Preparing for Electrical and Windows
As you can see one log follows another. This week progress has been a bit slow. The third course of logs is
where the majority of electrical boxes are located and the fourth course is where the larger windows start. Both
require extra work to prepare the logs before they can be installed.
All openings for electrical outlets and switches in exterior walls have to be chiseled out of the log. The electrical
wires are run from the crawl space through the rim joist and through each course of logs. This is done by simply
drilling a 1" hole in each log where a box will be located. This may sound hard but not as long as you make
careful measurements and check the hole in each log to make sure it lines up with the hole in the log below.

Here you see me making a plunge cut with a small circular saw on each side of the electrical box to help
alleviate some of the chiseling.
Next a 2" plumbers bit is used to remove most of the material. We are using 1 1/2" deep metal boxes so that's
how deep we're making the holes.
Once most of the material is removed a good sharp chisel is used to square everything up.
Here you see the only female member of our team handling the chiseling duties......This didn't last long as she
was afraid she might break a nail. (Just kidding, dear.)

Actually she is in charge of all caulking and the installation of the Butylog sealant which is used to join each log
course to the one below. A full explanation of the caulking process and how Butylog is used will be included in
next week's update.
This is what the finished product looks like. Later in course seven the same will be done for the kitchen outlets
and all switches. We figured it takes about 20 minutes to do each box this way. In course three we had 18 boxes
that had to be chiseled out which added 6 hours labor to that course.
Before the fourth course can be installed the top of course three must be prepared for some of the larger
windows. Each design is different and in our case we opted for some large windows to insure good cross
ventilation (after all this is Arizona). This job consists of removing the tongue from the top of the log where the
window will be located in order to temporarily install the bottom window buck. The buck is used to ensure the
window is located properly and also when the sides are installed they act just as the door bucks do to help keep
the walls plumb as each course of logs are set. Here you see one of the bottom bucks installed.
Removing the tongue can be done a number of ways but for me the easiest was to just to use a sharp chisel and
mallet.
After the majority of the material is removed I used a small hand plane to smooth everything out.
The exterior window and door trim is recessed into the logs. This is done by kerf cutting (I'll explain this next
week). It's easy to forget to do kerf cuts and one way we found to "remind" ourselves is to make a note on the
buck material. Kerf cuts are most easily done before the log is installed so hopefully we won't forget any more
cuts. Trust me they are a real pain to do after the log is in place.
The fourth course is now complete and in this photo you can see the location of some of the windows. We will
have more windows that start in course six and we should get to those this coming week.


Check back soon.
That's all for this week. Last week I mentioned we protected the
sub-floor with Thompson's Water Seal even though we don't get much
rain this time of year. Well, to make a long story short it rained four
times in the last 6 days. Not to worry though, next week's forecast is for
drier weather.