Homage to the Ponderosa; A DoveTail Log Home in the Nicola Valley posted on July 16, 2010
The customer knew he wanted a dovetail log home on his remote acreage in the Nicola Valley. Initially, he planned a sizeable dovetail structure to be built of Western red cedar, but when he realized that his demanding work load would not allow him time to enjoy the building, he began considering a smaller foot print.
The Nicola Valley, like so much of British Columbia has been hard hit by the Western pine beetle and the mountain pine beetle; destroying vast pine forests, as well as the mighty Ponderosa – the iconic tree of the open grasslands.
While the customer was trying to decide what to build on his rolling range land, many of his Ponderosa, were succumbing to the beetle infestation.
John Boys of Nicola LogWorks saw an opportunity to honour these giants by harvesting them before the decay had progressed too far, and incorporated them into this dovetail cabin.
At Nicola LogWorks, we call this dovetail hunting cabin ”Homage to the Ponderosa”, and regard it as an expression of respect to these trees that once defined our eco-system.
Diameter of the trees we selected was around 40”. The interior and exterior are milled with a circle-sawn finish to a thickness of16”. The top and bottom retain the shape of the natural log.
You can see the blue stain caused by the beetles. This is a fungus, which as long as it is protected from moisture, will not jeopardize the structural integrity of this dove tail building. Large roof overhangs, and a quality wood stain will be the measures taken to ensure he building is protected.
Building with pine was a new direction. In anticipation of dramatic movement, John developed a bolting system in addition to our standard dowel-on-centre method. This new method, has now become standard practice on our dove tail log homes.

Thompson Okanagan Business Magazine Features Nicola LogWorks posted on November 09, 2009
Click here to read recent article in October 2009 Thompson Okanagan Business publication about Nicola LogWorks.

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