Log Cabins, Good or Bad ???

[Anonymous Poster]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( "They are so cute!" )</font>

We're getting ready to build in Florida. My wife used the same term to describe a log home (she picks her cars the same way). I looked into it. My insurance agent (who is also my longest friend) said he couldn't provide insurance, and specialty insurance would be very expensive. Most of the log home suppliers I found are using pine, which would probably last about 6.7 years (slight exxageration) in our Tropical, termite-ridden climate. I did find a Florida company using heartwood cyprus logs (which should last forever, even in Florida), but the cost was significantly higher than conventional.

Fortunately, my wife is more of a miser than she is a devotee to "cute", and the above info was enough to put the kibosh on a log home, even though I kinda' like 'em myself, to look at.

Don

 

[WellsF15]

popeye,
I bought a log home in Sept. 01 and absolutely love. Here in north central texas, there are quite a few of them scattered thoughtout the woods. There are advantages and disadvantages to owning one, but so is there with brick and mortar. The key is keeping them dry and away from the UV rays. So a covered wraparound porch is a necessity. My insurance is about the same for a traditional house except for the $500 discount I got for having a metal roof. You need to make sure you insure it for the complete replacement cost (inside stucture included). Utilities are lower in some respects, depending on your setup. Our kit was from Satterwhite and they use dead standing spruce from Colorado and kiln dry it.

I can answer just about any other question you might have, but my advice is to go for it. But with any construction, the builder makes all the difference, more so with a log home.

Steve

 

[Rubintropfen]

If well built, an original log home could last a long time. Here's a link to the real thing, built in 1806. The Next House link in there is good, too. I've been in both of these buildings, and admire the work and thought that went into them, but wouldn't want to live in either one /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif .

Everything I've read indicates that there was a real difference in using first growth trees, removing all the sap-wood before squaring, and sun curing the timbers. Any old timer will tell you that the grain of the timbers in a typical log house is running the wrong way for the walls to be stable in changing temperature and humidity. The main attraction is that it could be put up quickly with just trees and an axe or two (i.e. not a lot of sawing).

I love the look of some of the modern log homes, but wonder to what extent these houses are using modern techniques and materials for stability rather than depending on the timbers. I would want to be convinced that there were not going to be structural problems.

 

[webbmeister]

mikim:

Have you seen the Stickley stone and metal-roof designs? Truly beautiful - one has a nice rear porch across the entire rear of the house.

Jim

 

[mikim]

got a website? I'm always open to ideas - but I've drawn my own plans that the wife agrees with -- just have to find somebody to draw it right and a contractor with the same ideas about building that I have -- and then the time & money at the same time -- seems I have one or the other - but just can't get 'em together.