It looks alright from distance, just take a look at these photos below (I don’t want to give out the source, the log home is for sale and I don’t really want to go between buyers and the seller).

Matter of taste
Who likes this style, just raise a hand, no need to be shy. See, a jungle of raised hands! Indeed the look of the house is very comfortable, a tad dull, and might lack some personality, but has classic features nevertheless. Actually, don’t you just love those shingles in the bay window?

However, I don’t wonder sales agency doesn’t provide a floorplan, just take a look those perpendicular gables, what a missed opportunity to have lots of handy room space. Now they have cathedral ceiling and lots of airspace. This log home is probably targeted for retired people that don’t need that much storage room anyway.

Inside a log home
Now, look at the inside photo. Location of those joints is absolutely mind bogging. That corner has to carry lot of weight that comes from the frame-built gable structure seen up and on the right. Also have you ever seen worse craftsmanship than with the paneling? Oh my, this log home will have lot of difficult times ahead because of settling. I sure hope someone is able to prove me wrong.

Log home builder
It is crucial that an expensive investment like log home or log cabin is not ruined by incompetent builders. I’ve seen a log home where builders had fixed insulation wall frames directly into log wall with huge nails. Guess what happened to logs while settling? Yep, you could fit a New York Times through any given log pair. That was in Germany and owner insisted that logs were faulty. I hope that whoever ends up buying this log home won’t get into trouble.

How’s that for a positive start, eh? But news are, like I said, good. Norman from Floating Cabins agreed to do a short interview here on Log Homes Cabin blog. Now it is just about finding the right questions. And as this site gets about 50 unique visitors per day, maybe one of you would like to ask a question from Norman about these brilliant mobile, floating log cabins. Well, better watch out there on the water, you don’t want your cabin going mobile, do you? Hmm, then again, it is always very refreshing to see strange new shores

Suggest a question
Anything you want to know, ask away. I can’t guarantee Norman will answer, but he’ll get the questions. Just type your say down to the comments part and I’ll mix them together with my own questions. Let’s see what we can find about these cool products.

Now the only downside here is that because my site traffic is so minimal, I have to wait for quite some time to get even one question. That I can’t help immediately, so I just have to let go at some point and take at least my questionnaire to Norman. Here’s hoping for many questions.

For the longest time I thought that mobile log cabin is the most convenient of all log cabins. I tried to dig out info where to find them, which companies are making them, how to convert trailer into a trailer log siding home etc. No more! Now I want a floatable log cabin.

I just happened to surf to Floating Cabins site and found the product in all its ingenuity. Well, technically there is nothing special in floating log homes they just combine many good features that interest me. They are obviously floatable, because if they weren’t that site name would be Sunk Cabins dot com, eh? They are also movable so one could start a day by lakeside and end it at mountain top. Best of all, they are log homes, I guess, since the website doesn’t provide any technical information. Only thing left for me to do in this situation is to write to them and ask for details. I’ll see if I can get an interview from them.

Question
Jamie wants to build a log home in Northern California and is considering between handcrafted from Canada or Swedish Cope milled log with a draw knife finish. Jamie asks about strengths and weaknesses of each.

Answer
Thank you for your question, Jamie. First I would like to approach this topic from general point of view and in the end give more detailed opinions. Your two choices tell that you value handcrafted style, maybe you are part of the “rustic people”. I suppose my answer doesn’t hit the mark completely, but I’m open for discussion. Let’s get going…

What matters the most with logs?
It is not your choice of handcrafted/milled approach but the choice of company, which is important. Dedicate your time to finding a dependable log home company, which is recommended by people you trust. Think about it from this point of view (sorry if I’m oversimplifying), which is better, tomato or onion pizza? Naturally this depends on one’s taste and the place where the pizza is made. And don’t get me even started with topic, which is better, log home or timber frame home… I always choose well-made home.

Handcrafted log homes
With handcrafted log homes you can often opt for turnkey project. In this case, people who make the log frame tend to be the ones who also erect the frame and build the home. As a result, you get a well-built log home. However, many companies just handcraft log frames and have nothing to do with the actual log home building. As a side note, you would be surprised how many perfectly good log frames and complete log home kits have been ruined by incompetent builders.

Handcrafters use large logs with lots of character, so their log storages tend to be bigger than with milled log home manufacturers’. In general, this means that handcrafted logs have had more time to dry naturally, hence less cracking.

Milled log homes
Milled log homes, however, are constantly rolled out from production line and in general companies forget their customers as soon as kits have been successfully transported to the customer. Time from order to delivery of a log home kit is significantly shorter than with handcrafted log homes. Price doesn’t differ that much, because those log processing machines eat a lot of capital. This almost brings the cost of milled logs to the level of handcrafted logs.

Milled logs have very much uniformed shape, which makes design and building processes easier. Production pace and machinery investments tend to mean that log home mills can’t afford large storages for drying logs naturally. Kiln-drying is the norm, because it makes stock management easier and production faster, i.e. logs can be purchased when needed and then quickly dried for manufacturing.

What about those logs then?
I try to stay positive here so I won’t focus on weaknesses, but if one is bit stronger then the other is…

STYLE: There are many handcrafting styles, so it is difficult to compare, since I don’t know the style you are after. Swedish Cope, milled and draw knife finished logs come just about as close to true handcrafting as possible. I would say there is not much difference here.

LOOK: They look the same from distance but up close you spot that there is a difference. However, if your guests doesn’t know much about log homes they are likely to think your home is handcrafted and with special dedication even, because logs are so alike.

DURABILITY: As long as you treat your logs and build with high foundation and long eaves, both logs withstand the test of time.

COST: Handcrafted logs will be more expensive

Anything else?
This is something that comes in mind, but for sure it is not the whole truth, there are many schools in our industry. As I said, I am open for discussion and opinions, I know log home and log cabin owners have lots of opinions, at least I do. So tell me, what do you think? Also don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS feed to stay updated.

Disclaimer - I must state that my answers are opinions only and can’t be used as a professional advice.

Anything about log homes and log cabins that is. I am going to start a post series in which I answer your questions. Let’s do it so that you write a question that you would like to be answered down to the comments part (just scroll down the page) of this post. I’ll answer your question AND continue to refine the answer if new developments appear. Furthermore I’ll dedicate one complete post for every answer and also list them under one LOOOoong (probably takes years) page.

The team
For this mission, I’m getting help from architects and construction designers who have been working with log homes and log cabins for years. Actually our combined experience in log home business goes way over 200 years. These people come mainly from Europe, especially those countries, which are traditionally strong in log home and cabin building: Scandinavia, Baltic States and Russia (yes, can you believe it, Russia is very big in log home building). But not to worry, there is also someone to consult in matters about chinking and other issues, which are especially important for readers in North America.

Ask away!
Now it is time to put all that experience working for you and all it takes is just the time to write the question here in the comments. Ask away and stay updated by subscribing my feed.

I have written many a time about Luoman Log Homes (here and here). They came out to the market with a log mobile home and had great plans to take over the world and especially the North American market.

Like vrs. Love
I liked the TV ads, which they ran in relation to the mobile campaign and the product was functional. Unfortunately ”like” and ”functional” aren’t apparently deciding factors when people are making their mobile home purchasing decisions - try ”love” and ”beautiful” instead. What are your critical buying factors?

Failing to create a market
Looks like the pricing was a tad too high for this mobile home model and as they rolled it out as a product launch, they probably used reserved marketing budget before realizing any marked number of orders. It is difficult to innovate new products in log home industry.

Copycats in action
Think about it, isn’t it so that in any given style segment of log homes (rustic, modern, Scandinavian etc.) it is really hard to tell the difference between the manufacturers. Almost every day I come across the situation where customer comes and shows me the plans of some other log home manufacturer and asks to get a quotation of such a home. What do you think, can you distinguish between log home manufacturers by e.g. looking photos?

Collective development
It is virtually impossible to protect models, one can try, but then there are some slight changes in those final blueprints and hands are washed. This is just the way of the industry. But here we also find the secret of log home product development. Those tiny tweaks that we make to designs of other manufacturers, steadily inch the industry forward. We learn from others and with our fierce competition we collectively develop our product.

Lessons learned
What we can learn from Luoman Log Homes is that it can be costly to develop a brand new product category. One must have deep pockets to support the maturity of the segment and educating customers about new possibilities. I have no doubt that someday mobile log homes are a strong niche segment among log homes.

Subscribe to my feed to stay updated.

Long time ago Mr. Mac Laird wrote in comments about his history as a log home enthusiast. I decided to check out his website to read more about his experiences as a log cabin builder. Interestingly, it turns out the site is mostly about bark canoe (test) building and bow/arrow raw material collecting.

Storyteller
Mr. Mac Laird has written a book about the old days and old ways. Instead of making a boring school book he has chosen to write in narrative manner, bit like being a grand father telling a story to kids. You can’t avoid learning some tips and tricks about living in the great outdoors, good point if you normally start to feel tired after glancing through the index of any given encyclopedic log home book. Tempo seems to be mellow, making it a good companion before bedtime (hey, in a GOOD way).

Slow tempo of log cabin living
Can you relate to canoeing or bow shooting? I can, because I have started to kayak and canoe on the river that flows right on my backyard. Swallows squeak happily as they swoosh by. Fish jump as if to say that they know I don’t have fishing rod with me. I just might have caught some kind of log cabin fever, because we all (yep, people who live in log home or log cabin) tend to have similar hobbies or habits. Is it contagious? Well, I have been thinking to purchase myself a fine bow. Keep updated about my mission to purchase a bow and subscribe to my feed.