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Log Homes,
Handcrafted by
Moose Mountain Log Homes Inc.
PH# (403) 932-3992 Fax (403) 932-9299
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What
to Consider When Purchasing a Log Home
If you are like most people who are considering purchasing a log home, it may
very well be one of
your most important personal environmental and financial decisions you will make.
I would like to offer you my
experiences and some of the most important benefits to building a Moose Mountain Log Home.
My name is Lloyd Beckedorf and I have been building full-scribe
handcrafted log homes as my sole
profession since 1978 (link for: the different types of log
home construction comparison).
Many people trace their desire to live in a log home to something that sparked an
emotional feeling of well-being. It may be your childhood memories of a summer cabin or
stories from friends or relatives of their experiences. It could also be more recent, such
as being in a well-built log home during a winter storm, or perhaps photos in a log home
magazine which made you realize how impersonal and lifeless conventional housing has
become. No matter where your desire originated, the decision to build a log home will be
an extremely important and personal one. Less than five percent of the people Moose
Mountain has built their dream home for, have ever sold their home. The people we have helped
create their ideal place to live in, have done so because that is where they truly wish to
remain for a long time.
When people build a log home to live in for a long time, craftsmanship, design, quality
of logs plus other materials, and comfort against winter's cold and summer's heat become
paramount in a formula of value for your investment. When you choose a Moose Mountain Log
Home it does mean that one of your highest concerns is the quality of your environment, in
determining value for your housing needs. Sadly, from what I have seen, there are many
ways to reduce the initial cost of a log home by reducing the quality of the craftsmanship
in the logs needed to produce that log home, but ultimately it will always result in a
house which you will wish to remain in for a shorter period of time. Our approach
though, has been one of paying close attention to the countless little aspects of
producing a true work of art and function that some of which in themselves may not seem
that important, however together produce significant advantages and allow us to state
unequivocally, there is no better built home than a Moose Mountain log home.
If you consider that a log home, from the standpoint of the log construction, is comprised
of a balance of design, joinery techniques, log quality and beauty, craftsmanship plus
attention to countless little details and other construction materials, as well as
affordability, then, I am sure you agree, it becomes important that you evaluate your
objectives in building a log home in each of these categories.
Design
Joinery Techniques
Logs
Craftsmanship
Details
DESIGN
I feel it is important that the design reflects your present living requirements plus your
perceived future demands. The draftsman/designer/architect should have previous log
experience and blend your building site's advantages of view, slope, access, vegetation
cover and sunlight directions with your space requirements, together with the log
builder's experience and understanding. I have never seen a previously used plan suit the
needs perfectly for other people at another location. I believe if you develop a scrap
book approach of things you like and dislike, and keep your site in mind, you will be
amazed how easy it will become to develop your plan. Make sure that your person in charge
of the plan listens carefully to you and the log builder. Of the many renowned architects/designers
we have worked with we have two we can strongly recommend because of the years
of mutual co-operation and great projects we have created together, they are
our designer/draftsman, Gordon Snell of Innographic Design and Drafting, who has worked
with us for over15 years and Terry Almond an architect whom we have worked with
since the mid 1990's, both are extremely talented. Another renowned designer
that we have begun working with is Murray Arnott.
They have all consistently demonstrated a real flair
for creating something entirely original, suited to those who will live there, within the
scope of structural function and cost effectiveness. It will be important that your log
builder draw on a wide variety of experience and have a real zest for creating something
unique in guiding the person you designate to develop your plans.
It is also important to remember that the working drawings, the ones you will hand in for
permit approval, will most significantly draw on the previous log experience of the person
in charge of your plans. We highly suggest you take extra time in researching the
previous experience of the individual or firm you choose.
JOINERY TECHNIQUES
Here is where you will find the greatest differences in buildings and quality, and this
requires the most research by you, the log home purchaser. To build the most air and
weather-tight home, the most comfortable home in the winter's cold and summer's heat,
specifically means you have to develop a seal that works with wood and its continuous
attempt to equalize its moisture content with the air relative humidity.
If it were only as simple as initially fitting logs together tightly, that would be the
only measure of quality joinery, then every first year log builder would be an expert. It
is when you compare techniques after several years of performance in a home, that quality
of joinery becomes glaringly obvious to even the slightest of educated eyes. Most
companies produce a product that, at delivery, gives no indication of what its future
appearance and performance will be like. I have written several articles on our methods of
joinery (link for: Techniques
that make Moose Mountain Different)
which goes into more of the technical detail, I hope you have a chance to study
these
and that you ask me any questions which may develop. It is in full-scribe joinery where
craftsmanship and skill are vital as opposed to the chinked style log home where chinking
alone replaces the need for precision and craftsmanship. Here in full-scribe joinery,
through experience and interaction with the builders and the buildings built of the more
common Swedish Cope or Scandinavian Shallow Cove, is where the differences of our patented
Double-Scribe Lateral Groove and our Shrink-Fit Saddle Notch allow us to claim there is no
better method of log joinery.
When you take the time to understand how wood reacts to joinery and changes in moisture,
you will understand it is absolutely impossible for any of the Scandinavian or
Swedish Full-Scribe Cope or Cove
methods to produce a product which will perform as well as our Double-Scribe Lateral Groove
and Shrink-Fit Saddle Notch joinery.
LOGS
When choosing the species of log which will give you optimum results, two factors are
critical to keep in mind - checking - which are the longitudinal splits that occur during
drying and how deeply the species will take a finish such as a protective stain or oil.
Checking, if crossing joinery, will allow air and weather leaks and also insects to pass
from outside to inside. Excessive checking will extend beyond the penetration of a
protective stain or oil and likely allow moisture from driven weather to accumulate and cause
wood deterioration. Uncontrolled checking tends to localize in the Cove or Cope style of
full-scribe joinery, allowing for pronounced visual gaps and leaks. For the reasons of
checking and resulting leaks, I would never consider using checked dead standing timber in
a log home. Logs which are already randomly riddled with uncontrolled checks would be
almost 100% guaranteed to create a drafty, insect infiltrated home unless every single check is
caulked or chinked, something that, from experience, I have seen is virtually impossible to do.
It is my firm opinion, that if chinking or caulking is required it is an
absolute and unacceptable failure of the joinery and/or log selection.
Our patented method of joinery, undeniably is by far the very best method of
keeping logs tight fitting and controlling checking to such a degree, that we are still the only "handcrafted company" to
have patented joinery guaranteed against air and weather leaks and with a 100%
perfect track record that has never required chinking or caulking. This is almost entirely
attributable to our highly specialized joinery which we began using in 1985, in
combination with our log selection process.
The depth of penetration and thereby adhesion of a protective finish is really the
most important factor
in choosing a species of tree by the degree of maintenance it will require in the years to
come. If one considers that a power or telephone pole is subjected to the harshest factors
a log in a log home could ever be exposed to, then only Pine and Cedar excel as proper
choices for log wall construction. To date, Spruce has never been considered for pole uses
because of its lack of ability to absorb treatment, as well Fir and Larch have a very
limited use due to the minimal treatment penetration and excessive twisting and warping
characteristics in dryer climates.
When you consider checking or the long term maintenance of a log home to use Fir, Larch or
Spruce in log wall construction is, in my opinion, a poor choice or lacking experience on
behalf of the log builder. However, to use the structural characteristics of Fir, Larch or
Spruce under the immediate protection of a roof or within the enclosure of a home as a
beam or a joist, has a definite amount of good merit. To achieve the optimum results in a
log home, without a doubt, only Pine or Cedar should be used as a wall log. Choosing
between Pine or Cedar is one of preference. Cedar as a log lives up to its reputation as
having heartwood capable of sustained exposure to weather with the minimum of detrimental effects. The size
and hues in Cedar allow us to achieve the "Classic Lodge" stature and feel. The
low initial moisture content and stable nature have long been known as a significant
advantage to using Cedar. Perhaps the only downside would be the softness of the wood and
its ability to be more easily marked by handling.
With Lodgepole Pine we can accentuate the numerous unique characteristics found in
individual trees. With a transparent, protective stain, few woods have the luster and
beauty that is so engrained as in the Lodgepole Pine. A significant advantage Lodgepole
Pine has over all other Pines, Fir, Larch and the Spruces is that these other
species are between twenty and eighty-five percent more susceptible to
checking. In fact, few woods are more easily controlled against checking or can absorb a
transparent protective stain as deeply. The way Lodgepole Pine shrinks is what
makes it so incredibly ideal for log wall use. The drier the climate the more
significant this benefit becomes. It is the tangential to radial
shrinkage ratio (or the way it shrinks in circumference compared to the way it
shrinks in diameter) that is so extremely important, that relationship
allows for the most controllable checking of any soft wood species used in log
construction today. (Remember this does not apply to dead standing or pre-dried
Lodgepole Pine logs.) That ratio defines a species susceptibility to most forms
of warp and of course checking during the course of seasoning. Simply put in drier climates, species prone to excessive
checking such as Eastern White Pine, Fir, Larch or the Spruces when used as wall logs would not be able to be warranted with our air and
weather tight guarantee!
For further great information on this topic check out R. Bruce
Hoadley's "Understanding Wood, A Craftsman's Guide to Wood Technology" considered by many experts to be
the best written material for the lay person.
CRAFTSMANSHIP.
Craftsmanship is implementing the design with flair, precision and experience. A joy which
is characteristic of true craftsmanship is the pride experienced in sharing the precision
in a meticulously crafted log-trussed roof system or log staircase, or in choosing of the
right log for that special location in a flawlessly notched and fitted wall - and knowing
from experience that is the best that can be done. Craftsmanship is taking the extra time
to make something just a little bit better or more special. Craftsmanship is one of the
most talked about aspects of log construction, yet one of the most abstract, least
definable and important values of log construction.
ATTENTION TO LITTLE DETAILS AND OTHER CONSTRUCTION
MATERIALS
Often the most visual differences in a log home began as a little detail which was either
overlooked or carefully thought out. One such common detail would be to allow water a
place to accumulate and not quickly drain away from a log wall, and that may not become
apparent until staining or deterioration are noticed years later. Other details such as
through-bolts, their location and future operation, or screw jack visibility and
performance, or our time-tested and much refined window details with our supplied
structural keyways, or joinery gasket use, are just a few of the details that few other
builders can compare with. Then, when you look at our frame partition wall to log wall
joint, or the completeness of our electrical channeling and switch or receptacle box
detailing, and the total carpenter readiness which we provide as our standard package, we
know you will begin to realize that undoubtedly, if there is a lower priced competitor, it
is by what they omit to include or the corners they cut in the quality of the logs and
joinery they use that will by far, cost more in the future.
We profoundly believe that, when you compare every last detail, our superior logs and
log selection process, and our unequaled joinery and craftsmanship, that you simply won't
be able to find a better value for your investment, or a better built home than a Moose
Mountain log home. However, it won't be until during a winter storm when you sit and gaze
into a fireplace or lean back and look up at the sturdy gracefulness of a log open beam
cathedral ceiling that you will fully grasp how important your decisions today may really
have been to you and generations to come that will reside in your log home.
