Plans For Log Cabin Building

Do you really need plans for log cabin building? These houses seem to be such simple structures, surely you could just throw one together, just like the early settlers did? After all, a cabin is usually one room with four walls and a roof, not much more than a shed.

Well, yes. But log house plans are more than a sketch on the back of an envelop. As a minimum, they should include:

3 View Drawings (plan and 2 elevations)

List of all required materials

Isometric diagrams and sketches

Assembly instructions

Advice and guidance from an expert log cabin builder

So a professional design makes a whole lot of sense, and there are many excellent log cabin home plans to choose from. They don’t cost tons of cash either, as we shall show you.

Click here to check out 10 great plans for log cabin building

Let’s look at these minimum requirements in more detail.

Drawings

You must have clear drawings with accurate dimensions shown for all parts. As a minimum this will mean a planview, a side elevation and a gable elevation. If there are differences between front and back walls, or each end wall, then there should be separate elevation drawings for each. For a simple log cabin design there might not need to be any other drawings, but all elements of the building (such as internal walls, windows and doors, chimneys, porches) should be clearly illustrated.

Materials List

This is very important and often overlooked in the haste to get started with building a log cabin. If you have not assembled all the things you will need, you can be sure that at least one small item will hold everything up until you go and get it (and find the hardware store closed for the weekend!). The list should show not only the materials required but also their cut dimensions so that you can make all the parts before starting the assembly.

Isometric Drawings

These are the ’3D’ drawings that help you understand how parts go together. Not essential for simple buildings but very helpful with log cabin construction.

Instructions

Clearly laid out instructions are also very important, unless you are already an expert at building log homes. The best should be step-by-step so that you know the proper sequence of events, otherwise you can easily make mistakes, waste time and effort (and lifting logs for cabin walls is a lot of effort),and generally lose confidence unless you know you are doing things the right way.

Advice

There are many aspects of building log cabins that need to be planned properly. Site selection and clearance, foundations, safety precautions, strength calculations for roofs and floors, building regulations, planning applications – the list goes on and on. Expert advice is very helpful in these and other areas.

In Summary

So we believe that good plans are essential to build log cabins safely and properly. You can do them yourself, of course, if you have the expertise and experience. Some information is freely available, but you tend to be on your own when it comes to choosing what to use and what to avoid.

Using our own experience we have found, and strongly recommend, a good source of plans for log cabin building that have been professionally produced, include all of the elements we consider to be essential, and also have photos and videos that are a great help.

These log cabin designs, by Woodworking4Home, come with a full-refund gaurantee that we demand for any product purchased online, so your investment is risk-free.

Good luck with building your own log cabin, and we hope you enjoy it for many years to come.