If you have noticed from reading on our website and looking through the photo galleries almost all of our large log homes are built from stacked handcrafted logs. To most that want a large home they also want one which is very individual and unique. The massive logs lend a totally different perspective to a home.
For milled log homes the largest stock plan we carry is the Swan Valley log home plan at 3,288 square feet. Though any log home plan can be build from machine cut logs, the many of our customers gravitate towards the handcrafted log home style. For a hand craft log home the logs are between about 12 and 15 inches in diameter. With a desire for wide diameters also comes a love of long lengths. These monster logs can range up to fifty feet in length and each wall log is full length. This means that there are no end joints with in the length of the wall.
A good question with the handcrafted log home is, “If there are no end joints what do you do if the home is longer than 50 feet long?” The Bear Creek log home plan is 64 feet long. The answer to this is simple. When a log approaches the maximum length a corner is weaved into the side of a building. When an interior wall is intersecting the exterior wall that interior wall can be built of solid logs. Then the exterior wall joins with the interior wall. This method also makes the home even more structurally sound and everyone always loves more interior log walls within a home. Here is a photo of this idea. This is the Palisades luxury log home with over 3,200 square feet. This is the dining room area and it opens into the Great Room. The great room has a wide prow front with one interior log wall on each side of the great room.
With large log homes, engineering like this interior log wall is smart. Some log home companies simply build huge ‘boxes’ without any interior connecting walls through the home. We do not feel this is wise. So interior log walls are incorporated into our large homes, and also into some of the smaller log cabin plans.