HUN Chapter 125: Log Cabin Main Structure Topped Out!

Lin Yu'an and Cody immediately grabbed long-handled heavy-duty drilling machines, one left and one right, kneeling on the newly laid second layer of logs.

Accompanied by "buzzing" sounds, they drilled deep holes from top to bottom, penetrating both layers of wood.

"Stan! Patton! Thread the rods!"

Stan and Patton worked together to thread massive all-thread rods through the holes, then used impact wrenches with "rat-a-tat-tat" sounds for preliminary securing.

Layer one, layer two, layer three... the walls kept growing upward under the efficient cooperation of the six men.

The entire construction site formed a picture with tremendous rhythm.

In the air was Patton operating the loader, slowly moving massive logs suspended from it.

On the walls were Hank and Cody rapidly laying seal strips.

At the lumber area was Lin Yu'an focused on carving perfect saddle notches with his chainsaw and bent chisel.

Whenever a layer of wood was laid, Cody would pick up the drilling machine while others immediately prepared rods and impact wrenches.

Every corner was personally carved by Lin Yu'an into perfect saddle notches.

Every log was tightly connected by sturdy all-thread rods and seal strips.

When the walls stacked to the fifth layer, exceeding 1.2 meters in height, they stopped to create door and window openings.

They strictly reserved fifteen centimeters of "settling space" above all openings.

Finally, after approximately five days total, the entire first floor's main wall structure reaching three meters high was completely built!

A log cabin framework wall full of weight and security officially stood upon Timber Forest.

When the first floor walls stood completely on the massive platform, the entire construction site erupted in cheers.

Old George pointed to the three-meter-high wall top and shouted loudly, "Alright, boys! Don't stand there gawking like tourists! We're about to start working at height now! Everyone stay sharp!"

The next task was building the second floor.

The first step was lifting the second floor main beams that spanned the entire house.

This work was challenging because the lifting height and precision requirements far exceeded previous work.

Before formal lifting, Lin Yu'an and Old George performed extremely important preparatory work.

They used chainsaws and massive wood chisels to precisely cut several beam pockets in the top layer wall logs of the first floor.

"What's this for, Lin?" David asked curiously, looking up.

Lin Yu'an explained, "This allows the main beam ends to embed into the walls rather than simply rest on top, forming a more stable interlocking structure."

After experiencing the first floor construction work, the six-man team's coordination had reached perfection.

Lin Yu'an operated the XCMG loader to lift heavy beams one by one.

Old George handled command and positioning from the wall top, while Hank, Stan, and Cody controlled the beam's attitude in the air with guide ropes from the ground. Patton provided final guidance on the log wall.

"Higher... good! Move right... that's it... lower slowly!" Old George's voice was loud and steady.

Lin Yu'an's movements were precise as he slowly lowered that massive main beam into the two "beam pockets" already prepared at the wall top.

Using just one day, they steadily erected all main beams in the grooves at the log wall tops.

Then they installed all joists in assembly-line fashion.

Stan and Patton handled installing joist hangers between main beams, Lin Yu'an and Cody processed joists with the bandsaw mill, while Hank operated the loader to lift batches of joists up.

Finally came laying the tongue-and-groove plywood.

All six men climbed onto the second floor beam framework and began their final sprint on this battlefield suspended three meters high.

Amid "pop! pop! pop!" sounds from nail guns, a brand new second floor platform hung suspended three meters in the air.

Standing on the second floor platform, they didn't pause for a moment before immediately beginning second floor wall construction.

Since the second floor walls only needed to be 2.4 meters high, their progress was very fast.

Using just a day and a half, they completed all wall stacking and door/window opening reservations.

Next came installing the attic floor joists.

These massive wooden beams spanned across the second floor wall tops, serving as both the second floor ceiling and future attic flooring.

When all attic joists were installed, the building's rectangular skeleton was basically formed.

Lin Yu'an held the blueprints and told everyone, "Now we need to build two massive triangles upward at the front and back ends of the house, the gable walls, which will be the backbone supporting our roof."

Building gable walls required extremely precise calculations and cutting, because each upward-stacked log had to be accurately shortened according to a fixed slope.

Meanwhile, both end cuts had to be precise angles to perfectly match the future roof slope.

This became the power period for Lin Yu'an and Old George, the two engineering supervisors.

Old George used professional angle rulers to calculate the angle and length each gable wall log needed to be cut.

Lin Yu'an used his Stihl chainsaw for precise cutting.

Others handled lifting these cut, progressively shorter logs with the XCMG loader and performing stacking installation.

After two more days of intensive work, two massive, perfect triangular gable walls finally rose at both ends of the house!

At the gable tops, they reserved a solid V-shaped notch for placing the ridge beam.

With gable construction complete, they would face the most challenging and ceremonial aspect of the entire building process: lifting the ridge beam.

Old George pointed to that tree king that Lin Yu'an had specially selected, thirteen meters long with the largest diameter, and told everyone, "Alright, good lads! Today we'll hold the 'coronation ceremony' for this house!"

This lift exceeded seven meters in height, beyond the direct reach of the loader's mechanical arm.

They spent an entire morning studying blueprints and building a scaffolding crane tower assembled from logs, plus constructing a compound lifting system made of multiple pulley blocks and winches.

In the afternoon, Lin Yu'an operated the loader to first lift one end of the ridge beam, mounting it on the scaffolding.

Then Stan and Cody operated two gasoline winches through pulley blocks, beginning to slowly and synchronously lift this massive "backbone" upward.

Old George, Hank, and Patton controlled its balance from below with three guide ropes from different directions.

Under the perfect coordination of all six men, that massive ridge beam traced a beautiful arc through the air, finally landing with a "clang" firmly in the V-shaped notches at both gable tops!

"Yeah!!!"

Everyone erupted in earth-shaking cheers!

"Alright, boys, main framework done! Next, we start the 'face work' to make this house beautiful!"

Face work referred to building the wide front porch spanning the main house, second floor balcony, and all doors and windows.

Lin Yu'an and Old George took out blueprints and used chalk lines to mark eight precise spots for support columns on the solid platform.

They erected eight massive log columns precisely on the platform.

Lin Yu'an had pre-ordered triple-pane insulated glass windows and solid wood insulated doors meeting Alaska's highest insulation standards.

They first removed temporary wooden frames previously used to secure openings, exposing reserved openings with "lock grooves."

Then they placed window frames in openings, using levels and wooden wedges to adjust them to absolute vertical and horizontal positions.

Finally, they stuffed high-elasticity insulation batting into the settling spaces at the top and sealed with expandable decorative trim.

They spent an entire day installing all sixteen windows and three doors throughout the house using this professional method.

Two days later, when porch and balcony railings were also installed, the entire log cabin's exterior perfectly matched that rendering for the first time!

It was no longer just a square log box, but a log cabin full of dimensional layers!

With doors and windows installed and porch and balcony built, they began using the ridge beam as center to lay rafters at fixed angles sloping down, forming a steep A-frame roof structure.

After completing the roof framework, they entered the final topping-out phase.

They first laid a thick layer of tongue-and-groove boards over all rafters as the roof base layer.

Then they began complete roof insulation and waterproofing operations.

They first carefully laid a layer of self-adhesive polymer waterproof membrane over all tongue-and-groove boards, using heat guns to weld all seams together, forming the first impenetrable waterproof layer.

Then they erected purlins to form small grid squares.

Next came insulation. Lin Yu'an didn't use traditional foam board or fiberglass batting, but brought out more professional equipment: a two-component closed-cell spray polyurethane foam system!

"What is this? Chemical weapons?"

David looked curiously at the two huge pressure tanks containing different colored liquids and an oddly-shaped spray gun.

"More powerful than chemical weapons."

Lin Yu'an smiled. He put on a full protective suit and professional full-face respirator.

"This is the roof's ultimate armor. Its insulation effect exceeds foam board of the same thickness by more than double, and it forms a completely seamless seal layer, eliminating any cold air penetration."

He started the air compressor connected to the pressure tanks, held the spray gun, and began spraying into the gaps between rafters.

"Hiss, "

Accompanied by slight air flow sounds, two liquids mixed at the gun tip and underwent magical chemical reaction the moment they sprayed out.

Light yellow liquid foam expanded rapidly like freshly whipped cream, increasing in volume twenty to thirty times within seconds, perfectly filling all irregular gaps between rafters.

Lin Yu'an covered the entire roof's interior from one end to the other with a uniform fifteen-centimeter-thick layer of rigid foam.

Hours later, when the foam fully cured, the entire roof interior had become a seamless light yellow space.

Then everyone first fixed rows of wooden battens at precise intervals on the roof that already had waterproof insulation layers.

Next, they began installing the pre-delivered dark gray corrugated metal roofing panels.

This was also high-altitude work requiring tremendous patience and precision.

Lin Yu'an and Hank handled the high positions, carefully sliding long metal panels from the ridge downward for alignment.

Cody and Patton handled securing from below.

They used specialized roofing screws with EPDM waterproof sealing washers.

When screws were tightened, the sealing washers compressed to perfectly wrap around screw holes, eliminating any leak possibility.

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

Crisp impact driver sounds rang rhythmically on the roof.

Starting from one side of the roof, they advanced systematically with each panel overlapping the next.

Finally, at the roof's highest point, they installed custom ridge caps, perfectly connecting both roof faces!

When the last washer-sealed screw was tightened, the entire log cabin's external main structure was finally completely topped out!

Meanwhile, during these twenty-plus days of external main construction, internal "threading the needle" work proceeded simultaneously.

Mechanic Cody, with his professional knowledge, became the team's chief electrical and plumbing engineer.

He handled reserving and installing all utility lines between walls and floors.

When building each wall layer, they used special tools to drill hidden electrical channels in the logs.

Cody would immediately thread PEX electrical conduit through them, extending from the electrical panel location to every future outlet, switch, and fixture location.

Similarly, PEX hot and cold water pipes connecting kitchen, bathroom, and laundry, plus ABS sewer pipes leading to the septic system, were all installed at proper gradients within wall and floor cavities.

The most important heating system also had corresponding pipe reservations, especially spatial planning for the large fireplace location.

They even pre-embedded and secured bases for future bathtub and toilet installations.

With main structure complete, the log cabin's vertical circulation became a new challenge. Lin Yu'an decided to build a log staircase to replace the current simple wooden ladder.

He first used the bandsaw mill to split two massive, straight logs down the middle, forming the main staircase's two semicircular stringers.

Next, he precisely cut tread placement groove outlines in both massive stringers.

While he processed stringers, Stan, Patton and others handled processing slightly smaller logs into rectangular treads.

When all components were finished, assembly began.

They embedded treads into stringer grooves and secured them firmly with screws from the outside.

Soon, a massive log staircase was assembled in the reserved space between first and second floors.

They used the same method to create and install a more refined "L"-shaped log staircase connecting the second floor and attic.

With both staircases installed, everyone walked from first to second floor for the first time without any ladder assistance, stepping on those solid log treads, then easily ascending to the attic!

Finally, from platform construction to log cabin topping out took approximately twenty-nine days total.

A shell log cabin with solid foundation, heavy walls, magnificent roof, and all core utilities pre-installed was complete!

Old George looked at this masterpiece crystallizing everyone's sweat and patted Lin Yu'an's shoulder with satisfaction.

"Kid, we've finished the hardest, heaviest work for you. What's left is fine finishing and filling. That you'll have to do slowly on your own."

Lin Yu'an looked at this building that would become his home, his heart filled with indescribable excitement and gratitude.

"Thank you, George, Stan, and everyone."

He said sincerely, "I hope whenever you need help in the future, you'll definitely call me! I'll absolutely come whenever called!"

After seeing off all his partners, Lin Yu'an stood alone before his log cabin, as if in a dream.

He couldn't believe he had actually built his own log cabin in Alaska!

Next would be his solo work.

He needed to fill wall sealing materials, build interior partition walls, and undertake the major project of constructing an interior fireplace chimney passing through the roof.

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