Log Home Build Episode 24 - Staircase Railing and Loft

[@batpherlangkharkrang7976]

Hi...... Country View Acres, thank you for sharing your video homestead 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 bye 👋 🎥👍👍👍

[@dougfraser8698]

The railings in rebar look amazing,we are building a cottage here in Canada and getting ready to do stairs and railings ,I am going to use this idea ,thank you for doing the video

[@Dan-qy1rg]

Watch another older video from back in the day. Nice railing, love the rebar for balusters(spindles).👍

[@blackwater4707]

That rebar looks great, and what a view from your desk space. I'm looking forward to seeing how the garden comes along this year.

[@CountryViewAcres]

yea, me too. I have some vacation in April to get the garden ready.

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Ya but log houses are made from logs. I'm not calling it a log house until somone shows me the full trees this house is built from. If you mill the logs, it's a timber framed house, aka a house. Dick Proenneke built a log house. He also did it with hand tools. He even made the tools that weren't steel, and even then made the handles.

[@andrewsantos4366]

Excellent idea of your spindle, and beautiful log home

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Timber home. Logs are round because they are still a full tree.

[@anne-mariebrooks2256]

Looks great! You did a beautiful job with both the railings and the loft floor. I am sure that when you finish the tops of the kitchen cabinets, they will look as professionally done as the rest of your beautiful house. Congratulations on a job well done.

[@williamblakeley3744]

AWSOME log cabin.you did fantastic work on it 👍

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Building a log cabin requires the use of logs. Once it's milled it's no longer a log cabin it's called a timber framed construction. Which is what your house probably is unless it has metal framing. Still a cabin though.

[@carnagie85]

Just keeps on getting better!

[@shawnrogan1677]

Just found these videos today. Awesome. We built our Log Home almost 20 years ago and honestly, I still have a few custom trim trouble spots that I was never sure how to finish. Your explanation of the stair nosing is exactly what I was planning to finish today. Also like the way you trimmed out the loft edge to the flooring. Another place I was never really sure how I wanted to do. Love the rebar railings! You have to be flexible when finishing these homes. Thanks!

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Quality wood stair treds are made from 6/4 or 8/4 wood, preferably oak. Then chamfered to 3/4 except the nose of the tred. Every riser should be the same height with a max of 7.75" for code. Code allows for up to a 3/8" variance in risers, but it's best to keep them all the same to prevent trip hazards. There is no code on stair tred dimensions. Also all stairs need to be a minimum of 36" wide for code. I just got the framing dialed in on a staircase today within 1/32" variance across all the risers and perfectly level treds. Next is the stair skirt, then we're installing another sub tred and venetian tile risers. After that we're installing one piece solid oak treds 10 1/2 inches deep. They have an 8/4 (2") nose that sticks out about an inch. You can use other woods too, but for stairs you want a hardwood to stand up to the wear. Softwoods will be smiling at you over time. Meaning there will be a dip in the middle of every step.

[@margretrobbins301]

What a great job you guys did

[@EC4400]

The black accents throughout is just beautiful! Who was the genius that had the idea and turned plain everyday steel rebar into beautiful railing spindles?

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Somone long before this man. They even sell black plastic coated rebar for rust prevention. It's industry standard. Though arguably not good as it focuses rust through pinholes in the coatings which can accelerate failure. Technically coated rebar needs recoated prior to install and after cutting to size and bending to shape. But no one does as far as I can tell, maybe nasa does on thier launch pad? I've seen wood dog kennels made like that. They were pretty cool too! Use thick rebar or it's going to be bendy. And when rebar bends, it holds that shape

[@Beecozz7]

Really nice!

[@conservativeprodigy2604]

This is the epitome of my dream house. Congrats on a beautiful life

[@brandonhoffman4712]

I have nit picks. But I work on homes for a living. A customer wouldn't pay me for a staircase like that. And if they did, I would feel like a rip off artist. I'm also legally liable for my work up to 1 year after install, and I would be expecting a call back on that.

[@farmerbob139]

beautiful home!

[@yasminghani2073]

Love your staircase in fact your whole house

[@brandonhoffman4712]

That's the one part I don't like. I would love to see how they now look 5 years later. My mom's were hacked together similarly using harder woods. They aren't looking good. I do this work for a living, but got called out of state when my mom wanted her floors done. My commercial work has always taken presidence. I'm building a beautiful staircase this week with venetian tile risers and sold oak treds (steps) finished in a weathered grey. For me the main thing for a good wooden staircase is a solid one piece tred with nosing. Preferably an entirely solid piece, but at least the 1st 4 inches. The rest can be hard wood flooring. The difference in quality at this point is mostly visual. The solid step will be beautiful as it's wood grain is uniform throughout. With a 4" solid tread face, there will be color variation from solid wood to the hardwood floor. One time i made a solid black granite staircase for Ambercrombie and Fitch in Portland Oregon. It was crazy, but it was beautiful!

[@hxFubar]

Looks AWESOME!!! I would go with the 1/8th inch ply on top of the cabinets, it would make the tops look really clean and cover some of the joints. I think I would stain the inside of the molding and sealing it and then just laying some unstained ply up their to see if it looks good as is because the contrast might look good. With regards to the railing, you might want to seal it for sure because even with clean hands over time the oil off peoples hands will make it look dirty and be a pain to clean. Place is looking great and I love your vides.

[@elund408]

Looks great 👍. The tops of the cabinet could be covered in wall board and used as display space

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Plywood would be better in many ways.

[@davidsmith956]

For the top of the cabinets, test stain because that wood looks different and might not accept stain. Maybe paint a dark brown or black might be easier. Great job on the rails.

[@johnzink3309]

thx again

[@sh839c]

Great looking home, are you a master homebuilder?

[@CountryViewAcres]

I am just a guy that likes to work with my hands.

[@EC4400]

It is hard to say what project is my favorite, it just keeps coming. Really nice. What is your favorite part of your beautiful home?

[@CountryViewAcres]

I really like the fireplace and stonework. It turned out great and it is functional as well. But my favorite room may be the half bath or the laundry room/pantry. I haven't showed laundry room yet, it's coming soon.

[@janethofmann1401]

Would love if you did a video on how you put your stair rail together.

[@randomstuffwithjoe]

I enjoyed this video. We are currently designing a log home and realizing a solid log wall home is pushing us over our budget.. so we're looking at the option of a hybrid home to see if we can save a bit on the build. I'd be interested to know if you looked at a solid log home before building this and if it saved you any money.

[@CountryViewAcres]

We didnt really price a true log home. After going to a log home show, we didnt want to deal with the logs settling over time. We felt a hybrid would be more energy efficient. And since it is a stick built home it easy to work on. But I am not sure of the price difference, but it is expensive. Everything adds up, lots of hidden costs. Make sure you have access to a lot more money than they say it will cost. I would make sure you have 15% more than the estimated building price.

[@vrock265]

Hello: Been thinking about the tops of the cabinets. Perhaps staining some T&G flooring like the rest of the house snd installing that.

[@knpstrr]

Really like the look of your place. Does hybrid log home just mean it isn't a log home but has siding/wall finishes to make it look like a log home?

[@CountryViewAcres]

It log siding inside and outside to look like a log home. And the Roof is timber frame 4 x 8 beams. So it combines conventional frame and timber frame to give a log home appearance.

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Basically it's built from milled lumber like any house. They just leave one side of the log unmilled so it has a tree look. The wood is all dimensioned to fit together well. A log home has unmilled logs. They must be selected for uniformity of size and taper of tree. Then you have to switch directions with your trees so the taper doesn't build up on one side of the house, leaving a lopsided house. Filled with pitch or something more high tech, the list of differences goes on. I've been in the comments calling it a timber house lol. To my credit I didn't know what a hybrid log home is. Though I would still argue this is a timber framed construction marketed as hybrid log home because it couldn't legally define itself as a log home. I still see milled framing in there. In fact I don't see any wood that isn't milled lumber. Technicalities aside it's still beautiful! To toss in a joke. It might leave me pining for some wood diversity!

[@johnzink3309]

Thx

[@blindmanj9]

what height are your rails and what length did you cut your rebar?

[@jamiemckenzie8516]

Just watching your cabin build from the start ! Was thinking why don’t you install some floodlights under the porch facing the lake lighting it up at night ? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@CountryViewAcres]

I did, and it lights it up nicely.

[@brandonhoffman4712]

Bazinga!

[@tacorepublic6340]

Nice work. . . I'm three years into the same project. . . I'm on 60 acres just east of Nashville. . . I've torn out my staircase all because the contrator did a horrible job. . . I'm pretty much copying you (kinda) . . . can you tell me that space between the rebar? Looks about 5 inches??? Thanks!!

[@DonTXPgr]

Looks great at the loft. Is it for office and extra space for guests to sleep?

[@CountryViewAcres]

Donald R. Stewart,the loft is going to be an office area and sitting area for now. We will probably put a sleeper sofa up there for extra sleeping space.

[@dalefelger3804]

you did a good job on railing till you made the plugs, dowel plugs are end grain will stand out

[@brandonhoffman4712]

You can buy a plug cutter. It cuts plugs with the proper grain direction. They normally come in a set. I would have seated those stair posts with a single double ended lag bolt from underneath, or multiple dowels. That would leave no holes for a seamless look. It's also how most stairs are built.

[@deanmagnuson2993]

Why don’t you show when you are doing the work

[@CountryViewAcres]

Because my priority was building the house, and sometimes I didnt have time to film. It was easier to film the results sometimes. KZbin was just a hobby when I built the log home.

[@marilynfdavis891]

I’m shocked you called your precious wife “old lady!”

[@brandonhoffman4712]

I call my precious father old man! Though he's getting on in years now and I'm trying to stop. But it kinda slips here and there because I trained myself to say it...

[@tompaj10]

poor quality wood, so many cracks...

[@brandonhoffman4712]

That can happen with 8" thick wood. Reference your lumber yard... fine lumber normally maxes out @ 2.5" for this reason. As the wood dries it moves. If there is nowhere to move it cracks under the force it applies to itself. Pine isn't normally great for finish construction. It's normally sold wet. Then it dries after installation, bends, and cracks. Wood takes 1 year per 1 inch of thickness to dry. That's why kiln dried wood is a thing. If I owned that house I would consider buying a Mowhawk knot filler repair kit or hard wax filler kit. And go to town filling the cracks black for cool contrast. The wax would be easier to do without messing up the finish, the knot filler is hot glue so it's more durable but you might need to sand and refinish. The hard wax gets scrapped with a credit card. You can try to color match too, with hard waxes you can melt different colors together to make the fill more dynamic. If it's all unfinished you can put in stainless filler, but it will always be visible as a crack