Log Home Owners - I have a few ?'s

[mla973]

I have recently become very interested in seriously investigating the costs of building a log home. If you are a log home owner, can you let me know what you feel are some of the positives and negatives of this particular type of home. I live in Michigan, and we would most likely build the home ourselves. (DH is a licensed contractor). I'm wondering about energy costs, maintenance, bugs, decor, etc.

Any particular companies you would recommend?

Thanks so much!
Megan

 

[Sir Real]

You may want to send dianeschlicht a pm. She recently built one and could probably answer all your questions.

 

[ceiligh1]

I grew up in a log home. I loved it, it is nice to be different from all the other homes in the neighborhood. It was a split log house. Meaning that from the outside you viewed the round logs but the inside walls were flat. This allowed us to hang up artwork without problems of location on a log. Some issues we had was at least with our house design it was dark as there was not many windows inside. You also have to be careful about wood rot as it can be common in log homes. The home was great at insulation it didnt really get hot in the summer and stayed warm in the winter without a lot of extra insulation.

The full log homes are great as well you just have to decide what you are going for. My cousin is building his own log home right now. Some things I did not know. You can not finish areas like window frames ect until the home has settled and you also need to keep chinking between the logs as it settles. I find it intersting and it will be a beautiful home when it is done.

I have also heard that you have to be careful and get a builder who specializes in log homes as some contractors will try and do it for you. They do not know all the specifics that go into the build and you end up having problems later.

I am so jealous that you might get a log home. I wanted to buy one up here but could not find one where we were looking. Enjoy it.

 

[Nevergrow'nup]

I lived in one for about 10 years. Never again!! If you build one have a few rooms with finished walls. In ours, (built before we bouught it) it was all wood, everywhere you looked, ceilings, walls, etc. all inside walls were pine tongue and groove. Nothing to paint or wallpaper, couldn't change anything. The walls were all bumps that collected dust, cathedral ceiling with a dusty wall. I couldn't use anything on them except brooms or round dusters. Then you had dust falling everywhere for days. I would suggest smooth finishes on the logs.
Outside, we had problems with carpenter bees. They LOVED our house!! They could bore nests anywhere they wanted. We had a small problem with carpenter ants but were able to get rid of those.
On the positive side, many people loved our house, we had people stop all the time to take pictures. One time we had some Japanese tourists that stopped to to a picture of a unique American home!!
We had great memories and brought our two DS's home to this house. Good Luck!!

 

[mla973]

Thanks for the feedback. We are in the early stages of investigating pricing and options.