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BLUEPRINTS
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Each of the standard models located on our website includes 3 sets of house plans. The plans include foundation detail, rafter layouts, and elevations. Custom designs are welcomed and are blueprinted at no additional cost to the customer.
INSURANCE
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According to insurance industry officials, log homes are no more expensive to insure than traditionally constructed homes. The key to insurance rates; however, has more to do with a homes location than the type of building material used. In fact, some insurance companies recognize that the solid wood construction of a log home has greater resistance to flame spread than the stud wall construction of a traditional home. It has been discovered that log walls form a natural firebreak because there are no channels to facilitate the spread of fire.
FOUNDATION
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Our homes are designed to adapt to any kind of conventional foundation. They are built over full basements, crawl spaces, concrete slabs, and over pylons.
INSULATION
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Log homes are extremely energy efficient due to the large amount of wood used in their construction. Wood has been proven to be one of the best naturally occurring insulators known to man. In each square inch of wood there are thousands of tiny air pockets trapped in its cellular structure. These tiny pockets of air slow the transfer of heat through the log keeping your home cozy in the winter and cool in the summer.
PRESERVATION AND MAINTANCE OF LOGS
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It is important to keep your logs dry. During the design and construction of your home, be sure to allow adequate overhangs, guttering, spouting and drainage provisions. After construction, treat the exterior of your home with a good quality wood preservative. We recommend repeating this process every three to five years. This is a simple and inexpensive procedure using either a garden sprayer or brush to apply the preservative. The interior of your home can be finished with any good interior wood finish. Use a product that allows the wood to breathe. Preservatives for the interior of the log walls are not needed or recommended by Battle Creek Log Homes. If applied on the inside of your home, preservation chemicals may continuously release toxic fumes in your living environment. It is a much safer practice to treat the outside of your home with a preservative application once your home is complete.
WIRING AND PLUMBING
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Wiring for electricity is not as difficult as it may seem. Most of your electrical outlets and wall switches will be located on the interior portion walls; however, locating electrical outlets on log walls is as simple as planning them prior to construction. The first course of logs is pre-drilled and conduit is run to the outlet. The opening for the outlet box is easily routed to the second course of logs. To install a wall switch on a log wall, simply vertically drill each course of logs for the wire up to the switch box, or you can route the wire behind the door jam and drill one log horizontally to the switch opening. The plumbing is simply run through closets or interior partition walls, and the duct work is run through the first floor partitions and vented through the ceiling into the second floor.
DOUBLE TOUNG AND GROOVE
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The double tongue & groove system has been proven to add strength, rigidity, and air flow prevention to a log system. At Battle Creek Log Homes, we are a firm believer in the double tongue & groove system and have incorporated it on almost all of our log systems. Each tongue and groove is additionally fortified with a weatherproof gasket to further insure a complete airtight seal. The logs are then screwed and anchored together with an olylog lag screw. This combination of tongue & groove, gaskets, and lag screws provides for some of the best log structures on the market today.
HAND HEWING
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Battle Creek Log Homes is one of the few companies to still offer the option of authentic hand hewing. We employ some of the best craftsmen in the industry highly skilled in the arts of hewing. These craftsmen are able to produce a highly crafted hand hewed exterior to our square logs. Homeowners searching for that rustic Appalachian log home appeal, choose the Battle Creek hand hewn square log for their new home.
V-GROOVE
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The V-groove gets its name from its distinct shape. Each log is beveled on its corner to make a V shape groove when it is stacked on another log. The V-groove is very popular with homeowners who are searching for a more finished texture on the inside of their home. The V-groove comes on our D-log and is an option on the square log.
CHINK JOINTING
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Chinking of logs has been part of the log home since its origin, early pioneers chinked between their logs with clay and straw in order to seal out the harsh environment. Today, the chinking of logs is only done for the rustic appearance it adds to the square log. The chink joint is routed into the finished log and measure ?" deep and 1 ?" wide. The chink joint is optional on either side of the square log. |
