There are pros and cons of being your own general contractor. For many people, part of the dream of building their own home is the chance to be closely involved with every part of the process, from choosing the site to designing the floorplan to selecting fixtures and...
Experienced log and timber frame home builders provide valuable information on designing a home that you’ll love. It’s no surprise your log or timber frame home builder seems to know just the right place to put that reading nook you wanted, or the perfect way to...
Your land, lifestyle, and budget play equal parts in determining the ideal floorplan for your home. Building a home from the ground up can be a dream come true: the chance to configure, room by room, the home you always wanted just the way you always envisioned it....
Log home experts discuss the benefits of starting with a stock floorplan and the features the most successful homes have in common. Sometimes the hardest part of building a home is figuring out where to start. That’s where ready-to-purchase (or stock) home plans can...
Enjoying the journey of building a log home requires finding a homebuilder that’s right for you. The successful search for a good builder is a key component of your log and timber homebuilding journey. Choosing the right builder to make your dream home a reality is...
Building a log & timber home in stages is a creative way to afford your dream home now and provide flexibility for future lifestyle changes. In your dreams, you imagined the builder handing over the keys to your new log or timber frame home, each inch of the house...
Making your dream home a reality is a step-by-step process. More people are opting to live in rustic residences than ever before. The warmth of wood, the solid construction, and that powerful connection to nature all add up to a feeling of safety and sanctuary that we...
Global thinking, seeing the project in its entirety, is critical to cost-effective log home construction. Every aspect of a log home project requires planning and foresight and an eye for the practical and aesthetic with cost containment always in mind. Simply getting started is a challenge in itself. But Chris Wood, vice president of sales at Hearthstone Homes, sees opportunity in the basic design of the log home. “Keep it simple,” he offers. “Straight roof lines, a rectangular fo…
Whether you’ve dreamed of a spacious, airy lakeside home or a cozy mountain cabin, there’s no denying the appeal of wood—from stately oaks to towering cedars. That appeal increasingly includes timber frame homes, built of massive timber supports that showcase the dramatic beauty of natural wood. Sometimes called “post and beam,” timber frame construction is one of the oldest forms of homebuilding. Timbers are typically fitted together with different joinery methods, including dove…
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 applied to roofing material, the coating switches roles from reflecting to transmitting heat by reading a thermometer. The coating can be adjusted to the location of the home. It is both nontoxic and nonflammable a…
The process of building a custom log or timber home is the crossroads of personal preference, cost efficiency, and technical necessity to produce the right balance of aesthetics and sound, quality construction. Each of the primary parties involved, the homeowner, log producer, and builder, plays a vital role in the construction process. Each one lends individual know-how to the experience, complementing the others. In the end, the goal is for homeowners to enjoy the log or timber …
The experience of building a log or timber home, making the vision become a reality, is extraordinary and may take place only once in a lifetime. The advantage of previous experience is often absent. Therefore, consulting professionals becomes critical to the process—from the beginning. The first step in the journey is often a comparison of pricing and deliverables from qualified log and timber home packaging companies, and the advice of professionals adds confiden…
