hello, i am moving to upstate new york and want to build either a log home(hand cut logs) or a cordwood house! my aunt has a long home in the adirondacks(7.5" logs) and cant keep the home warm in winter with 2 woodstoves(its only a 950 sq. ft home)!She says you need at least 9" logs in upstate new york!!I prefer a log home but would build a cordwood if it is the better choice(i know cordwood is labor intensive!). Does anyone have any experience in upstate NY with either type of home?I would greatly appreciate any advice on either!!Thank You!!

-- ken steck (kenns1@hotmail.com), October 03, 2001

Answers

Although I don't live in a log home, my dad was a home builder and my husband is a handyman (subcontractor) and I feel there most be some other reason you're aunt keep her home warm in winter...with two wood stoves going and it that small it should be warm....

Whatever you use make sure you chink it well with something permanent or semi-permanent...

Jackie Clay has had a good three part series on building log homes in BACKWOODS HOME magazine. Their web site is www.backwoodshome.com but I love the print editions best! If you can get your hands on that three part series I think it will answer a lot of your questions!!!!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 03, 2001.

Wood is a thermal conductor and a rather poor heat insulator. In a traditional stick frame house, the studs actually conduct heat. No experience with log homes, but would assume they are extremely inneficient to heat. The easiest solution is more/larger sources of heat. More complex solutions would be a log shell with stick frame (or perhaps Insulated Panel) interior. Structural Insulated Panels for the floors/roof would probably make sense regardless of the walls.

-- Dawg (Dawg@not.com), October 03, 2001.

I would suggest you build a frame home and then put siding on it that looks like logs. You can use insulation, windows, doors and a place to run your wiring. I was going to build a log home until I talked to a few people that did. they was all having problems with air leaks after the logs dried some and srank so the windows and doors didn't fit anymore. I built mine myself and the outside walls are 11" thick. It is very easy to heat and quiet.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), October 03, 2001.

We live in downeast Maine and built a log home 11 yrs. ago. The walls are 8" x 6" logs with 3" insulation between each log. We have only had to recaulk the outside of the logs once in the 11 yrs. we've lived here. This home is a 24x40 two story gambrel roof home heated ENTIRELY with a 1920 wood cookstove. We usually burn 6 to 8 cord of wood per winter...which could be considerably less if we installed a more efficient heat source! The logs hold heat very efficiently during the winter and during the summer act as a nice type of natural "air conditioning" as the inside temps stay about 20 degrees cooler than outside. We highly recommend a log home!! Don't have to hunt for a stud to hang pictures either :-)!!

-- Marcia (HrMr@webtv.net), October 03, 2001.

We're just west of Montreal, Quebec, so, like the folks from Maine, we qualify for the cold climate criteria! In 1991 we moved into a 20'x25' log house. It was built in 1830 and has 8" hand-hewn walls of cedar, hemlock, pine mostly. In 1995 we added on a 24'x26' log house that was originally built in 1840. It has 5" walls, hand-hewn and sawmill mix. Both houses have an upstairs, so altogether we have just over 2000 sq. ft. of space. We have a good quality woodstove in each log house (they're joined together by a passageway and stairwell). Last winter was our first attempt at heating exclusively with wood -- we shut off the oil furnace and removed its chimney so we wouldn't "cheat". We used about 8-9 cords per stove, and at least half of that was wood of questionable quality. We didn't suffer in the least! Sometimes we had to open the upstairs windows before we went to bed because it was too warm to sleep! Sure, when the nights dropped below -10C (14F) we had to set the alarm for the middle of the night to add wood, but that was the only adjustment we had to make. Our logs, being so old, have settled all they're going to settle, so we don't have any problem with excessive cracking. On the "newer" log home we used an environmentally-friendly acrylic chinking (Perma-Chink) that, if applied correctly, should never crack since it flexes with the wood. It looks great too. If you do a good job of sealing all the cracks there's no problem heating a log home -- we find it actually retains the heat longer than a plaster/stud walled room, and stays cool in the summer. And, yes, great for hanging pictures, too! No regrets.

-- Debbie and Paul Harman (serendip@rocler.qc.ca), October 03, 2001.

Log homes are extremely energy efficient, as long as you have the proper R value for your roof and adequate window treatments. We have lived in them both in the U.P. of Mich. and here in Ky. We heated our entire home, with a Vermont Casting woodstove in both places. Here in Ky. our home stays cool during the hot summers here. Your aunt must have poor R value in her roof and possibly poor windows. Just do your research. Jean

-- jean from Ky. (dandrea@duo-county.com), October 03, 2001.

KEN....LOG HOMES/CORDWOOD HOMES ARE VERY ENERGY EFFICIENT IF BUILT RIGHT.THE LOGS AND MORTAR WORK AS A THERMAL MASS AND HOLD HEAT THEN RELEASE WHEN THE TEMPERATURE DROPS. LOG HOMES MEET THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENT FOR WALL INSULATION.MY FORMER PARTNER IN A LOG BUILDING SCHOOL STAYED IN ONE IN COLD WEATHER. HE LEFT FOR SEVERAL DAYS AND RETURNED AND FOUND THE BUILDING STILL WARM ON HIS RETURN WITH OUT ANY HEAT SOURCE. I THINK DAWG IS BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE ABOUT LOG HOMES.WOOD ACTUALLY IS A GOOD INSULATOR.I JUST SAW A REPORT ABOUT THE R-VALUES OF WOOD.THERE IS A PAGE ON THE NET THAT SUGGESTS THAT SOME SOFTWOODS HAVE AN R=3.85 PER INCH.THESE FIGURES WERE PROVIDED AND ACCEPTED BY A NATIONAL HOME BUILDERS ASSOCIATION AND HUD.[OLD ENGINEERING BOOKS USUALLY SAY THAT SOFTWOOD USUALLY HAS ABOUT AN R=1.25/R=1.5 PER INCH. CORDWOOD ON THE OTHER HAND CAN HAVE R-VALUES OVER 100 FOR 24" WALLS.YOU SAY CORDWOOD IS LABOUR INTENSIVE.WELL YOU CAN BUILD CORDWOOD BY YOURSELF.BUT NOT LOG BUILDING.LOG BUILDING IS ABOUT AS LABOUR INTENSIVE.BUT IN CORDWOOD YOU LIFT 10-15 LB LOGS.WHICH IS LESS LABOUR INTENSIVE THAN TRYING TO LIFT 900-2000 LB LOGS. MELS FRIENDS WEREN`T KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT LOG BUILDING.AN 8'6" WALL WILL SETTLE 6".THIS SHRINKAGE CRUSHES THE DOOR AND WINDOW FRAMES.BUT A TRAINED LOG BUILDER LEAVES GAPS OVER THE WINDOWS AND DOORS TO ALLOW FOR THIS.ALSO IF YOU HAD ANY UPRIGHT LOG POSTS WHEN THE WALL SETTLED YOUR ROOF WOULD BE PUSHED UPWARDS.SOME LOGS HAVE A SPIRAL GRAIN WHICH A LOG BUILDER CAN TOUCH AND IDENTIFY.THE UNTRAINED BUILDER WOULD USE THIS IN A WALL UNKNOWINGLY.THEN WHEN IT DRIES IT MIGHT POP RIGHT OUT OF THE WALL. ALL SYSTEMS HAVE THEIR INHERENT FAULTS.ITS UP TO THE NEW BUILDER TO RESEARCH AND TRAIN BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO BUILD.THE ONLY WAY TO GET PROFESSIONAL RESULTS IS TO GET PROFESSIONAL TRAINING.LOG HOMES AND CORDWOOD HOMES ARE DOING VERY NICE IN COLD CLIMATES.SOME CORDWOOD HOMES I KNOW OF SOMETIMES GO A DAY OR SO WITH OUT THE HEAT COMING ON IN THE WINTER. SINCE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT NY STATE.CHECK WITH ROB ROY A NOTED CORDWOOD AUTHOR AND CORDWOOD EXPERT. robandjaki@yahoo.com OR PHONE 518-493-7744 HE HAS SEVERAL WORKSHOPS AND FORMER STUDENTS HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU TAKE THE WEEK LONG COURSE.HE WILL GET YOU GOING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.TELL HIM CORDWOODGUY REFERED YOU. FEEL FREE TO DROP BY MY BOARD AND CHECK OUT MY CORDWOOD NEWBEE PAGE UNDER THE BOOKMARKS TO SET YOU STRAIGHT ABOUT CORDWOOD BASICS. I HAVE 35 YEARS EXPERIENCE WITH LOG BUILDING AND 27 WITH CORDWOOD. MY BOARD IS THE ONLY ONE MODERATED BY SOMEONE WITH OVER A YEARS EXPERIENCE.SO ITS A GREAT PLACE TO START.PRESENTLY THERE ARE OVER 280 MEMBERS ON THE BOARD AND ITS NOT A YEAR OLD YET.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cordwood

ALSO RESEARCH TITLES UNDER STACKWALL AND CORDWOOD IN YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY.ALSO SEARCH UNDER THE AUTHORS NAMES AS WELL.. ROB ROY JACK HENSTRIDGE RICHARD FLATAU CLIFF SHOCKEY ELLIS LAKE DR.KRIS J DICK A.M.LANSDOWN A.B.STARLING GREG KORTMAN FRANCOIS TANGUAY TONY WRENCH UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA PUT OUT A BOOK AS WELL

CORDially YOURS CORDWOODGUY PS:GOOD LUCK IN YOUR ENDEVORS AND IF I CAN BE ANY FURTHER HELP PLEASE CONTACT ME. FOR LOG BUILDING I RECOMMEND THE B.ALAN MACKIE SCHOOL OF LOG BUILDING IN BC.,CANADA.[THERE IS A WILLIAM LASKO SCHOOL OF LOG BUILDING BUT I DON`T KNOW HIS WORK]

-- CORDWOODGUY (cordwoodguy@n2teaching.com), October 04, 2001.

My experience with log home is the one I helped my neighbor build. He cut the trees and placed them himself but always had to have hired help oon hand. I wired it and it was a bear. As for energy efficency, log are fair insulation but stopping the wind through the drafts. I live in Minnesota so know about cold. There isn't a house built above ground that can begin to be as warm in winter and cool in summer as my earth sheltered house. We use about 3 cords of wood a year to heat 1500 square feet. The most logical construction for energy conservation in the extreme north or extreme south is a house buried on the non-south sides.

-- kirby johnson (kirbyj@deskmedia.com), October 05, 2001.