Method of Making Log Cabin Structure Using Landscape Timbers

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE EFS-WEB

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR A JOINT INVENTOR

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in structures made to give the appearance of log cabins, but which are actually comprised of faux logs or pseudologs attached to the exterior of conventionally built structures. The pseudologs used for the structures described herein are made from longitudinally ripped landscape timbers. When affixed to the exterior of a conventionally constructed building, as described hereinafter, the building's appearance is virtually indistinguishable from that of a traditional “log cabin” structure.

Log cabins or log cabin type structures are historically and aesthetically desirable for many reasons. They are traditionally associated with rural and frontier living, bringing to mind the rugged yet indomitable struggles of those who first ventured into the American wilderness. Such structures are not, however, limited to American history. Log cabins or log cabin type structures have been used for centuries in Scandanavia and Eastern Europe, as well as throughout North America. They are historically appealing to modern Americans particularly because early settlers in the United States used logs to construct simple yet sturdy dwellings.

Perhaps due to these historical and aesthetic connections, many homeowners today prefer the “log cabin” appearance for their primary dwelling or for additional structures (playhouses, sheds, pumphouses, etc.) adjacent to their primary dwelling.

It is not easy to construct traditional log structures, or to find qualified individuals who are able to reliably construct them. Logs must first be procured and transported to the building site. Decisions must be made as to the type of wood to be used, whether pine, spruce, cedar, or some other wood necessitated by specific climatic conditions. Other factors such as the availability and durability of particular woods must also be considered.

The logs to be used for construction must be cut to precise lengths and fashioned for joining. Such joining methods include traditional ones like hand-cut saddle-notched joints or dovetailed joints. More modern techniques involve milling the logs with tongue-and-groove or other interlocking profiles.

Once the logs are fit together to form the basic structure, the gaps between the logs must be filled. The filling of the gaps between the logs is commonly known as “chinking”, and the filling material itself is also referred to as “chinking”. If the builder is using traditional methods, mixtures of mud and clay and moss will be packed in the gaps and allowed to harden. If more modern building techniques are followed, masonry materials or mortars may be used. Insulating and weatherproofing materials may also be added.

Finally, a roof must be placed over the log structure, and windows and doors must be fit into it. The roof may be made of a rustic appearing material such as cedar shake shingles, or a more conventional roofing material may be used.

It would be desirable to be able to provide a structure that has the appearance of a traditional “log cabin”, while using modern and well understood building techniques, and while also avoiding the difficulties and costs involved in the construction of true log structures as discussed above. The present invention is directed to a novel method of accomplishing this goal.

(2) Description of Related Art

While the prior art has attempted to attain the goal of a structure having the appearance of a traditional log cabin while not being a log cabin in and of itself (see U.S. Pat. No. 7,797,896 to Miller et al, US Patent Application Publication 2018/0187422 to Chadwick, and U.S. Pat. No. 10,518,477 to Williamson), the prior art has not disclosed or suggested the unique use of landscape timbers to accomplish this goal.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention described and claimed herein involves the use of conventional landscape timbers which have been longitudinally ripped to create apparent “logs”, hereinafter called pseudologs. Each such created pseudolog has a flat surface and an opposite convex surface. The flat surface is able to be attached to the outer surface of a conventional building structure, while the convex surface has the raw and rugged appearance of a natural log. When a plurality of such created pseudologs are attached horizontally to all sides of a conventional building structure, the resulting appearance is that of a traditional structure built of actual logs.

The use of common landscape timbers to create the pseudologs provides one of the important features of the present invention. Readily available at most any hardware or outdoor supply store, a landscape timber is an unfinished length of wood, typically eight feet long, of rectangular cross-section having two opposing surfaces milled into convex shape. The typical cross-sectional dimension is three inches by four inches, with the shorter length sides being milled into convex shape.

In effecting the present invention, a conventional structure is fabricated having, for example, four primary walls, a floor, a roof, and any required doors and windows. Each of the walls has a flat outer surface. A plurality of landscape timbers are procured, and each of the landscape timbers is ripped longitudinally to create two pseudologs, each pseudolog having a flat surface and an opposite convex surface.

A plurality of pseudologs are attached to a flat outer surface of the conventional building structure in the following manner. The flat surface of a pseudolog is attached horizontally to the flat outer surface of the conventional building structure and is permanently affixed. The flat surface of another pseudolog is laid end-to-end horizontally with the first pseudolog and is attached and permanently affixed to the flat outer surface of the conventional building structure. This procedure is continued until a row of pseudologs extends the entire length of the wall, with the length of the last pseudolog being cut as necessary so that the length of the row of pseudologs matches the length of the wall.

Next a second row of pseudologs is laid end-to-end horizontally above the first row, with each pseudolog in the second row being attached and permanently affixed to the flat outer surface of the conventional building structure. This procedure is repeated again and again with row after row of pseudologs until the entire wall is completely covered. If there are windows or doors in the wall, the lengths of the pseudologs are measured and cut accordingly so that the windows and doors appropriately appear.

The second, third, and fourth walls of the conventional structure are covered in exactly the same manner. The result of the entire process is a conventionally built structure which appears as a traditional log structure because of the attached pseudologs.

In an alternative embodiment, the just-described process of laying the pseudologs end-to-end and row by row can be employed away from the main building structure itself. In this alternative embodiment, a backing board (for example, building grade plywood) is employed as a primary support structure, the pseudologs being affixed thereto in order to create an entire modular wall. The modular wall (the backing board and affixed pseudologs) is then transported to the building site where it is erected along with other modular walls that have been similarly created.

In the present invention, the corners where the various walls connect are finished to a desired state in accordance with the wishes of the builder and in accordance with known construction techniques. For example, one builder may desire a perfectly even connection at the corners of the walls so that the ends of pseudologs are mitered for a tight fit. Other builders may wish to present a more rustic look, with pseudologs not necessarily coming tightly together at the corners, and with some sort of chinking material filling the gaps.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are more particularly pointed out in the claims which form a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its advantages, and specific objects obtained by its use, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptions in which is illustrated and described a preferred embodiment of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of the specification, illustrate the present invention and, together with the description, further serve to explain the principles of the invention and to enable a person skilled in the pertinent art to make and use the invention.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a building constructed of pseudologs in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates one of the pseudolog walls of the building shown in FIG. 1 without any doors or windows therein;

FIG. 2a is a side view of the pseudolog wall of FIG. 2 including a view of the solid structure to which the pseudologs are affixed;

FIG. 3 is an end view of a typical landscape timber from which pseudologs of the present invention are created, including the cut lines for longitudinally ripping the landscape timber; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a pseudolog of the present invention which is created from the landscape timber of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a simple building structure 10 is shown comprising four walls and a roof. Each of the four walls of the building structure 10 is attached at a right angle to each adjoining wall, the building structure 10 thus being rectangularly shaped. In FIG. 1, two of the four walls can be seen, side wall 20 and front wall 30. A window 50 is formed in side wall 20, and a door 60 is formed in front wall 30. A roof 40 is formed on the top of the building structure 10.

The building structure 10 shown in FIG. 1 is a simplified structure for ease of understanding the method of the present invention, and can represent a playhouse, shed, pumphouse, or any such type of structure. A larger and more complicated building structure, such as a primary dwelling, could also be constructed using the method of the present invention.

The roof 40 of the building structure 10 is shown, for illustrative purposes, as comprising a conventional shingle type material. In order to blend with the aesthetic aspect of the “log cabin” appearance of the building structure, however, a rustic appearing material such as cedar shake shingles is more preferably used. It is to be noted, though, that the makeup of the roof itself is totally up to the builder and does not constitute any part of the invention as claimed herein.

FIG. 2 shows side wall 20 of the building structure 10 of FIG. 1, with a side view of said side wall 20 shown in FIG. 2a. As seen in these two figures, a solid two-dimensional structure 35, for example a plywood backing board, has attached thereto a plurality of half-timbers (also referred to herein as “pseudologs”) 25. The pseudologs 25 are attached to the solid two-dimensional structure 35 in a series of horizontal rows covering the entire surface of the solid two-dimensional structure.

Turning briefly to FIGS. 3 and 4, the first steps in the claimed process of the present invention are illustrated. A plurality of unfinished landscape timbers 70 are provided at the building site, each landscape timber 70 having two opposite flat surfaces and two opposite convex surfaces as seen in FIG. 3. Although variations certainly exist, the typical landscape timber 70 is about eight feet in length, with cross sectional dimensions of about three inches (between the flat surfaces) by four inches (between the apices of the convex surfaces).

Each landscape timber 70 is then marked for cutting along the length of the timber, such lengthwise cutting known in the carpentry arts as ripping. As seen in FIG. 3, each landscape timber 70 is provided with two such cut lines extending between the two opposite flat surfaces of the timber. This provides for the extraction of two pseudologs from each landscape timber, and the resulting thickness of each such pseudolog facilitates the attachment of the pseudolog to the solid two-dimensional structure. A typical resulting thickness of a pseudolog is one and one half inches, although the specific thickness does not constitute an essential the claimed invention.

If desired, and if a greater thickness of each pseudolog is deemed appropriate, a single cut line may be provided midway between the two convex surfaces of the landscape timber 70. Some builders may indeed, for particular aesthetic and appearance purposes, want the resulting pseudologs to be thicker.

A pseudolog 75 resulting from this portion of the claimed method of the present invention is shown in FIG. 4. However thick the builder wants the pseudologs to be, a plurality of pseudologs 75 are prepared by marking and ripping all of the landscape timbers 70 which have been provided at the building site. A plurality of pseudologs are now stacked and made ready for attachment to each solid two-dimensional structure constituting a wall of the building structure.

Returning now to FIGS. 2 and 2a, the actual attachment of the pseudologs to the building structure is described. To begin, a flat surface of a first pseudolog is attached horizontally to the flat outer surface of the conventional building structure and is permanently affixed. The affixation can be by any known and desired technique such as nailing, screwing, gluing, or pegging. The particular affixation technique employed is totally up to the builder.

After the first pseudolog is attached, the flat surface of another pseudolog is laid end-to-end horizontally with the first pseudolog and is attached and permanently affixed to the flat outer surface of the conventional building structure. This procedure is continued until a row of pseudologs extends the entire length of the wall, with the length of the last pseudolog being cut as necessary so that the length of the row of pseudologs matches the length of the wall.

Preferably, but not necessarily, this first row of pseudologs is laid at the very bottom of the wall, so that successive rows will be laid moving upward on the wall of the building structure.

Next a second row of pseudologs is laid end-to-end horizontally above the first row, with each pseudolog in the second row being attached and permanently affixed to the flat outer surface of the conventional building structure. This procedure is repeated again and again with row after row of pseudologs until the entire wall is completely covered. If there are windows or doors in the wall, such as window 50 or door 60 shown in FIG. 1, the lengths of the pseudologs are measured and cut accordingly so that the windows and doors appropriately appear.

The second, third, and fourth (or additional) walls of the conventional building structure are covered in exactly the same manner. The result of the entire process is a conventionally built structure which appears as a traditional log structure because of the attached pseudologs.

In an alternative embodiment, the just-described process of laying the pseudologs end-to-end and row by row can be employed away from the main building structure itself. In this alternative embodiment, a backing board 35 (for example, building grade plywood) is employed as a primary support structure, the pseudologs 25 being affixed thereto in order to create an entire pre-fabricated, modular wall. The modular wall (the backing board and affixed pseudologs) is then transported to the building site where it is erected along with other modular walls that have been similarly created.

In the method of the claimed invention, the corners where the various walls connect are finished to a desired state in accordance with the wishes of the builder and in accordance with known construction techniques. For example, one builder may desire a perfectly even connection at the corners of the walls so that the ends of pseudologs are mitered for a tight fit. Other builders may wish to present a more rustic look, with pseudologs not necessarily coming tightly together at the corners, and with some sort of chinking material filling the gaps.

The building method described and claimed herein thus gives a solid, traditionally constructed building structure the appearance of a log cabin, but which is actually comprised of pseudologs attached to the exterior thereof. With the pseudologs affixed to the exterior of such a conventionally constructed building, as described above, the building's appearance is virtually indistinguishable from that of a traditional “log cabin” structure.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined in the following claims.