|
Durable and Beautiful Log Cabin
by Kathryn Whittaker
Homesteaders settling in the territories of the American West
traditionally built log cabins; durable, rainproof, and
inexpensive. Today, eco-friendly and rustically charming, log
cabins with their distinctive handcrafted appearance seem to be
making a comeback, with luxurious features such as whirlpools,
skylight windows and heated patios.
Swedish colonists built the first log cabins in North America
at the beginning of the 18th century. The design of the log
cabins was influenced by typical North European farm-houses
until the introduction of the Homestead Act. According to
which, new colonists had to build their homes of a specific
size with at least one window. These old log cabins had just
one room, a spacious porch, and an elevated area for sleeping.
Building the frontier style log cabin was quite easy and
required only a few days. First of all, the builder settled a
solid foundation to keep logs above the damp soil. Most often,
rock or stone were used for the log cabin foundation. Then the
builder would square off each log and make round cuts on the
top and bottom of each end. Then he assembled the logs so that
round cuts would fit together. The logs were secured together
with wood sticks. The remaining spaces were filled with
insulation materials such as clay or mud. The windows and doors
were simply cut out, and a fireplace was built afterwards.
Thanks to new construction technologies and an increased
attention to all things eco-wise and natural, log cabins are
gaining in their popularity. Well-constructed, weather-proof
log cabins today can be built and styled similar to
conventional houses. Among the advantages of log cabins and
homes, experts list remarkable weather-proofing qualities with
little insulation and low building costs. In addition to that
log cabins require little maintenance.
A hundred years ago a log builder lived in almost all rural
neighborhoods, so learning to build a log cabin was easy ?
people simply followed the way he built. Today, log cabin
enthusiasts have access to hundreds of log cabin building
manuals and resources from all over the world.
Log cabin factory kits are a practical solution for the log
cabin devotee. Log packages with complete instructions can be
found online from as low as $5,000, but the complete cost of
the building can go twice as high. To the price of the log
cabin kit you should add the costs of the assembly and the
installation of plumbing, electricity, heating and other
“luxuries”. The happy owner of the log cabin can actually
decrease the costs by participating in the construction, even
though most log building companies can provide a team of
contractors to raise the log cabin. In any case, the modern log
cabin can be built from scratch in less than two weeks.
Once a popular vacation dwelling located in the scenic outback,
log cabins are becoming popular residence choices for many
families. More than 90 per cent of all log homes are currently
used as a primary residence, and many of these log homes are
built in metropolitan areas. Often, when people build the log
cabin for vacation getaways places, they eventually move into
their log homes because of their casual rugged charm and
convenience.
Kathryn Whittaker writes articles on a number
of different topics. http://www.log-cabin-guide.com/
|
|
|
