Log and Timber Home Living

The nation’s premier log home magazine, Log Home Living encourages the dream of log home ownership. Each issue celebrates the log home lifestyle, provides practical advice, and offers photo tours of the nation’s most beautiful log homes

Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
The Truth About Log Homes
It’s a question we at Log & Timber Home Living have heard for eons. And we get it — we love forests as much as the most ardent environmentalist. Our answer has always been that responsible forest management, which is practiced by all the log home com
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
Log and Timber Home Living
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Donna Peak MANAGING EDITOR Katherine Owen SENIOR EDITOR Suzanna Logan CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mark Sorenson DIGITAL PRODUCER Cathlene Cowart Dean CONTRIBUTOR Mike Haskew NATIONAL ACCOUNTS MANAGER Mari Campbell mcampbell@aimmedia.com 224-432
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
What’s Happening Online
WONDERING WHAT IT’S LIKE on the other side of planning and construction? At loghome.com/why-choose-a-log-home, hear from log homeowners themselves about why they love living in this type of home. IF PRAGMATIC REASONS to make the move to a timber home
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
Why A Log Home?
Throughout our 2025 Annual Buyer’s Guide, you’ll learn about all the technical reasons that make a log home an excellent choice, but there are other intangibles that drive the decision as well. Whether the logs are milled, handcrafted, engineered or
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
Where Will I Build My Log Home?
It’s all about location, location, location. This real estate cliché exists for a good reason. Where a house is located — as well as what you’ll be looking at from inside the house — impacts everything. This is why one of the first questions you’ll b
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
How Do I Determine A Log Home’s Value?
An informed appraiser is the key to getting a fair market valuation of your log home. Many appraisers, even those with years of experience, aren’t familiar with log home construction and may not know how to fairly estimate a log home’s resale value.
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
What Makes Land Buildable?
Log homes fit in any landscape, but there are practical considerations to every type of terrain. Before you commit to a piece of ground, you’ll need to make sure you can build on it. Ask the following important questions before you buy: ▪ Are utiliti
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
Why Is A Log Home Construction Loan Different Than Other Types Of Loans?
If you’re in the homebuying market, you’re at least somewhat familiar with how mortgage loans work. But if you’re planning to build a custom home — specifically a log home — the process may be a bit unfamiliar. Short-term construction loans operate a
Log and Timber Home Living5 min read
How Do You Pay For A Log Home?
Let’s face it – borrowing money makes the world go ’round. With that, homeownership usually means obtaining a loan from a bank, credit union or other source. Taking the plunge involves an examination of one’s finances, and a complex road to loan clos
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
What Do I Need To Show A Potential Lender?
Have these items available when it’s time to apply for log home financing: ▪ Current personal financial statement▪ Two most recent years of personal tax returns (complete with schedules)▪ Final blueprints/house plans▪ Construction cost estimate▪ Cons
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
What Is The Lender Looking For?
What do you need to successfully borrow money from a lending institution? Credit criteria usually include the following: ▪ A satisfactory debt-to-income ratio (the main focus when lenders are qualifying customers). Most lenders will not exceed a rati
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
The Money You Need Is A Click Away
Finding a lender who understands the ins and out of log home construction can be a challenge. Big banks are too large to work with you personally, and small, regional banks often don’t want the risk. That’s why Log & Timber Home Living has partnered
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
What Does A Log Home Cost?
WHAT DOES A LOG HOME COST? It’s what every person who has ever dreamed of owning a wood home of their own wants to know. Size, log diameter and wood species are three factors that will play a significant role in how much you’ll pay for your log home.
Log and Timber Home Living6 min read
Do You Speak Log Home?
In the language of construction, log homes have a dialect all their own. We’ve compiled an alphabetical list of the more common words and expressions that you’ll find in this guide and throughout your log home journey. For a complete glossary, includ
Log and Timber Home Living5 min read
How Do I Find The Right Log Home Style?
You know you want a log home. That’s the easy part. However, all log homes are not the same. It may be hard to tell the difference at a glance, but there are distinct variations in style, look, feel — even upkeep — between milled, handcrafted, half l
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
What Do I Look For In A Wood Species?
With today’s wood preservatives and sealant science, nearly any wood species is an excellent candidate for log home construction. But some types of wood have a natural leg up on their competition. Keep these factors in mind to help determine the kind
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
Interface Styles
Some log styles are more prevalent in certain parts of the country than others, but if you love a particular profile or corner system, don’t feel limited by location. Go for it! ■
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
Corners
A notch on the bottom of the log straddles the top of the log coming from the perpendicular wall. Both logs extend past the corner. One log stops where it meets an intersecting log, and the other log extends past the corner. Used with square or recta
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
Putting The Pieces Together
Logs intersect at the corners but rest securely on one another the entire length of the wall. There are three basic ways to design full-length support systems: 1. Flat-on-flat horizontal interface surfaces usually use a butt-and-pass corner design, d
Log and Timber Home Living3 min read
How Do I Choose A Log Home Company?
Before you contact a single log home representative, it’s important to have a clear vision of the style you’re looking for – particularly log type, species and diameter. These factors will be key components of the company you select, as many producer
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
How Will I Pay For My Package?
NEARLY ALL MILLED LOG HOME PROVIDERS require a deposit at contract signing. Some companies’ deposits are refundable; some are not. Make certain that you have a written statement explaining the provider’s policy before you write a check. Payment terms
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
How Can I Build A Log Home On A Limited Budget?
1. Stack Your Plan. One would assume that a 2,500-square-foot house costs less than one that’s 5,000 square feet, but that’s not necessarily the case. While single-story ranch homes are popular, to save money without sacrificing square footage, build
Log and Timber Home Living3 min read
The Big Catch
When John and Cheri Sloane and their children, Chase and Chloe, reeled in a 25-pound carp at their getaway home in the mountains of Pennsylvania’s Laurel Highlands, it was quite the catch. But for the family of four, it was also just another moment o
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
What About Copyrights?
If you opt for a floor plan from a log home company or designer, be aware that you won’t own the actual plan — just a one-time license to build the home. This knowledge is necessary to protect both the company and you from copyright infringement. If
Log and Timber Home Living4 min read
How Do I Design The right Floor Plan For Me?
Know thyself.” This maxim from ancient Greece may be shrouded in mythological mystery dating back centuries, but for the modern homebuyer, it’s rather timely advice. The journey to a dream-home design involves a good bit of self-discovery, an aspect
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
How Do I Design A Home For All Ages?
ACCORDING TO A 2022 REPORT from the Pew Research Center, the share of the U.S. population living in multi-generational households has more than doubled in the past five decades. This living arrangement comes with a host of benefits, from economic sav
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
What Role Does An Interior Designer Play?
A BUYER WILL MAKE HUNDREDS OF DESIGN DECISIONS in their log home journey, from plumbing fixtures to appliances to countertops, cabinets, floors, doorknobs and more … many more. And that’s after having already made many big decisions about the floor p
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
Interior Insights
“Determine what you think you need in terms of lighting … then double it. Of course, homes have windows for natural light, but in a wood-heavy home, you have to consider it from various times of day. Find unexpected places to incorporate glass that w
Log and Timber Home Living4 min read
How Much Space Do I Really Need?
WHEN YOU THINK OF A BIG HOUSE, do you think of room to spread out and storage for your toys? Or do you think of long to-do lists and bigger bills? What about a small structure? Do you conjure images of a cozy log cabin where everyone is cheerfully cl
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
Can My Floor Plan…?
We’d be remiss to overlook this compact plan, given it’s the reigning most popular log cabin floor plan on loghome.com. Thanks to exceptional spatial planning, the Rangeley manages to pack three very spacious bedrooms into just over 1,300 square feet
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
Can I Modify A Stock Floor Plan?
BY NOW, YOU’VE PROBABLY PICKED UP that your home’s design will change at least a little bit as you make progress toward the finish line. In the end, most log homes are custom — it just depends to what degree. If you’re in the camp that desires custom
Log and Timber Home Living3 min read
Why Is Single-level So Special?
The answer to this question could be summed up in one word: convenience. Homes where all the vital spaces are arranged on one level simply make life easier now and later, when it comes to both maintenance and mobility. That being said, you also want
Log and Timber Home Living5 min read
How Do You Find The Builder For You?
As you wind your way through the log home journey, it will feel as though there are any number of tasks vying to be your “top priority” — and, in fact, each step in the process does have its own hierarchy of decisions. But once you enter the construc
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
How Do I Find The Best Deal?
YOU WANT THE BEST QUALITY THAT MONEY CAN BUY, but you also recognize that you can’t give your builder a blank check. Everyone — even millionaires — operate on a budget, and time and money are two things you never want to waste. Your builder likely wi
Log and Timber Home Living4 min read
How Do Logs Become Walls?
It’s a special person who loves and appreciates the look of wood so much they want to surround themselves with it in their home. Just like this unique group of devotees, constructing that log house is much different than building a conventional “stic
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
What’s The Difference Between Sealants And Stains?
To protect log homes, a range of products, including stains and sealants, perform different functions. Your log provider or builder will recommend options that will work well with your wood species and region, but you should understand what they plan
Log and Timber Home Living3 min read
What Should I Expect From My Builder?
Without a builder, your log home is nothing more than a stack of materials on a piece of land. There are a lot of very skilled log home builders out there — men and women who can transform the piles of wood into a place to live. But it takes more tha
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
Builder Or General Contractor – What’s The Difference?
THE TERMS BUILDER AND GENERAL CONTRACTOR (GC) are often used interchangeably. Their jobs do share a lot of similarities, but there are philosophical differences between them, and you should understand these differences so you know exactly who you’re
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
What’s My Role?
A BUILDER IS NOT JUST A PERSON WHO ASSEMBLES HOUSES. When you work with an experienced contractor, you also get years of boots-on-the-ground experience. This expertise can help you make money-saving decisions to achieve the log home you’ve always wan
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
Do I Need Insurance During Construction?
Q: What insurance do homeowners need during log home construction, and when should they get it? A: “Builder’s-risk” insurance is the primary means to insure for property exposure claims during construction. Builder’s-risk insurance is active while pr
Log and Timber Home Living1 min read
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Whether you’re in the market to build a custom log or timber home or simply a fan of these gorgeous, natural places to live, Log & Timber Home Living is here to inform your decisions and spark your imagination. For over four decades, we have showcase
Log and Timber Home Living3 min read
FAMILY Destination
Kristie Smith is a woman who knows what she wants and how to make it happen. As a mother of five, her can-do attitude is not surprising, so, when she set her sights on creating a ski haven to share with her husband, Kevin, and the kids — along with a
Log and Timber Home Living8 min read
How Do I Pick The Best Finishes?
These products might come with a higher price, but they are worth every penny. Check out these smart solutions for budget-minded shoppers. Save time and energy with finishes that are as durable as they are attractive. Alongside logs, hardwood floors
Log and Timber Home Living2 min read
How Do I Decorate A Log Home?
When it comes to log homes, we tend to see a few iconic aesthetics dominate: rustic lodge, Adirondack, Southwestern, farmhouse, mountain modern or some blend of these, but that doesn’t mean you can’t style your home with a coastal, cottage, Scandinav

Log and Timber Home Living

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