Eco-Friendly Garden Design
by Jennifer Donahue
MossCreek The rustic charm of a log home is ideally suited to a natural garden that is in harmony with the surrounding environment. Creating a garden that not only adds beauty to the landscape but is also gentle on the earth is easy and inexpensive if you keep a few important principles in mind. Why...
Eco-Friendly Fireplaces, Wood Stoves, & Alternatives
by Jennifer Donahue
Nothing sets a cozy, romantic mood like the crackle of a fire in the fireplace. The smell, the warmth and the glow can make a house feel like home. But for heating purposes, are fireplaces or stoves an environmentally-sound choice? The answer depends on the fireplace or stove you choose, the fuel yo...
Going Green
by Laura Cleveland
The New Face of FLOR Most of us are familiar with FLOR tiles and think of them as being bright solid colors—not exactly ideal for a log home. But FLOR products have come a long way since the company was established in 2003. Now the eco-friendly tiles are available in a wide variety of colors, textur...
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
by Jennifer Donahue | Photo courtesy of Appalachian Log Homes/by Roger Wade
Using reclaimed and recycled materials when building your home is not just a good way to be kind to the environment—it’s a great way to save money and add visual interest to your home! Reclaimed materials make your home truly unique while keeping materials that still have a little bit of life left o...
Passive Solar Principles
by Jennifer Donahue | Photos © Andersen Corporation
Who hasn’t been drawn to the warmth of a sunny spot on a cold day, or cooled off in the shade during the dog days of summer? Passive solar design takes that natural comfort and incorporates it into the design of your house. Put simply, you can design your home to gather and make use of the sun’s lig...
Thermal Mass of Log Walls
by Jennifer Donahue
Cushman Design Group/photo by Roger Wade When talking about green building, energy efficiency, and passive solar design, you may hear the term “thermal mass.” The term refers to the ability of a material to stabilize the temperature of your home by storing heat from the sun (called solar gain) durin...
Going Green: Green Building Standards
by Jennifer Donahue
Cushman Design Group/photo by Roger Wade “Green” is everywhere these days—we recycle, we reuse, we try to be mindful of our energy consumption. And as people throughout the country become increasingly aware of their own environmental footprint, the green movement has come to homebuilding as well. Bu...
Smart Roofs?
by Mike Haskew
With everything under the sun being labeled “smart” these days, it follows that smart roofs are in our near future. A smart roof coating made from waste cooking oil from fast food restaurants (minus the smell, of course) is being processed into a liquid polymer that hardens like plastic. When applie...
Up on the Roof
by Laura Cleveland
Photo provided by the Metal Roofing Alliance When you hear the word “roof” probably the first image that pops into your head is the tried and true asphalt shingle roof that is ubiquitous in the United States. When you dream of your log home, you most likely envision a more rustic roof that will comp...
Zero-Net Energy Homes
by Jennifer Donahue
With energy costs on the rise, it’s not just environmentally friendly to keep your energy consumption reined in—it’s wallet-friendly too! And the best time to consider your energy savings is when you’re building a new home. If you plan appropriately, it’s possible to build a “zero-net energy” ...