Log Home History

Over the next 200 years, European immigrants brought log-building skills with them as they settled in eastern and central North America before moving west. During the late 18^th and early 19^th centuries, log buildings were common both as temporary homes for settlers moving west and for settlers expanding toward the South through Appalachian Mountain valleys and west up the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys.

Homes built before the turn of the 20^th century tended to be small by today’s standards, with fewer rooms and lower ceilings. In the west, they were often originally built as one-room miner’s cabins. Typically, they were eventually bought and added on to a number of times by vacationers wanting more room and conveniences.

Larger homes and commercial structures, especially in eastern North America, often had logs milled flat to accept an exterior wall covering, typically wood siding.

Older structures used timbers hewn (shaped or flattened) from logs with a broadax. Tool marks can still be seen on hewn timbers. Inspectors with opportunities to look at a number of older structures in an area may learn to recognize the tool marks of individual builders.

INSPECTING OLDER or HISTORICAL HOMES

Older homes should be inspected within the context of the time period during which they were built. This should be stated in the Inspection Report. This means an inspector will not be reporting on a historical home as if it should meet modern standards. Inspectors will look for system defects and safety issues just as in a modern home.

Staircases are a good example of an area of change. In older homes they were typically much narrower and often steeper than modern staircases and that was the accepted buliding practice of the day.  Practices change and the width and angle of a particular staircase might not be acceptable by modern standards. That's what the Inspection Report should state when commenting on the staircase. Any other items which would be considered safety defeciencies by modern standards should be commented upon. This might include tread and riser configurations or dimensions or handrail details.

By commenting in the inspection report on any safety issues, the inspector provides the client with the information they need to make an informed decision on whether they're willing to live with the increased risk represented by the staircase which might be dangerous for them.

By making it clear that the stairway was originally built to the accepted building practice of the day, the inspector keeps the gravity of the problem in perspective for the client and avoids raising alarm over what is actually a common, widely-accepted condition.

Built in 1897, still used as a bed & breakfast at 9000 ft. in Coorado. This building was constructed over the winter so locally-cut logs could be sledged over the snow to the construction site.

Hay Barns

Hay barns are easy to spot by the gaps left between wall logs. The gaps allowed natural air movement to carry away both moisture evaporating from recently-cut hay and heat created by bacterial action inside the hay stack.

Two hay barns still in use, but not for storing hay. A barn used as a mechanical storage shed on the left. On the right is a historical barn built in 1861. Neither structure had a foundation. Both are in Colorado.

A small hay barn converted into a studio in Virginia. That's a thatch roof. Note the discoloration on shingles above the door, the result of roof runoff and splash. It might be mold, then again it might be dirt. Only testing would tell.

The oval wall logs seen in the photo to the right were part of a replica of a 16th century Norwegian log home (see below).

By cutting  wall logs to an oval shape, the builder increased the percentage of heartwood in the log, and at the same time, the steeper profile shed water more easily, both of which increased its resistance to decay.

By leaving the logs full height, the builder made less work for himself since logs with less height means more logs to achieve the same wall height. More logs requires more work.

The logs in this replica were bandsawn and planed. In the 16th century, they'd have been hewn (shaped) with a broadaxe.

MODERN LOG HOMES

Starting in the mid-1970’s, the development of new building techniques, increased buyer expectations, advances in materials technology and efforts to develop standardization have resulted in an increase in the general sophistication and quality of newer log homes. Of course, badly-built homes are still going up out there, some of them very big and expensive with matching big, expensive lawsuits.

Many modern log home manufacturing operations are designed to provide a high level of quality control. Local trees or logs are stored in an area of the manufacturer's log yard to be peeled and dried under controlled conditions. Logs may be graded by one of 3 certified grading programs.

Modern log homes are sometimes designed using Computer Aided Design (CAD) programs and use proprietary engineering. Logs are cut and assembled in the yard by an experienced crew using a jobsite crane. When the log shell is complete, it's disassembled, loaded onto a truck and delivered to the homesite, where it's often assembled by a local contractor under the supervision of a manufacturer's representative.  

Homes may be delivered from the yard to destinations anywhere in North America or loaded into shipping containers and shipped abroad. Inspectors may see homes assembled abroad using these methods and shipped to the U.S. A number of scandanavian countries export log homes to the U.S.

This means that inspectors may often see homes built from tree species which aren't indiginous to the area in which the home is located, the point being that learning about logs in general as a building materials increases the chances that an inspector will spot problems before they become serious.

An old home in a new yard. A replica of a 16th-century Norwegian "Stabbur" in the yard of Timberhus, Boulder, CO.

Peeler logs in a log yard.

Peeler logs are logs with clear wood from which veneer has been peeled.

Loading the logs for delivery to the homesite.                                             Assembly at the homesite.

The National Park Service Technical Preservation Service Brief #26 offers an excellent look at historical log homes.

All photos not cited are by Kenton Shepard