More Design Ideas for Log Cabins
March 15, 2008
Better Design for Maintenance
Over the life span of your home you will spend a lot of time and money on maintenance. You could save some of that now.
The greatest concern with log cabins is preserving the walls. The sun and rain is their enemy, causing them to dry out unevenly and too quickly, opening up areas for rot. Many sealers have been invented to protect your logs, with varying levels of success. Why not keep the sun and rain off the walls with a large overhang or a wrap around porch? Sure it costs more money, but think of the time and money saved in sealing the logs. Besides, if you want to spend the extra money to build with logs, why not protect your investment?
Another idea to reduce log maintenance is to use square logs with dovetail corners. This design has much less log overhang, offering better protection for the corners. Also the top surfaces of the log overhangs are sloped which naturally sheds rainwater off the logs quickly. A tongue and groove D log with bypass corners can collect moisture on the top surface of each log that sticks out. This is often the first location of serious log problems.
Decks are also very popular with log homes. For the protection of your decking and floor joists, I recommend a roof over all of your decks. Recently in Atlanta two decks collapsed on the same day, causing injury. One of these decks had deteriorated. A roof could have prevented that. Sure a roof costs more, but so does having to rebuild the deck every five years or so.
Many log cabin kits boast of extremely high windows to celebrate a beautiful view. Question: How will they be cleaned? After a while your windows will be featuring a wide opened view of a prolific spider colony. So, while designing your home, think about how the windows will be cleaned inside and out. Casement windows are more expensive, but they are the easiest to clean. You can clean both sides from inside. Some double hung windows are designed to be able to clean both sides from the inside, but they are not quite as convenient as casement windows. Casement windows are much better for ventilation too. If you use high plate glass, make sure a ladder can be easily placed under each pane inside and out.
