Overview & History of Log Construction
Log “cabins” have a strong association with rustic and rural North America, but historically log construction has its roots in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. Over generations, European builders perfected skills and shared knowledge that culminated in remarkable edifices such as the stave churches of Norway.
The abundance of timer in the New World made log construction a logical choice for settlers. The log building skills taught today by only a handful of dedicated masters are remembered as requisite life-skills needed to make it in what would become America. Some of the finest of these early buildings are located in the East and many show the masterful level of skills and craftsmanship, which found its way across the continent. As the building technique migrated westward with the restless pioneers, log construction became more rudimentary, and log structures were often viewed as temporary buildings that would provide shelter until the “real” house could be built. By the early 1900’s, a great deal of knowledge and skill had been lost.
In the 1960’s, a resurgence of interest developed. Almost simultaneously, pockets of independent activity began throughout the continent, but the renaissance of log building was probably best expressed through the B. Allan Mackie School of Log Building in Prince George, BC. The Lasko School of Log Building would be one of the results of B. Allan Mackie’s efforts to further the craft of building with logs starting in 1991.
Log construction has come a long way since then. In 1980 the Great Lakes Logcrafters Association was born and held it’s first annual meeting. By working together to develop techniques and share knowledge, handcrafted log construction has evolved into a sophisticated, highly technical skill.
When thinking of building a log home, there are many considerations to look at, including the style or technique of log construction, design and plans, the character of the land and surrounding environment, contractors and work-flow and of course, budget. This guide is intended to help you do that.
A.
Log Home Construction Styles
The type of log building that best illustrates the craft of the log builder is Scandinavian scribe-fit construction. Here, naturally round horizontal logs are scribed along lateral joints so that the top log fits tightly to the log below. This type of log building commonly uses green wood about 12” to 14” in diameter.
Another option is the chinked building; round or squared logs with open lateral joints, which are sealed with modern synthetic flexible chinking rather than the mortar of cement and/or straw of yesteryear. Recently, there has been a trend toward log post and beam construction. Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works offer this as an alternative to horizontal log work, or will integrate post and beam components into the conventional log home. Log post and bean construction typically uses large diameter wood for vertical posts, (round or squared) which support horizontal beams. Techniques can vary from simple to very complex timber frame joinery.
B.Designing and Planning a Log Home
There are several routes to producing working plans for your log home. Many people sketch or self-draft their ideas before taking them to us, designer/drafter, or architect. Some prefer to choose from existing plans. We’ve found most people have a very strong idea of what they want.
When designing your log home, consider your lifestyle, the future you are planning and the site on which the home will be built. The land has as much to say about the house as you do; a home that works well on a flat meadow may not work well on a steep slope. Plans are best developed after land is acquired.
Very few hand crafted log builders build directly from generic floor plans, and even plans prepared by an architect or designer may require input or changes by the log builder. Enjoy the design process; changes on paper are relatively inexpensive. Collecting a scrapbook of photos, clippings, and ideas can be very helpful to you and your designer. Make a list of rooms you require and their approximate sizes, and then enjoy the process.
Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works offers in-house design services where we work directly with you and then outsource the actual drawing of your plans with qualified designers or architects, or, we can put you directly in touch with some very good designers. If you work with an architect or designer before selecting the log builder, you will save a great deal of time and money by selecting a person who has experience in designing log homes and has already established a working relationship with log builders. Designers of “stick” framed homes do not know where to begin in designing with logs!
C. PREPARATION FOR AND FINISHING A LOG HOME
Typically a shell is crafted at Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works work site then taken apart and trucked to the customer’s land. Usually, a log shell includes all log work, as well as all the connectors and materials pertaining to log work. It often includes the roof system, it is drilled for electrical work and has door and window openings cut out. Price may include reassembly on the building site and supervisors/workers as agreed between customer and Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works at the time of contract signing. We can also provide log stairs and railings.
During the construction process, Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works will communicate as necessary with the customer’s general contractor regarding foundation work and preparation for the log shell. It is important to find a contractor who understands or is willing to learn about the unique issues of finishing a log home. Many owners act as their own general contractors and/or contribute their own skills and ‘sweat equity’ in finishing a home. There can be cost savings and considerable satisfaction in being a part of the building process, but it is critical that one have both the time and experience to organize the sub-trades and keep the work flowing. (Consider where your time and earning power will be most effective).
D. Budget
There are three elements that govern a project; budget, level of quality, and size of the building. Choosing any two of the above will determine the third. Finished log homes can cost from 25 % to 100% more per square foot than conventionally framed homes with the same design, depending on tastes and over all design. Smaller more conservative designs can be very competitive with conventional stick framed homes in the same size range. This is partly because the nature of a log home dictates a higher caliber of finish material and partly because of the log and labor costs. Complexity of design and roof system factor into the overall cost also. If maximum cost is an issue, and it ought to be, perhaps consider building a smaller structure that is a more carefully designed and crafted structure. To establish a working budget that has itemized all the materials and services required to determine the cost of your dream, then make sure to add in a 5-10% contingency. Be realistic when considering the finances. Broken dreams are often the result of poor planning and wishful thinking. Remember that constraints sometimes open the door to creative solutions. Your log builder is a small businessman too and how issues are solved or even resolved throughout the entire process is important to the quality of everyone’s experience. Try to always give the builder a chance to address questions and or issues that may arise.
Different types of log work can affect the cost or cost distribution of a project. Fully scribed log work is more expensive then chinked system log work, but the cost of chinking the building will make the cost comparable. Simple log post and beam costs substantially less for the log work, but infill materials bring the price back up.
Following are some questions you may find helpful once you have made the decision to begin the design and planning for your Log home and making budgets
Kitchen
1.What times of the day and to what extent do you use the kitchen?
2.How many people should be able to use the kitchen at the same time?
3.Will the kitchen be used for eating as well as food preparation?
4.What appliances are necessary?
5.Are there particular appliances/fixtures that suit you best?
6.Do you want to be able to look out the windows while working in the kitchen area?
7.Do you like a bright or sunlit kitchen?
8.Is it important to have an exhaust fan in the kitchen?
9.How do you prefer to deal with waste, garbage, and recycling?
10.Where and how would you like to store your food?
11.Where and how much cupboard or drawer space do you require?
12.Do you like pots and pans, dishes, utensils and food to be visible or hidden?
13.Would you use timbers to hang pots and pans?
14.What non-food items do you store in the kitchen?
15.What other items, (desk, TV, fireplace, etc.) would you like in the kitchen?
16.Should the kitchen be separate from the rest of the house or linked to the other areas?
Dining Area
1.Do you need a separate dining room?
2.Is the dining area a single or multipurpose area?
3.How many people should the dining room accommodate?
4.Is natural or artificial light, or both, appropriate?
5. What is the best way to get food and dishes to and from the dining area?
Living Room
1.How do you want the living area to feel?
2.Should it be separate or integrated into the other living areas?
3.What activities go on in the living room?
4.How many people should it accommodate?
5.Should it have doors and partitions?
6.Should it be bright during the day?
7.What sort of artificial light is compatible with your image of the living room?
8.Is a fireplace desirable?
9.List any equipment that should be in the living area (stereo, books, video, etc.)
10.How many phones and TV’s do you need?
Miscellaneous
1.What should the predominant feeling of the house be? Rustic, formal, elegant, etc.….
2.How would you describe the style that makes you feel most comfortable? Modern, colonial, contemporary, etc.
3.What are the attributions of a log house that would help achieve the above requirements?
4.What other rooms or activity areas are necessary? Study, playroom, shop, darkroom, shop, etc.
5.What guest accommodations are required?
6.Is additional storage space needed?
7.How much interaction between the indoors and the outdoors is desirable?
8.Do you see the exterior landscape as formal, casual or natural?
9.Do you like traditional spaces? Porches, decks, etc.
10.What requirements do you have for outdoor activities and accessory buildings? (pool, tennis, gardens, horse, basketball, etc.)
11.What is your attitude toward dirt? Where do you mind it and where is it okay? How do you clean up and how often?
12.How many vehicles do you have and how do they fit into your life?
13.Do you have pets?
14.Plants? How many? Special requirements?
15.What sort of textures do you like?
16.What sort of colors do you like?
17.List the things you can’t do in your present living space that you would like to do in your new log home.
Any Special Notes
…or accommodations that need to be considered;
Wheelchair clearances, sight impaired assistance, or any special equipment needed to make the living environment acceptable (17” handicap bathroom facilities with rails, wheelchair height kitchen workstations, Braille imprints at each doorway and at light switches, in-law quarters)
Glossary of Log Building Terms
“So that even the 'average-bear" could feel comfy around their burly log builder.”
·Anchor Bolt: A steel bolt, which is embedded in the concrete foundation of a structure and used to anchor the sill plate.
·Angle Brace: Any timber bracing a corner at an angle across the corner. Also called a knee brace.
·Angle Iron: An L shaped length of steel frequently used to support masonry over a window or door opening.
·Base Course: The first or bottom course of masonry blocks or logs in a wall. (sill logs).
·Beam: A main horizontal member used to support vertical loads.
·Bearing Wall: a wall supporting a vertical load.
·Bird’s Mouth (Cut): A V shaped notch cut into the base of a rafter that allows the rafter to sit flat on the wall or the plate.
·Blue Stain: A blue or gray discoloration in sapwood caused by mildew infection.
·Buck: A vertical board fastened to the ends of log sections at the window or door openings to secure them in place and to which the window or doorjamb is fastened.
·Butt Joint: A joint made by fastening two logs together without overlap. The two members are square cut and joined at the flat surface.
·Cambium Layer: A formation of cellular tissue, which lies between the wood and the bark of a tree. When this is left intact and the bark is removed, it will dry to a shiny dark finish.
·Cantilever: A structural member supported on one end but extended beyond its support to the other end.
·Cat Face: An indentation of the surface of a tree, usually caused by injury at some earlier date and the tree healed itself.
·
Caulking: Material used to seal the joints between logs or between windows and walks, doors and walls, etc.
·Checking: A surface crack in a log caused by normal drying.
·Severe Checking: One or two large cracks, generally, very deep into the log and running great distances down the log, caused by drying too fast.
·Chinked Structure: A building designed to use chinking material between the lateral lengths of the log work.
·Chinking: Either the material or the process by which the gaps between logs are filled.
·Collar Tie/Collar Beam: A horizontal timber, which ties two opposite pairs of rafters together near the middle to reduce sagging or spreading.
·Cope: A notch in a log, which is cut and rounded to fit over another log.
·Corbel: A short horizontal timber supporting a girder.
·Countersink: To cause the head of a bolt or spike to be below the surface of the wood into which it is embedded.
·Course of Logs: One layer of logs around the house perimeter.
·Cove: A shallow, round shaped groove cut into the underside of a log.
·Crown Post: A central vertical post, which connects the collar tie to the bent plate.
·Dead Load: Weight that a structural member is supporting by the weight of the structure. Does not include snow, wind, furniture, people, cars, etc.
·Diagonal: Reaching from corner to opposite corner at an angle.
·Dormer: A window or a smaller roofed area protruding from a sloping roof.
·Dowel: Wooden peg used to hold two pieces of wood together.
·Eave: The lower or bottom edge of a roof which projects beyond the face of the walls.
·Eave Soffit: The underside of the eave.
·Expansion Joint: A joint that permits expansion without doing damage to the structure.
·Fascia: The trim board that usually covers the exposed ends of rafters or overhang.
·Flashing: Weatherproof stripping used to seal joints between masonry and wood framing or log work, masonry and roofing.
·Floor Joists: The heavy beams that support the flooring.
·Framing: The network of lumber in a building that will be covered by finish material.
·Gable: The triangular portion at the top of a wall enclosed by the roof at the ends of the house.
·Gable ends: The wall in a house which as a gable roof.
·Gable roof: A sloping roof which forms an ‘A’ shape.
·Gambrel Roof: A roof with on slope steeper than the other.
·Girder: A horizontal structural member that supports joists.
·Girt: A major horizontal timber that connects posts.
·Grain: Direction of cellular arrangement in wood.
·Half-Lap: A type of joint that two timbers are lapped or let into one another.
·Header: Horizontal members between vertical posts which add support.
·Heart Wood: The wood in a tree that extends from the middle of the trunk outward toward the sapwood.
·Hip: The sloping ridge of a roof formed by two intersecting roof slopes.
·Hip-Rafter: The rafter, which forms the hip of a roof.
·I-Beam: A steel beam with a cross section which make it resemble the letter I.
·Jack Rafter: A short rafter that extends from the roof ridge to a valley rafter or from the wall plate to a hip rafter.
·Joinery: Connecting timbers by means of woodworking joints.
·Joint: Any place where two or more timbers meet.
·Joists: Horizontal, parallel timbers used to support the floor, ceiling, or roof.
·Joist Hanger: A metal support for the ends of the joists.
·Kerf: The groove left in a piece of wood by a saw cut.
·King Post: A vertical support that transfers weight from the ridge beam to the end walls or the joists.
·Knee Brace: A small timber that is framed diagonally between a post and beam.
·Lag Screw: A heavy screw for wood with a bolt head.
·Lateral Groove: A longitudinal groove cut into the underside of a log enabling that log to fit over the top of another log.
·Load Bearing: Carrying the weight of a structure.
·Loft: The second floor in a home where the roof forms both it’s ceiling and walls, usually associated with houses possessing a cathedral ceiling.
·Mortise: A square or rectangular slot cut into a log, timber, or board into which another member, usually called a tenon, will fit.
·Mortise and Tenon Joint: A joint in which a projection (tenon) of one timber is inserted into a slot (mortise) of another timber.
·Moisture Content: Percentage by weight of water in wood.
·Newel: The bottom post that a stair rail is attached. Also post supporting sections of railings.
·Notch: A recess cut into a log to accept another log intersecting it at an angle.
·Blind Notching: A notch that does not extend completely through the log.
·Boxed Lapped Notch: A notch cut squarely into part of each timber.
·Dovetail Notch: Log ends cut into a fan appearance resembling a dove’s spread tail.
·Half Dovetail Notch: Log end where one side only is sloped.
·Mitered Lapped Notch: a 45 degree slope on the sides of a square notch.
·Round Notch: the profile of the log exhibits the shape of a partial circle on the underside.
·Round Sheep’s Head Notch: sloped sides partially cut out on each log.
·
Square Notch: the appearance of a round notch on the exterior but inside has a square interlocking lap.
·Notching: The art of cutting a notch into logs.
·Outrigger Beam: Log that sits atop cantilevered logs on the eave walls and is parallel to and extends out beyond the plate logs. It is to this beam that the roof framing is attached.
·Overhang: That part of the roof that extends beyond the outside of the wall.
·Peg: A wooden dowel of oak, locust or other woods.
·Piece-en-piece: A style of building that vertical support posts form the main structure of a home with short lengths of logs forming the wall panels in sections between the posts.
·Pitch: The slope or angle of a roof. Also the hardened sap of a coniferous tree.
·Plate-Log: The log at the top of the wall that supports the roof.
·Post and Beam: A style of building that uses vertical posts supporting horizontal members and beams.
·Purlins: A roof support logs reaching from end to end of the structure and placed in line between plate log and the ridgepole. Usually, it is used to support rafters.
·Rafter: A structural member, usually dimensional lumber that supports a roof.
·Rafter Truss: A triangle of two rafters and a horizontal brace. Several of these make up a roof sub- structure.
·Ridge Beam: A horizontal timber at the peak of a roof what rafters are attached. Also called a ridge board, ridge piece, or ridgepole.
·Roof Pitch: Inches of rise per 12: of roof run.
·Roof Truss: A network of structural members that form a rigid support of the roof.
·Round of Logs: One layer of logs around the entire perimeter of the house.
·Saddle: The Lower cut in a notch and saddle joint. The log is cut on an angle on each side so that the surface almost comes to a point at the top of the log.
·Sapwood: The outer layer of wood in a tree that is nearest to the bark.
·Scarfed: A cut at a long angle in the direction of the timber.
·Scribe: The process of cutting one log to match the contours of another for a tight log-to-log fit.
·Scribe-Fit: A building featuring tight log-to-log joinery.
·Screw Jack: A device, which may be adjusted to allow for the settlement in log walls.
·Settling: Loss of wall height by shrinkage and compression.
·Shed Roof: A sloping roof of a single plane.
·Sill Log: The base log, which sits upon the foundation.
·Sills: Horizontal members that form the base of window and door openings.
·Soffit: The underside of the roof overhang.
·Splice: A joint of two logs end to end.
·Spline: A narrow wooden strip placed into grooves cut into two adjoining surfaces of a log wall.
·Taper: The amount of change in the diameter of a log from the butt end to the top end.
·Truss: Structural members assembled into a ridged frame.
·Through-Bolting: Threaded rod of various length used as a tensioning device in log walls, post and beam joinery and some timber frames.
Dreams to Reality
Step-by-Step Directions
Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works anticipates that the typical owner of a log home spent many years dreaming and planning for the day they could build their log home. The prospective log homeowner has undoubtedly seen many log homes in their area. They have met with companies to examine various types of log homes, and they have searched long and hard for the perfect location.
They may have been receiving one or more of the log home magazines to get an in depth understanding for log homes through articles, photographs and advertisements. With these first steps completed you are ready to proceed by putting together a group of professionals to accomplish your dream.
Some folks will simply contract a full service log home company to design and build the complete home: all of the professionals under one roof. This can work well, especially if the log home company not only provides the design, log shell and all other components of the complete home but is also responsible for the full construction of the project, from foundation to completion. Certainly, many thousands of satisfied log homeowners have used this approach.
On the other hand you may find that this method doesn’t give you the ability to compare costs effectively or provide you with sufficient control. You may want a competitive bid process that may give you a better deal, or at least the peace of mind that the process was complete and the price was the best possible from competent alternate companies. Here at Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works, we primarily produce log home shells only. Our expertise is in building with logs – we do assist in locating needed supporting trades to help you get your log homes finished.
Build a Cohesive Team of Professionals
We like to make the sports analogy of this group working together as a team. Your team will be comprised of a designer, structural engineer, general contractor, log construction company and perhaps an interior designer and landscape designer. Careful consideration must be given to ensure that all members of the team blend well with your personality. Although you may not have construction experience, you should still be the leader. In scouting for this team you must not only look at the skill a prospective team member is currently exhibiting but also their past record.
Call previous owners, to see if their projects were completed satisfactorily. Truly incredible are the number of stories where this simple step was not followed, and sometimes with disastrous results. This is particularly vital if you are receiving all the services from one company. Your team must be capable of working well together. If some members of the team have worked together before, that is all the better; as long as they don’t have the plans down so clearly they forget the owner.
Designer and General Contractor
You wouldn’t hire a basketball player to be on your baseball team, unless they had great skills and would accept some coaching. So don’t hire a designer who doesn’t understand log homes unless their creativity is very appealing and they would be willing to work with a log home specialist. I believe the second member to be signed is the general contractor. This person is then responsible for all the aspects of the construction. In many log home projects the owner is the general contractor and can save up to 20% on the costs, giving you much needed equity right from the start! This approach is great if you have the time and wish to make a savings on the overall cost. But be aware that this position requires patience, diplomacy, leadership and determination. Much like a coach, the general contractor must be able to schedule the project and deal with all the problems that inevitably come up
The Log Builder
The owner should be closely involved in choosing the log construction company. After all, their product is the most visible in the log home. In many cases they are a sub-contractor to the general contractor. Another approach is for the owner to hire a log building company. The owner pays for the log structure separate from the general contractor to save the general contractors mark up on what is typically the single largest cost in the process. Ask us for a complete break down on how to manage your log home project and our extended services as a consultant in the completion of your log home. Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works already provides two to three days labor to assist the owner’s carpenter after the log home shell is shipped and re-assembled onto your waiting foundation. Help in coordinating site work and prep for delivery then after the carpenters take over is available.
Bring it All Together
Let’s sum this up. You have a design professional selected, you are ready to make arrangements to purchase services from them. You work together to create a conceptual drawing of the home you envision.
Of course, your designer has an understanding of your budget for the project. While the drafting work is progressing you interview and examine the previous work of general contractors and log home companies. Again, at the risk of sounding repetitious, call those references!!! Yes, it is a lot of work and maybe not much fun, but is very important. In fact, it may provide you with insights into the construction process by people who have already seen it through.
With conceptual drawing in hand, you and your designer will approach general contractors and log home companies, you may also involve an interior designer and landscape designer at this time if your budget allows for this professional input. Your goal is to establish that the design does in fact fall into the budget you have planned. If you find that you are close to your budget then you can go ahead with the construction documents. If not, scale back your projects first, then make sure the modifications put you back on budget. If a log home company or general contractor is interested in building your home they will be helpful in providing input into the design for you and your designer at this stage.
With the completion of construction documents you can have the general contractors and log building companies provide competitive bids on the home. Select your general contractor, sign an agreement, and together make the decision on which log home company to choose. The contractor then signs up the log home company. General Contractors expect to mark up every nail, board and fixture – everything that goes into your log home being built, yes – even the landscaping. The decision to handle some or all of this can save you a lot and often the difference in having what you want and being able to afford the general contractor.
Construction can now begin. How well will it go? The construction process is a matter of resolving problems. If a project has more then it’s share then the biggest problem was likely in the planning and the contracts.
Locating a Designer
Log homes present a unique construction system. The demands of contemporary log homes are far more complex than the pioneer log cabin. Log homes settle like no other home construction system. The structural requirements alone suggest that a professional designer familiar with the intricacies of the log home be hired. Simply put, your home will cost less in financial terms and stress in the end. Finding a designer with this experience can take perseverance. Fortunately technology has created communication systems allowing a designer who works greats distances away to carry out the commission. Phone, fax, modem and couriers can bring you together. For a referral to a log home designer you may, Hoosier Heavy Log & Timber Works has several sources for stock plans that can be purchased relatively in expensively and also designers that start the process from scratch to truly design what you have been dreaming of!
As with may other service, check references. Ask the designer for the names of contractors and/or log builders who have built the projects they have designed.
The Designers Contract
The designer will have their preferred approach to compensation for their efforts. Their system will often depend on their background, philosophy and the degree of involvement in the entire project. If you contract an architect they will likely use the American Institute of Architects standard forms for the contracting. The compensation may be a percentage of the value of the project plus expenses. The percentage generally ranges from 5 % to 15 % depending on the services offered and the renown of the designer. Other designers may simply have a flat rate plus standard fees for expenses are also common. You pay for the amount of time and work performed for you.
Variations in the cost may also depend on how many visits to the construction site you require of the designer and their proximity to the construction site.
Some designs are standard plans produced by the log construction company and may be included in the cost of the home. If you choose to begin with a stock plan it will often require modifications. Log homeowners often build on unique rural sites so the stock design is often customized to take advantage of views, sun exposure, access and the owners special needs.
Another method of paying for fully custom design is at an hourly rate for the initial work and then a separate contracted price for the final plan when the scope of work is understood. The first step is the conceptual drawings then construction documents should follow. The concept drawing will often be at a smaller scale than a finished plan. They will typically include floor plans for each floor and two or more side views (elevations), and a cut away view (Section) that will assist in understanding the structure of a more complex home.
If you are well prepared a substantial savings can be made at this time. Since the time period to develop the conceptual drawing is an unknown, it seems fair to complete this stage on an hourly basis. At an hourly rate the designer is willing to explore alternatives for as long as is required to meet the owners needs. If the owner is indecisive or wishes to seek many alternative solutions they can do it knowing they have the time they need. Once the design concept is firm and in the budget the designer can predict the cost of the construction blueprints and other documents and then provide you with a contract for this stage. You may seek bids by designers at this point if you wish to have competitive bids on the construction documents. There may still be some expenses that are charged on a cost basis but these will be limited to phone, travel, and copying expenses. One must be careful to avoid radical changes once the construction documents begin, changes can be a time consuming and therefore a costly extra at this point.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK AND SAVE!
You can save money if you are well prepared when entering into the task of developing the conceptual drawings. And you can save yourself stress and get the best interpretation of your dream home if you are prepared. The concept will evolve while in planning but by having thought out many aspects in advance you will speed up the process. You don’t need to have drawing skills or have diagrams on paper.
Speed up the process make it fun by taking these six steps in advance, but remember to stay open to new ideas:
1.How nice it must be to have limitless budget! Limits do exist for most of us and being over those limits can turn a dream into an ulcer. Be definite about your maximum from the start and let your designer know what this amount is.
2.Select the location of the home on your site and it’s orientation.
3.Make a list of rooms that you want and other features. Prioritize your list.
4.Consider what rooms you want facing the various views from the home.
5.Collect a library of photos from log home and other home magazines that display features that you wish to have in your home. PRIORTIZE! Post a note on the photos that indicates what features attracted you. This is important with exterior views of the home as well.
6.Visit home shows and product showrooms to gather brochures that display products you want to include such as windows, flooring, roofing, heating systems and any appliances.
Construction Documents
The difference between an untested budget and a fixed contract is the construction documents. If the contract documents are complete, clear and build able, the final cost can be determined and overrun will be controlled. Without completed plans, final costs can not be accurately calculated and there for an estimate to build can only be approximate. These documents let you and your builder both see what is to be done and how!
Blueprints
The construction documents have three aspects. The working drawings or blueprints are the first and largest body of information. These drawings will include an overall site plan: elevations of how each side of the structure is to look, floor plans of each floor and foundation. They also have one or more section drawings; showing an elevation as if a cut was made through the entire building so one can get a look at the components of the structure. Floor and roof framing plans should show the sizing and directions of beams and joists and rafters. Wiring, plumbing and finishes may have separate pages as well.
Details
Second are the details. These are smaller drawings that show an exploded view of the more complex aspects of the building. With full detailing a better understanding of the home can be achieved thus removing much of the doubt, interpretation, and additional costs being tacked on for the unknown.
Specifications
This is a written section of the document that indicates the quality of products used in the home. This section has a significant effect on the cost of a home and shouldn’t be ignored. It is impossible for you to get a full understanding of the final cost of your without specifications. The specifications are broken into sections that identify each aspect of the home and list the products to be used. The brand name, model size, and location in the home will be included. Floor and wall coverings, the logs, appliances and plumbing fixtures are just a few of the other subjects listed in the same format. In some instances the final product won’t be identified because it hasn’t been selected yet, but an allowance of cost is stated; the general contractor can bid appropriately.
JUMPSTART!
Basic Principles
of A Successful Design
The primary function of a home is shelter. Once this basic need is fulfilled, we can begin to develop design elements that recognize our current lifestyle requirements.
But how can you design a home that really “works”? When people think about building their log house there is much more involved than just materials. Whether they recognize it or not, part of the reason people build with logs is because a log structure suggests permanence, a tradition of family, and a home and hearth which becomes imbued with memory.
Of course the design and arrangement of building materials are not what makes a happy home. However, understanding how design elements can create a mood, influence home activities, and determine how inhabitants live and interact will give you a start in creating a livable home.
Questions to consider during the design process include:
1.How do 
