Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Best log cabin builders

I have just closed on a new property that sits at 9500 ft. I want to build a log home as a vacation home. Can anyone recommend a log cabin manufacturer I have heard many horror stories regarding construction. Thanks in advance. It also needs to hold up under heavy snow load.

Sounds like a nice idea. I imagine that knowing at least what state you are in might make a difference on price and delivery time.

Log home builders association of America
http://www.buildloghomes.org/

Best advice you will get. Read the site and take the class. No matter what you do or don't, it will save you a bundle of money and a tsunami of grief.

My Folks have had two built by Town and Country Cedar Homes, one when they lived in the east that they sold, and another when they moved out west. www.cedarhomes.com

I know of a builder in Idaho that does full log homes and does very nice work. I don't know where you are located though.

as far as i know there are none. i had 3 friends in the business of building 3 different brands of nationally advertised log homes. they all got law suits filed against them for building junk homes and were put out of business. i've seen to many problems with those homes. i wouldn't own one. most women learn to hate them because they are nothing but giant dust collectors. to many places for it to land.

There are some good ones out there.

Your cabin's geographic location would be a help to letting you know who may be closer.

There's an established log home building company in Sisters Oregon you might check out.

I bought a log home and have lived in it for 27 years.
My Wife HATES this house because it is a dust trap, but we love the acrege it sets on. (100 yard target range on property)

About 15 years back we had to do major repairs. The roof wasn't designed with overhang, and the corners rotted from Oregon rain. Ching Ching! many dollers!

Had to replace the metal roof that was leaking etc, etc!

Would I buy/build another?....NO!!!!

If this place was to burn down, I'd replace it with a timber frame home.

Virgil B.

Knowledge is KING. You have been warned.

http://community.loghomebuilders.org/forum.php

I took the classes when Skip was teaching them in the late 70's...Not many know this but he was the third student taught by Bruce Lee. Very interesting man, he was...

Betting that yours has notched corners? They suck water up into the logs with capillary action at the notches. Butt method taught at the above mentioned classes does not use notches and has far fewer rot problems.

The trouble with most log home builders is that they are primarily stick builders first and foremost. They simply have no idea what modifications are required for log building. Virgil B. hit on it well. Log home must have long overhangs to keep blowing rain away from the log walls and most stick builders have no idea how to allow for settling.

I have two friends who had (emphasis on had) log homes. One home had the short 16 inch overhang and the prevailing wind blew rain into the gaps between the logs and the logs rotted out. The company gave him replacement logs, but he had to do the repairs himself. The second house had no settling built in and the doors and windows bound tight. The builder also did not tie the top logs together and the weight of the roof pushed the upper part of the walls outward. The builders fix was to run a cable from one side of the house to the other and tighten the turnbuckle until the walls were upright again.

There are good builders out there, but they are usually expensive and kit homes often have flawed designs. My wife and I considered building a log home when we first got married. I went to a log home dealer who had a model home for a headquarters. I arrived early in the morning and I could see daylight through the east wall where the logs butted together. No way was I going to build such a monstrosity.

Now that I am retired, I may help my son build a log home from scratch. He hasn't quite decided if that is the way he wants to go.

The only way I'd build anything larger than a small trapper-type cabin, is piece-sur-piece. This is basically a post and beam with log infill. This isolates most settling issues from the structural frame and roof. This guy in Wyoming builds that way:

http://www.frontierpostandbeam.com/Log_Shell_Information.html

Hoping to take the class next year.

Any house is better off with large overhangs unless hurricane-force winds are the norm. My stick-built house has 30in on the eaves and 2ft on the gables.

The LHBA homes don't settle. Proven for over a half century.

My father built hand scribed log homes for over 30 years. What is said above can be correct but doesn't have to be.

I well built log home can be a thing of beauty and functionality. Incorporating drywall and other materials from stick designs can make it less dark and easier to clean.

Properly cut and cured logs help eliminate the shrinking and choosing the right species of log is very important. He built with eastern white cedar that he hand fell and limbed. Cutting the wood in the winter eliminated the issues of sap bleed but with cedar that is not much of a concern anyway.

Using a proper overhang and the right roofing materials and design is key to keeping the logs dry and rot free. Modern stains for log homes protect against rot UV and bugs. They also last much longer than the old types. Flexible chinking if that is the style you want is also more maintenance friendly.


All in all no matter what house be it log or stick built there is some upkeep required.

From what I remember a log home should be no more than about a 10% premium over a stick built house. If someone knows for sure they can chime in.

I personally would never have a kit as you can't guarantee the time or conditions that the logs have been fell and seasoned in. Find a reputable custom log home builder and see where it takes you.

Mack

Framing lumber has to be dried to 19% and I'd wager that most logs are at least twice that, as it takes a LONG time for a big log to get that dry, and out in the dry west, they'll probably eventually get down below 10%. That is a LOT of settling, as the log dries, it gets smaller, this is physics and biology, build around it or put up with the results.