Home & GardenLog Home vs Stick Built

Considering buying or building a log cabin home? Log home living isn't for everyone. How many of these top 30 reasons to live in a log home appeal to you?

Dream of living in a log home? There are lots of reasons that old log homes can be a joy to live in, but they can also be the source of frustration & headaches.

Yes, log homes are actually safer against fires than traditional stick-frame homes. See why...

Is it really possible to build your very own log cabin in just 11 steps?! Maybe....

It's a fact, log home insurance is typically 20% more than insurance for the same size non-log home. Worse yet, many insurance companies charging a 25% to 50% surcharge for a log home. Here's our experience getting log home insurance, plus a number of log home insurance tips to help you get started.

Whether you want to build an entire home that looks like a log cabin --on the inside -- or you just want to decorate one specific room in log cabin decor, interior log siding is the answer! When used INSIDE a home, the terms 'log siding', 'log paneling' and 'tongue & groove wood' are often used interchangeably. Log siding tends to be raised and rounded -- like a log... or a half log -- whereas log paneling tends to be flat and narrow -- like a plank of wood found at the lumber yard. When used inside a home, they are both applied using the tongue & groove method... generally speaking

With hurricane season upon us -- June 1 through November 30 -- I thought it might be worthwhile to see how well log homes fare under typical hurricane conditions. You'll also find some excellent tips here if you are currently building a log home and you want it to be able to withstand hurricane force winds!

This article from the National Association of Home Builders gives you an idea of the sheer volume of building materials that are used when building a single-family home.

Have you given any thought to just how long those things that you're installing are going to last? I have. Recently the National Association of Home Builders -- NAHB -- shed some light on the life expectancy of common components inside a home. Have a look...

Who are log home owners? What are their ages? What do they like? When it comes to log home trends, there are a number of things we can say about log home owners, in general.

Here's a growing list of the reasons that I look forward to moving OUT of a 'traditional home' in a 'traditional subdivision' and INTO a non-traditional home -- a log home -- in a non-traditional setting -- on a lake.

Here are some garage tips that might come in handy when designing your garage bays, choosing your garage doors & openers, and laying out the storage space in your new home -- both inside and outside. One thing's for sure: You want to be able to accommodate your families growing needs. By including adequate space in your new garage, you could alleviate a lot of headaches later!

Reasons to use an electric blanket... plus the best electric blankets to choose from.

Here's a little about our experiences building homes up til now... two traditional stick-built homes, and one log home.

Well, I guess we took too much time to do our homework... the log home sold. That 'cute little cabin in the woods' was not meant to be ours.

Our excitement for one house in particular, and how we were preparing to make an offer...

While we were out looking at Smokey Joe's Cabin (again), we ran into the builder/neighbor (again). This time, he invited us to come inside to see what a larger (and more custom-built) log home looks like. Heck yeah! Here's what it was like...

Here's what we've learned so far about that 'cute little cabin in the woods'...