“What are the best books for building a Log Cabin?” We looked at 93 of the top books, aggregating and ranking them so we could answer that very question!
Learn to build your very own log cabin with our best books list. The top 17 Log Cabin Building books, all appearing on 2 or more lists, are ranked below with images, descriptions, and links. The remaining titles, as well as the articles we used, are listed alphabetically at the bottom of the page.
Happy Scrolling!
Top 17 Best Log Cabin Construction Books
16 .) Back to the Cabin: More Inspiration for the Classic American Getaway by Dale Mulfinger
- Relax Shaks
- Cabin Crush
“A yearning for smaller homes…simpler times! Architect and renowned “cabinologist” Dale Mulfinger rekindles our love of the iconic American cabin in Back to the Cabin. This latest book picks up where his best seller, The Cabin, left off, engaging readers with fresh insights and strategies for designing a contemporary cabin with all the charm of yesteryear.
Renewing America’s long love affair with cabins. From rustic bungalows to log cabins, the bare-bones getaway house provides families with a sense of freedom from the everyday and the camaraderie of living close in shared spaces. In stark contrast to today’s hi-tech world, cabin living is uncomplicated and basic – another reason spurring interest in these cozy shelters.”
15 .) Building with Logs by B. Allan Mackie
- About
- Dirt Cheap Builder
“Now completely revised and updated, B. Allan This classic is still considered the best book ever written on making a full sized log home. This enlarged eighth edition, revised in 1997, is filled with numerous major construction improvements, and clearly shows the novice and experienced log builder how to select logs, plan both the site and financing, and then build a handsome log structure from the foundation to the ridge cap.
The concept of modern log building was born 25 years ago with the first edition of Building with Logs. All who loved log homes could, for the first time, learn how to build one. With over 100,000 copies sold, this book inspired thousands of owner-built homes.”
14 .) Compact Cabins: Simple Living in 1,000 Square Feet or Less by Gerald Rowan
- Ebay
- Barnes & Noble
In the woods, on a mountaintop, or at the water’s edge, a small cabin can fulfill big dreams. With attention to efficient living and minimizing energy footprints, Gerald Rowan provides 62 designs for compact and creative buildings that are flexible enough to fit whatever your needs may be. Rowan includes detailed floor plans with plenty of modular elements that make the designs adaptable and easy to recreate with cost-effective, low-maintenance materials. Make the most of the cabin you call home, regardless of its size.
13 .) Crafting Log Homes Solar Style: An Inspiring Guide to Self-Sufficiency by Rex A. Ewing and LaVonne Ewing
- Log Home Links
- Log Cabin Connection
A down-to-earth guide to building solar-powered log homes, complete with how-to illustrations and photos, plus enlightening stories from log home owners across the country. Follow the authors’ journey of handcrafting an off-the-grid log home in the Colorado Rockies and discover how renewable energy is a perfect match for modern log home living, from small weekend cabins to expansive year-round homes.
12 .) How to Build Your Dream Cabin in the Woods by J. Wayne Fears
- Ebay
- Barnes & Noble
For generations, nature lovers, writers, and sportsmen have found an escape from their day-to-day world in living closer to nature. J. Wayne Fears offers a complete guide to building without the hassle of a construction crew or outrageous costs. This ultimate resource includes photos, blueprints, and diagrams, and covers the steps to constructing the cabin you’ve always wanted
11 .) Log Home Secrets of Success: An Insiders Guide to making Your Dream Home a Reality by Roland Sweet
- Log Home Links
- Log Cabin Connection
A savvy guide that takes you from dreaming of a log home to actually building and living comfortably in one. Industry insider Roland Sweet reveals tips and insights about the various facets of designing a log home, selecting a log-home producer, and evaluating log packages. Plus you’ll get real-world advice on calculating costs, what to look for when buying land, making energy-wise decisions, the importance of assembling a team that shares your vision, working with a builder, and much more. An invaluable resource, complete with photos, advice from log-home owners and an extensive and useful appendix.
10 .) Shelters, Shacks & Shanties: And How to Build Them by Daniel Carter Beard
- Barnes & Noble
- Relax Shaks
One of the founders of the Boy Scouts of America, Beard provides a hand-on guide for building a variety of habitable structures in the wilderness and other difficult environments. Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties provides easy-to-follow instructions on building everything from tents to teepees to log cabins.
9 .) The Cabin: Inspiration for the Classic American Getaway by Dale Mulfinger
- Relax Shaks
- Cabin Crush
“Building on the theory that less is more, The Cabin takes this idyllic retreat from mind’s eye to reality–with striking photographs and ample charm.
In this one-of-a-kind book, you’ll discover an amazing array of design styles and materials — from sticks and stones to sheet metal and glass. You’ll find 37 inspirational cabins from all over the country showing how people are building, reclaiming and transforming this unique American dwelling. The Cabin celebrates the appeal of this unique form or retreat, providing inspiration and practical ideas for realizing your own cabin dream.”
8 .) The Owner-Built Log House: Living in Harmony With Your Environment by B. Mackie
- About
- Barnes & Noble
“A decade ago, B. Allan Mackie was nearing completion of Ardea, the log house he built on Shanty Lake. He shared these experiences in the original edition of The Owner-Built Log House. In this new edition he continues his personal journey, which led him to complete Ardea and realize he had yet to build the perfect log house. This book is a testament to Mackie’s most treasured desire — to reproduce the life and style of the pioneers.
In this unique book, Mackie provides a thorough, expert and practical guide to building a log house. He demonstrates that, with the will to learn, the average person is more than capable of building a log house that will serve for years to come.”
7 .) Build Your Own Low-Cost Log Home by Roger Hard
- Barnes & Noble
- About
- Log Home Links
The classic log cabin exudes a charm and simplicity that can’t be matched. In this straightforward guide, Roger Hard provides expert advice on building your own log home without breaking your budget. Step-by-step instructions and easy-to-follow diagrams cover everything from choosing a site and felling trees to maintaining your house for years to come. Learn the pros and cons of ready-to-build kits and different heating systems as you make your dream house a reality.
6 .) Cabins: A Guide to Building Your Own Nature Retreat by David and Jeanie Stiles
- Relax Shaks
- Barnes & Noble
- Ebay
“This authoritative how-to title gives readers all the information they need to build their own cabin, including:
A useful list of essential questions to consider during the planning process
Types of cabin construction, such as pole built, stick built, post and beam, stone, cordwood, wood siding, and the advantages of each
Site preparation, foundations, windows and doors, ladders and stairs, insulation, roofing, electricity, water systems and heating
Essential information on log cabins
Cabin designs and their advantages
Furnishings and accessories
Construction methods are clearly illustrated in meticulous line drawings and precise plans with measurements. Cut-away cross-sections and exploded diagrams give the builder the true perspective and detail needed to obtain the best result, allowing readers to get the most enjoyment out of their newly built wilderness retreat.”
5 .) How to Build Your Own Log Home for Less Than $15,000 by Robert L. Williams
- Barnes & Noble
- Dirt Cheap Builder
- Grannys Store
4 .) How-to Build This Log Cabin for $3,000 by John McPherson
- About
- Dirt Cheap Builder
- Grannys Store
A step by step “how-to” on the construction of a log cabin profusely illustrated with over 300 photographs plus several line drawings. This book was written and designed for the “average” person who has the desire to build a log cabin but not much knowledge. Modern tools are used and everything but logs (including roof) were purchased and yet the cost of construction was kept right at $3,000. Common problems are shown being solved using not much more than common sense. From trees in the timber to the final chinking, this book is designed to get the reader out there and building.
3 .) Small Log Homes: Storybook Plans and Advice by Robbin Obomsawin
- Dirt Cheap Builder
- About
- Log Home Links
Whether you’re planning a starter home or a lifelong retreat, Small Log Homes is an indispensable idea book for planning, building, and outfitting your cabin in the woods or on the prairie. Lush photographs show how log-home owners, builders, and contractors around the country have achieved the richness and warmth of cabin living within the bounds of economy and space management. And all without feeling cramped or hamstrung.
2 .) The Classic Hewn-Log House by Charles McRaven
- Dirt Cheap Builder
- Grannys Store
- Barnes & Noble
A classic of early American architecture, the hewn-log house has a unique rustic charm and character. In this engaging and informative guide, Charles McRaven provides illustrated step-by-step instructions that cover every aspect of building your own log house, from selecting the site and hewing the first log to laying the final chimney stone. Whether you’re building a new house or restoring an old one, McRaven offers proven techniques and time-tested advice that will help you successfully create a warm and inviting hewn-log home.
1 .) Log Construction Manual The Ultimate Guide to Building Handcrafted Log Homes by Robert W. Chambers
- About
- Dirt Cheap Builder
- Grannys Store
- Barnes & Noble
“The Log Construction Manual tells you what you need to know to build your own handcrafted log home shell. This is a comprehensive and thorough guide to how to scribe-fit logs to each other, cut notches, and build roof support systems of large, round, naturally-shaped logs.
The Log Construction Manual is packed with information that is available nowhere else — including the Log Selection Rules, Chambers’ brilliant and simple method for choosing which log to use next; detailed instructions for building handcrafted log roof trusses; step-by-step directions for laying out sill logs for any design or floor plan; how to cut state-of-the-art compression-fit saddle notches; methods to keep notches and grooves tight over time; allowing for settling and shrinkage of log walls; scribing tips that pro’s use; and much more.”
The #17-93 Additional Cabin Building Books
| # | Book | Author | Lists |
| (Books Appear On 1 List Each) | |||
| 17 | A Dreamer’s Log Cabin: A Woman’s Walden | Laurie Shepherd | Barnes & Noble |
| 18 | A Home From the Woods:Adventures and methods restoring and building authentic log cabins | Michael J. Antoniak | Barnes & Noble |
| 19 | A Little Better than Plumb: The Biography of a House | Henry Giles | Barnes & Noble |
| 20 | A Pattern Language | Christopher Alexander | Country Plans |
| 21 | American Shelter | Lester Walker | Country Plans |
| 22 | Build Your Own Log Home from Scratch | Stuart Blackwell Duncan | Barnes & Noble |
| 23 | Builder’s Experience: Thirty Steps to a Complete Log Home | Gerald A A. Felch | Barnes & Noble |
| 24 | Building a Log Cabin Retreat: A Do-It-Yourself Guide | Michael Mulligan | Barnes & Noble |
| 25 | Building a Log Home from Scratch or Kit | Dan Ramsey | Barnes & Noble |
| 26 | Building and Restoring the Hewn Log House | McRaven | Barnes & Noble |
| 27 | Building the Alaska Log Home | Tom Walker | Barnes & Noble |
| 28 | Cabin Fever: Rustic Style Comes Home | Log Home Links | |
| 29 | Cabin Porn: Inspiration For Your Quiet Place Somewhere | Cabin Crush | |
| 30 | Cabins & Cottages: The Basics of Building a Getaway Retreat for Hunting, Camping, and Rustic Living | Skills Institute Press | Barnes & Noble |
| 31 | Cabins and Cottages: Home Repair and Improvements | Time-Life Books | Barnes & Noble |
| 32 | Code Check | Redwood Kardon | Country Plans |
| 33 | Complete Guide to Building Log Homes | Monte Burch | Barnes & Noble |
| 34 | Country Property, Dirt Cheap | Ralph C. Turner | Country Plans |
| 35 | Craft of Modular Post & Beam: Building Log & Timber Homes Affordably | James Mitchell | Barnes & Noble |
| 36 | Eat, Pray, Love | Elizabeth Gilbert | Cabin Living Mag |
| 37 | Effective Practices & Methods: For Handcrafted Log Home Construction | About | |
| 38 | Finding and Buying your Place in the Country | Les and Carol Scher | Country Plans |
| 39 | great spaces: cabins | Arian Mostaedi | Barnes & Noble |
| 40 | Hammer. Nail. Wood.: The Compulsion to Build | Thomas Glynn | Barnes & Noble |
| 41 | Hands-on Log Homes: Cabins Built on Dreams | Cindy Thiede | Barnes & Noble |
| 42 | Hannah and the Mountain: Notes toward a Wilderness Fatherhood | Jonathan Johnson | Barnes & Noble |
| 43 | Hide and Seek: The Architecture of Cabins and Hideouts | Cabin Crush | |
| 44 | High Fidelity | Nick Hornby | Cabin Living Mag |
| 45 | Home Work – Handbuilt Shelter | Lloyd Kahn | Country Plans |
| 46 | Homework | Lloyd | Relax Shaks |
| 47 | House Framing | John D. Wagner | Country Plans |
| 48 | How to Afford Your Own Log Home: Save 25 Percent without Lifting a Log | Carl Heldman | Barnes & Noble |
| 49 | How to Afford Your Own Log Home: White Mountain Guide Map | Carl Heldmann | Barnes & Noble |
| 50 | How to Be Your Own Contractor and Save Thousands on Your New House or Renovation While Keeping Your Day Job | Log Home Links | |
| 51 | How to Build and Furnish a Log Cabin | About | |
| 52 | How to Build Cabins, Lodges and Bungalows | Popular Science Monthly | Barnes & Noble |
| 53 | How to Build Small Barns & Outbuildings | Monte Burch, and Ben Watson (Editor) | Country Plans |
| 54 | Inside Log Homes: The Art and Spirit of Home Decor | Cindy Thiede | Barnes & Noble |
| 55 | Little Book of Log Cabins: How to Build and Furnish Them | William S. Wicks | Barnes & Noble |
| 56 | Living Homes Stone Masonry, Log, and Strawbale Construction | Grannys Store | |
| 57 | Log Cabins and Cottages: How to Build and Furnish Them | William S. Wicks | Barnes & Noble |
| 58 | Log Cabins: How to Build and Furnish Them | William S. Wicks | Barnes & Noble |
| 59 | Log Home Construction Build Your Own Log Home | Dirt Cheap Builder | |
| 60 | Log Homes Made Easy: Contracting and Building Your Own Log Home | Jim Cooper | Barnes & Noble |
| 61 | Log Homes Made Easy: Contracting and Building Your Own Log Home | Stackpole Books | Barnes & Noble |
| 62 | Log Houses: Canadian Classics | Peter Christopher | Barnes & Noble |
| 63 | Log Spirit | Linda White | Barnes & Noble |
| 64 | Logs, Wind and Sun: Handcraft Your Own Log Home…Then Power It with Nature | Rex A. Ewing | Barnes & Noble |
| 65 | Micro Green | Mimi Zeiger | Relax Shaks |
| 66 | Muir’s Original Log Home Guide for Builders and Buyers | Doris Muir | Barnes & Noble |
| 67 | Old Wood/New Home | Lawson Drinkard | Barnes & Noble |
| 68 | Pride and Prejudice and Zombies | Seth Grahame-Smith | Cabin Living Mag |
| 69 | Prodigal Summer | Barbara Kingsolver | Cabin Living Mag |
| 70 | Radical Simplicity | Dan Price | Relax Shaks |
| 71 | Sarah’s Key | Tatiana De Rosnay | Cabin Living Mag |
| 72 | Shantyboat | Harlan and Anna Hubbard | Relax Shaks |
| 73 | Shelter | Lloyd | Relax Shaks |
| 74 | Shelters, Shacks, and Shanties: The Classic Guide to Building Wilderness Shelters | Daniel Carter Beard | Barnes & Noble |
| 75 | Suite Francaise | Irene Nemirovsky | Cabin Living Mag |
| 76 | The American Dream | Lewis Advertising | Barnes & Noble |
| 77 | The Builder’s Experience: Thirty Steps to a Complete Log Home | Gerald A Felch | Barnes & Noble |
| 78 | The Cabin Builders: A True Story Of Family, Accomplishment, And The Love Of Nature | Craig J. Pfalzgraf | Barnes & Noble |
| 79 | The Complete Guide to Log Homes: How to Buy, Build, and Maintain Your Dream Home | Log Home Links | |
| 80 | The Devil in the White City | Erik Larson | Cabin Living Mag |
| 81 | The Green Book | Elixabeth rogers and Thomas Kostigen | Cabin Living Mag |
| 82 | The House That Jill Built: A Woman’s Guide to Home Building | Judy Ostrow | Barnes & Noble |
| 83 | The Log Cabin: An Adventure in Self-Reliance, Individualism, and Cabin Building | Len McDougall | Barnes & Noble |
| 84 | The Log Home Plan Book | About | |
| 85 | The Many Islands of Polynesia | Amos Patten Leib | Barnes & Noble |
| 86 | The Shack | William P. Young | Cabin Living Mag |
| 87 | Tiny House Living: Ideas for Building and Living Well in Less than 400 Square Feet | Ryan Mitchell | Ebay |
| 88 | Tiny Houses | Lester Walker | Relax Shaks |
| 89 | Visual Handbook of Building and Remodeling | Charlie Wing | Country Plans |
| 90 | Wilderness Shelters and how to Build Them | Bradford Angier | Barnes & Noble |
| 91 | Winter World | Bernd Heinrich | Cabin Living Mag |
| 92 | Working Alone : Tips & Techniques for Solo Building | John Carroll | Country Plans |
| 93 | Your Cabin in the Woods | Conrad Meinecke | Ebay |
11 Best Log Cabin Building Book Sources/Lists
| Source | Article |
| About | Plan and Build Your Own Log Home – By the Book |
| Barnes & Noble | Design and construction Home Design & Construction |
| Cabin Crush | Cabin Reading |
| Cabin Living Mag | The Cabin Book Club |
| Country Plans | Best Books for Building a Small Home |
| Dirt Cheap Builder | Build Your Own Low-Cost, Earth-Friendly, High-Efficiency Home! |
| Ebay | Best Cabin Books |
| Grannys Store | Log Home Construction |
| Log Cabin Connection | Log Cabin Book Reviews |
| Log Home Links | Log Home Books |
| Relax Shaks | The Top Ten Best Tiny House/Small Home/Little Living/Micro-Architecture Books |