Log wall problems

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

1985. The builders were not very familiar with log home construction and the owner wanted to save money by using shorter logs and scrap.

The garage header sagged about an inch. Aside from the weight of the stone veneer, if you look carefully you may be able to see that most of the logs used above the garage in the gable wall were less than half as wide as the span and the butt joints are all in the middle third of the wall, meaning that the wall itself offers little structural value across the garage door opening.

They used up scrap wherever they could. Because they used short logs at the left side of the window, they lost structural value here.

They did this in a lot of places. Is it defective? It's bad constuction, and it was bad construction in 1985. SI to calculate loads above the garage.

[Richard A. Hetzel]

My question is, how many headers do you need? If they had gotten the first one right, whatever is happening above it is of no consequence. What is the garage door header made of? If it's just one log, it's probably insufficient, and piling more insufficient "headers" on top of it won't help.

Is there no header at all above the window? Or is the second log up (the first full one) supposed to be the header? How wide is that opening, and what is carried above it?

Besides bad construction, it's apparently not "bad" design, but actually NO design.

[klott]

What is the garage door header material and how is it constructed? In stick framing that would not be considered a load bearing wall,but in log construction with the weight of the logs, it would seem to require an extra strong header. Are you asking a question or demonstrating something here? If it is a question I will have to defer to someone else.But it would seem to me that if the header was constructed right then it would not matter where the joints were because the header is the wink link here, it is also supporting the floor system on a span that wide. RFEAMR

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Originally Posted by kshepard

1985. The builders were not very familiar with log home construction and the owner wanted to save money by using shorter logs and scrap.
It's bad constuction, and it was bad construction in 1985. SI to calculate loads above the garage.

You got that right Kenton.

The sag is noticeable on the picture, and when one accounts for the weight of the stone, the logs, and what appears to be a ridge beam which transfers more load on that gable end, the chances are the header that is there is far from atiquate to carry the load.
Definitely would have recommended a PE for this one.

How was the rest of the log home?

Marcel

[Kenton H. Shepard, CMI]

No question, just making observations on a log home. Because the wall logs above the garage door opening butted near the center of the wall, the garage header (looked like microlams, but was hidden behind drywall) and rim joist were the only structural supports, and in addition to the load of the gable wall (which, being a gabled end in a truss roof, carried no roof load) also carried some floor load.

It's true that each logs acts as a header. The point was that the two short log sections weakened that section of wall, which was more crucial because it was at the corner of a window opening.