Log home overview

James Dulley wrote an article for the Globe Gazette, in which he discussed about modern log homes, in order to give an answer for reader’s question. It is a good overview to log homes and here I further summarize his ideas.

He starts by saying that today’s log homes are a good and reliable choice and have fine selection of standard plans with lots of room for modifications. This makes log homes more affordable but they also maintain lot of opportunities for individualism.

He singles out three main construction methods for log homes – solid wood log home, half-log wall construction, and log exterior siding. However, he doesn’t mention popular Scandinavian log home building method in which smaller logs are joined together with adhesives, creating massive logs of required shape and size. This method can produce almost any kind of logs (square and rounded) and still costs less than using natural massive logs.

Anyhow, James goes on and explains that solid logs have high thermal mass and benefit from passive solar heating and provide better insulation. Half-logs are split and then attached to an insulated framed wall. Log siding is just for the looks and all the insulation and structural integrity comes in the form of a framed wall.

To improve energy efficiency, he suggests that log home should have a large fireplace or possibly two. Fireplaces look good and give off heat hours after the fire is out.