A log home, or log house, is technically the same thing as a log cabin, a house typically made from logs that have not been milled into conventional lumber. The term log home is contemporary and is preferred by most log home builders, while log cabin indicates a smaller, more rustic log house, such as a hunting cabin in the woods.
A modern log home
Components
A log home
There are two kinds of log homes: handcrafted and milled (also called machine-profiled), which is made with a log house moulder. A handcrafted log home is typically made of logs that have been peeled but are otherwise essentially unchanged from their original natural appearance. A milled or machine-profiled log home is one constructed of logs that have run through a manufacturing process to remove natural features and imperfections and convert them into timbers that are consistent in size and appearance. Many handcrafted log builders do not consider a milled log a log at all, but milled-log manufacturers disagree.
Handcrafted log homes have been built for centuries in Scandinavia, Russia, and Eastern Europe. The Scandinavian settlers of New Sweden brought the craft to North America in the early 1700s, and it was quickly adopted by other colonists and Native Americans. In the 1920s, the first milled log houses appeared on the market, using logs that were precut and shaped, rather than hand-hewn. Most log homes today are of the milled variety, mostly because they require less labor-intensive field work and offer many more options than do handcrafted log homes.
Any timber from large to small will have moisture in it when it is fresh-cut. Log homes of all types experience varying degrees of moisture content. In the case of handcrafted logs, this moisture will naturally leave the timber, drying it out until it stabilizes with the climate it is in. This drying out causes movement and adjustment in the timber. As the wood dries, the individual cells on the exterior of the crafted log will seal up. The remaining moisture in the center of the timber keeps trying to escape and will eventually open a crack in the crafted log. This crack, also known as a check, can continue to the heart of the timber, sometimes leaving a large crack on the side of a home. This cracking occurs in all log homes, regardless of the construction method or how the timbers are allowed to dry. It is considered normal, as well as part of the charm of owning a log home.
Milled logs are processed in a different manner than handcrafted logs. Logs destined to become milled logs can become one of several types depending on the desired quality and end result.
Green Timber
Logs that are cut from the forest, brought to a mill, and profiled are usually referred to as green logs. These logs will have a higher moisture content, sometimes upward of 25%. After construction, the timbers are allowed to dry in place.
Air-dried Timber
Some mills elect to let the fresh-cut timbers sit outside in the open air to dry naturally. This process allows the moisture content of the logs to naturally come down as the timber dries. This process can take several months and requires the mill to have space to let the timber air out. Once the logs have dried for the desired time, the logs are profiled and shipped to a customer. Profiling usually does not take place until right before shipment to ensure that the logs stay as uniform as possible.
Kiln-dried Timber
Mills that have a kiln on-site have the option of artificially accelerating the drying process. Green timber is placed inside a large oven where heat removes moisture from the logs. They can suffer severe checking and cracking if the kiln controls are not properly monitored during the drying process. Kiln drying can cut down the dry time from many months to a number of weeks, and usually results in an average moisture content of 18—20% (average being the mean moisture content of the outside of the log and the center of the log).
Glue-laminated Timber
Laminated, or engineered, logs are a quite different approach to log home building. Full trees are brought to a mill equipped with a dry kiln, the bark is removed, and the trees are sawn into boards usually no thicker than 2 in. These boards are then taken to the dry kiln, where, because of their size, they can be dried without causing severe damage to the wood. Timber destined for glue lamination must be brought down below 15% moisture before the lamination process will even work, so typically these timbers are dried to around 8–10% moisture. The time of the drying process varies depending on the species of lumber, but it can be as little as a week. Once the drying process is complete, the planks are sent through a surfacer or planer, which makes the face of the lumber perfectly smooth. These planks travel to a machine which then spreads a special glue onto the interior boards. Depending on the type of glue and type of mill, there are two ways to finish the lamination process. One type of glue reacts with radio frequency to cure the glue in a matter of minutes, and the other uses a high-pressure clamp to hold the newly reassembled timbers under pressure for 24 hours. Once the glue has dried, the result is what is called a log cant, which is slightly larger than the buyers' desired profile. These log cants are run through a profiler, and the end result is a log that is perfectly straight and uniform.
Some mills are capable of joining together quite small timbers by using a combination of face and edge gluing as well as a process known as finger jointing. These boards which would be scrap to any other mill could be used in the center of a laminated log or beam to bring waste to a minimum.
Methods of Log Home Construction
- Scandinavian full scribe (also known as the "chinkless" method): Logs are scribed, custom fitted to one another, and notched where they overlap at the corners.
- Flat-on-flat: Logs are flattened on top and bottom and stacked.
- Tongue adn groove: Milled log homes often are constructed with this system, which helps to align one log to another as well as create a system for sealing out the elements.
- Tight-pinned butt and pass method: Logs are not notched or milled in any way, logs in a single course do not overlap, and vertical pairs of logs are fastened with tight, load-bearing, steel pins.
Corner Styles
- Butt-and-pass: Unscribed or milled logs butt up against each other at the corners without notching.
- Interlocking saddle notch: This style is normally seen on D-shaped or full round profiles. A notch is cut into the top of one log and the bottom of another, and these two logs then interlock, creating a tightly sealed corner.
- Dovetail: This style is typically seen on square or chink style logs. Special dovetails are cut on the end of a log—one on the right and one on the left—where it would rest in the corner. The design creates a nice, tight interlocking corner.
- Saddle notch: Typically used where two round logs overlap each other near the corners, this style is common with the Swedish cope profile.
Other Methods
- Half-log: The structure is built with conventional building techniques, and then a "half-log" siding is applied to the exterior and interior wall to replicate the look of full-log construction. Some half-log sidings can also have saddle-notch, butt-and-pass, or dovetail corners to give a more realistic appearance.
Structural Types of Log Homes
Corner construction detail
From a structural perspective, there are two fundamentally different types of log homes. In the most common type, the load forces of the building are transmitted to the foundation through the wooden logs. In the second type, the load forces are transmitted to the foundation through steel columns. These two types will be referred to as chinkless and tight-pinned respectively.
- Chinkless homes may have some chinking or sealant between the log courses, but the logs are typically milled or scribed to fit closely enough together so as to minimize the chinking requirement. Since the logs bear the weight of the building, any shrinkage of the logs is cumulative and the shrinkage results in the settling of the building; that is, the vertical dimensions of the building shrink as the logs shrink.
- Tight-pinned homes typically are built with unmilled logs, and as a result, there are large gaps between the log courses. Theses gaps must be filled with some kind of chinking material. The log courses are fastened to each other in pairs by steel pins that are driven through the logs. These pins are tight enough, and spaced closely enough (typically every 20 in.), so that they bear the entire weight of the building. The pins are typically 1/2 in. in diameter and are commonly made of rebar. When the logs shrink, each one shrinks around its own center line with the center line remaining fixed in its position in the building. As a result, the geometry and the dimensions of the building are unaffected, but the gaps between the log courses widen. Typically, the logs end up not touching each other, so they play no part in the transmission of load forces. The logs do, however, prevent the pins from buckling under the load for the portion of the pin inside the log. The portion of the pin in the gap between the logs is a short column and thus is able to withstand the load without buckling.
Advantages of the Chinkless Method
Once fabricated and assembled, the shell of the log home can be disassembled and the parts shipped to the final building site. This allows for centralized manufacturing of the home and relatively quick construction at the final site.
Disadvantages of the Chinkless Method
Special consideration must be given for the settling of the building. For example, the builder must consider slip joints over all the window and door openings; jacks under all vertical elements such as columns and staircases, which must periodically be adjusted as the building settles; allowances in plumbing, wiring, and ducting runs; and fasteners for the walls themselves to prevent uplift.
Advantages of the Tight-Pinned Method
Since no allowances need to be made for shrinkage, the design, construction, and maintenance are simpler. In addition, the building is stronger than the chinkless buildings.
Disadvantages of the Tight-Pinned Method
The building must be fabricated and assembled on the final building site. Also, chinking maintenance is higher than for the chinkless buildings during the period of major log shrinkage. That period may be several years for green logs.
Typically, the chinkless method is preferred by log home manufacturers, and the tight-pinned method is preferred by many do-it-yourselfers who build their own homes. Individual log home builders who do the work on the building site will find either method suitable for their purposes.
Types of Milled Logs
D-shaped profile
Square or chink-style logs
Swedish cope
Milled log homes have an assortment of profiles that are usually picked by the end customer. Just about every profiled log on the market today features an integral tongue-and-groove milled into the top and bottom of the log that aids in stacking and eliminates the need for chinking.
- D-shaped logs are round on the outside and flat inside.
- Full round logs are fully round on the inside and outside.
- Square logs are flat on both the inside and the outside and may be milled with a groove that could be chinked. When dealing with milled logs, chinking is more of a personal preference and is not required to seal the home; however, a log home will eventually leak if it is not properly sealed.
- Swedish cope logs are round on the inside and outside and include a half-moon-shaped groove that is removed from the bottom.
Fastening Systems
There are various methods for connecting the logs together. Each manufacturer usually recommends its own way of sealing and securing its logs.
- Spikes: These are basically large nails, usually spiral, that are driven into the logs to hold them together.
- Lag bolts or lag screws: This system uses a large threaded screw to fasten the individual logs together.
- Through bolts: This method uses a continuous bolt from the foundation to the top course of logs. A spring may be used at the top to maintain downward force that helps hold the logs securely in place.
External Links
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "
Log home."
