OT: log homes? Anybody build one before?

Gun guru · Mar 31, 2009

I was in a doctors office yesterday for an hour --waiting, and waiting, and waiting.

And there was a large log home magazine, with loads and loads of pictures of log homes, floor plans and etc.

Now has anyone here built a log home or bought a finished log home.?

I dont plan on building one but I couldnt imagine the cost to do so. I am thinking twice the cost of a regular home. All these homes in the pictures of this magazine had tounge and groove wood for the walls, custom cabinets, totally bee-yoo-tee-full inside and out.
It was incredible to see, but the log home package to build must be $80k + all the interior finish wood + land price + stone work + all mechanical + site plans and on and on and on.

If you built one please share the cost involved, cause I cant fathom paying $400,000 to build a 2000 square foot log home. (if you have pictures please share that too)
Middle class guys like me dont have the ca$h to build such a project (unless I win the lottery)
thanks.

rbel · Mar 31, 2009

Fellow over at the woodworks moved from Atlanta to Maine (his original home state) and built his from timber he cut from his land. Including milling all the deminsional stock needed using a chain saw mill. Did it all by himself, of course he was also a dogface in Nam so what can you expect

Allan in NE · Mar 31, 2009

A friend of mine built one back about 1975. The kit was $80K way back then.

He insulated the inside with an additional 2" of Styrofoam. Heating bill ran about $3 every 6 or 7 years. :>)

Allan

Anonymous-0 · Mar 31, 2009

I built one (from a kit) in 1977. We lived in it for 28 years. By doing ALL the labor myself, I held the cost down somewhat, but still invested more per sq ft than any conventional homes the same size. Not cheap by any stretch. The only issue we had with it was the log interior walls were almost impossible to keep clean. When the opportunity to sell came along in '05, we did so and never regretted the decision.

Gun guru · Mar 31, 2009

I wish my heat bill was that low.

$80k back then was lot of money.

Spook · Mar 31, 2009

One of my wife's cousins built one. Took him about 5 years, he built a polebarn first, lived in that - actually the polebarn thing was pretty nice. He built about 3000 sq feet, but didn't spend all that much, he is a very good carpenter / builder. The thing I liked the most was the central fireplace he built - he did all that himself. Absolutely beautiful. Everything was done by him or a family member, so I don't think they spent a whole lot of cash. I wouldn't want one, too much maintenance.

Buckeye · Mar 31, 2009

I have rebuilt my great grandfather's log house from the 1860's. Have another one on the farm that I am interested in selling that was also built in the 1800's.

Hotflashjr · Mar 31, 2009

My friends just put one up two years ago. Came from Canada. Not a lincoln log house either. It was shaved logs that they fit to each other using scribing and chainsaws. Had to have a crane to put it up. I think they paid around $150,000 but it is a small size house. The loft on the 2nd floor has 1 room and a bathroom. Really nice looking house though. They burn about 4-5 cords of wood per year. My father-in-law has a smiliar size house and burns 8-9. They have no insulation between the logs. The R-Value of the wood alone is greater than your typical house. They also put in all energy efficient windows.

Ultradog MN · Mar 31, 2009

My cousins looked at a lot of log home plans when they were going to build their retirement home. Annie had a stack of books and magazines dedicated to log homes. Then one day it dawned on her that just about every other ad in those magazines was for log and rot repair. They decieded right then and there that log homes are WAY too much maintenance and upkeep and built a more traditional home instead.

david - or · Mar 31, 2009

Log homes look beautiful. But from an engineering standpoint, they represent a terrible way to use wood, given wood's material properties.

Wood expands and shrinks with changes in moisture. This is an anisotropic effect; the changes in size are much more pronounced across the grain (about 4 percent from green wood to kiln dried) than with the grain (about 0.1 percent). That's why wood studs and platform framing were invented -- to allow efficient use of green wood in carpentry.

When you stack one log atop the other, an 8 foot wall can be expected to grow and shrink an inch or more with seasonal changes in moisture. This means that all of your doors and windows will need special detailing to allow for this movement, or they won't open in summer, and will leak air in winter. It also means that the "chinking" between logs will be a constant challenge to maintain, as the logs grow and shrink, back and forth, with the seasons.

Log cabins made sense for early pioneers, armed with nothing more than an axe and surrounded by a forest full of big trees. You could get something up quickly without a lot of supporting infrastructure. But once an area got built up enough to support a sawmill, lumber and boards were used to build houses and barns instead of logs. Not only did that use less wood, the buildings just plain worked better.

I personally could not bring myself to "fight against nature" by building a log home. It's just the wrong way to use wood.

CJ3b_jeep · Mar 31, 2009

I built one 5 years ago, we have $120,000 into it including the 3 1/2 car garage. The $120,000 in everything. it's just shy of 1400 square feet, with a 13 course basement. We had a company come in and put up the shell and the roof, which is standing seam steel. The ceiling has 6 inches of styrofoam and is in the r-40 range. After they were done, we did everything else. I acted as the contractor. The first year we had to stain the house, two years later we had to do it again, but the second coat has a 6-8 year lifespan depending on exposure to sun and such. There are chemicals in the stain to waterseal, prevent rot, bugs and such. So far, my only complaint is the frickin carpenter bees. I don't think rot is a serious issue. If you do proper maintenance, keep up with your staining and caulking, it'll last a lifetime. My house does not have chinking, the logs have a gasket in between and are caulked. The house does not shrink and expand more than any other house. If you use kiln dried logs to about 16% moisture, and have then fastened to each other, there is no reason they would.
I don't regret my decision at all, I love my house and going home from work to it is like being on vacation every evening.
For Photos, visit my flickr page
Flickr Photostream

Jahaze · Mar 31, 2009

My first (and current) home is a log home. It started out as a small cabin (about 1000 sq. ft) then we added on another 2,500 square feet about ten years ago. Mine is the full-scribed log without chinking in between. We love our house. It does have some maintainence requirements (I need to stain it this year), but I don't think it's any worse than a regular house. We had a steel roof put on last fall. I try to do as much as I can, but since things seem to take me forever, I have been hiring more and more done. I didn't think the cost was way out of line, we have about $200,000 into ours (including an indoor pool). We heat with geothermal, which helps keep our costs down. It should be paid off in two years, then I can build another pole barn

RockyMo · Mar 31, 2009

I built a cabin a few years back, not quite the same critter as a 4000 sf house. There are lots of pros and cons to log construction. All the cons can be overcome if properly prepared for before starting construction. Pros include insulation value of logs. My maintenece has not been that bad, actually less than my frame constructed home. I have heard some horror stories about some of the kits out there so my recommendation is to research and learn all you can about a company and their designs then contact some of their customers who have been in the homes for at least 5 years. I would be happy to answer any specific questions you might have.

Rocky in MO

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thurlow · Mar 31, 2009

I'm not easily impressed, but that's GREAT!!

Howard H. · Mar 31, 2009

Thats a really neat set of pictures! Thanks for posting them!

Plus, I'll bet you saved your monthly gym membership costs while you were putting that up!

HH

Bobl1958 · Mar 31, 2009

I built a log home in 1995. It is about 2300 sq ft total living space. Still live in it and love it. The main maintenance is oiling the logs. Easy to do, but a pain. The main thing in ordering the logs, or kit, is to MAKE SURE you use dry logs. The company I used out of Colorado makes sure the logs are less than 8% moisture. I think they use standing dead timber that was killed by bugs, or fire or some reason. We do not have any of the screws in our windows or anything like that. We have not had any problems in 13 years. I would suggest using cedar logs in lieu of pine if you can swing it. The cedar logs are considerably tougher and more bug resistant than cedar, but more costly. I did most of the work on mine myself, but then I figured approx $50 per square foot (not including land) vs $80+ per square foot for a stick house. As others have said, you can email me and I can sure give you more information. Bob

virgilmule · Mar 31, 2009

I"ve lived in a log home in Central NY for 20 years. The home was 20 years old when we bought it. It had been made from a kit ("Lok-N-Logs"), but very poorly maintained over the years.

After 20 years in it, I would never buy another - too much upkeep. I love the look, though, so if money was no object (yeah, right) I"d build a stick home and cover it with log siding.

Ken Macfarlane · Mar 31, 2009

Cedar has the least dimensional change followed by pine, so they are preferred. I'd have to say a timber frame or post and beam is a better use of material and doesn't have the same problems (they do have a few of their own though)

Gun guru · Mar 31, 2009

Yes, I remember you posted a picture of your house 2 months ago. (very nice)

waltdavies · Mar 31, 2009

When i was about 7 or 8 Grandfather Kennedy built a 40 ft. square log store. We kids helped pull the logs up with a block and tackle. Its still there and still in business and the logs have never been treated by anything just let them turn black. I'm not sure what they were but we lived in N. Calif. so I would assume they were Ponderosa pine.

My wife was born in a log house in Arkansas, a relative still lives there in the same house.

I see some of these new homes that have a lot of rot after a few years and I wonder if its the kind of wood they used.

I used to go fishing up in the Sierras and found a log cabin that had 1880 carved above the door. It was made from 3 logs and had 9 ft. of ceiling clearance.

Walt

cj in wisconsin · Mar 31, 2009

I built one a few years back, we used aspen logs and had them milled on three sides so they were D shaped logs, used wood dowels to pin them and 14 inch pole barn spikes driven thru them to hold them together, used foam chinking between the logs that looked like a rope. All the doors and windows were built so they went into grooves on the edges so expansion causes very little trouble. Interior walls were also built with a slide at the top to allow for expansion. The aspen logs dont expand as much as pine, but extra care had to be used when treating the wood as any untreated areas are prone to rot more quickly than pine. All in all it is a great house 32x40 with a huge deck,easy to heat, with a full basement and all volunteer help we built it for about 70 grand and it appraised for 180. But it is a MAJOR job. especially when you cut and mill all your own logs.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 31, 2009

I hear upkeep is a bear.............

Ever saw timberframe construction? Lasts forever and looks better than log (tastes vary).

http://www.fachwerkhaus.com/?/15-0-NoName.htm

Dave

OT: log homes? Anybody build one before?

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