Log & Timber Home Living magazine is the ultimate guide to log, timber and hybrid homes. Expect expert advice on everything from floor plan design to materials and maintenance, as well as inspiring home tours, decorating ideas and more!
dpeak@aimmedia.com Growing up in the 1970s, I distinctly recall the energy crisis. I was just a kid, but the thing that stands out the most in my memory is “even/odd” days, where the last digit of your license plate determined whether or not you were one of the chosen ones who could wait in mile-long lines for a tiny gas ration — if the stations had fuel at all, which many of them did not. My family would sit for hours awaiting our turn to gas up our 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III (baby blue – just like Billy Joel crooned). Since that car got a whopping six miles per gallon, we’d be back in line again all too soon. Whether real or perceived, the crisis had a radical effect.…
C’mon Baby Light My Fire In a rare case where beauty and function are truly equal, Tulikivi’s “Vasa” is a heatretaining hearth with a smooth soapstone finish and embedded firebox door, giving it a sleek, natural look that’s right at home in a log environment. Its compact size (only 35 inches wide and less than 20 inches deep) is perfect for small cabins, bedrooms or home offices. But more importantly, the Vasa is energysmart and eco-friendly. The high-efficiency unit burns a minimal amount of wood, while its soapstone body absorbs and radiates heat slowly, warming a space for hours once the fire is out. ONLINE RESOURCE For more details, visit: tulikivi.com NEW! Sticks and Stones (Gibbs Smith) by Lew French; photos by Alison Shaw For many a log home owner, the…
The log home industry has always been challenged when the question of energy efficiency is raised. Wood conducts heat, but it does not perform in the same way insulation products do. Yet the ongoing message from log home owners is that their homes are warm, comfortable and more energy efficient than expected. The Log and Timber Homes Council (LTHC), part of the National Association of Home Builders, is focused on proving that these experiences are real, not just perceived. Previous research and testing conducted on solid wood walls demonstrated that they have thermal mass, meaning they store and radiate heat slowly. This is why log walls have better energy efficiency than mere R-values would suggest. The benefit is found in the International Energy Conservation Code published by ICC and adopted…
It began in 1981 as a simple idea – replacing rigid concrete-mortar sealant with a flexible chinking material that would move with a log home as it settled. It revolutionized the log home industry. Perma-Chink Log Home Chinking, looked like traditional mortar but accommodated continuous log movement while maintaining a tight seal between log courses. Since then, the entire stains and sealants industry has worked tirelessly to advance the science behind the protection and care of log homes, making your upkeep easier than ever. And Perma-Chink Systems has been a leader in that effort. Visit permachink.com for details. ONLINE RESOURCE For general information about sealants, visit: www.loghome.com/choose-your-chinking…
When a furniture-maker has as much artistic talent as Kelly Maxwell, you’d naturally assume he’s been working with wood all his life, starting as a hobby when he was a boy and then honing his craft through his teens and into adulthood. But you’d be mistaken. “I grew up farming most of my life. Then I became a paramedic. Woodworking didn’t come until much later. At first, I couldn’t cut a straight line or pound a nail straight. It’s something I learned as I went along,” he says. “Much later” came when his daughter was about to get married, and his wife asked if he could build some furniture for the ceremony. “I said, ‘Sure,’ even though I didn’t have a clue what I was doing.” To look at his…
Have you heard of a ductless mini-split heating/cooling system? Don’t despair – many people in the United States haven’t. But with wildly fluctuating energy costs and an emphasis on reducing fossil-fuel consumption, conditioning your log home’s interior air, room by room, with mini-splits is not only conscientious and fiscally smart, it can solve a lot of headaches when it comes to locating your mechanicals. We talked to two experts about the ins and outs of mini-splits. How is a mini-split system different from a more commonly known central air/heat pump system, and how does it work? “Mini-splits are completely ductless and separate. Think of it as having multiple HVAC units in your home,” explains Hearthstone Homes’ V.P. Chris Wood, who has been a proponent of this type of heating and…
