Log Homes

DBOY3141 said:
Anyone have or has had a Log Home. Within the next two years, looking to buy a few acres in the mountains of Western NC/Eastern TN and build a house. Just curious to the pros/cons of a log home.
Click to expand...
I grew up in a log home. It was actually a summer home, converted to year round, but not well. No roof insulation, and you could literally see daylight between the ceiling and the walls.
Even still, I loved that house, and I miss living in a log home. As I recently said to someone here, if you bang into the wall with anything but a chainsaw, there's nothing to worry about. Decorating is really easy too, if you like country decor. You want a Christmassy house for the holidays? Nothing is more Noel than stockings hanging from the mantle of a log house fireplace.
I can't think of a single con, except it might be harder to paint.
sOp4CZy.jpg

My dream home.
 
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DBOY3141 said:
Anyone have or has had a Log Home. Within the next two years, looking to buy a few acres in the mountains of Western NC/Eastern TN and build a house. Just curious to the pros/cons of a log home.
Click to expand...
Helped my mother's boyfriend's family build a log home out in Blanco decades ago.
I was a kid at the time so I was just a go-fer.

It ended up very nice. I remember learning to bow hunt on their land.

Good memories.
 
DBOY3141 said:
Anyone have or has had a Log Home. Within the next two years, looking to buy a few acres in the mountains of Western NC/Eastern TN and build a house. Just curious to the pros/cons of a log home.
Click to expand...
ColoCowboy has just purchased one in Montana and will be changing his moniker to MontanaLog, the girls will just love him.

Seriously, he did just buy one because his builder couldn't deliver on a new home. Need to warn you though, he's a scuba diver moving into a log home in Montana. That makes perfect sense to me but probably not to others.
 
If you're having a new one built, I hear it takes a long time and a lot of adjustments before they settle, so you may want to look into how that might affect you.
 
We are purchasing an older log home in western Montana and plan to renovate the interior.

If you're building new, a couple of things to consider:. Make sure the logs are sufficiently dried. There is debate about kiln vs. air frying - I don't have enough experience with either to offer an opinion. If the logs haven't been dried (moisture content around 15%) you will get settling and cracked windows. Some homes we've seen have hydraulic lifts in the corners to compensate for the shrinkage and settling.

Aside from settling, the biggest on-going maintenance issue is restraining and rechinking the exterior. Montana has a relatively dry climate and restaining every 5+ years is typical.

Despite this, I am with @Runwildboys , the homes look and feel great.

Oh, and you need to add a potbelly wood burning fire place to complete the home.

We can't wait to get started with remodeling
 
Runwildboys said:
I grew up in a log home. It was actually a summer home, converted to year round, but not well. No roof insulation, and you could literally see daylight between the ceiling and the walls.
Even still, I loved that house, and I miss living in a log home. As I recently said to someone here, if you bang into the wall with anything but a chainsaw, there's nothing to worry about. Decorating is really easy too, if you like country decor. You want a Christmassy house for the holidays? Nothing is more Noel than stockings hanging from the mantle of a log house fireplace.
I can't think of a single con, except it might be harder to paint.
sOp4CZy.jpg

My dream home.
Click to expand...
Kind of looks like the home we are purchasing
 
Runwildboys said:
I grew up in a log home. It was actually a summer home, converted to year round, but not well. No roof insulation, and you could literally see daylight between the ceiling and the walls.
Even still, I loved that house, and I miss living in a log home. As I recently said to someone here, if you bang into the wall with anything but a chainsaw, there's nothing to worry about. Decorating is really easy too, if you like country decor. You want a Christmassy house for the holidays? Nothing is more Noel than stockings hanging from the mantle of a log house fireplace.
I can't think of a single con, except it might be harder to paint.
sOp4CZy.jpg

My dream home.
Click to expand...
great post and beautiful house
 
ColoCowboy said:
We are purchasing an older log home in western Montana and plan to renovate the interior.

If you're building new, a couple of things to consider:. Make sure the logs are sufficiently dried. There is debate about kiln vs. air frying - I don't have enough experience with either to offer an opinion. If the logs haven't been dried (moisture content around 15%) you will get settling and cracked windows. Some homes we've seen have hydraulic lifts in the corners to compensate for the shrinkage and settling.

Aside from settling, the biggest on-going maintenance issue is restraining and rechinking the exterior. Montana has a relatively dry climate and restaining every 5+ years is typical.

Despite this, I am with @Runwildboys , the homes look and feel great.

Oh, and you need to add a potbelly wood burning fire place to complete the home.

We can't wait to get started with remodeling
Click to expand...
good advice. i've heard that same in regards to drying
 
CouchCoach said:
ColoCowboy has just purchased one in Montana and will be changing his moniker to MontanaLog, the girls will just love him.

Seriously, he did just buy one because his builder couldn't deliver on a new home. Need to warn you though, he's a scuba diver moving into a log home in Montana. That makes perfect sense to me but probably not to others.
Click to expand...
MontanaLog... has a nice ring to it, doesn't it>
 
DBOY3141 said:
Anyone have or has had a Log Home. Within the next two years, looking to buy a few acres in the mountains of Western NC/Eastern TN and build a house. Just curious to the pros/cons of a log home.
Click to expand...

If you haven't already, search this on Youtube. There are a ton of great videos on the topic. I'm considering doing this myself. I've been comparing building your own log home versus making one out of shipping containers. They each have their own pros and cons. You could even conceivably build one partially out of logs and partially out of shipping containers, for example, if you did the main part as a log house and then attached it to a shipping container for another room.

My big thing is I'm not a great handyman. Some dudes are great at building almost anything. That's not me. I have a few skills for fixing stuff, but nothing like some dudes have. I don't know that I would trust myself to install things like plumbing and electricity. So if I build something, I might need to hire help to make it happen. But do check out Youtube vids if you haven't already. Some people have done some amazing things. There's a dude up in Quebec, Canada who built his own log home on stilts. It's basically a house in the trees that has long ramps built up to it, and it's completely off grid. He collects rainwater. Then he heats with propane and wood, and he uses solar for electricity, but also has a backup generator. Some cool stuff.

I would love to retire to a nice log house or combo log/shipping container house in the woods away from anyone bugging me and spend my time reading books and going canoeing.
 
Reverend Conehead said:
If you haven't already, search this on Youtube. There are a ton of great videos on the topic. I'm considering doing this myself. I've been comparing building your own log home versus making one out of shipping containers. They each have their own pros and cons. You could even conceivably build one partially out of logs and partially out of shipping containers, for example, if you did the main part as a log house and then attached it to a shipping container for another room.

My big thing is I'm not a great handyman. Some dudes are great at building almost anything. That's not me. I have a few skills for fixing stuff, but nothing like some dudes have. I don't know that I would trust myself to install things like plumbing and electricity. So if I build something, I might need to hire help to make it happen. But do check out Youtube vids if you haven't already. Some people have done some amazing things. There's a dude up in Quebec, Canada who built his own log home on stilts. It's basically a house in the trees that has long ramps built up to it, and it's completely off grid. He collects rainwater. Then he heats with propane and wood, and he uses solar for electricity, but also has a backup generator. Some cool stuff.

I would love to retire to a nice log house or combo log/shipping container house in the woods away from anyone bugging me and spend my time reading books and going canoeing.
Click to expand...
You're Tim Allen compared to me. My home is dark because I screwed in all the light bulbs backwards.
 
Reverend Conehead said:
If you haven't already, search this on Youtube. There are a ton of great videos on the topic. I'm considering doing this myself. I've been comparing building your own log home versus making one out of shipping containers. They each have their own pros and cons. You could even conceivably build one partially out of logs and partially out of shipping containers, for example, if you did the main part as a log house and then attached it to a shipping container for another room.

My big thing is I'm not a great handyman. Some dudes are great at building almost anything. That's not me. I have a few skills for fixing stuff, but nothing like some dudes have. I don't know that I would trust myself to install things like plumbing and electricity. So if I build something, I might need to hire help to make it happen. But do check out Youtube vids if you haven't already. Some people have done some amazing things. There's a dude up in Quebec, Canada who built his own log home on stilts. It's basically a house in the trees that has long ramps built up to it, and it's completely off grid. He collects rainwater. Then he heats with propane and wood, and he uses solar for electricity, but also has a backup generator. Some cool stuff.

I would love to retire to a nice log house or combo log/shipping container house in the woods away from anyone bugging me and spend my time reading books and going canoeing.
Click to expand...
Great advice. I"m not a handyman in regards to building...so this would all be someone else. I have to looked at some youtube videos' to get ideas of house designs. thank ya
 
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