Log homes? (1 Viewer)

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here are a couple of properties in the area i mentioned one post back, an hour from New Orleans, for under $300k; the first one is ranch-like with a pond and stuff.. and the second one has a gazebo!

i love living in the city, but places like that certainly have an appeal for me.



http://realestate.aol.com/resale-homes/22815_Highway_40-Bush-LA-70431/mls-4087019/1.uskw-b_4087019


http://realestate.aol.com/resale-ho...vd-Bush-LA-70431/mls-4737701/1.uskw-b_4737701





http://realestate.aol.com/listings-Bush-LA#/page-3
 
DadsDream said:
But, you're within spitting distance of the Gulf in God's country, south of I-10.
I'm in the middle-of-nowhere-Texas. :hihi:

You know, Wifey was watching "Steel Magnolias" the other night and she looked over at me and said, "Oh, my God! I'd forgotten how green Louisiana is! Look at that!"

View from our back porch this afternoon:
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i have to say, that's one thing i like about living in Houston-- the landscape is almost identical to that of the New Orleans area, in that there's lots and lots of greenery, and it's as flat as can be-- plus the weather is exactly as humid and miserable as home... if u have to live in Texas, at least Houston is the most like Louisiana-- kinda like being the tallest dwarf, i know. :hihi:









btw, on another note-- it's nice to see some HammernNails posts in this thread.
 
Mr. Blue Sky said:
btw, on another note-- it's nice to see some HammernNails posts in this thread.
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I've got a visitor message and a couple of PMs from him about this thread, still sitting in my UserCP...and that's where they'll stay.

feoinfunroe said:
You could probably take your wife away on a "romantic weekend" and have it installed while y'all are gone. That's one way to get away with it...:mwink:
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I could slip it past her, but the homeowners association here is a pain in the ***.
 
Mr. Blue Sky said:
i had a gf in college whose parents lived in Bush, La., i think it was called.. just north of Covington.. rolling hills, ranches, the whole works... i grew up in NOLA and spent a couple yrs of high school in Mandeville, but until she took me there, i had no idea such a place existed so close to New Orleans.. you can literally get there in an hour from downtown New Orleans-- without traffic, of course.
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I'm having a hard time believing that a card carrying member of the Barry Manilow fan club ever had a gf. Still, stranger things have happened. I can't think of any at the moment, but I'm sure they have.
 
parlorcitysaint said:
I'm having a hard time believing that a card carrying member of the Barry Manilow fan club ever had a gf. Still, stranger things have happened. I can't think of any at the moment, but I'm sure they have.
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'card-carrying member'??? Don't insult me; i'm the President of the club.
 
I came back to this thread to thank everybody on SR.com who helped guide me through one of the most incredible times in the lives of my wife and I. Thank you! It's only fair that you know how the story of our huge blue roofed log house turned out.

After living in it for two years, it came down to a very tough decision - transfer to a new employer, accept a 25% pay-cut, and stay put in Texas, or accept a transfer back to south Mississippi at company expense and keep full salary with my original employer within the next 12 months.

After weighing everything, figuring in $500 a month for electricity in the summer and $100 a month for water, we figured we'd fix it up, sell, and move back to the coast to be closer to our kids and grandkids.

I got a couple of contractors to estimate the cost to refinish the exterior and seal the window frame leak: $10,000 - $20,000 . . . well there went the profits! But, no, my wife volunteered us to do it all ourselves and pocket the profits. I am not kidding. We were both pushing 60.

So, I bought a pressure washer, and a bunch sanders, 5 gallon cans of redwood stain and some long extension poles, rollers and brushes. For a solid year, every day when I finished work, I'd go to work on the house. My wife started on the garage. I'd pressure wash, we'd let it dry a couple of days, then she would start sanding. If the sanding required going up a ladder, well, that was on me!

The top pic shows my wife with sanded logs above, pressure washed logs below.
After the sanding came three coats of redwood stain. The bottom pic below shows me sanding above with just one coat at the bottom.
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TO BE CONTINUED
 
We did get some help when Daughter #4 and her boyfriend came to visit for a couple of weeks. He was especially good at getting to the higher nooks and crannies.

My wife was NOT happy with the big cracks and splits in the logs from the Texas heat. We found a redwood tinted log caulking and chinking that was a perfect match. I ordered three cases of it. Being a slob, my caulking jobs were considered inferior, so that was reserved for wife and daughter.

It was also decided that the ends of the logs and the all the window and door frames would be done in a different red than the redwood stain. I have to admit, she did a great job!

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TO BE CONTINUED
 
Well, Guido, I tell you I have never seen anything like it. The woman went on a mission to furnish the house to her taste. To stage it perfectly to sell it. Weekends we hit the roads on a Craigs List mission to get the best for the least. Big house means big furniture. She picked up five china cabinets and refinished them! Then she started with the guest bedrooms .
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Then, she decided the entire master bedroom sets of windows had to be done in copper mum pattern curtains found only at Target. We hit every Target from Weatherford to Waco before we finally got enough. We picked up a California King sized log bed for $100. She refinished a couple of cheap old dressers in a turquoise finish and used silver finish conchos for pull handles. The effect was amazing.

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DadsDream said:
As someone who might soon be in the market for a house, I started looking around.

Wifey and I came across a pretty decent deal on a chalet style log house...two story cathedral loft greatroom and kitchen in the middle section, a master bed/bath combo in one wing and a guest bed/bath combo in the other...sits on five acres overlooking a lake...20-mile scenic view in three directions.

Our loan officer said FHA frowns on log homes because they have difficulty setting an appraised value. This is due to the infrequent sales of log homes, which doesn't give FHA a local benchmark to go by.

Any truth to that?

Second, the house (built in 2003) is coated with a wood stain product which is now peeling off in chunks on the sun-exposed western side of the house. Exposed wood areas on that wall are now turning grey.

What are the options and cost of fixing something like that?

Lastly, around the windows there are some places...well...a picture is worth a thousand words. Look around the left window...

Anybody who has knowledge of log houses, any advice would be appreciated.
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My neighbor has one, it’s beautiful. She has the foam insulation so it is very efficient even though it is not a slab home. She does have it pressure washed every 6 or 7 years and seals it.
 

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