I have posted some new autumn and winter pictures to Flickr. Unfortunately the code changing takes some time and winter pictures can’t be seen on the sidebar quite yet. You can go into Flickr to check them out though.

Snow really changes the look of things. My front yard is like a totally new place. This reminds me of the importance of checking the location of a log home prospect, during different seasons, before you go and buy it.

Here is a danger to fall in love with summer and forgetting that you also get autumn, winter and spring with the package. Some recreational log cabins can be quite inhospitable during colder seasons. Like with everything else, the best advice here is to conclude that we must do what we know. Buy a log home from close by area or area that you are otherwise familiar with. This guarantees that your log home life will not come as a surprise. Hey, remember to check the actual house or cabin, too!

Almost at the instant when I posted my previous remark about snowy Helsinki – the rain started to fall. It rained all day long. No more snow.

Funny how we often dash head on towards some glorious goals and fail just because we failed to calculate risks properly? Log homes are exactly such a matter. We get dazzled by their rustic charm and want one immediately. This is the time when purchase decisions can go wrong. Remember to hold your breath and study the matter through, otherwise you might find that your log home can’t stand the rain.

Actually this is the second try already. First one lasted just couple of days a few weeks back. I am more optimistic for this run though, because weather is generally colder now, and it would require a true warm spell of air to get rid of all this whiteness.

What this means in practice is that now you have chance to see some winter pictures, in case you already grew tired with my autumn set. I try to get the pictures online tomorrow, so check back.

There have been very few pictures of actual log homes and the reason for that is that I live in capital area and log homes don’t go too well with general urban building code. I will travel to countryside for the Christmas and then I will have abundant supply of various log homes. Unfortunately that will be even a longer wait.

This site is about celebration of log homes. Sometimes my wife asks me why is it that I like log homes over stone houses? In general terms I would like to quote Ralph Kylloe, author of “The Rustic Cabin: Design & Architecture”. He thinks that the rustic lifestyle is more popular today because,

“We spend our days in buildings made of Sheetrock and filled with highly manipulated furniture and we drive our metal vehicles on concrete roads. We crave nature, but we also don’t want to give up the luxuries that the modern world offers.” (Quote over here)

I couldn’t agree more with Ralph also I would like to add that even my wife considers stone homes just as natural as log homes there is still this clear difference that most people are able to build log homes given some persistence, but stone homes require too much skill to erect. Log home is my choice, because I feel so close to the material it is made of.

I was too hasty to start publishing information about new concrete siding that imitates timber log. After more detailed scrutiny it seems that it is actually a whole concrete-made log wall element not mere siding. Now building log homes out of concrete log elements is possible. Construction process speeds up even further and costs also drop because of lower element price. One important benefit of this innovation is the fact that license for element manufacturing can be exported/imported and all manufacturing can then take place locally without massive log transporting operations.

Real logs have been used to make mold for these elements. These walls can be painted and with the real-like texture, these concrete element log homes are difficult to separate from real log homes – from distance that is… Additional benefit when compared to logs is that concrete doesn’t shrink also maintenance is minimal. The idea for the log wall element came from Taisto Lehikoinen and Ilmo Väätäinen of Pielisen Betoni was the one to realize practical product manufacturing.

Artificial sidings like vinyl slates have been much used in construction industry. These sidings usually last longer than traditional siding alternatives like wood and even stone; also artificial sidings come with lower price tag.

It is not that vinyl is such a great material, it pollutes and its lifecycle cost of is higher than with natural materials. Lower starting price and convenient use make it number one choice for many builders. Much has also been done to get vinyl sidings look just right, so that clumsy fifties and sixties style doesn’t hamper this material anymore.

Now we have a new solution for us log home lovers. Finnish company has patented a method to produce and manufacture artificial log sidings that are made of concrete. This lowers environmental impact and gives us a choice to consider while going for that log home image with that traditional timber frame building. I still need to get some more technical information on this but I will keep you posted on developments.

Doug Wallace cut down oak trees by axe and hand-built a rustic log cabin totally on his own. It took six years to complete the structure, because he insisted on using the same tools and techniques as the pioneers. Now he is planning to build even a bigger log cabin. Read the amazing story at Herald-Review.com.

Expedition Log Homes started operations in September 2000. Jan Koepsell, Greg Grimes and McCabe Garcia started the company by providing design services. First three years they subcontracted the logs that their designs needed. Year 2003 saw the beginning of their sawmill business.

Despite its young age, Expedition Log Homes has expedited and developed fast. Now Garcia runs the mill, Grimes heads the sales staff and Koepsell handles PR and business management. Initially they had one external employee, but that amount has grown to 24.

Their log homes sell in packages and log kits. They use hard logs that are hand-peeled. More about the company on their website. You can read the original article over here.

Please, don’t be too much alarmed. The title is there just to agitate a bit. The story begins as Plum Creek Timber Co. created a subdivision of vacation homes. Plum Creek Timber Co. is a private land and timber company. They own and manage natural resources and try to get best possible return for their investment.

There was lot of demand for beautiful vacation homes that resided at such a tranquil place. With this project, the company was so successful that they want to repeat the project many times over. This in turn, could spoil the nature that home buyers want to experience with their purchase.

Here is a link to the original article, go and check it out, discussion runs wild.

My personal experience with this topic comes in a four-year package. It took me four years to get building rights for my own log home that resides by the lake. I live in Finland, so it was very difficult to get anywhere with environmental authorities and legislation.

I tried to get special building licenses for my lot with multiple arrangements. Nothing worked as neighbors were complaining about possible esthetic and environmental damages. However, now I have my right to build and the work will start next summer (I will start special topic for my log home building project). What happened?

Legislation in Finland still works for the benefit of the masses. I lobbied hard about the benefits for having general subdivision and special environmental building code on the area. Slowly my neighbors started to see the light. If the lake would have several idyllic vacation homes, buyers would come and they in turn would mean more money for this small community. Together we applied for building rights and we got them. Now there is the danger that land by the lake will be over-built and results will damage the nature. I wanted to have my land in good use, am I selfish?

Where does this growing log home trend base on? Housing boom is one of the major contributors. When the overall housing construction rate grows, it means that the growth of log home building is also rising. Partly this is only a market volume trend.

Another side of the coin is the state of the world. Bad things happen and media flashes all these bad news to our homes. This encourages us striving for simple and secure lifestyle, a lifestyle of past and nostalgic times. It is not an accident that log homes are considered dreams just waiting to be built. This also increases the total amount of constructed log homes.