Northern Log Homes

My family has been in this country for more than a century, and for all that time we have been log home builders. We started off building northern log homes in Michigan, as part of the miner community in the upper Peninsula when we first got here. The interesting thing about living on the frontier was that your comfort was directly related to your ingenuity. A poorly built northern log home probably wouldn't insulate that well. Wind would whistle through the cracks, and the fire would only do so much to warm things up. If you did a good job putting your house together and filling up every crack and crevice, however, you could have a pretty cozy house. Thus, decade after decade, log cabin building grew into a finer and finer art.

With all of the advances in home building, you would think that northern log cabins would be on their way out. As a matter of fact, however, this is not the case. If anything, northern log homes are even more popular than before. Wooden houses are time-tested, high-quality, and beautiful to look at. They naturally have a nice smell, they last for a log time, and they are extremely resistant to the elements. They have the solidity of brick houses, but they have a warmer, homier feel to them. It is no wonder that more and more people are rediscovering the joy of living in a wooden house.

Another great thing about northern log homes is that, depending on the area you live in, you can build one yourself of locally sourced material. Back in the day, of course, people used to go out and cut down wood, but nowadays you can still find good sources of lumber. By using used wood from older houses, or buying direct from lumber wholesalers, you can build your own northern log homes for a fairly affordable price. It is not the cheapest way to make a house, of course, but it is one of the best ways. Properly built northern log homes will last for over a century.

Of course there are also the compromise homes. A lot of the time, people mix up old materials and new. You can give your house the feeling of a northern log home while still using less expensive, modern techniques to build it. By using wooden siding and false beams in the roof, you can turn a normal house into a simulated log cabin. It will still have that same nice smell, that same beautiful rustic look, and that same sense of history. A well done imitation is really almost as good as the original. It's all a matter of getting the look you want in a way that makes the most sense for you.