Reclaimed Log Home
The task of reclaiming a home whether it be a timber frame or log home or any other building of historic value is one of our specialties.
In the past we have reclaimed many log homes and sold them as packages. They can be disassembled as a package with just the logs and joist which we compare to a frame package as if you were buying the total frame for your house excluding the flooring, windows, roofing etc.
In our log package we number, tag, sketch and picture everything to make it easier for your contractor to reconstruct.
Other ways we sell these houses is just to include the whole house as it is taken apart including the floor, paneling, roof rafters, floor joist etc. For the most part it all depends on what our client wants and the condition of materials in that particular house.
If all parts of a house are not salvageable then we use or sell materials from another house which fit the historical era of that house. For instance in most log or timber frame homes our experience is that at least 80% of all homes we reclaim the bottom floor is not salvageable due to moisture and bug damage. In that case we would either not include that in your package or reclaim floor from another historical home. All of our log homes come from the Shenandoah Valley area or close by.
Our suggestion for purchasing an entire home or log package is to have a contractor on board and at least visit the salvage process from time to time so he or she can be as familiar with your project as much as he can for the historical reconstruction.
We also are in the planning process of putting together smaller log structures to be used as out buildings or small additions or even a small cabin tucked away in the woods or along a mountain stream etc.
Historic log structures have been part of the past in reclaiming of our heritage. Historic homes in the Shenandoah Valley have been taken down and reconstructed since the founding of our nation. When the early settlers of the Shenandoah Valley were just getting started here they always reclaimed what they could from lumber, logs, bricks to nails. If a building needed moved to another site then in order to preserve what was so painstakingly hard to come by then it was salvaged for future use.
Evidence of this is in many structures we salvage today. In buying a home package we provide as much detail as to when the home was originally constructed and by whom. Additional research on its historicity could be accomplished by researching records within the communities public records for an extra fee.
Our architectural friends also do engineered drawings and certify salvage timber specifications within their use for your project for building code purposes if needed. Many clients we contract with who are building a home will not purchase a whole house but will purchase parts of a home we are dismantling to make theirs look as if it were an historic home ie have their home floored in antique flooring and use historic non supporting floor joist. They’ll often purchase antique doors and mantels and old glass for their windows to incorporate them into their project much the way reconstruction of an historic project is done in museum property settings where nonprofit organizations reconstruct homes to preserve or display for heritage purposes.
Regardless of your project we can always meet your needs or steer you in the right direction so that you can complete your project.
The materials that we reclaim from these homes are then taken back to our work shop and prepared to be sold as building materials to home owners, contractors and architecture firms. Our clients are all over Virginia, Shenandoah Valley, Washington DC, Northern Virginia, Greater Metro Area, Baltimore, New Jersey, New York and up and down the East coast.
