One building method we've been toying with these past few weeks (something C3 has been after for a while) is round log timber framing. Thanks to the library, I've been reading up on it some as well.
With the supply of black spruce around the cabin, it might be worth looking into for framing materials for the 3 season porch we're planning to add. Black spruce being of smaller overall diameter than white spruce means it's not sought after for dimensional lumber, but it has similar characteristics as far as construction requirements go. I expect this is one reason why there are large amounts of black spruce left in the north woods when the white spruce, norway, and white pine have been logged. I had thought about getting posts from our woods before, and possibly even making black spruce rough cut lumber with the help of a chainsaw attachment. But round post framing would be a method of construction avoiding the lions share of the bolts and spikes I might have otherwise needed to use to make that happen. Convenient.
Another building method I've thought about for quite some time is slip form stone building. With the porch plan perhaps wrapping two sides of the current cabin, we could utilize slip forms to build the L shaped foundation wall. We need roughly 2-3 feet of height to close off the underside of the cabin due to the slope on which it is sited. We'd then run the posts up from there. Stone would be gathered locally, posts would be gathered locally, and we'd have experience with another couple options for our future home. The roof would lean-to into the side walls of the existing structure, so would likely utilize standard dimensional lumber and steel roofing over the top of that. We'll have to crunch the numbers, but that is likely the most costly portion of the whole project. Disregarding opportunity cost, of course!
Then again, education in productive, hands on skill sets is worth quite a bit in these days of uncertainty.
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