A new log house, from solid wood

Today we started with the assembly of a new log house. This log house is a bit like all the other log houses that we built, except for one thing: solid wood.

So far we used laminated logs, i.e. logs that have been cut into 40 millimeter planks, dried, and then glued together. Such “gluelam” logs have some technical advantages: they are physically more stable, they don’t warp or crack, and they can be made in any length. You may not have a twelve meter tree in the forest, but with gluelam you can still create a twelve meter laminated log (twelve is the maximum length because longer logs don’t fit in a truck).

But laminated logs have one disadvantage: the whole process of cutting a log and then glueing it together is slightly unnatural. We say slightly because it is still wood and still natural and the glues that we use are formaldehyde-free, but even then: some clients prefer the more rustic look and Scandinavian style of solid wood.

And so for this client we have decided to build a log house from solid wood, i.e. wood that consists of one solid piece of wood, one tree. No cutting, no glueing.

We will keep you updated on the progress and the results. One difference is already clear: slightly more cracks. But this client is quite ok with that, and so are we. We will share some photos later.

Today we unloaded the first truck, about four hours work. Then the assembly crew started to solve the initial puzzle: what logs go where,