Log Home Building - Choosing Your Logs

Dreaming of building a log home? One of the first considerations is whether you'll build with milled, hand-hewn, or scribed logs.

Milled Logs

In modern day, most log home builders and kit companies use milled logs. Advantages to using this type to build a log home, are fast delivery per order, near precision in joinery, and reduced overall costs.

A log that has been milled has been passed through a machine making all logs uniform in shape and diameter. Shapes vary. Dependant on your local mill or log home company, a milled log could be square, rectangular, round, or 'D' shape.

Milled logs are generally shorter in length. They are therefore easier to work with (with just a few people) and easier to stack when building.

Logs can be milled from a wide variety of tree species - cedar and pine being two of the most common. They are sometimes kiln-dried to create ideal moisture contents.

Hand Hewn Logs for Building

A hand hewn or crafted log is precisely what the name implies. Hand hewn log packages come with peeled and cut logs, made by hand, by craftsmen of the trade. These logs are often more expensive, slower to delivery time, but are used to recreate a look and feel of a pioneer or vintage home.

There are as many ways to peel and prepare a log as there are craftsmen and manufacturers. Logs left mostly round, then stacked upon each other further require chinking. Chinking is the process of filling in the 'cracks' between logs - a time intensive process that requires regular upkeep over the years.

Scribed Logs - Authenticity in A Log Home Build

A final method of building a log home is to use scribed logs. Although these logs are also hand crafted they do not require the chinking process. To 'scribe' a log is to take a scribe tool and trace the space where the two logs come in contact with each other once stacked. That area is then removed from each log with a saw.

Hand hewn and scribed logs are delivered and used at a tree's natural height/length. They may take longer to deliver and are certainly more expensive. Positive aspects of these logs are that they build more authentic looking period homes.

Personal Favorites - The Logs We Build With

In our family home we chose 6 x 10 rectangular, milled logs.

We made decisions based on available time, money, and skill required to build the log home. We were also adamant that the logs we used were locally grown. We also only had a few months to get our house built and needed to stay within a strict budget.

Final Consideration of All Logs: Moisture Content

No matter what type of log you choose to build with you will want to consider the moisture content of the logs. This is a point not to be missed as it may save you thousands of dollars of repair and restoration over the life of your home.

Moisture content and shrinkage is a serious consideration. Green, uncured trees are often well over 19% moisture. Optimum moisture content is 15% - 18%. Treating logs before using in building projects usually involves a kiln-dry or air-dry.

If you have selected hand crafted or hewn logs, ensure you are being supplied with either air-dry or standing-dead materials. Typical reasons for standing-dead trees are fire or insects - neither of which adversely affect the final outcome of your log home. A good log supplier will ensure that the inner moisture content and the structural integrity of a log is construction grade.

Air-dried have been cut and allowed to dry out to 15-19% before being sold.

Even scribed logs will shrink and bare large gaps in your walls and around your windows and doors. Chinking will be your only option should this happen.

Laura Childs is a country living author currently building a log home with her husband in rural Canada. Visit her site at http://www.loghometoday.com to learn more about building, buying and decorating a log home.

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