And in the beginning .....

Several years ago I purchased property in Northeastern Missouri. I soon learned that the property came with a log cabin. I decided to see if this cabin could be salvaged and returned to a livable state. My goal is to share this project as it is develops.

See Video 1: Rehab of a 1857 Dog Trot Cabin

The hard part was finding a contractor that had the experience and was willing to travel to Northeast Missouri for this type of project.

It took me several years to locate the right man for the job. A fella by the name of John Ming. He lives is Swiss Missouri, exactly 100 miles from the cabin.

We met several times to discuss the project. John let me know that the first thing we would need to do is to strip off the exterior and interior siding to determine the condition of the underlying logs. Then we would do an evaluation and John would layout my options.

So John began the stripping and determined that the east pen had termite damage up to the top of the windows on two sides. All but one of the sills was gone. The west pen was in relatively good shape. There were two bad sill logs but the floor was in good shape.

The chosen option was to completely take down the east Pen. We would salvage material from this take down to replace the sill logs on the west pen and to raise the second floor. Currently the upstairs usable space is limited due to the height.

As the west pen stands now, it is 16 x 18 OD. On the top is a 28 foot beam that cantilevers out extending the 18 foot section allowing for an additional room in the center of the building. This is called the dog trot.

We will tear down the east pen, front porch, back porch and roof and we will either reuse or store the good material for a future project.

After the tear down the cabin will be leveled and a wet laid foundation will be installed.

The finished cabin will be two story at 16 x 28 with porches on the front and back.

Log Cabin, built in 1857 — Restoration begins in 2009!

Stats:

Location: Northeast Missouri

Built: 1857

Abandoned: 1935

Style: Dog Trot, Story Plus

Size: 1086 Square foot

Type construction: Hewn log

Foundation: Dry Laid stone

Basement: none

Heat: Wood

Plumbing: none

Electric: none

Access: 1/2 mile from gravel

Room Size outside dimensions:

• East Pen 18 X 16
• West Pen 18 X 16
• Trot 10 X 16
• Porch Front 46 X 6
• Porch Back 46 X 9

Condition of structure:

• East Pen – Termites have destroy lower two thirds of the structure
• West Pen In salvageable condition.
• Foundation – Must be replaced
• Front porch – concrete is cracked and will need to be replaced
• Back porch – floor is gone
• Roof – good condition as in it has kept out the water. It will need to be replaced.
• Trot - Floor has no salvage value
• Staircase - 100 % salvageable
• Doors - All door are original and in excellent condition
• Foundation - will need total replacement
• Plumbing – none existing
• Heat - Wood Stove
• Electric - none