Build the pen as if it were to have no openings, either doors, windows, or
fireplaces. When you reach the point where the top of the door, window, or
fireplace is to be (Fig. 229) saw out a section of the log to mark the
place and admit a saw when it is desired to finish the opening as shown in
the diagram and continue building until you have enough logs in place to
tack on cleats like those shown in Figs. 229, 230, and 231, after which
the openings may be sawed out. The cleats will hold the ends of the logs
in place until the boards _U_ (Fig. 232) for the door-jambs,
window-frames, or the framework over the fireplace can be nailed to the
ends of the logs and thus hold them permanently in place. If your house is
a "mudsill," wet the floor until it becomes spongy, then with the butt
end of a log ram the dirt down hard until you have an even, hard
floor--such a floor as some of the greatest men of this nation first crept
over when they were babies. But if you want a board floor, you must
necessarily have floor-joists; these are easily made of milled lumber or
you may use the rustic material of which your house is built and select
some straight logs for your joists. Of course, these joists must have an
even top surface, which may be made by flattening the logs by scoring and
hewing them as illustrated by Figs. 123, 124, and 125 and previously
described. It will then be necessary to cut the ends of the joist square
and smaller than the rest of the log (Fig. _A_, 229); the square ends must
be made to fit easily into the notches made in the sill logs (_B_, Fig.
229) so that they will all be even and ready for the flooring (_C_, Fig.
229). For a house ten feet wide the joists should be half a foot in
diameter, that is, half a foot through from one side to the other; for
larger spans use larger logs for the joists.