r/loghomes • u/Conscious_Crow_54 • Dec 12 '25
Log home
Hey everyone,
I've been interested in log homes and hopefully purchasing or building one in the near future.
I am just curious to hear from those of you that may have been in my shoes for feedback.
What is the experience like living in one? I've heard some people would never do it again if they could go back in time.
I live in a particular cold area which is -32C / -26F today as I post this. There are few log homes in my area but obviously not the preferred building method.
Which is why I'm debating finding land and building, but I'm reaching out to either be talked out of it or run towards it.
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u/Fuzzy-Progress-7892 Dec 12 '25
So I just built a chalet style with Swedish cope logs in a cold area but not that cold. The big thing with a cabin is the log size in colder areas.
I have 10" logs and they work well for my area but I would recommend nothing smaller than 12" for your area. Log Homes are thermal mass homes and the more mass the warmer they will stay.
If you are going to have a large prow with a lot of glass make sure you have a secondary heat source in that area like a fireplace.
The radiant floor heating does well in most of the house, but the living room it cannot keep up because of the 100s sq ft of glass in that room.
Chinking/sealing the cabin is the key to stopping any airflow between the joints.
Cabins require a lot of maintenance. Southern exposed sides will need to be re-stained every 2-3 years.
Large eaves and covered porches keep water away from the logs. Keep your foundation a minimum of 12" above grade to limit water.
Built a lot of it myself and it is a ton of work. Love living in it! But I would not build one again myself.
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u/Goodtimes4Goodpeople Dec 12 '25
Insulation, quality windows, good roof overhang, weather exposure considerations both wet and sun, bug prevention and maintenance are the big things in my research we did when considering one. Modern machining makes log home much different than in the past.
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u/bangobingoo Dec 12 '25
For us, the home insurance was the toughest part. although our house is only part log cabin. The original house was a log cabin approximately 300 square feet. But they added on three sides. Finding house insurance was so hard and very expensive even though our house is barely log anymore.
We’re in Canada so it may be harder here. I would ask around insurance places first and see what that costs in your area.
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u/Foreign_Hippo_4450 Dec 12 '25
Im in NYS and I build them. If you want a air tight log home get one thats swedish coped..with saddlenotched corners. And SIP roof system. The best windows you can buy. Do a blower door test to locate spots you may have missed to tighten up. A condensing boiler. Insulated foundation walls. Onsulated band joists.
[redcloverbuilders@facebook.com](mailto:redcloverbuilders@facebook.com)
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u/Smithers66 Dec 12 '25
Our furnace broke a few years ago while out of town. Temps were in the 20s but sunny everyday, when we got home after 2 days of this the house was still around 50 degrees.
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u/Foreign_Hippo_4450 Dec 12 '25
Well a stick built can be drafty too..especially whre studs meet fiberglass and then the outlets and switches..the curse of stick builds is fiberglass looses 90% of its valve when damp...and there lots of holes in the vapor barrier to do that..
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u/Legal_Internet_54 Dec 13 '25
I bought a log home and was really nervous based on some on the cheap and/or old cabins I’ve been around. I now realize they just weren’t built for year round living.
My home has a modern roof system - good insulation with venting. My utility costs are on par with stick built homes around me. Log homes are maintenance… but I don’t think much more than painted wood siding. We have a shed too and it’s more of a pain to stain.
Good luck
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Jan 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Legal_Internet_54 Jan 07 '26
We live high elevation in the Rocky Mountains - so lots of snow in the winter and lots of sun in the summer.
Our house had not been well maintained when we bought it. We sanded the entire house with orbital sanders. It took all summer. Our new stain is Transitions. It’s the tip I tell everyone. Expensive stain is worth it. We reapply on our south and east walls every 4-5 years. We don’t let it get bad. When it starts to lose its gloss we reapply. Another good tip. If you don’t wait until the logs are dried out, prep is easy and it hardly takes any stain. I just dip the end of the brush and apply a thin coat trying to avoid the chinking. In the few spots I drip I go around with a pail of chinking I added water to and paint over.
Things I like about my house: (1) the foundation stem walls are a few feet so we don’t get snow piling against the logs. (2) our overhangs are big which gives good weather protection. (3) our logs are 10” so they have good mass. (4) our roof is modern with vetting and high r value. (5) our logs have the gaskets where they connect. That with chinking I think helps with heating and bugs.
Things I would have done differently: (1) we have logs through the gables. I would have stick framed and sided that with cedar. It’s a pain to stain since it’s so high (30 feet in one spot because we have a walk out basement). (2) we have 2 decks that are at the level of the logs. I would have put a bigger overhang there so there is no chance snow will pile on the logs. I shovel it away immediately but my neighbor is part time and they end up with snow piling against their house. I suspect they will have to replace those logs at some point.
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u/ellab58 Dec 13 '25
I’m in Kentucky, so nowhere near as cold. My log house was built from a Jim Barna kit in 1990. We have square logs and chinking. It’s a cape cod style with a timber-sided 2nd floor. My windows are 30 years old and if I could swing it, I would replace them, but I haven’t won the lottery. It’s alot of work. I inherited the house from my parents who built it. It requires regular staining. The carpenter bees and woodpeckers can be unrelenting. So I would suggest checking yourself now to be sure you’re willing to put time into it, or you can afford to pay someone for regular care. For us, we love it. My husband is very handy, thank goodness!
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u/itsoundsgoodtome Dec 13 '25
It’s a labor of love. They are sturdier, quieter, and cleaner. Ours is nice and warm in the winter, cool in the summer and very comfortable. Ours is 3900 sq ft and we are looking for a larger one. It’s a classic lifestyle.
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u/Zealousideal_Vast799 Dec 13 '25
Try and find an old one for sale. We bought one in ‘90, best financial decision, dismantled it, put it on a new foundation. Much much easier and more beautiful than a new one.
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u/Repulsive-Way272 Dec 13 '25
Illinois... tons of maintenance due to moisture, impossible to keep bugs and sometimes bats out of even with caulking to the moon.... I fix them and restore them but often joke we could just plane the logs flat and put on vinyl siding.
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u/nrcaldwell Dec 14 '25
Funny you mention that. My in-laws recently had a bat in their log home. For the life of me I can't imagine how it got in because their place seem sealed tight.
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u/nrcaldwell Dec 14 '25
We've been looking at them for years and finally hope to start a build this year. One thing that helped us a lot in deciding what we wanted was finding cabins that we could rent for a weekend.
I can't speak to an Alaska winter but there's nothing more cozy here in Ohio than a log home with a nice hot fire in the wood stove or fireplace.
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u/crevasse2 Dec 14 '25
We built a 3000sf "fake" log home in CO high Rockies, 10k feet. We had the option of 8" log or 2x6 stick framing with the same 8" log cut in half and sandwiching the 2x6. I wanted extreme insulation so we went with the half log option. Zero regrets. Insulation was 2" closed cell foam out the outside and dense blown on the interior. Very tight. Over r50 in the ceiling. Solar and geothermal. Our energy bill was $1000/year. We're idiots for moving. Lastly, drywall sucks compared to wood. We did minimal mostly for a bit of color contrast.
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u/Interesting-Night652 Dec 14 '25
They are beautiful but make sure that you understand the maintenance required.
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u/PaintingConfident813 Jan 29 '26
Living in a log home can be incredibly rewarding if you go in with clear expectations.
The people who say “I’d never do it again” usually fall into one of a few camps:
- They didn’t understand the maintenance commitment
- The home wasn’t designed well for the climate
- or shortcuts were taken during the build that showed up years later
In very cold climates (like what you’re describing), log homes can perform extremely well thermally, but details matter a lot: log profile, joinery, air sealing, roof overhangs, drainage, and how moisture is managed. A well-built log home should feel solid, quiet, and comfortable in extreme cold; a poorly built one will be drafty and frustrating.
A few things I’d strongly suggest if you’re considering building:
- Research builders deeply and talk to past clients 5–10 years out
- Don’t underestimate long-term exterior maintenance (it’s not constant, but it is inevitable)
- Design for water control first: overhangs, rooflines, drainage, site grading
- Accept that log homes are more like owning a classic truck than a new sedan. Amazing when cared for, unforgiving when ignored
If you enjoy learning how your house works and staying ahead of maintenance, a log home can be an incredible long-term investment and lifestyle choice. If you want something that’s mostly “set it and forget it,” it may not be the best fit.
Happy to answer specific questions if you have them, climate, building vs buying, or what to watch out for.
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u/Sunbuzzer Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26
Insurance is double if not triple what my friends pay but I also live in rural Canada.
I pay 280 CAD a month and that was the cheapest we could find normally around 300-400- range.
We have milled logs and we built in 2022-2023 so stuff is still settling a bit. The maintenance is imo only rough when u first start out.
Since ours was a new build we had to do all the staining, topcoat, chinking ourself and washing.
After the initial house setup is done its not that bad tho I've heard rounded logs are a constant job. Milled after the initial setup u just wash them like once a year and chink what u need to.
But also it depends how much your willing to put into it money wise. Like I kno people who lindseed oiled there logs and basically every 6months to a year had to redo them.
I used canada log home supply and got there recommend stain and top coat and u really dont have to redo it for like half a decade and even then its just the top coat. I only wash the logs once a year. Tho it was 1000s of dollars after all said and done but I'd rather use stuff that last im lazy af.
Logs will shift constantly. New checks can show up and small gaps can form. Imo if u want stuff to always be flush perfectly to wall and perfectly square dont get a log home as its legit impossible.
We also did interior walls as drywall and personally wish went went full log as drywall and log arnt the best of friends cus drywall isnt made to shift like logs so u will get some hairline cracks in drywall.
The biggest issue for me was how out of square everything is for my liking. Some trim sits complete flush with the wall and some trim its out by a little bit due to logs shifting over like 1/16th of inch. It really depends how anal u are about that.
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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25
[deleted]