Log Homes
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URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=178435
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Topic: Log Homes
Posted By: BART
Subject: Log Homes
Date Posted: 18 Feb 2021 at 1:59pm
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Have anyone built or bought a log home in the last 5 years or so in a cold climate like we have in Wis? What size logs did you use? Thanks Bart |
Replies:
Posted By: Thad in AR.
Date Posted: 18 Feb 2021 at 2:57pm
| I built log homes for a few years. The logs were 8” and came out of Montana but mostly built in Arkansas and Montana. |
Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 18 Feb 2021 at 6:51pm
I haven't, but from all I hear, use the widest logs you can afford, cause the lil ones twist up, and leak air! ------------- Source: Babylon Bee. Sponsored by BRAWNDO, its got what you need! |
Posted By: Boss Man
Date Posted: 18 Feb 2021 at 7:05pm
| Been a long time since I talked to the guy in Leona that built log homes. Some reason I think he used 10" and 14" logs saw sized to 6" and 8". |
Posted By: BART
Date Posted: 18 Feb 2021 at 7:26pm
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This company use kiln dried cedar tongue & grove D shaped. The equipment they use to make them is high tech every log is the same, I am wondering about the 6inch in wis winters. 6x8 Does any one have a house built with 6 inch in a cold climate? Thanks a lot guys for all the replies so far. |
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 18 Feb 2021 at 11:26pm
| i delivered propane to some folks that had a log home, was a neat looking one, had 6 inch logs, they burned ALOT of propane in winter to heat it. more than a stick built house. i think Dave is right, get the biggest logs you can. i've seen so many log homes that people have studded up the insides and put insulation in and drywall. kinda takes the log home effect away! |
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 4:06am
| i would love to have a log home, i think they are really neat, love the interiors of all the wood. (i hate drywall), we have redone some of our walls in our home with wood planks, knotty pine and sealed them. made new cabinet doors with knotty pine too. we love the natural wood look. one of the stockholders has a log home, they don't take care of it as they should, nor do they clean the interior walls, the top 1/2 of the logs inside are covered in dust. we looked at a log home on a lake a few years ago, it was an estate sale, the exterior needed some sealant applied in areas, the family paid someone to spray on a plastic covering all over the exterior. just ruined the looks and i'm sure it couldn't have been a good choice for the logs. we didn't get the home, but looked at it a year later and the people that bought it had someone remove that plastic covering and seal it the way it was supposed to be. i'm sure that was pretty expensive. |
Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 4:21am
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Kid I worked with built sold and lived in log homes Require chinking seal every year as logs swell and shrink air gaps leak terribly He noted foundation has to be heavier than conventional home and preferred piered footers for these He always installed stud walls in the ones he lived in so could insulate effectively Cost was more than conventional build when complete and a maintenance head ache He sold his last and stick built his current Told me more efficient and more easily resold. |
Posted By: nella(Pa)
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 4:23am
Have a friend near me that built one out of dried cedar and after a few years he had to stud up the outside, insulated it and put siding on it. Logs twisted and checked and he got tired of the maintenance. It looked pretty and smelled good but didn't work well. I wouldn't build one!
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shameless dude wrote:Posted By: tadams(OH)
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 1:56pm
| Maintance is the big item with log homes, they have to be resealed every years or so unless they have come out with a better product since we checked on them. |
Posted By: Thad in AR.
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 2:19pm
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Modern log homes have to be adjusted. All interior walls are attached to the perimeter walls with slip joints. Loft and deck roof posts gave a big adjustment but on the bottom of each. They need to be sealed every so often and with a quality product. Modern logs are treated for bugs n fit at the factory. They have gas kits and sealing strips on every joint. Every window and door have a dead space above to allow shrinkage. Every so often the trim needs a little work to keep it tight and looking good. Some shrink/ settle more than others depending on location. |
Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 2:22pm
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DMiller hit it on the head. Ex wife has a log home and every year our son has to go and wash (power spray VERY carefully) the out side and re coat with something. They are a LOT of work and they do use more LP for heating than a stick built. I always wanted one, but after hearing all his crying, I'll pass. ------------- "Allis-Express" 19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17 |
Posted By: HD6GTOM
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 8:33pm
| We were in Montreal Canada several Years ago. There were several dealers there that were willing to sell and ship one clear down here. We didn't buy one, neighbor gal put one up about a year before her hubby passed over. That's been 4 or 5 years ago. I wonder how she's keeping up with it? Are there homes with log veneer siding on them? Seems like I remember sumptin like that. |
Posted By: Thad in AR.
Date Posted: 19 Feb 2021 at 8:40pm
Yes there is log siding. Stud walls easy to wire, insulate and plumb. |
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 3:11am
| there is log siding out there, Menards has the best selections. there is 4-6-8-10 inch siding. the smaller sizes just don't look right on the outside of the home, but prolly would on the interior! |
Posted By: fixer1958
Date Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 5:12am
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We have a log sided house. 6" logs cut in half inside and out. Big PITA. Been here about 30 years. Got the electric bill yesterday, all electric. $195 Waiting to see what next months bill is. Have a fireplace for supplemental heat. Burn hedge mostly. Get the house warm it stays warm. At that point the fireplace keeps it there down to about 10 degrees. Lower than that the furnace comes on periodically. |
Posted By: tadams(OH)
Date Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 9:53am
| Yes, we have 2 walls in our house that I have log siding on the inside, bought from the manufactor of the siding and it's seconds, we love it. We have friend with a log home and they have trouble with woodpecker putting holes in the logs. |
Posted By: BART
Date Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 1:35pm
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HOW DID THEY WORK OUT? Did you do any in cool climates? The logs I am looking at are made in a factory and milled & cut to a perfect fit,the interior walls hane nothing to do with settling because the floor is 2x10 on box sill. The ceiling is attached to the trusses. Thanks Bart |
Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 1:49pm
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My brother bought a quality log home about 30 years ago. As Thad mentioned, the interior stud walls were attached to the studs with lag bolts in slotted holes. The "LOG WALLS" were suppose to shrink about 1.5 - 2 inches over a few year period.. He left a big gap above each door and window.. I do remember after 7-8 years there was NO GAP left above the door or windows.. One window was TIGHT and had to remove the trim and shove a chain saw above the window casing and get a 1/2 inch gap again. The stuff they used on the outside to seal between the logs, he has to redo about every 10 years. The logs were probably 10 inches in diameter and milled top and bottom to be about 8 inches tall. They were cut as a tongue and groove to lock together with a foam strip inside the groove. I dont remember him saying much about the heating. He sets close to a river so they drilled a well and some type geothermal heater... pump takes well water and runs it thru a 80 gallon hot water heater, then feeds the house with heat. ------------- Like them all, but love the "B"s. |
Posted By: Thad in AR.
Date Posted: 20 Feb 2021 at 5:15pm
These logs were all milled in a factory in Montana. There was another factory in TN that did strictly cedar. All interior walls had slip joints because if the bottom log shrinks the whole house settles. The company I built for was called Real Log homes. Worth the extra for the treatment on the logs. Computer designed and every log is precut, notched and grooved. Air doesn’t get between these logs. Only air leaks occurs above doors and windows. They use very expensive adjustable Anderson Doors. I still get calls to go around and adjust doors from time to time. |
Posted By: Lyle124
Date Posted: 21 Feb 2021 at 8:05am
| Built a log home 26 years ago, logs are D=cut double tounge and groove 8 inches thick. I have them resealed every 3 to 4 years. The logs came from a Missouri company called Gastineau. There was a sealant tape put on both tounges and hole 1inch in diameter where the logs butted and filled with spray foam. Has heated as good as my sons new stick home of the same size. Logs are Pine and were kiln dried. Lyle |
Posted By: Ray54
Date Posted: 21 Feb 2021 at 8:35pm
I have good friend built a house with the same cut on the logs as Lyle but the wood was Cedar. All heat is from a draft controlled fire place with a thermostat and blower . Not as cold as most of you but we do freeze every morning for weeks just that it stops a 20 above rather than -20. But with the Fruits and Nuts had to get energy calculations done on it back in the 80's when it was built( already trying to save the world from globe warming at that time). I don't think he seals it very often but does have porches all the way around to keep sun off.He did 85% of the work himself and after finishing says he would not build it that way again. Would stick build and use the D shaped siding instead. The plumbing and electrical where the big reasons to not do it this way to him.
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