Log Homes, Log Cabins Versius Log Home Kits

Log Homes, Log Cabins Versus Log Home Kits

  The other day I was reading in a forum where a person stated "Don't Buy Log Home Kits"!
  Why not?
  What was his reason?
  He said that all kits had butt and pass corners and that they are not good.  He also builds and sells log homes using a butt and pass corner.
  Many of us that have done our homework already know that those corners are not good.  Why pay a lot of money to build a home and have to tear it down in 15 to 20 years or rebuild parts of it. 
  May people do not know what the difference is between Kits and regular log home packages.  Actually there is not much.  A Kit is simply a log package already made up of standard log home plans and it usually has flat top and bottom logs with or without tong and groves.  This along with butt and pass corners makes them very affordable because it is very inexpensive to make them up compared to standard log homes or log cabins.          But not all kits or packages have butt and pass corners.   And many log home companies have sales on log home packages that people get mixed up and call them Kits. 
  So don't be decieved when somebody says that is a kit don't buy it.  Your really want to put that word out of your mind and look at the logs themselves.  How dry are they?  Are they dried to 15% to the center of the log?  Do they have a stocade corner?  Do they use Swedish cope logs with a tong and grove for the log walls?  Are they through bolted from the top of the log wall to the foundation?  Do they have some sort of drying cut in them?  (This allows for the log to dry more evenly without twisting, kinking, or cracking in the wrong place.  This happens to all logs so when it is controlled you have a better log home.)  Is the heart in the center of the log?
  One thing you should watch out for is when somebody says, "not all butt and pass corners are bad!"  I have repaired and tore down many log homes with this type of corner.  And the man that said don't buy kit log home packages above also said that he makes a butt and pass corner that preforms well.  Hog wash.  Any time you stick a piece of wood out in the rain and snow it will transfer water along it to the log wall.  Even a child can tell you that.  Why is it grown people keep trying to pull the wool over others eyes?  Why is it that over 90% of the log home companies in the US sell inferior product?  Why is it that only one type of log corner was made by the old log builders and has lasted for centuries?

  I am sorry if I get a little frustrated at the log home industry but I have seen so many people taken by these companies.  Even well known companies have not taken the time to make their product last.  It really boils down to that almighty dollar.  The so called Log Home Council doesn't do the right thing but hedges on what really should be done.  Like they put out statements, "17% moisture content is ok".  Butt and pass corners are ok and so forth.  One only has to look at who controls the council to know why.  The log home companies that conpromise their products controls the council.  That's why.  Money talks.
  I would rather be broke than tell a lie or take someon's money under false pretenses.
  So I am going to say it one more time it is not log home kits that are bad it is what they use that makes log homes bad wheather it is a kit or not.

  Thanks for taking the time to read my blogs,
Log Man Dan
541-999-5477

PS:  If you need any technical advise simply give me a call. also below you can see a stockade corner.  I have never repaired a log corner from this company.

541-999-5477