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What is the difference between handcrafted and milled log homes ?
Handcrafted log homes are just as their name states ... 'hand-crafted' ... crafted by hand. Our log crafters hand peel specially selected, large, full round logs and scribe them to fit tightly together, creating a structure that is not only beautiful but very valuable. Milled logs are run through a machine to make every piece the same. As a result, there is no artistry involved ... no character ... and their resale value is diminshed when compared with a handcrafted log home. Because the logs have smaller diameters, the milled log home will also have a poorer insulation value, as there is less thermal mass in the wall surface. Furthermore, the pieces of a milled log home are cut in shorter lengths, requiring that the logs be 'butted' together in the middle of a wall, which results in the appearance of unsightly, and potentailly drafty, breaks throughout the 'log' wall. In fact, the price of a milled log home package can be the same, or even higher, than a Kodiak Log Home when you add in the time to erect, cut window and door openings, etc. to the milled log shell package.
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Can I design my log home ?
Certainly! All of our homes are custom built for you. We do not offer 'kit' or 'standard shell' homes. This website shows, in our sample plans area, many stock blueprints which can be used in creating your own personal log home, but most people use the sample plans as a catalyst for generating their own log home plan ideas. We can provide you with a free estimate based on your design or Kodiak Log Homes' design team will work with you, your contractor, or your architect, to design your ideal home and make sure that your topography, access, views, solar orientation, budget and lifestyle are incorporated into your design.
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How much do blueprints cost and what do they include?
Currently, our price for design and blueprint services is $1.00 per square foot. A firm price can be given in a free estimate, once the plan is presented to us. Blueprints are drawn on a CAD system (Computer Aided Design) in house at our 100 Mile House, B.C. office.
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What's included in Kodiak Log Home Blueprints?
- All drawings are plotted at 24" x 36" and at 1/4" = 1’-0" scale
- Floor plans
- Elevations (drawings showing the home from four different angles)
- Building sections (minimum 2, maximum 4)
- Framing layouts
- Foundation plan and foundation details
- Log construction details and notes
For a moderate additional charge, photo-realistic renderings can be created for you.
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What services are available at additional cost?
- Site plan with residence located within building envelope (if topo available) ($40/hr.)
- Interior elevations and design ($40/hr.)
- Landscape planning and site planning ($40/hr.)
- Colored renditions and material planning ($40/hr.)
- foundation engineering (stamped by licensed engineer)
- They are drawn to 1997 U.B.C. (Uniform Building Code), the most current code, and are generally accepted worldwide.
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What if I already have a set of blueprints ?
Kodiak Log Homes will provide a free detailed breakdown of the log shell package based on your blueprints. We will need to verify the design and building suitability to Kodiak Log Homes construction techniques and standards. Changes to outside designs if necessary and requested by you are billed at the rate of forty dollars per hour US funds or a fixed fee for redraws.
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How much does a log package cost ?
An average home designed, blueprinted, pre-built in our yard, trucked to your site, and the crane, labour and supervision to re-erect your log shell package runs from $25-$35 per square foot (US funds). As all of our homes are custom, the price varies greatly with detail, size, design and site complexity and location. A free estimate on your design and location can give you a firm price.
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What does the package include ?
This is a very hard question to answer in a general sence. A good analogy is "what does a car include?" Are we talking about a stock Chevy, or a fully optioned Rolls Royce? Both will get you from point A to point B, it is a matter of your personal style and budget. Our custom log homes are the same way, anything you desire we can build for you. Please visit HERE for a detailed breakdown of a typical log shell package.
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Do you build the whole house ?
Kodiak Log Homes builds only the log portion of your home and supervises its re-erection on your site. We can also provide you with our own custom windows and doors built specifically for our log shell packages, Structural Insulated Panels (SIP's) and Sikkens stain, to create a "Dry-in" package. These are quoted separately. It is not cost effective for us and you to send a crew and pay lodging, food and per diem in addition to wages for the installation of these additional items. A local contractor can always beat the price of "travelling crews".
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What does it cost to finish the entire home?
Your choice of finishes, contractor, labour and material costs in your area and building site will affect the final cost of your home. We do not charge any more for our log shell packages in Aspen, CO. than we do in Huntington, TX. Ask a local contractor or lender in your area for average prices of custom homes. Typically it will costs more per square foot for a custom log home, this is usually due to finishes that would not normally be included in a stick-framed custom home (large rock fireplaces, large windows, covered decks, etc.).
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How long will it take to build my log shell package?
Six to twelve weeks is the average time to build and deliver your Kodiak Log Home to your site, we normally re-erect 1,000 square feet of the log shell per day. This will depend on your design and time of year. One of the wonderful things about building a Kodiak Log Home is that at the same time you or your contractor are doing roadwork, excavation, utilities, foundation and sub-floor, Kodiak's Logcrafters are building your log shell package, saving significant construction time.
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What is your experience and how many homes do you build a year ?
Kodiak Log Homes has been building and re-erecting log shell packages worldwide since 1990. We have built hundreds of homes and commercial buildings. Kodiak Log Homes typically builds 30-40 custom homes each year. These custom structures have varied from 300 square feet to over 22,000. Our Staff and Log crafters average over fifteen years in the building trade, and several of our Log crafters are third generation Logsmiths!
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What species of wood do you use ?
We build over ninety percent of all Kodiak Log Homes out of Engelmann Spruce, it has a good strength to weight ratio, is a beautiful white wood and is native to many dry climates. We also offer Douglas Fir (attractive grain colour and superior structural strength) , Yellow Pine (full of character), and Western Red Cedar (attractive color in the grain and a natural resistance to insects and decay) for an up-charge of fifteen to thirty percent. All of our logs are T.P.I graded. Because the logs are harvested during the winter months and air dry for a year prior to use, our logs have a low (18% to 22%) mounsture content.
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What is T.P.I. grading and what does it do for me?
Timber Products Inspection, Inc., the T.P.I. grading rules and design values are based on the nationally recognized standard ASTM D3957 "Standard Methods for Establishing Stress Grades for Structural Members Used in Log Buildings". In order to design with logs, Original Log Homes must have log design values. To obtain safe design values, logs must be structurally graded. T.P.I.'s log grading program is the industry leader, accepted under all three of the National Building Codes and by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The T.P.I. log grade stamp provides you with the assurance of receiving building logs from a quality oriented company who is building under a meaningful quality-auditing program. Every log in a Kodiak Log Home is stamped and a grading certificate is available if required by your building inspector.
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Do you use live or dead standing logs ?
We prefer live trees, We know that every healthy, slow growth tree from Canada's Dry Belt Region, (we harvest in winter for lower sap content) will build a superior Kodiak Log Home. Occasionally a client will request dead standing, Dead standing is either fire kill or beetle kill so there will be bore holes and blue stain in the logs, the common myth that dead standing logs do not shrink is addressed next.
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What about air infiltration and shrinkage?
All wood shrinks when it is brought to a drier climate. This is true of kiln dried dimensional lumber as it is of full logs. Do not listen to the hype of some companies that claim that they will have no problems with settlement or air infiltration. All wood products will have some problems in certain climates. This is why you will see nail pops and cracks in drywall and stucco in a stick framed home. Generally, it will take two to three winters for your Kodiak Log Home to reach moisture equilibrium equal to your climate. In some climates it is inevitable that somewhere in any companies Log Shell Package air infiltration will occur. To guarantee no air infiltration you may caulk the interior of the structure after the logs have reached moisture equilibrium with your climate. You may also choose to chink your Kodiak Log Home, this will cost considerably less than on a "chink style" log home as the logs are full scribed there is no need for backer rod and the amount of chink is 1/4 or less, resulting in significant labour and material savings.
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Do you allow for shrinkage and settlement?
Yes, our logs are air dried to an average moisture content of eighteen-twenty two percent, creating two-three inches of shrinkage and settlement (compaction due to weight) in a nine foot stacked log wall. Kodiak Log Homes has taken extensive precautions and allowances to minimize the affects of shrinkage and settlement in your Log Home. We allow five inches above window and door openings. Keyways and splines in window and door openings. Settlers on log posts and interior framed bearing walls. Drift pins around window openings. Drift pins on the top course of stacked log walls. Additional drift pins where necessary for structural integrity. Through bolts at all log ends. Through bolts on each side of door openings. Additional through bolts where necessary for structural integrity. Batting insulation inserted inside the scribe on laterals and corner notches. Optional wall slots pre-cut for interior framed walls. T.P.I. graded and certified logs. Blueprints drawn to 1997 Uniform Building Code. Complete, copyrighted construction manual with instructions and details.
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What is your warranty ?
Kodiak Log Homes guarantees the workmanship for the log portion of the building by using only T.P.I. graded, certified logs with experienced staff, log-crafters and supervisors in our construction. Our building methods meet or exceed Log Building Industry standards. Any log work not completed according to blueprints or any missing or damaged material will be corrected, replaced or reimbursed by Kodiak Log Homes at its sole discretion.
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How can electrical outlets and fixtures be placed on a log wall?
This is one of our most often asked questions from those already familiar with the basics of designing their log home. Generally speaking, the following items are required when wiring a log wall:
- For electical outlets, switches, and wall-mounted lighting fixtures, pockets must be chiseled into the face of the log at the location desired. The 'pocket' must allow for the insertion of an electrical box, to which the outlet/switch/lighting fixture will be mounted.
- A hole must be drilled from the rear of this 'pocket' down to the lateral notch (which runs the length of each log on its bottom side). In the case of electrical outlets which are placed on the bottom log, the hole will be drilled right through the subfloor.
- The wiring from the electrical box will run down this hole, and along lateral notch intill it reaches a key-way at the side of a door or window opening.
- The wiring is run down the key-way and through the subfloor, where it then travels to the breaker box location.
- Wiring for second floor areas is generally run down inside an interior partition wall.
While your electrical contractor or carpenter can perform the chiseling and drilling needed, we also provide this service for a small charge. In addition to the chiseling and drilling, we will also flatten and sand down the area around the electical unit.
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How do I do the plumbing for my second floor area?
This is also a frequently asked questions from those already familiar with the basics of designing their log home. Any feed water tubing used should be flexible, at least in the area where the settling has been accounted for (usually at the top of the first floor partition walls). Waste water piping will require a smaller diameter pipe be inserted into the main donw pipe, and that a gasket be used to allow for a water tight fit while allowing for the smaller pipe to slide down into the larger one for a lenght of up to 6".
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Is shipping included in the package price?
In order to maintain consistent pricing, and to insure that you receive a fair shipping price based on current shipping rates to your area, we do not include the price of shipping in our liog shell package price. We would, however, be pleased to provide a shipping quote for your Kodiak Log Homes log shell package. All we need is the destination, and a short time to allow our shipping contacts work our a rate for you.
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Will Kodiak Log Homes arrange for the shipping?
Absolutely. We have contacts in the shipping industry that specialize in the transportation of log home packages. In fact, we prefer to arrange for the shipping on your behalf, as it gives us the ability to insure that the shipping company is reputable and has the knowledge required for the proper care of you log home package while en-route.
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