Mountainside log cabin demolished

Smoky Mountains are a home for many log homes and log cabins. I found an article that tells a sad story of one those log homes. Unlike many other stories, this one is a bad one.

A couple bought a log cabin as their retirement refuge. Ideal place for them, but something went terribly wrong. Water main break spilled over 80,000 gallons and cabin started to slide off its mountainside foundation. After that incident, the log cabin has been declared unsafe and will be demolished.

Now the couple has nothing to show for their huge investment and insurance does not cover such an accident. Those idyllic mountainside log cabins are not best possible places to build homes on.

Interest rates are going up

The Federal Reserve Board raised its key interest rate again. Frequent rate increases have pushed the rates to 3,5%. Trend keeps on edging rates even higher and people who are blessed with mortgage should pay attention to their spending. However, it is interesting to notice that the difference between short term and long-term interest rates has narrowed to almost non-existing. Correcting move with long-term rates might come suddenly or then Fed is making an over protective move with the short-term rates.

Schedule change

The timetable that I had envisioned is now completely impossible to reach. That is why I have changed the template and taken off those "search links". My progress was just too slow to justify such a roadmap.

Heritage project

I spotted an article that writes about Finnish-Americans that are building a house during their family reunion on the old homestead. They are doing this as a heritage project to remember the roots of the family.

In the article, they tell about old Finnish log building method, called salmontail-method, which in States is called dovetail. They are mostly using original logs that were left from the old homestead farm. Original logs included all sorts of woods, just about anything the land had as family first arrived on it from Finland.

An interesting article that shows how heritage can be passed on to the coming generations. I would expect that the best way to preserve the past is in this kind of reunions that produce something concrete and reflect the days of our ancestors. By the way, I completely agree with those Finnish-Americans, sauna has to be wood-fired, otherwise it is not a real sauna.

Lincoln Logs fiscal 2005

Some time ago, Lincoln Logs Ltd. reported a loss for fiscal 2005. Company went shopping during fiscal 2004 and now all that spending has started to hurt. Like customers like company – I bet that many people who have bought a log home are feeling the same financial squeeze while they are paying off their mortgage. I am not saying that there is something funny going on, just normal tight spot after buying something bigger.

However, it is interesting that company has been loosing money while it has increased revenue, and also the total market for log homes and log cabins is growing. If a company is not able to show profit under these terms, it will be difficult to do while market is going down. Watch those interest rates, they are rising. Company is trying to cut costs by delisting from public marketplace and going private. Good luck.

Winter storages

Winter’s coming on summer’s almost gone. Well, not yet, but you better hurry if you want to save in your heating bill. Why is this? Most of the oil consumption is taking place on the Northern Hemisphere, where the rich Western countries are located. During the winter these countries have to use lot of energy to heating.

As the demand on elsewhere in the world remains just about the same, we will have a certain consumption spike. This will raise the oil – and related products’ – prices. Act now and fill up the storages to avoid high winter prices. However remember that it is always a bit of a gamble. If we have a mild winter, actual winter time prices might level off as everybody is already stocked and do not need any extra.

Log home and log cabin owners are especially keen to follow the price development as these dwellings are usually on slightly remote areas where there is no easy tapping into a power grid and oil has to be used to create both heat and electricity. This nice article goes into more detail on this. (If the link doesn't work while you are reading this, maybe you can Google it using " Many opt to lock in for a long, cold winter")

Log cabins in Britain

No matter the size of a log cabin, the problems that are associated with choosing the right cabin are the same. Dunster House in England delivers light-duty log cabins to be used mainly as garden upgrades. I suppose some people think that tiny cabin on the backyard is a fascinating place to drink afternoon tea. Anyhow, in their advertising press release, Dunster House is listing many of the good qualities of any log cabin also their site is a good place to see what people are stuffing in their gardens in Britain.