 |
Log Homes,
Handcrafted by
Moose Mountain Log Homes Inc.
PH# (403) 932-3992 Fax (403) 932-9299
email - for more information |
What Moose Mountain Log Homes Inc.
Includes in Its Standard Approach...
- Design involvement, input and assistance
- We will be glad to work with your
architectural design team or you may choose to work with an architectural design team we
have experience with, some of whom we have been working with for over 20 years.
- Logs and Species we have personally selected
, entirely hand peeled - I, Lloyd
Beckedorf savor the time spent going out and picking every single log we craft into our homes, I closely
check the growing characteristics, measure size and calculate the
degree of spiral grain and the taper rate in the logs. Today we are still able to get
beautiful incredibly big 15" average diameter at mid-length Lodgepole Pine (normally 18" -
22" at the butt) or, extremely massive 16" - 20" average mid-length diameter Cedar
(normally up to 24" at the butt). Our White Spruce (which, according to
recent testing has, in important ways better structural values
than second growth Fir) is our choice for the roof support beams, second floor systems and
posts all can be up to 48" diameter at the butt, depending on owner preference and
structural requirements. Perhaps you'll remember, Spruce was by far the
best choice of any wood to build airplanes from because of its incredible
strength to weight ratio. We feel that the logs we use in our homes are the most dramatic
and best looking logs anywhere. Normally, the average height per round after joinery is
13" for Lodgepole Pine and up to 18" for Western Red Cedar. Please check out our
Photo Gallery to see how our logs look when
crafted into our log homes.
- Air and weather-tight joinery guarantee
- Handcrafted in our patented &
guaranteed air and weather-tight joinery with a written warranty as part of our
contract. Since 1985 we have been using our Double Scribe Lateral Groove system of joinery and we
have not had our first air or weather leak. To be truthful we doubt we ever will have our
first air or weather leak. It simply is absolutely impossible for the
Scandinavian/Swedish cope or any other variation of fully scribed
joinery to consistently remain as tight as the double scribe
system of full scribe joinery. We know it is impossible to make "apples to apples"
comparisons without using a comparison of air and weather-tight warranties as one of
the most important deciding factors. Every log home
company speaks of their quality but few if any others are willing to put in
their contract a
meaningful warranty to back their quality claims. We think it critical that you use
this as a guide in determining whether any company you are talking to is
equally geared as Moose Mountain is, towards
building you a work of art founded on service, precision craftsmanship and premium log
selection by their willingness to prove it in writing. We know if you search
any and every full
scribe builder for air and weather-tight guarantees or inspect homes built after settling
is complete (normally 3-5 years), you will be certain beyond any doubt there is no
substitute for the precision the double scribe system brings to the chinkless log home
construction methods. It goes without saying that all of our construction
methods, including joinery and log selection meets or exceeds the International Log Builders'
Association's most recent version of the Log
Building standards.
- All the openings/exposed log ends cut and finished
- beveling, arching and
other visible log end details sanded or planed as conditions dictate, including keyway
splines (angle iron) and log end to buck board gasket (ready for door and window
installation).
- Structural Logs
- All required structural log components as indicated in plans are usually supplied in
White Spruce. Specially prepared grooves to accept the supplied Emseal log
home tape are located at all log trusses, posts, beams, joists, rafters or purlins
where they pass from inside to outside insuring an extremely vital air and
weather tight seal.
- Interior frame partition wall allowances -
Dado slots for partition walls and
around beams are prepared by our log craftsmen.
- Full log stairs
- Main floor to loft and/or main floor to basement as
indicated in plans. Our log stairs are crafted from natural round logs, Douglas Fir 1/2
log treads and log stringers.
- Log railings
- Our railing and spindles are mortised and tenoned together from
hand peeled small diameter logs (rails). Inside and outside railings as specified on
plans.
- Electrical drilling, mortising and flats
- All log drilling, mortising, and
necessary flats for covers and fixtures, with pull wires routed for electrical, phone,
stereo or security as per plans (we install pull wires for the
electricians benefit during final assembly).
- Through-bolts, screw jacks and required steel
for structural log work connections-
We supply and properly install through-bolts, settling adjustable screw jacks for log
posts and the structurally required steel for log work (all with necessary plates and
washers). Our intent is to make sure these are kept out of sight as much as is absolutely
possible.
- Joinery gasket, log wall insulation
and sill gasket - The log joinery
gasket and insulation are never visible with our style of construction. To view a cross
section of our joinery and gasket click here Emseal log
home tape. Sill gasket is put in-between the sub-floor and first round of logs.
- A private web page is set-up to
allow you, friends and relatives to follow the construction progress. You
can also supply additional photos to be included, such as site work,
materials that you might want referenced etc.
The next four categories
have resulted from our approach to our warranty but, according to our home
owners, have become some of the most beneficial reasons
besides our precise and artistic craftsmanship, log selection and warranty, for
choosing Moose Mountain and has allowed us to uniquely offer some
of the best and most important value available anywhere in log construction.
- Delivery costs
- It is Moose Mountain Log Homes Inc.'s truck and trailers that
are delivering your log home, if we need to take extra time because of site conditions, we
do. We have found that commercial trucks often do not want to go onto private sites
because of the difficulties they may encounter and if they do go onto your site normally,
significant standby times are charged. To deal with this often builders will hastily
unload your home requiring huge areas to possibly be cleared around your home causing
unnecessary handling and likely damage to your logs. Another very important benefit to
having Moose Mountain do the shipping is that we include an insurance (to a value of
$250,000.00 Canadian or about $200,000 US per load) that not only covers the value
of the specific load being moved but a percentage value towards all other interconnected log components
that are a part of your home that may not even be on that load. What that means is that if, the
grave misfortune of having an accident with the load that contains the first rounds of
wall logs of your home occurs, that many of the logs coming in the following loads may
also need to be replaced or if you are very lucky only refitted. I can assure you that
likely almost every other company you talk to relies on only the value of the load being transported and
probably only to the standard extent of $2.00 per pound covering only logs
that are individually damaged. Since with other
companies you are normally being
asked to cover shipping as a separate expense you may unknowingly be holding the
liability of your significant investment, your home, with perhaps insurance coverage that
may only pay out 5% of the damages that could occur.
- Full log re-assembly labor
- Because we warranty our homes, we want to be the
only ones that re-assemble all of our log components from the first round to the out side
railings.
- Crew expenses
- An average of four to six (depending on the size of
your home) Moose Mountain Log Homes Inc. log crafters (with all of our out of
town meals and lodging already
in our price) will be on your site for an average of two or more weeks working normally
10-12 hour days, 7 days a week properly re-assembling your home. This is the same
crew that has already crafted your home in our construction yard. Obviously, no one can
assemble the log portion of your home as precisely or as quickly as the log crafters that
built the home in the first place. Using a similar comparison, would you
expect that the quality of your automobile would be the same if a few
"helpers" assembled it with little or no understanding of how it
should be properly built? Other companies may boast that you only will need 1-2 days
to re-assemble your
home but the end results are totally different, you only need to ask about
their joinery warranty to get an indication how different. We have heard
many times
of log homes, where after two days the log company supervisor had already left and months later the
logs were still being assembled or completed by inexperienced individuals. For our US projects,
we do what is necessary to follow the US immigration laws, while insuring the
quality of our homes is consistent.
- Crane costs
-
Depending on the project scope, we may position our own crane on your site (we
have cranes stationed in Western Canada, the Rocky
Mountain States and Mid-west around the Great Lakes Regions and can move
them to other regions as situations dictate), this allows us to take our time
when we are putting your home together. Most builders have to rush because they and you are stuck paying a
crane, from $100.00 to $150.00 per hour or easily $1,000 to $1,500.00 per day.
- Staining
is an option because we need the proper weather conditions to apply
the stain, it can be put into the contract as a separate priced component.
- Cleaning of logs - In every case prior to shipping we clean and if
conditions dictate apply an anti-mold mildewcide to the logs. Very importantly, we do not
sand the longitudinal natural surfaces of the logs, which later when a finish would
be applied would show every scratch of the sanding. Instead, we use an electric powered
nylon bristled brush which will only remove loose particles from the
logs leaving the all important character of the logs and hand peeling untouched, while
providing the logs with a satin smooth finish, free of splinters. During shipping we
protect the logs from road spray or salt, exhaust and dirt by tarping each load going
outside of our local area.
In short we want to supply and install every log work
component item so that no other sub-trade needs previous experience with logs or would be
required to alter the log work.
How Much Should I budget
for My New Log Home
