We have finally found a homestead site right in our own area of Pennsylvania (been looking for nearly a year).We find log homes very attractive, but have heard from several folks that they are not very good in the long run because of high maintenance required to keep out boring insects,etc.None of these people have ever owned a log home themselves, so we don't know what to believe.We checked out the websites of several log home manufacturers, but naturally, they do not have any negatives to offer. Our bank will finance a construction loan for a log home, the cost of the land is dirt cheap, there is already a well on site...We'd like to hear from folks who have had a log home to get the real facts...Good,bad, or whatever...Thanks !!!!

-- Lesley Chasko (martchas@gateway.net), January 22, 2000

Answers

We live in an old log home orig. 1820 and have much problems with not only insects but leaking when it rains to drafts. we used the weatherproofing items and are disappointed. we constantly have to work on replacing chinking and finding new cracks in the logs. we too loved the idea of living in a log home but are realistic about our choice to either live with the occasional inconveniences or side with another material. we are located on a ridge where it gets pretty windy at times. We have met a couple who are building a new log home but they aren't in yet so i can't tell you how that will be.we are in ohio and the weather here is below normal and our furnace is having a hard time keeping up with the bad weather.I found our home by accident when I inquired around the neighborhood.we took two old cabins to make a small home with a nice size loft.one was free if we dismantled it and removed it from the property in one weekend. Well thats another story in itself.good luck,hope this helps you.

-- David (nelson3@bright.net), January 22, 2000.

We live in a log home originally constructed in 1888, and my uncle has recently constructed a 2 story log home. I will start with ours--it is solid as a rock after 112 years but i do not believe it will see 2100. I worry about the wiring of log homes as most are bored and the wiring inserted with no conduit--my uncle was smart enough to install the conduit while building his.We are in the mountains of rural Virginia but are winters are short and fairly mild but I am still impressed that our home heats for 2 cords of wood per winter ( a mamma bear woodstove and a buck insert) due the job quite nicely ! My uncle's has an elaborate forced water and baseboard heating system and he burns about 4 cords but he heats almost 3000 square ft. I see some people are concerned about cracking--first---the wood will never crack all the way through--it splits too the heart and than stops and to me this is character not a flaw. Mine was built by a simple farm family and my uncle went to log home building school in Minn. Some idiot realtor covered ours with aluminum siding in the 60's--so I don't know about chinking but the new constuction techniques don't use it anyway(logs are milled to lock together) All I can say is we both love our log homes and I'd buy another or build if I had to. Bankers love them too and so does the tax man !!! The idea that " I just rearranged my trees " does not hold much legal wieght around the tax issue. I don't know how long the average home lasts but ours has seen 3 families, 112 years and 2 major remodeling projects and still stands strong and beautiful--Good luck and happy homesteading !

-- JOEL Rosen (Joel681@webtv.net), January 23, 2000.

My wife and I built a log home in 1984 and it is still sound today. Neighbors call to remark about a storm blowing outside and we had to look out the windows to confirm it. It is very well insulated and nearly sound proof.

Ours is a square log kit using 6" X 12" pine logs. It is 3,000 sq ft, 5 bed rooms and 3 full baths. We had one small problem with a bad log after about 10 years but it took only a couple of hours to fix the bad spot.

The home is located on 30 acres of woods and is a beautiful place to live. I expect it to last 100 years or more.

-- Cornelius A. Van Milligen (CAVM@AO.com), January 23, 2000.

I am a builder and have been involved in the construction of a log home. The only way i would recommend on is it it had a porch around the entire perimeter to keep rain off the logs; not only to prevent leaking but also rotting of the logs from rain splashing off the roof. Otherwise i think they are ok except for limitations on future additions of plumbing and electrical outlets, etc. I am speaking only of kits with tounge & groove logs that are glued together. I dont know about the old timey chinked logs

-- brian r (brian3006@msn.com), January 26, 2000.

I have lived in many different log homes and have generally positive things to say about them. I currently live in a stick built house but wish it were log.

My brother lives in a log home and plans to build a larger one for his expanding family.

Most of the log homes I have lived in are built the old way from local Alaskan white spruce. It has a tendency to twist as it dries and so needs to be chinked.

As a Realtor I have also sold many log homes. Any that aren't chinked with permachink or something similiar I always recommend to chink because any twist in the wood (even the kiln dried milled logs with double tongue and groove) will break the seal and allow air infiltration. In our climate any air infiltration is definetely felt when it is 30 below zero.

Go here for one of my favorite log houses. http://www.valleymarket.com/wickersham.html This one was located on 40 acres fronting the Matanuska River directly across from the huge Matanuska Glacier. This is a windy cold area in the winter and the double tongue and groove kiln dried logs were advertised as not needing to be chinked. They had a rubberized gasket between the double tongue and groove and huge bolts that held all the logs together top to bottom. The logs were shipped up from Montana I believe. Welllll....after one winter the owners had it permachinked inside and out. I talked to them later and they said that on cold below zero days when the wind was blowing they could just walk around the house and feel the leaks with their hands. They are perfectly happy with the home now.

-- marty van diest (martyv@alaska.net), January 31, 2001.

Don't do it! If you want to contact me at the above address I will give you a million nightmare reasons! If log homes are so wonderful why didn't people continue to live in them? They are leaky, drafty, high maintenance, and EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE!

-- (ceciliag@htonline.com), February 14, 2001.