Q.:  Why choose a log home over a conventional home?

A.:  Log homes are much stronger than conventional homes.  There have been instances where log homes have survived hurricanes and earthquakes when their neighbor's conventional homes have been destroyed.  Log homes offer the owner a feeling of oneness with the home.  When you step into a log home it's easy to sense the coziness inside.

Q.:  What kind of design options are available?

A.:  Mountain State offers many predesigned choices and we can also custom design a home for you. Select from our large variety of predesigned homes, or we will help you custom design a home.  The interior design choices are absolutely endless!  From country to contemporary, it's a delight to furnish and accent a log home - you just can't go wrong.

Q.:  How about the Energy Efficiency of a log home?  

A.:  Log homes are naturally warm in winter and cool in summer.  This is a result of the thermal mass (the ability of logs to retain heat for an extended period because of wood's low thermal conductivity, then to release the heat back into the building slowly as indoor air temperatures drop) in a 6" log wall being equivalent to a frame wall with an R-value of 15. The National Association of Home Builders' National Research Center conducted a study of log homes vs conventional homes and was able to conclude that log homes energy efficiency "compares well with conventionally insulated wood-framed homes."  "Log homes use equal or less energy than their conventionally built counterparts and that log mass is a significant benefit."  In this test, the log structures performed better than the insulated, wood building in the intermediate heating season and in the summer cooling season.

Q.:  How safe is a log hoome in the event of a fire?

A.:  The results of burn tests of log structures indicate that, in the event of fire, log homes burn more slowly than conventional housing and therefore risk less fire damage.  Fire will spread much slower across the face of a log wall than on other wall-covering materials.  A slower spreading fire is obviously easier to escape from than a rapidly spreading fire, and it will probably not damage as much surface area as a faster spreading fire.

As for burn-through, when logs burn, they form char, which acts as an insulator or a barrier, shielding the wood from the fire and slowing the rate of burn-through.  Tests on some logs have shown they burn at a rate of only 1 1/2 inches per hour.  That means that in a home with 6-inch walls, a fire would have to burn intensely for hours before the log wall or structural beams would fail because of burn-through.

In most conventionally built brick and wood frame homes, fire codes require the placement of fire breaks in the hollow, insulated walls to prevent the formation of flues or channels that help the fire spread.  Solid log walls form a natural fire break because there are no channels to facilitate the spread of the fire.

Q.:  Is it more expensive to insure a log home?

A.:  According to insurance industy officials, log homes are no more expensive to insure than brick or wood frame homes built in the same area.  They key to insurance rates is not so much the building material used as it is the home's location.  A home built in a city within a few minutes response time of the fire department would obviously have a lower insurance rate than the same home built in rural areas, where the fire department's response time may be twenty minutes or longer.

 

If you have any questions that we haven't addressed here on this page, please feel free to send us an e-mail or contact us and we'll be pleased to help you.