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16) Q: Do your log homes shrink or settle and how do I maintain it?
A: Settling is planned into each log home design. Ninety percent of settling will happen within the first two years. White Pine will settle between 1- 3 inches, Red Pine will settle between 3 – 5 inches. Settling happens vertically (Up and Down) and NOT horizontally. We build more homes out of white pine because more people are comfortable with less shrinkage. Settling of each home will vary. Our model home, which is seven years old, only settled 1 ½ inches total. We also built a home out of dead standing Lodge Pole, which is known for being a fairly dry wood – that home settled three inches! We plan for the settling in all areas of the log home beginning with the blueprints designed for your home. We recommend with a handcrafted log home that a humidifying system be installed on the furnace, which puts moisture into the air and home during the fall and winter months, when the drying process is occurring. We recommend that the home be kept at a moisture level of 40% to 45%. The moisture provides uniform settling, and prevents large cracks and checking of the logs. There will be some cracks and checks in any log home, and that is part of the nature of log homes.
Door and Windows: We allow for ½” of settling per foot of log wall above each door and window opening. There is a 4-½ inch space above the doors and windows on a log home that is nine feet in height. After the door opening is cut out and keywayed, the door is installed and fiberglass insulation is put in above the door opening, and then a decorative trim board is fastened and nailed at the top of the opening. The trim board is not nailed at the bottom, and during the settling process the trim board comes down with the log reducing the space between the top of the door and the log above it.
Interior log walls are built with settling in mind, with placement of trim boards which have lag bolts and insulation between them and nailing the trim board is then nailed at the top. When the settling occurs, the trim/lap board comes down with the rest of the home. There is no further maintenance needed on the interior framed walls.
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