There are a number of factors which can ultimately increase (or decrease) the costs associated with building a new home. Many of those are things that you, personally, can choose to include (or not include) when designing and constructing your new log home. Here are some things to keep in mind that will ultimately affect the cost to build a log home... Square or rectangular homes are less expensive to build than irregularly shaped homes, or rooms with lots of angles and areas … [Read more...]
If We Could Build Our Log Home Over Again… Some Things We Would Do Differently
It was quite a journey and learning process to having our log home become a reality. Now that we are living our log home dream, I have had time to reflect on what we would have done differently. Make no mistake, we love our log home and believe we did more things right than wrong. But you can always fine tune something – whether it was with the design, something we should’ve added, extra costs that we incurred or something we should’ve splurged on in … [Read more...]
How We Chose A Log Staircase For Our Log Cabin
In my opinion, one of the best showcase items for your log home is the log staircase. In fact, I think it's a “must have”.When we went to visit Hiawatha Log Homes in Munising, Michigan, we were struck by the log staircase they had in their model log home. It was comprised of half logs for steps and fit perfectly into the home's layout. I fell in love with it and had to have it. We set out to get one just like it. So we researched the cost, and compared the … [Read more...]
How To Make Basement Columns, Support Poles And Pillars In Your House Look Like Real Trees
Missy M wrote in recently: I am remodeling bsmnt I have 2 poles that can't b moved I saw on tv, make the poles look like real trees....they never said how or where they bought the materials Can u help, suggestions? This is the perfect thing to do in a log home basement! I actually think people are doing this more and more in stick-built homes as well these days. … [Read more...]
Pictures Of Rustic Columns & Poles Inside Log Homes …Some Are Real Trees!
If log homes are your thing and 'rustic' is your game, then you're going to love these pictures of real tree accents and the use of rustic looking logs (or heavy timber) inside a log home. … [Read more...]
Why We Decided Against Composite Decking For Our Log Home
People have been asking if we made a decision yet about using composite decking on our new log home. Here are some of the questions we've received from Jim, from Jeffrey, and from Ron. Well, we've actually decided against composite decking at this time. Here's why... … [Read more...]
See How We Incorporated The Craftsman / Arts & Crafts Style Into Our Log Home Bungalow
A Craftsman style log home?... Yep, our "bungalow" will be of the Arts & Crafts variety. Much like the very first Craftsman-style log home built back in 1918. Arts & Crafts was an artistic and philosophical movement that began in 19th century Britain. Craftsman refers to a specific style of early 20th century American architecture that was part of the Arts & Crafts Movement. So Craftsman is actually a subset of Arts & Crafts." Source … [Read more...]
Some Interesting Things About Composite Decks
What follows are some of the most interesting things I've learned about composite decks, along with some of the questions I still have about composite decking materials. Most of my initial questions have been answered by TimberTech reps here and MoistureShield reps here. Onto the trivial facts about composite decks... … [Read more...]
More About TimberTech’s Composite Decks And Patios
I have met with reps from TimberTech several times now. And they've been wonderful at answering my many questions. I still have a few more... as you can see below. At this point, I'm leaning heavily toward TimberTech as my composite deck company of choice. (Though I have to say... MoistureShield is a very close second.) Specifically, I am most intrigued by the Earthwood line, due to its realistic "wood" colors and the degree to which it looks natural even after weathering. … [Read more...]
MoistureShield vs ChoiceDek vs TimberTech Composite Decks
I have thoroughly studied 2 different composite decking manufacturers at this point: Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies (AERT) -- maker of ChoiceDek and MoistureShield composite decking Crane Plastics -- maker of TimberTech composite decking This, as part of my quest to determine whether composite decks make sense or not for our new log home. What follows are the biggest differences between ChoiceDek (also sold as MoistureShield) and Timber Tech. Those are the brands I … [Read more...]
