Replies

1. 
   Ben_Howe | Dec 18, 1998 03:35am | #1

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   Jason,
   I built a log home about a decade ago but, unfortunately was not around for the wiring stage.
   Termites might do the trick but are not really predictable enough.
   You didn't say what the chinking space was between the logs??
   I would think that the box would usually st in the chinked portion of the structure.
   If this is not desireable then simply drill on, as high an angle as possible, down through the box cavity using a large forstner bit and then eye-ball an upward diagonal hole from the chink space below the box. If the bit is big enough you shouln't have too much trouble aligning them enough to get your wire through.
   Maybe an even simpler method would be to place the box so that either the top or the bottom lands at, or near the edge of the log.
   It just dawned on me that you may be using round logs. In this event ignore the final idea

2. 
   Michael_ | Dec 18, 1998 05:54am | #2

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   I am restoring a log home built in 1831. I have been running the wire behind the baseboards with the back of the box cut into the round logs with a 5" chain saw disk. The box is cut into the baseboard with a sabre saw. This provides a discreet detail. I don't know if it meets code.

3. 
   Guest_ | Dec 23, 1998 01:03pm | #3

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   A friend attended a seminar on log house and a presenter asked, "Which is more important, which log style (round, square, D ) you use; or if you have a light in the closet?" His answer was that all manufactured logs are pretty good, but if you don't decide early that you want that light, you ain't gonna get it.

   You could drill as deep and high-angle as you dare and then extend the hole with a long (12-24") thin (1/8-1/4") bit to the outside. Use that whole as a reference to locate another large diameter hole drilled from the outside to intersect the first hole. It will leave one small hole and one large hole to plug, but that can be done with expanding foam (gotta be about 143 cans of it around the job site) and a wood plug (dry so it swells to fit). If any of those plugs don't look like knots, they can serve as reminders for the designer to plan ahead next time.

   -David

1. 
   Guest_ | Dec 23, 1998 05:27pm | #4

   *Sounds like a job for Panduit (surface mounted wireway). Or Gene Leger's electrostrip. There are two ex-model log homes down the road from me and both have surface mount wireway. I planned on building a cabin one day, and I figured I would drill and cut all that stuff when I stacked 'em.-Rob

4. 
   Will | Dec 28, 1998 08:16am | #5

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   drill up from the subfloor for the outlets and run all wires through the floor for the switches run them in from the door frames. your on the right track for the box installation only run through the chink lines as a last resort any more questions give me a ring
   will

5. 
   Guest_ | Dec 28, 1998 08:16am | #6

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   For some strange reasons I won't mention, I find myself helping the electrician on a project we took over by running the wiring and boxes in logs for a completed log home shell. The electrician (and myself, for that matter), do not have much experience with this type of installation; its always been holes drilled as we go in the past. However, my question should be quite simple; I can get the boxes carved out with a saw-tooth forsterner bit and chisel simply, but getting the little hole down 8-10" to the first chinking area (to run the wires and cover them up), has us stymied.

   I've tried using a long, flexible drill bit (the type used to thread and then pull wire in existing walls), but the shaft just cannot bend enough in a small enough space (the carved out portion of the log for a 3" tall box), to get it straight down. At best, it'll end up with the hole on the outside. I've thought about using some of the Vermont American "corner" bits I've seen, cutting a couple down to first get the hole started and then using a slighlty longer-shafted bit to go straight down, but I haven't had the opportunity to try it.

   Any suggestions would be appreciated; BTW, I've been practicing on cut off sections, not the walls, so so far I haven't hosed anything up if you have better ideas. Thanks a bunch!