Ah, the Cedar Sing Logs
We were fortunate - with a retail priced of $32,000.00
- We got these for $14,000.00
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(this is what NEW Sing Logs look like as you are building with them.)
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Sing Logs are "Cultured" Cedar Logs. Cultured
means they were modified before use.
Cultured Cedar Log DESCRIPTION:
"Sing" is the inventor and name of the manufacturing
company.
Cultured Cedar Sing Square Logs start with quality western red cedar taken
from sustainable cedar farming able to use small diameter trees. The 6"-8"
cedar trees are quarter-sawn into 4 straight grain log quarters then 2
pieces (turning 2 quarters with the wane to the inside), are laminated
with non-toxic glue to form one side of the Sing Square Log. Two laminated
"'walls", with their wanes and imperfections turned inside, are then
joined together with 3" wood spacers and metal fasteners to form a single
"Cultured" cedar log re-assembly. The 3" air space designed in for
stringing utilities and insulation. By turning the quarters inside -
you end up with the sawn surface flat sides outside - creating a square
log to build with. You also get a nice flat surface on the inside
and outside of your wall.
The quarter-sawn, straight grain gives the Sing Square
Cedar Log its remarkable dimensional stability - with virtually no
shrinking, checking or splitting.
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looked like.
Here is what our new "pile" of Logs |
However, we had many trials and tribulations with Cedar
Logs Dee
bought back in July of 2000 - She bought this before we ever had a building plan, house plan, or any
other real plan. I guess that was a way of saying - we ARE building.
To start with these logs were
rescued from a Sing Log Project that was canceled. The logs had
been moved into an open muddy field and crudely
stacked and tarped for a year or so before we actually found them.
We
researched the Sing Log concept and were really enthused and excited to have
the opportunity to get a great deal on a very cool man made (Cultured), Cedar Log
package. $14,000 later and lots of help from friends and relatives we
loaded, moved, unloaded and restacked the 700+ logs from about 25 miles
away.
However, the new Sing Logs being manufactured
today are
very different from these "First Generation" Cedar Sing logs we had.
- T&G : Our Sing logs - do not have the T&G of
the new design logs.
- Today's Sing logs are constructed more like Laminated Beams.
Our First Generation Sing Logs are true quarter sawn from small trees.
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See the
Sing Log
Website |
Not only are the Sing Logs we had from the first generation
production, but they
had been sorely cared for since the original project began in '96.
As
we moved them for the first time - all 700+ logs we began to notice spacer/holding
blocks rotting, broken and twisted sections here and there. Some logs were obviously weather
damaged, some wood rot or infestation and all logs exterior on the stacks
had turned weather grey where covered logs did not grey at all.
Although we were able to restack them and protect them at our place we could
not keep the rodents from using them. We even had some damage from an
ant infestation. Not wood eating ants, but ants that lived in the wood.
Still damage. |
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 I had to inspect each log
individually to fix/repair or
treat each log before they would be ready for construction, and we had to
move each log up to the construction area. In the beginning we thought
all we had to do was splash on some deck cleaner to rid the grey weathering.
Wrong! Besides taking considerable water, chemical scrubbing, rinsing
and getting the wood soaked. It took a long time to treat all the
sides and edges of the logs, then we had to wait for them to dry before
moving again to their final stack. Many logs had to be treated a second time, or
had other damage to fix. Total time being spent on Each Log: 20 minutes to treat and 2-4 hours
to dry. We ran out of space/time quickly.
 Check
out Before & After sides of these Logs just during the sanding stage !
So, Each log had to be inspected,
patched, marked,
measured, and
sanded before it could be added to the new
stacks forming around the
construction zone. Now the time spent fixing each log skyrocketed.
I tried to set up a sort of assembly line of tables & sawhorses and filled
them with logs patched and waiting to be puttied or sanded. More,
there was More! I had to bevel the all edges with a router or sander,
not 1 or 2 edges, but 4 long length edges per side and 4 end edges for a time consuming
8
edges to bevel after all the patching was done. Even with 20 logs
stacked around the work area in different stages of fixin' I only got the
process down to about 1 1/2 hours spent prepping on
each of the 700+ logs ! I was pressed to get 8
logs a day fixed and into the new stacks ready for building during the long
June spring daylight hours. Lets see, 8 logs a day by 700+ logs, hum,
that's only 87.5 days minimum. Oh, don't forget these have to be kept
clean and DRY from now on or I'll have to do it again! Sure I'm missing that covered carport area now!
And there was more problems we found. Many logs
badly needed patching, nails removed from previous fixes so cutting wouldn't
catch them. Many logs developed rot spots we had to either dig out and
putty or trash the log, and many logs came apart at the spacers, split apart
with small and large cracks or just warped out of shape. Several had
to be put back together using half a dozen clamps and vises with adhesive
and ribbon nails. |
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The Sing Logs we got were turning into a nightmare!
Close up of patched logs yet to be sanded or edged. |
Several recommendations are to treat the logs with the
stain and weather proofing before building. The Sing building book tells you
to set logs on 2 different sawhorses and paint one side, dry for a day, turn
and paint the other side. You can only get 4 logs on standard
sawhorses and then they use the space for 2 days. I think that would
have absolutely killed any progress with the fixin' & sanding & edging I
already had to do Before thinking about staining and drying each piece. One problem with that is that the interior and
exterior typically use different stains and different finish weather
proofing. And, we hope to experiment with some different shades on the
inside. We will be attempting to protect the logs until the walls are up and
we can spray/brush on the stain then the water proofing. Either method
is a huge challenge. Either way will be difficult. |
| One of the more distressing things we found was the lack
of wood quantity of many quarter sawn pieces. We understood that they
used quarter sawn lengths turned inside out so any wane (round from the bark
side of the tree), was turned to the inside the log leaving the outside
centercut and inside
facing of the log flat, the middle showed any wane. But many of our
logs had excessive wane. We have all logs with 2 1/2" thickness on the
top and bottom but many sections of wood where 2 quarter sawn lengths which
have excessive wane would meet in the middle of that side of the log and it
could have as little as a 1/4" thickness . Sing Logs are sold with the
claim that the log sides are 2 1/2" thick - but with that huge gap
caused by 2 pieces side by side with wane the claim is very misleading.
A few are so bad that I question the structural integrity of those logs and
had to set them aside.
All the more reason for us to insulate the logs as we build them.
But, we also have to be picky about which logs get used on the bottom of the
walls for strength and structural integrity concerns. |
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