It is from year 1972 and under the log siding beats a metallic heart of doublewide trailer. Owner of the trailer is a retired metal worker Gale Spicer. The whole process of converting the trailer into a mobile log home took about four weeks. Mr. Spicer screwed log sidings directly to the metal walls of the trailer. Unexpected benefits include better sound and heat insulation so the mobile log home trailer has better living quality. Mr. Spicer says, “I’ve had people come here taking pictures. Others are going to do it to their trailer. I think we’ve stirred up something.” Article was originally written by Sylvia Anderson and it is called - Rustic way to remake doublewide.

You might remember Luoman Log Homes, a Finnish log home company, which introduced a mobile log home called MobileHome. I suppose Mr. Spicer could have something important to contribute for this Finnish company, after all he does have hands on experience.

Yesterday I got mail from Honka log homes company. They had printed several successful case studies from their various business categories and now were sending them around capital area.

I can draw some interesting points from their pamphlet. First of all, they have added Timber Heart on this ad. It is there along with their other independent divisions. You might remember this post that I wrote while back.

Another thing that catches my eye is the recreation and project services. They claim that their service package includes: lot search, design, building permissions, construction, after services and local knowledge. Nice punch of claims, sure sounds nice.

Remember when I told about my visit to the medieval trade village? Sure you do, I’ve mentioned it once too often. This primitive log cabin is from there. Enthusiasts who like to revive medieval skills have constructed it.

Notice how the base of the cabin has been built on charred poles, which last longer on damp ground. On poles lies the basic lateral frame and on that they have used timber frame technique, which is more common these days.

Real beauty is the roof. You start with few trusses and roll birch bark over it in overlapping layers. Finally several split logs press down bark rolls and keep them at check. We still build log cabins using same basic methods, but just with modern processed materials.

Here is a link to a bigger version of that above picture.

In the April framework deal the two parties agreed on using quotas as a solution to the lumber dispute that has been hampering trade relations. Now many industry associations and companies on both sides of the border are suggesting that governments should take some time to reconsider the details.

U.S. has strong demand for lumber products and domestic producers are not able to meet the demand. Now loggers and mills on U.S. side of the border are doing extremely well and their lobbying has given them wanted results. Unfortunately for primary producers NAHB has started almost opposite lobbying efforts. Value added producers like builders and various constructors benefit financially more than primary producers. Dilemma here is that primary producers are few, loud and organized, ram material users haven’t been too fast to react to the situation. Let’s hope that matter is settled smoothly, nobody wants to see housing market crash because of high material prices.

America’s Northeast has a strong growing trend of radiant heating systems. Other areas of the country are trailing bit behind. Builders cite that even heat and cleaner air combined with lower operating costs are the main factors favoring radiant heating.

In this Building Online article fireplaces were also found popular source for heating. However, traditional wood is not the favorite choice for fireplace heating, but gas is gaining acceptance.

In my opinion, log home owners belong to the group, which favors fireplace heating. Radiant heating system is especially good on tiled floors, which conducts heat much better than wood floors. Wood is the most common flooring material in log homes and it acts as an effective insulation layer, reducing advantages of radiant heat floors.

There is always the ceiling. Radiant heating can be placed under ceiling panels, which tend to be much thinner than flooring materials. This way radiant heating can be used in log home to a satisfactory degree, but cost of installation can be high, because this sort of installments are still quite rare and require skilled workers, which do not come cheap.

This family has generations involved in the running of their log home business. They started with small cabins but have been expanding their product slate into bigger log homes. This warm news article goes through family’s ideas of taking the business into the future.

Here is a must read article for anyone considering the purchase of a mobile home. These types of homes tend to be personal properties instead of real estates, it can mean big monetary difference, because personal property depreciates and real estate appreciates in value.

Manufactured homes are easier to turn into real estate and if you buy land and use your manufactured mobile home on the lot, your chances of having a real estate are quite high. On the other hand, if you have a ready-made mobile home unit like some metal-sided park home, it is almost impossible for you to gain the status of a real estate.

Log homes are becoming more and more popular choice as a manufactured home, because of their flexibility. These homes tend to appreciate in value, just like real homes, even they would be located on a leased land. Only problem is the look of them, you can’t place them on downtown setting.

Haliburton Forest got that amazingly sounding title. Now they are working together with Eco-Log Building Concepts to offer log homes that are made from hand-picked trees. This will mean better forestry and improved product for log home buyer. Read more about the cooperation from here.

Log structures have gotten a high status in consumers’ minds as eco-friendly products. Seems like if it’s made of wood, you can sell it. UK logged down most of their old forest to have raw material for their ocean-going ships. Now they are jealously guarding their remaining forests. Therefore domestic forestry industry is very small in size and UK relies heavily on imports. Scandinavian and Baltic states log homes are very popular in UK to supply the domestic need. Reliance on these two sources is explained by the proximity and cost competitiveness. Best suppliers are already taken, if you want to get into the game you have to do it soon.

Here is an inspirational article about how one log home company got started. Expertise combined with dream has created a true one-stop-shop for log homes. They do planning, logging, milling, finishing and construction.

In relation to my previous post about energy-saving log homes, article points out this: “There is really no comparison; we have a log home under construction right now and it has received an 86% efficiency rating. This means very low utility bills.” Interesting company this Cracker Style Log Home.

I wonder how they will cope with increasing demand that they will most certainly have. Mastering the whole production chain means that while ramping up the production they need to invest into every production phase, which is expensive. Check the original article over here.