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Joined: Jun 2004
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Is there any shot at routing UF outside the structure and then coming in from below?
It's not too uncommon for log cabins to have the bottom log resting on drained soil/ sand/ somesuch.
In which case, what you really have is a digging project.
Auger bits -- with extensions -- and a 7/16 impact auger driver -- can take the UF straight down into the soil.
BTW, most log cabin construction uses a pretty crude mating between the horizontals. This is corrected by daubing the gaps with local material: mud/ moss/ bark/ whatnot to create a wind seal and some sort of crude insulation. This corridor can be opened up if you're close enough to an open end -- by drilling horizontally all the way through. You'll want extensions. Then, cork up your run with a suitable dowel and marine glue when all is done.
There is a bit driver that you can purchase -- advertized in the back of EC magazine that permits bits as long as your all thread. (3/8 x 16 -- to ten feet -- unless you add a rod coupling and some thread-locker.)
Because the gap is already pretty much there, you may find drilling in this slot shockingly fast.
Rotary grinding heads are available for small angle grinders such as Metabo and Milwaukee and Makita and... They'd make fast work of roughing in any receptacles to the horizontals. Then you could follow up with Norton's sanding flap-discs -- with a very aggressive grit -- then step down to a finer grit, etc, etc.
I would recommend using double-gang receptacle penetrations as they're going to be easier to work -- and solve modern needs.
Don' forget to consider the need for LV, CAT 5, 5e cables.
Lastly, don't forget that you might get away with drilling horizontally straight under the building -- even if you have to farm out some of that work.
There are a number of under-the-sidewalk boring rigs that could well get you underneath the building. Then, you could 'chase the bit head' (metallic) with magnets, sound, or what not, and cut-in floor boxes. They may be far sweeter for the owner than Plan A.
You could put floor boxes as purely pulling points underneath cabinet locations.
Leaving the interior undisturbed has endless advantages.
No-one is going to complain about ditches dug outside.
Floor boxes can be encased in mud/ concrete, too. They can also be insulated with low-expansion foam. (The 'crack' stuff is too powerful and will distort any plastic box.)
Any ditch digging can be held to a mere 14" by using GFCI protection -- back at the panel -- of which I don't know whether it's inside or outside.
It's either the above -- or call in trained termites -- and keep them on piecework.
Tesla
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Joined: Jul 2008
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Thank you for all of the suggestions.
As I said, the house was built in 1956. Last year they raised it up and put a basement under it. I brought a service to the building and wired the basement, while they lived in the main floor. The homeowners are now gone for the winter and want me to wire the main floor while they're away. They had actually agreed to the idea of EMT in the kitchen area. I however do take a little pride in my work and I think that it'll look like crap, which is why I came here to ask for alternatives. I've never seen or heard of pre-painted EMT before and if available here, I think it's a great idea. Like Reno said, a matte black wouldn't look bad at all.
Thanks again... Bruce
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Joined: Jul 2004
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If you have access to the side of the wall from a door, how about removing the door frame and drilling horizontally thru the logs?
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Joined: Jun 2004
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Wheatland, IIRC, advertises prefinished EMT.
They also pitch 20-foot EMT, too.
It must go at a premium; but who can compete with a factory paint job?
Tesla
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Joined: May 2005
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I was just thinking about measuring VERY carefully and drill up into the logs from the basement. That should be possible in all but the exterior walls.
Ghost307
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Joined: Jul 2004
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I did a rewire job once over a crawl space. We drilled a very small hole through the floor an inch from the wall, poked a wire down and then the helper in the crawl, measured over 3" from the wire and drilled up into the stud cavity. We established a standard of N/S/E/W to be sure we were going the right way. Something along those lines might work, using a plastic box that you can drill through.
Greg Fretwell
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Joined: Jun 2002
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For the countertop outlets you could run the wires along the back of the cabinets (just under the countertop). Then drill a 2" hole straight into the log and then drill a 3/4" hole up into the log. Make an opening for a metal old work box and fish the wires.
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Joined: Jul 2002
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Hey guys, I've never really worked on a log house, per se, but I do remember a rather flush American guy a number of years ago bought some land here and wanted to put a house on it, made of logs.
Long story short, I missed out on the quote, but later found out it wasn't a real log house, but was in fact quarter-sawn strips of timber on the inside of the rooms, nailed to the normal stud-work, so it looked like it was actually a log home from the inside, but it wasn't.
I'm guessing that by using REAL logs, you can't run wiring through the logs, because like all timber does, it will move over time as the wood expands/contracts/warps, would end up pinching the wiring?
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Joined: Jul 2004
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In places where they do a lot of logging we do have real log homes. We rented this one in North Dakota. These are built off site, disassembled and reassembled on the customer's lot. These were the tract home version of a log cabin with a simple joint Back in the olden days they used a more sophisticated joint that sheds water and lasts 100 years or more In retrospect I am guessing they predrill the electric after the initial fitting of the logs when they take it apart for delivery.
Greg Fretwell
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Log homes are typically "prepared" at a mill, with each piece faced, grooves, and jointed- all according to that vendor's particular design.
Corner joints are available with the squared dovetail, a half-moon, and even a copy of the "Lincoln Log" toy. Another design has the logs placed vertically, rather than laid flat.
One of the more common styles these days has a concave cut made on the 'bottom' side, with a lengthwise groove. The curve rests the log securely atop the one below, and the groove holds a felt gasket, to supplement the 'chinking' of log seams.
"Backwoods Home" magazine has regular articles, and publishes a number of books, on log home construction. Their authors have tried a variety of approaches to the electrical, and it's worth reading their works.
Personally, I'd run pipe as my first choice. Where they simply can't abide the sight, there's no reason you can't paint it "woodgrain," using milk paint and glaze. (AKA "Antiqueing")
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