Thinking Of Using A Standard Floorplan That Already Exists?

Rarely is a standard floorplan ever adhered to detail-for-detail across the board.

Instead, a standard floor plan is used more as a guide -- a starting point -- than as an instruction manual.

Sure, if you don't want to put much thought into it, then you can just go with a standard floor plan that someone has used before and be done with it. But why would you want to?

Just because it's a standard floorplan doesn't mean that you can't make changes here & there. You should at least look for areas that you might want to fine-tune in order to better suit your needs.

Think about it... no two log homes are entirely alike. Why would you want to settle for a home that doesn't have something about it that's uniquely you?

Click to view Log Home Plans

Looking For Log Home Floor Plans?
Try these...

Order Home Plans -- a handful of unique log home plans

Design Connection Home Log Home Plans -- 15 pages just for log homes

Log Home Plans Online -- nearly 400 log home plans from the top log home companies

House Plans And More -- 19 pages of log home floorplans

Architectural Designs -- 18 pages of log home floor plans (this is where we found the floor plan that we used to customize our log home)

UPDATE 10/20/07: Log Home Living's 2008 Annual Buyer's Guide included an article called "Standard Interpretation: Expert Tips From A Log Home Designer On How To Turn A Standard Floorplan Into A Custom Job". Here are some of the easy plan modifications they mentioned:

• Make 2 bedrooms into one big suite.


• Add on an addition, such as a utility room.


• Incorporate shed dormers to the 2nd floor for more square footage at a minimal cost.


• Add an attached garage or a separate garage attached with a breezeway. ("Save money with stud-framed walls faced with log siding.")


• Create space for a media room (in the basement or a separate wing of the house).


• Strip down a formal dining room to be part of the living room & kitchen.


• Beef up the small master suite, which is common on stock plans.


• Use cedar shakes or board-and-batten around dormers or in gables.


• Have logs butt into a post that's faced with manufactured stone.


• Modify window & door shapes and sizes.


• Add a course or two of extra logs to make the house feel taller. (Tall & narrow windows would enhance the effect.)


• By incorporating porches and decks, you will change the look and extend your living space.

A good rule of thumb is, if you're going to increase overall size, make the house longer, but avoid changes in width. 'You can make the house longer by 8 feet and, structurally, you won't affect too much,' Dave [Joiner, a designer with Barna Log Homes] says. But if you start making rafters longer to make the house wider, you get into a situation where you may have to re-engineer the rafters."