slight snag: Plans for their 16-by-20-foot house wouldn’t work because of a restriction of 10 feet of space between the proposed cabin and the existing house. Four feet of the width were lopped off the design.

With that hurdle behind them, they began buying a few logs but they said funds ran out when the contractor with whom they were working skipped town with $2,000 of their money.

It was enough to give anyone a pain and, indeed, it was while Jennifer was in a chiropractor’s office that she happened on a magazine advertisement for Sierra Log Homes of Carson City, Nev.

She sent copies of her sketches and an inquiry to determine the cost and feasibility of building her cabin. The reply was somewhat astonishing:

John E. Cobbey, sales manager for Sierra Log, recalls: “It was uncanny that Jennifer’s plans were almost identical to the cabin we wanted to design and erect for an upcoming boat and recreation show in San Francisco’s Cow Palace.”

After the Show

Cobbey modified the window locations to make the plan practical for the log construction and shipped his revised sketches back to the Lacys, saying they could buy the demonstration cabin after the show at a $2,000 discount if the modified plan met with their approval.

“It would have sold as a standard building for $8,500,” Cobbey says, “but since they OKd our using it in the show, we let them have it for $6,500.”

Generally a Sierra package would include only the pre-cut logs, windows, doors, girders, joist system for the second floor and a rafter system of rough-sawn beams for the roof. Cobbey says they don’t supply wiring, plumbing, plywood and such because it makes more sense for the buyer to avoid freight charges by picking them up locally. The buyer pays taxes and shipping charges for the logs.

In the Lacys’ case, however, they got an additional price break on the foundation, flooring, roof and posts and framing for the porch. That’s because Doug and a friend, Jim Unfried, hauled the logs and other materials to the Lacy’s lot after the show at the Cow Palace closed, eliminating the need for Sierra Log to haul them away.

“The foundation was a problem, because we couldn’t get a tractor in to dig the footings. That had to be done by hand. A friend from San Francisco came down to lend a hand,” Doug explains.

Friends Lent a Hand

Friends were to play an important part, because just as construction was scheduled to begin, Doug Lacy was hired for a one-month tour to the Pacific with a musical group.

Jennifer, Unfried and another friend, Scott Hedlund, put up the house while Doug was away. And in true house-raising fashion, other friends helped with staining and some carpentry.

“When I left,” Doug recalls, it was cement on the ground, and when I got back it was a cabin.” About the only finishing touch for Doug was the roof, and he chose a (fire-resistant) shake roof to be in keeping with the Early American charm of the cabin.

As is customary, Sierra Log had sent a representative to the site to instruct in construction and to stay through the actual placement of at least the first course (a course being one row of logs around the perimeter of the house).

“Putting the logs up is technically a piece of cake,” Cobbey says, “but it’s physically demanding. Through a patented interlock system of channels and baffles, each log is precision milled to one-sixteenth-inch tolerance. The buyer must drill holes in the logs for 10-inch spiral spikes that are inserted every 18 inches.”

He said the original construction of the cabin at the Cow Palace had not required the use of spikes because of the tight fit of the logs and that gable ends had been secured with lug bolts for ease in dismantling.

“The natural porous quality of the 8-to-9-inch logs serves as insulation,” Cobbey explains, “and a gasket between each course of logs is compressed to one sixteenth of an inch to block air passage. Baffles milled in the logs are to prevent any passage of water.

Cobbey says the firm’s cabins have about an R-12 insulation rating and that “because of the mass value associated with solid wood construction, the log homes perform comparably to R-30 to R-50 in stud-wall construction.”

When Sierra Log was founded more than 10 years ago, Cobbey says there was a problem with getting clearance with Building and Safety departments because log construction was not recognized in the West as it has been for years in the East. The company now has all National Building Code approvals, he says.

“California, for instance, has some of the toughest energy codes in the country, and we pass those without any trouble at all,” he says.

Fires Slower to Spread

Asked about obtaining insurance, he says fire ratings are often better with the solid wood construction because fires start with more difficulty and are slower to spread than in some other forms of construction.

About 60% of the homes Sierra Log sells go to people such as the Lacys who do most of the work themselves to avoid labor charges, according to Cobbey.

“As a rule of thumb, materials that we supply as a standard package usually represent about 40% of the total materials costs (not labor). In other words, if a person buys a $20,000 log house, he will probably need about $25,000 or $30,000 for materials to complete the home. If the buyer does most of the work himself, the finished house will result in a square-foot cost of about $35 to $38.”

On the other hand, if the customer has a contractor do everything, he says the finished cost for the average log house in California will be in the neighborhood of $50 to $55 a square foot. That would compare anywhere to the $65-to-$85-a-square-foot cost reported now prevalent for conventional housing construction in California.

Stretched Their Budget

Doug Lacy says the total cost for their 384-square-foot log house comes to about $16,000, including some minimum labor costs paid to one or two of the friends who helped. While they stretched their budget for the roof of their choice and had labor costs, he points out, they did not install plumbing because the proximity of their bungalow makes it unnecessary. And while they may later install a free-standing fireplace, they plan to use electrical heaters for the time being, thereby avoiding the cost of a heating system.

Bypassing these refinements (for them, necessities for others) kept costs at about $42 a square foot.

And while the Lacys may not be typical of other young couples who are working towards a home and a place to work, it would be difficult not to credit them with ingenuity in solving a critical space problem.

Jennifer is happy. Doug is happy. And sometimes Charlie gets a good night’s sleep.