Log Home Living - Second Time's The Charm

True North Log Homes customers Keith and Ann Bares in Minnesota discuss the selection, planning, building and furnishing of their second log home, which acts as a waterfront vacation getaway for them and their extended family in the February 2013 Edition of Log Home Living. As the story goes, the Bares fell in love with a True North log home model as they were driving one day. They worked with Rakow Construction to choose a log home design, which would best suit their needs. They say as they dug deeper they were particularly impressed by True North's patented log wall joinery system and zero air infiltration guarantee as theirs would be a year-round vacation destination.  Rakow proceeded to build a spectacular 1,924 square foot home with a large, walk-out lower level, wrap-around cedar deck and even a three-car garage (a must for Minnesota winters).

Inside, the Bares created a fantastic, traditional log cabin retreat they and their family will no doubt enjoy for years to come.
 

The full Log Home Living article can be found here on the True North Log Homes website or will be available on newsstands shortly.

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.

A LEED Log Home with Many Firsts and Few Equals

Timeless Mountain Homes, an independent True North Log Homes representative in the United States, is a leader in building sustainable LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certified, HealthyBuilt and Energy Star homes. It's important for log home manufacturers and builders alike to acknowledge the importance sustainability and the role they play in maintaining it. The goals in building a LEED certified home are lower energy and maintenance costs coupled with an overall respect for the environment.

Among this partner's impressive accomplishments is an innovative project called Outaspace. Built to exacting standards; utilizing both age-old energy efficiency best practices, locally sourced building materials and the latest in log home technology from True North, Outaspace is an 8,000 square foot, environmentally-friendly Blue Ridge Mountain paradise. In fact, this particular structure has the following distinctions: 

• Largest LEED certified log home in the USA 
• First independently certified LEED log home in North Carolina 
• First independently certified log home in the southeast and second in the entire USA

The unique three-level lodge boasts six bedrooms, each decorated with a mountain theme likewise incorporating locally obtained, sustainable furnishings. The lodge, with an expansive great room and eating area, will and has comfortably hosted up to 22 overnight guests.

Addressing the building's interior or exterior you are instantly struck by the way it blends into its natural environment, including some virtually untouched logs cleverly used as deck supports.

Additional photos and floor plans for this spectacular model along with several other custom log home designs are available on the True North Log Homes website.

A True North Thermo-Groove Six Seal Log Wall Installation

Doug Mason, of Log Project Management and a True North Log Home's technical assistant, demonstrates the use of our Thermo-Groove Six Seal log wall joinery system being used by one of our dealers, Joe Pattison and his crew of Lakeside Custom Carpentry to build a large 30-wall log home in northern Ontario.  Note how careful attention is paid to removing even the smallest wood chip to ensure an air-tight seal is created between the logs and to prevent any air infiltration issues. We believe it is this attention to detail which sets us and our log home builders in the UK, US and Canada apart from all others.

The Thermo-Groove Six-Seal System: New Log Home Technology from True North Log Homes

True North Log Homes is the most technologically advanced custom log home manufacturer in the world, and is thus always looking for new advancements in log home technology. Our new Thermo-groove six-seal system further improves the True North Log joinery system by enhancing the thermal performance and sealing capabilities of the tongue and groove joints between the logs.

The original Three Seal System

The original three seal tongue and groove system, used with our 6" x 12" log construction, features butyl rubber tape sealant on the two outer tongues and asphalt impregnated foam gasket tape on the inner groove (pictured below).

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Six Seals are Better than One

The new Thermo-groove six-seal system, available on our 8" x 12", 10" x 12" and 12" x 12" logs, is designed with six channels to better accommodate the butyl rubber tape sealant and asphalt-impregnated foam gasket tape. The outside channels are angled to accommodate the butyl tape, which improves installation, as the butyl tape is less likely to fall off while setting the log above. Also, by using the diagonal, the square butyl tape changes the seal from 1/4" to a 3/8" seal, thereby increasing performance without the added cost of a 3/8” seal.

The channels also prevent the sealant from being completely flattened out by the upper log, so when movement occurs in the logs, a sufficient amount of sealant is still able to flex.

The New Thermo-Groove Six-Seal System

The remaining four channels (no. 2, 3, 4 and 5) are designed to accommodate the asphalt-impregnated foam tape. In addition to providing insulation value, the foam tape is also waterproof when compressed by 50 percent. 

Much Like A Thermal Pane Window

The thermal performance of the six-seal system can be compared to a thermal pane window: if the six seals represent six panes of glass, the trapped air space between the glass will act as an insulator. Each section of dead air space between the tongue and groove seals reacts in the same way, thereby improving thermal performance and insulation capabilities.

For more information on log home technology or log home maintenance, visit True North Log Homes.

Log Home Technology To Keep You Warm and Dry

Log home builders and owners have traditionally struggled with the effects time and weather can have on timber.  The natural shrinking of logs and the levelling of a log structure over time can cause significant gaps between the logs letting costly warm air out and uncomfortable cold air in.  Typically inferior joinery systems are difficult to install and simply don't tend to stand up to this test of time. Homeowners are invariably forced to spend more time and money caulking and chinking their log walls to keep mother nature outside where she belongs.

To combat these troublesome issues, True North Log Homes, recently developed a unique log lock compression system engineered to actually seal homes tighter with time by allowing the log lock to only go in one direction, DOWN, on specially designed threaded rods.  Another advantage of this patent-pending technology is its ease of installation - only a couple of hours vs. a couple of days with most competitive log joinery solutions.

True North Log Homes Patent-Pending Log Log Compression System

True North Log homes is proud of its commitment to continual improvement in log home technology as it maintains U.S. and Canadian patents for several other innovative solutions.  Our new log lock system has garnered some attention including a recent mention on a reputable sustainable architecture blog.

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.