A Personal Log Home Journey
BELGRADE, MT (near Bozeman)--I was so tickled when I came across this website devoted to the log home owners. It is so common to read what companies have to say about their products, but what about living in a log home for years? Loghomeowners.org has provided a place for us to answer that question.
First, let me introduce myself. I am Sue Lemmon from Belgrade, Montana and yes! I live in a log home. My husband and I have built three log homes for our family over the last several years. Each one had its charms and ‘curses’. But overall there is no other style of home that I would ever want to live in. To me, log homes are what dreams are made of and where memories are lived out every day.
Now, for our story…
When I first met my husband he had always dreamed of living in a log home. Many months were spent pouring over log home magazines. At this time we owned and operated a remodeling business, so we had some construction background. From reading and talking with log home owners we decided to purchase a fully precut log shell. That was the one tremendous thing that we did right with the first home. The one tremendously wrong decision was to purchase green logs.
The Nightmare of Green Logs…
When the logs arrived on the job site the builder who was helping us erect the logs was delayed on another project. So we, not knowing any better, simply unloaded the bundles of logs and covered them with tarps. This was in June. A month later when we were ready to begin stacking the logs we uncovered the bundles to find that the logs had molded. Yes, icky green, brown, and black streaks were growing on my logs in many places.
At first we thought that the rain had gotten the logs wet, but then we realized that the high moisture content on the logs was trapped under the tarps and mold grew. What a mess! The log shell stacked nicely and the standard roof trusses were all set into place within the first five days. But the daunting question of how to clean up the logs still hung over our heads. In the end we pressure washed the logs, hand sanded some areas, sprayed straight bleach on the worst spots, and then painted a clear lacquer on the interior of the logs.
The logs were round on the inside and out (the Double D style) so we were not able to just sand off a flat surface. The logs did lighten up considerably but there were a few places where a thin black streak could still be seen. The green logs also shrunk a good bit over the first year. All in all we loved our home—quirks and all. Then a few years later we moved to Montana.
The Challenges of Random Length Logs…
If you have ever visited Montana or Wyoming then you know that log homes are very popular out west. We fit right in! After a year or so we decided to once again build a log home. We enjoyed our first one, but we knew that this time the logs had to be dead standing or kiln dried. We were not going to endure mold and lots of shrinkage again. For this home we purchased logs from a random length log home company. The log package cost was very reasonable, but we were unprepared for the daunting task of cutting each log to fit into the walls.
Right after the logs were delivered, sorted by length, and placed around the job site, we soon learned how a termite feels. Our nice memories of a log cabin stacking up in about five days were soon replaced with the reality of three and a half months of every spare minute devoted to cutting. The corners were precut with a full saddle notch, but all of the end joints had to be fashioned and all of the door and window openings had to be cut into the shell. These logs were kiln dried so we did not have any problem with the logs molding. So at least we did that right the second log home. To make this home feel more rustic we included handcrafted log railing and a hand peeled log roof system.
I enjoyed reading the comments on the exterior care page of Loghomeowners.org. With the wind factor and the very cold temperatures we had to be very diligent at caulking shut any crack or gab in the logs. In the loft we ended up caulking in between each log. We also sprayed the ‘Tough Stuff’ foam sealant behind the window and door trim on the inside of the home. This greatly helped seal out more of the wind. After the first winter we installed a propane burning fireplace insert in the great room to help heat on the really cold days. The wood burning factor was romantic, but what a pain to have to get up during the night to stoke the fire when the temperatures were around -20 F.
Log homes are a way of life to those who desire them. This is the story behind two of the ones we built for ourselves. Once the cabins were built, to me they were not a lot of maintenance. I have to chuckle to myself when people say how much work a log home is. I really don’t feel that way about them at all. To me they do not require any more care than the frame house we bought when we got married. It is simply a different set of work. I hate painting, but I can stain a log home all day. I loath white walls inside a home but I don’t think I will ever tire of looking at our cedar interior walls. We all make choices in our lives as to what is important, and to me and my family having a log home is a priority. It is a love affair which could never be fulfilled by these panelized homes, log siding dwellings, or concrete log imitations of the real thing.
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