I have noticed that many people start to chase their log home dream from the wrong side of the street. What these people do is that first they are mesmerized by some of those stunning pictures at log home magazines. The second thing they do is to start shuffling through some floor plans, because those log home magazines are all about floor plans and log home dreams.

Together those trends put people in situation where they have high hopes, possibly unrealistic budget expectations and tentative contacts with log home dealers about the price of building a log home. Inexperienced and inspired are two adjectives that make sales people think about money.

I am not saying that you shouldn’t be inspired, after all, burning desire and passion are often the last two resorts, which keep any project running while facing hardships. However, I would like you to decide between – are you a log home owner-buyer or are you a log home owner-builder?

If you envision yourself as a buyer then you don’t have to worry much, just be careful while choosing your realtor and follow normal home buying process. If you want to have the whole big log home dream of building the log home on your own land with your own hands, boy, are you in a heap of trouble…

Long gone are those days when it was possible to quickly build a half decent log home. Nowadays log homes incorporate modern utilities and technology and given the special nature of log construction – well - log homes are more difficult to build than normal timber frame or element houses. Prepare yourself! I’m going to write a series of articles that will get you started, but as you will see, it is a long road.

Nobody emailed me about linking to the One House At A Time organization. It is really hard to get people aboard on something, even if it is good. We could be so busy with our lives that there is time for reading the web not for doing the web.

Anyhow, February’s linkdonating target is Kiva. For me this word is especially nice, because in Finnish it means “nice”. I must say that this non-profit is Kiva indeed. Rules are basically the same as before:

1. Link to Kiva
2. Email me and point me to that link
3. I will link to you
4. I will donate one US dollar for Kiva for your link
5. I will write about your site

The fifth rule is there to further sweeten the pot. So you get to donate one dollar, you get a link and an article about your site. Do good.

I made one tiny mistake that stalled my log cabin project in which I used Honka log cabin kit. Now you can avoid making the same simple mistake.

We had this log cabin kit at warehouse, waiting for the day when our building license would come. Finally that day arrived and we were set to go. In a matter of couple of weeks the foundation stood proud and tall. We made it by our own hands, such a beautiful moment. It was time to start stacking up the logs, just open those airtight packages and walls are up in no time.

But wait… there’s something funny with the logs, looks like they are longer than our foundation. Some feverish measuring and foundation is exactly what it says in the blueprints. However, our logs are some fifty centimeters (about 20 inches) longer than they are supposed to be. What the…? Log cabin kit mill had made a friendly gesture and gave us more than we ordered for. To their defense I must say that they had a note inside the plastics, which read that logs are actually longer than in the blueprint… INSIDE the plastic covers, great! So my advice to you is to check your merchandise before long-term storage.

We sorted this unexpected difficulty with three pillars, which came to support the other end of the log cabin, like this:

I seem to be in a downward spiral into the world of charity. I was reading Seth Godin’s post about smart non-profits and an idea came to me (surprising, I must confess). What if it would be possible to push Google from that passive “don’t be evil”- philosophy towards “do good”- philosophy? They could introduce an improvement into adsense, which would enable us to earmark a share of revenue to some fitting non-profit organization. We could just mind our own websites and adsense beneficiary would… well, benefit.

Now, about that list of 59 smart non-profit organizations. I support Kiva.

Even nobody has been enthusiastic enough to take part into my link charity drive I’m still going to introduce a new category that highlights various charity organizations. I don’t know how I’m going to go about with this, but it could be something, which combines blog carnivals and linkdonating. Anyway, first I’ll follow through my current linkdonating project, and I’ll go from there.

All these people have linked to One House At A Time:

None yet.

Edit: this was January’s project and nobody notified me about their links to One House At A Time, hence no links here. February project is already doing bit better.

Yesterday I was minding my own business and surfing real estate sites. I happened to notice an advertisement that promoted One House At A Time charity. I have never been much of a charity person, but this one stopped me. It was about building houses for people who lost their home for hurricane Katrina.

After being stopped for quite some time, I started thinking. What if I drop my “don’t be evil attitude” and pick up a “do good attitude”. I want to be part of providing houses for those in need, and I want to do even more. Here’s my plan: I ask people to link to One House At A Time and as a reward I will link to their site and donate one dollar for One House At A Time project. I hope I won’t run out of money.

Edit: Oh, just a short addition, send me an email after you have the link up and I’ll add you to a list with everyone that has taken part into linking. Just use “loghomes” and my domain when you send the email.

Edit2: I will run this project until the end of January and I set a limit of 1000 dollars, in case there are thousands and thousands of people wanting to give a link to One House At A Time.

Edit3: Maybe this is the final edit move that I have to do. The rules are:

1. Email me the link to the page, where you give them a link and I will link to you.
2. I will give one dollar for One House At A Time for your link.

In the U.S. the log home industry has benefited from the strong economy and especially from the strong real estate market. At the same time, there has been some sort of revival of log home culture. Generation of baby-boomers is acquiring log cabins and log homes for retirement. Almost every established log home manufacturer is still alive and new players are emerging monthly. It has been all-out sunshine and none of that bad ultraviolet radiation.

How come any of that is even remotely related to Finland? It has been pretty much the same over here with the exception of our tiny home market. Finnish log home companies had to start exporting from early on to grow the business. Many companies were started to surf the latest money making trend. Unfortunately for our companies, the value of euro has been rocketing against U.S. dollar. This has made Finnish log cabins and log homes rather pricey compared to what they were before. Result – a severe drop in demand and therefore financial crisis.

Out-dated design makes a poor seller.

In coming years, I hope, U.S. foreign debt starts dropping and dollar will rebound. That is the time when foreign log cabin and log home manufacturers resurface U.S. markets as tough competitors. They have weathered difficult times by rationalizing their operations and improving their models. Quite a few U.S. log home manufacturer will be in serious rough in coming 5 to 10 years.

I bought myself another log home book. This time it’s Jim Cooper’s Log Homes Made Easy. First I will read it and review will come shortly after finishing the book. First impressions are: workbook or handbook styled, lots of tables and sheets, down to earth…

I chose this book, because the previous book that I reviewed was builder orientated. This time I wanted to take another approach, the approach of a contractor. Here the most important aspect isn’t how to build but how to compare and buy the right stuff. Hope this book will answer that sort of questions.

I got tired fighting against a tidal wave of spammy comments so I turned them off and slept my nights like a baby.

However, I read this post at Lifehack.org and felt the nasty sting of a bad conscious. I think I should make it easier for you to interact with the stuff that I write.

It’s again comments open here at Loghomescabin, in case someone would like to ask a question or give a comment, without the hassle of writing an email to me. Now the next task waits ahead. I’d better write an introductory page where you can get all the necessary background information about me and this site.