Or an AyFraym or similar pre-fab house? Soliciting reviews / horror stories…
Or paid someone to do it on some rural land you’re trying to talk your wife into buying…
Are you behind me right now?
is this like Lincoln Logs for adults?
is this like Lincoln Logs for adults?
That’s the pitch. I suspect in reality it’s more like a loss leader for divorce counsellors.
Log Homes have been very popular in my area in Upstate New York. There are usually more than one log builder operating but now, even with the real estate boom, I don’t think there is anyone building them. Alta Log Homes still has their factory near the pool where I swim.
Even though they are called ‘‘kits’’, they are not for the average guy or even the average carpenter. They’re built by specialty builders who know the ins and outs of log building.
My house;
is based on an Alta design, but I built it with 2 x 6 framing, cedar siding, and sheet-rock walls. We loved the log houses when we were planning this but conventional house are much easier to heat, especially for a weekend house.
If you want a country house, buy the land when you can. You can always have the house built. But conventional modern framing will build a better house.
Or an AyFraym or similar pre-fab house? Soliciting reviews / horror stories…
Sweeney is dead-on with his assessment: if you’re building it yourself, stick build it and then go with log-siding, if you really want that look.
I’ve never built one, but I have wired one - and only one - in my 25 years as an electrician. They suck.
If you have your (or your significant other’s) heart set on a log cabin, spend the money and have people build it for you. You’ll save yourself a ton of stress!
- Jeff
Or an AyFraym or similar pre-fab house? Soliciting reviews / horror stories…
Sweeney is dead-on with his assessment: if you’re building it yourself, stick build it and then go with log-siding, if you really want that look.
I’ve never built one, but I have wired one - and only one - in my 25 years as an electrician. They suck.
If you have your (or your significant other’s) heart set on a log cabin, spend the money and have people build it for you. You’ll save yourself a ton of stress!
- Jeff
Agree. The easiest, fastest part of building a house is framing it. It’s the only time you can see a ton of progress in a day. Can’t imagine doing it one log at a time.
Did you say build it one log at a time?
.
Did you say build it one log at a time?
lol That’s impressive. He has 573k subscribers so going slow is a money maker.
Did you say build it one log at a time?
“…and it didn’t cost me a dime…”
.
There are a few log homes by the lakes on my running/riding routes; Piney hunting or fishing cabins that have been upgraded to year-round use
They were not pre-fab by any means — pre-war, most likely
.
Are you behind me right now?
The greater Saugatuck St Joe’s area and/ or Wisconsin?
The log kits are interesting visually, but solid wood is not a great insulator. Also, you may want to look closely at how the logs are chemically treated before you decide to live in a house made of them. IIRC, some of the kit logs are treated with a brew of some pretty toxic stuff.
We purchased a nice log home, closing and moving in during March 2020, just before things shut down. We love it! It was built in 2008 and was a custom build by a local log home builder. My husband grew up in a log home and it was always our dream to find or build a log home.
We were originally looking at purchasing land and having a log home built. They are a bit more expensive than a conventional home. For over $550K (and this was before the pandemic and increased housing costs) we might have been able to build a smaller 1100-1400 sf log home. But we got very lucky and found an off-grid log home for sale with over 3 times the amount of land and with just under 2500 sf. We paid $550K. Our real estate agent was warning us that buying land and building would be a lot more costly and we’d get a lot less. She was right with our situation.
Of course today everything is a huge cluster fuck in regards to real estate. Building materials are insane (we noticed this building our endless pool room in the basement, omg!!!). And the real estate market is still nuts where I live. Housing inventory is scarce, let alone trying to find a long home for sale. While you may get more for your $ buying a log home, you might not be able to find one easily. So building might be the better option if you wish to have a log home/cabin in the near future. They are worth the wait and cost. Ours was!
ETA: For “log home porn”, we enjoyed following the Golden Eagle Log home builders. It’s a family somewhere in the midwest but they are awesome! So fun to watch their videos.
We considered a SIP kit.
Some of them are pretty cool. If you’re not tied to logs
It all started with me seeing a solargon. Could not convince my husband we needed a ecoyurt though.
There are more traditional options
The log kits are interesting visually, but solid wood is not a great insulator. Also, you may want to look closely at how the logs are chemically treated before you decide to live in a house made of them. IIRC, some of the kit logs are treated with a brew of some pretty toxic stuff.
Our first home was conventional stick frame build and insulated for a Northern New England winter. I find that our log home does better in regards to insulation. In the summer we notice it the most. It takes a long time for the house to heat up and cool down in the summer. On a hot day our old house would heat up pretty quickly and feel very hot (high 80sF outside which is hot for us). The log house takes a lot longer heat up and feel uncomfortable on those hot days. It’s harder to tell in the winter. This is a bigger house and uses a bit more heating but not that much more considering we have an extra 1000 sf in the log home. It also has a bigger wood stove which does burn a bit more wood.
There is more maintenance with a log home. We need to stain the outside this spring. That should be a big project. And you have to protect it from certain insects depending on where you live.
Or an AyFraym or similar pre-fab house? Soliciting reviews / horror stories…
Sweeney is dead-on with his assessment: if you’re building it yourself, stick build it and then go with log-siding, if you really want that look.
I’ve never built one, but I have wired one - and only one - in my 25 years as an electrician. They suck.
If you have your (or your significant other’s) heart set on a log cabin, spend the money and have people build it for you. You’ll save yourself a ton of stress!
- Jeff
some log siding is better than others. I run/bike by a home with log siding. It’s OK and you can definitely tell it’s log siding which looks a bit cheaper. You also don’t get the logs sticking out on the corners which makes it look so rustic and charming (sorry I don’t know the terminology). There are probably companies that have more authentic looking log siding. I haven’t seen any here. It usually looks like obvious log siding and not a real log home.
Another issue with real log construction is the insurance side of things. A frame house is much easier and cheaper to insure as they generally are cheaper and easier to fix after something goes wrong. Damage the corner of a frame built house and it can be torn out and rebuilt pretty easily in that corner. Damage the corner of a log home and two walls have to come all the way down to fix it.
Add in that log homes are usually in far out there places, and the insurance can get really crazy for them. Definitely something to look into before you make a decision.
Another issue with real log construction is the insurance side of things. A frame house is much easier and cheaper to insure as they generally are cheaper and easier to fix after something goes wrong. Damage the corner of a frame built house and it can be torn out and rebuilt pretty easily in that corner. Damage the corner of a log home and two walls have to come all the way down to fix it.
Add in that log homes are usually in far out there places, and the insurance can get really crazy for them. Definitely something to look into before you make a decision.
Probably depends on where you live as well. In the NE of the US our homeowners insurance doubled. But our property value almost doubled too. We also included solar panels, inverters, generator and batteries since we are 100% off-grid. Our insurance agent never indicated that log homes require higher insurance but it could have been the company, policy and location. Probably lots of variables. But I could see why insurance might be higher like indicated above.
I will say that going off-grid is tricky with financing. Only a small handful of banks will finance a 100% off-grid home, no matter now nice it is or how beefy your off-grid system is. So lots to consider for that log cabin in the woods. It’s still worth it 