1) POUR A MONOSLAB:
A monolithic slab is a concrete slab which is cast as a single continuous slab of concrete, without any casting or control joints. There are some cool things you can do with a concrete slab. Mix your concrete (Types 1 or 2 Portland), approximately 1/2 sack to 12 shovels of sand and 10 of gravel. For stonework, make it a little richer and use all sand (no gravel) for mortar. Adding a little dish soap will help with a couple of things: – 1) It won’t be quite as vulnerable to cold, and 2) It makes the mortar slightly stickier for masonry work.
2) BUILD SLIPFORMS:
Build “slipforms” that you can use as a backer/form to move along the wall as you work. Concentrate on the stone face of the foundation and fill the space between the rocks and the slipform with a mix of mortar and rubble.
3) JOINERY AND NOTCHES:
There are several different kinds of corner joining and notches: saddle notches, full dovetail, half-dovetail, “V” notches (traditional, easy and quick), butt and pass, flat notches, etc. If you only have short pieces to work with, “piece-en-piece” log construction is a time-honored technique using grooved log posts at the corners, or other (intermediate) positions, with tenoned logs stacked between.4) CHINKING:
There are a number of different approaches to “chinking,” or sealing the gaps between the logs. There are a number of companies offering “acrylic chinking,” which creates an elastomeric seal that, if carefully applied, will pretty well eliminate air intrusion, which probably affects a cabin’s weather-tightness more than anything else. Your solution will depend primarily on your budget, your construction technique and on what materials are available locally.
