Building Sustainable Green Log Homes

Robert Wrightman's True North Log Home was proudly featured on pages 46-51 of the October Edition of Green Builder Magazine as 75% of the lumber used to build the 3,300 square foot structure were locally sourced and FSC certified.  As the article states, this is both Wrightman's family home and a lasting example of the quality, workmanship and environmentally friendly display of True North's log home products.

This particular home is based on the Citadel design, one of many log home plans offered by True North and is indeed a model of sustainability and green building best practices, which includes radiant floor heating, spray-foam insulation and boosted soundproofing via sheep's wool stuffed in the interior walls.  Technology, in the form of a special log lock system developed by True North, also boosts the energy efficiency of the home.  Logs shrink as they dry and in many log homes this leads to gaps and air penetration; however, the patented log-lock compression system actually forces the logs of these homes closer together as they dry, thereby cutting down on potential heat loss. True North even offers the only 25-Year "Zero" Air Filtration Warranty in the log home industry. Other green building enhancements can include solar panels for electricity/heat and high-efficiency windows.

Each white pine log is specially cut in the factory to ensure an air-tight fit.

However, the truly sustainable component of this, or any log home, is the fact it has been built using relatively raw logs. Much less manufacturing and chemical treatment needs to go into a log home. Further, wood by its very nature is more insulative that many other building materials meaning less processed insulation needs to be added.

For those who are interested in building a unique and beautiful dream home, while also doing their part to help protect the environment, a log home is certainly worthy of consideration.

Rapid Log Home Building in the UK

A dealer in the UK, Ron Taylor, recently recalled a great story about one of the first True North log homes he and his team built for a customer on a tight schedule.

The project started when this customer Jim came up to me at an exhibition in London about eight years ago with a sketch he'd drawn and asked "Can you build this?".  "Of course we can!" was my reply and that started us on the road to building one of the first True North log homes in the UK.

At the time, Jim and his wife Jackie, had a home on a narrow strip of land beside the River Thames near Marlow in Buckinghamshire, England which had been made from the shell of an old Thames pleasure craft.  However, the river was prone to flooding and Jim decided the time had come to do something about it after he got up one morning and stepped into several inches of river water.  Government planners would only allow a replacement building on the site, so the old building would have to go and during consultations a sailing club complained he would be 'stealing their wind...".  However, apart from a few restrictions, like making a map of the layout of all his plants so they could be replaced,  a planning license was granted.  Then the Environment Agency stepped in to exercise its muscles.  "You have to build it at least 5 feet above ground" was the gist of their comments. They also had a bizarre restriction stating he couldn't build the proposed decking as they said it would interfere with the flow of the flood water.  The fact that the old building presented a much greater resistance didn't hold water (no pun intended).....so no front decking was allowed.

Once approved, True North got the log home plans for the new structure under way.

Jim had wanted a workroom upstairs, but due to council height restrictions and the Environment Agency's 5 foot rule, there was only room for storage in the attic.  Jim got busy organising the foundations and the piling, which was necessary for his location.  He intended to do a lot of the build work himself, but took our offer of four guys from True North to erect the shell package.

A couple of months later, two large 40 foot containers arrived.  Jim's site was about 150 yards along a narrow track from where we could unload the containers.  The team had started laying the sill plates and first logs within hours of the arrival of the trucks.  Eleven days later, the last of the windows and doors went in and the shell was watertight.

Just a few doors away down the lane, a similar-sized conventional, brick building was also just getting watertight......but that home had taken over six months to build!

Jim continued the with interior on his own, learning trades as he went and fitting it in when he could, while still doing his day job.

Today, Jim and Jackie have a beautiful home they can be proud of and which is keeping their feet nice and dry.

If you're interested in seeing a full gallery of the log home building process, visit the True North Log Homes Facebook page to see the story of Jim's home from start to finish. Or you can also check out a full range of log home designs on the True North website.

True North Log Homes Winter Promotion

We've come up with what we believe is a fantastic Fall/Winter promotion to warm the spirit with a selection of four cost-saving options to help would be log home owners purchase and build their dream log home or cottage this winter or in the spring.  Now is the time to act, if you've been considering a purchase or shopping around for the best deal on a quality log home. True North has been manufacturing the best engineered log homes in the world for over 25 years backed by 17 (and 5 pending) patents on its construction technology.

You can find out more about our promotion here or start fueling your dream by simply perusing our log home design gallery or ordering our log home plan book. Time to make your dream a reality!

True North Log Homes featured in Log Home Living

Rob and Marilyn Wrightman's innovative log and timber-frame home has been featured in this month's edition of Log Home Living, which hit newsstands on May 15th.

Rob happens to be the owner of True North Log Homes, which he founded with his father in 1986.    True North Log Homes' innovation in log home construction was a hallmark in the building of this particular home as five patented log home technologies developed by True North were incorporated.  Designing the home didn't require starting from scratch since Rob had already helped create his company's catalog of standard log home plans.

The cornerstone of the home is the blend of big timbers and white pine, D-shape logs. These logs are milled to show a rounded surface on the outside and a flat surface inside, resembling the letter D. The wall logs are stacked according to a patented log joinery system that uses neither nails, screws nor lag bolts. The aesthetic highlight of the logs is their dovetail corners.

The interior of the home, as you can see, is open and spectacular from one room to the next.

A primary goal at True North Log Homes, under Rob's direction, is to fulfill the dream of log home living for each and every True North customer.