frequently asked questions
LOG HOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
We're here to provide all the information you need to make an informed decision about your log home or cottage.
Whether you're considering a custom-built log home or exploring our preselected floor plans, our team will guide you every step of the way for a seamless and rewarding log home journey. If you can't find what you're looking for here, don't hesitate to reach out to our experts – we're always here to assist you. At EcoLog Homes, we're dedicated to crafting the best log homes in Canada that offer natural beauty, comfort, and energy efficiency, providing a truly remarkable living experience.
LOG HOME F.A.Q.
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While we are based in Haliburton, Ontario and most of our kits are delivered to customers based in Ontario, we have supplied kits to customers in Manitoba and Quebec. However, we are willing to supply customers far and wide. Since the plans we supply with our kits are provided by an Ontario-licensed designer and engineer, your out-of-province build may require a review by a local engineer before a building permit is issued. Check with your municipal building department for their requirements.
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All our log home and cottage designs meet or exceed Ontario Building Code standards for full-time residential use.
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Since we began production of our kits almost 30 years ago, we have standardized our use of full-size 8”x8” square logs for our kits. We chose this route because while it certainly simplifies the production of our kits, importantly it also helps the build proceed more quickly and this translates directly into cost savings for our customers.
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We do not attempt to dry our logs because we prefer to let them dry naturally in service. While kiln-drying is appropriate for small timbers such as 2” “dimensional” lumber, fast drying of heavy timbers will result in a large moisture differential between the outside and core of the timber. This in turn can create tension within the timber resulting in twisting or warping. We use hemlock for our logs, which has many properties making it an excellent choice for log structures, but once fully dry it can be very hard. Since there is on-site drilling required for the dowels used to pin the timbers, this task is more easily performed when there is still some moisture in the wood. We have developed a very simple system to allow the logs to settle naturally yet still maintain the full integrity of the building. Once the building is constructed, the logs dry slowly and evenly in place.
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We offer both. For many years we only produced custom designs but recently we selected a range of popular floorplans to offer at a lower price and with a shorter lead time. Our custom designs allow customers to choose exactly the layouts they want, and since EcoLog buildings require no interior loadbearing walls there is a lot of flexibility in how the space can be designed. Our preselected designs have been chosen from our most popular plans and cost less because we already have the production specifications completed.
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You can expect your log home to last a very, very long time – if you take care of it! With any wood structure there are three important conditions which must be met: a good roof, a solid foundation, and continuous occupancy. With these conditions in place, there are examples of log homes in Europe over 400 years old. The oldest wooden house in North America was built in 1641 and still stands today. There is a five-storey wooden building in Japan that’s 1300 years old. It’s all about the maintenance!
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No, we do not. We use hemlock for our logs, which contains naturally high levels of tannins. This helps keep the timbers insect resistant. Hemlock is also rot-resistant and has been used for centuries in underwater applications such as log dams and dock structures. In fact, our customers will often leave their EcoLog homes and cottages without a stain or finish of any kind, simply allowing the wood to age naturally to a silver-grey, over time.
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Our EcoLog homes are designed to meet provincial energy-efficiency requirements. As with any new home build, it is important for the builder to ensure proper air-infiltration sealing at door and window openings, around the sill plate and at the wall/roof interface. When correctly assembled, an EcoLog kit will provide a well-insulated and comfortable home for all seasons.
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The logs we supply for our kits will contain a level of natural moisture since we do not attempt to kiln-dry such heavy timbers. The first two heating seasons after the build will allow the structure to settle into a humidity equilibrium and this is the period when most settling will occur. Wood is a very forgiving building material and is dynamic, responding to temperature and humidity levels throughout the year with slight expansion or contraction. We anticipate this settling, and we design and engineer our buildings to accommodate it, with a few very simple but effective building techniques.
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R-value alone is not a reliable indicator of the energy efficiency of log walls. Because our walls are solid 8” thick timbers, and one inch of hemlock has an R-value around 1.4 and we “sandwich” a layer of closed-cell foam between the logs, our wall system has been calculated to have an R-value of around R-13. However, when working with solid materials, basing heat loss on R-value alone is misleading as these materials have a characteristic known as thermal mass storage. This allows our walls to store heat within the wood's structure instead of slowing heat loss as in a standard frame wall. This stored heat is released from the wall mass as the inside/outside temperatures change, helping keep our solid log buildings cool in the summer heat and cozy and warm in the winter. Our log walls offer equivalent heat/cooling costs to conventional 2x6 frame structures, and this is recognized in the Ontario Building Code.
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We are a division of the Haliburton Forest & Wild Life Reserve Ltd., which is 100,000 acres of mixed forest that is managed on a sustainable basis. Nearly 30 years ago, Haliburton Forest became the very first forest in Canada to be certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council, and as such we are very much committed to sustainable forest management today. Because of our strict forest management protocol, we are not currently able to source 100% of our hemlock from our own lands, but now “import” some timbers from other well-managed Canadian forests. We depend upon a continued supply of timbers and the only way to achieve this is through careful forest management. Haliburton Forest is an internationally known leader for its pioneering work in sustainable forest management, multi-use forest management, and forest ecology research.
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Our log homes can be constructed on any type of foundation that would be used for any house. The foundations can be concrete piers, a frostwall and slab, a crawlspace, or a full basement, with or without a walkout. We will design and spec the foundations of your choice with the construction drawings we supply for each kit.
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Wall outlets are fitted horizontally between the first and second log course. To do this, once the first log layer is placed your builder will drill down through the log into the crawlspace/joist space below the floor at the location of each outlet before he/she completes the rest of the wall. When the electrician arrives to pull the cables, these are simply looped up from beneath the floor through the drilled hole and are to a standard outlet box. This is repeated for each outlet around the wall. Kitchen areas will often use a shallow frame wall against the log wall to simplify running cables to counter-level outlets and providing a stable base for kitchen cabinetry. Other wiring and plumbing are run in a conventional way within interior walls. Wiring for switches can be installed after the walls are up and is typically run under the door subframe. Plumbing is not usually run inside an exterior wall in any building so this is a standard installation with our log homes.
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Our kits are for the shell of the building only, and we do include your construction drawings for the whole building as well as an engineer’s review and stamp. Included are the logs for the walls (precut to fit the design), heavy timber roof trusses, roof sheathing boards, hemlock beams as determined by the engineer, wall insulation, and chinking to install between the logs.
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Our kits compare favorably with quality conventional frame construction, and the end result is a unique, warm and inviting home with an ambience only achieved with solid log construction. Since many log home customers are looking for soaring cathedral ceilings, large feature fireplaces, unique interior finishes, and large wrap around porches, these all tend to skew the “average” log home build cost – but with our EcoLog home designs you can choose the level of finishing to match your own budget. The most cost-effective design is a simple rectangular building with four square corners, but we have many designs that offer greater separation of living areas for those that choose to have separate “wings” for bedrooms, for example.
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Our custom kits will take at least three months and usually longer because of the custom design process to arrive at a perfect floor plan. Our preselected kit designs can be produced within a month. All timeframe estimates here are dependent on the sawmill production schedule and may vary from the lead times quoted due to workload. We are usually able to provide a timeline for the kit to be ready during our earliest discussions with customers, and by the time we accept a deposit, we will have confirmed the timeline with the customer.
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Delivery of the kit is not included and is typically priced by time and distance. We can assist with arranging shipping using a local transport company. Customers are welcome to arrange their own pickup and delivery with any trucking company capable of handling the weight and volume of our kits.