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Selecting your log homes wood or log cabin wood includes these important log wood factors...The log wood you use is crucial! The log homes wood or log cabin wood selected is one of the most important decisions you will make. Not only is your log home appearance at stake, structural functions are performed by your logs as well. If your log homes wood is defective, your log home or log cabin will be defective. It's that simple.
Selecting the best log homes wood you can afford is a good idea, using logs that are durable and decay resistant. Your log story begins with the trees in the forest. Not just any tree can be used for log home or log cabin wood.
The best trees are large, straight, have very few knots, have straight grain and are free of spastain and decay. Quality log wood is not cheap.
Most good logs are an average diameter of more than 14"(35cm). Trees with diameters of less than 10" (25cm) are not suitable for log home or log cabin wood.
Companies that machine mill their logs utilize shorter logs ranging in length from 10 to 18 feet. This size is determined by the equipment available and by the trees available.
Log wood has a great deal of moisture content and will shrink substantially as it dries. Logs should be free of rot and have low moisture content. There are hundreds of log-building companies in North America that will sell you log homes wood, plans and kits to build your log home or log cabin. These materials may be pine, cedar, oak, fir, or spruce, for example.
Companies that sell log wood treat them the following way...Trees are usually killed by disease, insects, age, or fire. Wood shrinks as it dries, and the log wood dries at a uniform rate when it is still standing on the stump. The air can circulate on all sides of the tree, and the tree will dry and develop a season check.This season check tells you that the tree has thoroughly dried and is ready to be a candidate for log home or log cabin wood.
Using dead-standing trees has two advantages...• 1- the material will shrink very little after it is used in the log home. • 2- we are using our natural resources more wisely by building with material that would be wasted or be used for pulp.Another way commonly used to reduce the log homes wood moisture is stacking the logs and allowing them to naturally dry over a 6-8 month period. Another option is to dry the logs in very large ovens where the drying process can be controlled. This method will also kill bugs and insects that may be in the wood. Log homes wood or log cabin wood companies often peel or mill their logs. Peeled logs are trees that have had the bark and the outer sapwood removed. This home style can be built by any regular contractor or carpenter, because it uses more conventional materials and the interior can also be a mixture of log and conventional interior styles.
If you do not want to cut your own logs, order the log wood from a sawmill where they can cut or mill them into consistent sized logs. This can save you a lot of time and money. Get several bids from several log home builders for a complete house. Also, logs of consistent shape are easier to seal together, and the connections between the windows, doors, roof and foundation are easier to make. Sawmill log wood can be cut into several profiles to give you different effects you may want (example: D shaped log or round log look).
Very few manufacturers use tree-length logs - it is common for the logs to be from 10 to 18 feet in length, and as a result, the walls have visible butt joints where log pieces are joined end-to-end. Also, every log wood is pre-cut to the exact length needed, and each piece is labeled for its order of assembly. With some kits, the building contractor has to cut, notch and trim every single log wood.
This should be taken in consideration when building the walls, windows and doors of your dream log home or log cabin in the woods. The settling and shifting of the logs depend on the amount of moisture content of the log wood and the environment. Once the walls start shrinking and settling, this very much depends on the moisture content of the log wood or the weight and the structure of the walls that contain them. When the walls start shrinking and coming down, so does everything else in the house. A good and experienced building contractor should be able to anticipate all of this and work out all the settling details. Make sure that your log home kit manufacturer has accounted for shrinkage and settling of the log wood in the kit design.
Log wood related articlesLog home kits suppliers found in the Muir's Log Home Directory. Digital log wood home books to help avoid problems. Log home magazines for log homes wood and log cabin wood. Bathroom light fixtures to enhance your bathroom. Why do I need to use log home chinking in my log home?
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