|
 Frequently Asked Questions Can I design my log home? How much do blueprints cost? What do you include in the Blueprints? What other services do you offer? What if I already have a set of blueprints? How much does the Log package cost? What does the Log package include? Do you build the whole house? What does it cost to finish the entire home? How long will it take to build my Log Shell Package? What is your experience and how many homes do you build? What species of wood and styles do you utilize? What is T.P.I. grading and what does it do for me? Do you use live or dead standing logs? What about air infiltration and shrinking? Do you allow for shrinkage and settlement? What is your Warranty? What is the difference between Handcrafted and milled log homes? Back to top Handcrafted log homes are just as it states, "Hand-Crafted", our Log crafters hand peel specially selected, large, full round logs and scribe them to fit tightly together, creating a structure that is not only beautiful but very valuable. Milled logs are run through a machine to make every piece the same. There is no artistry involved and their resale and insulation value is less than a Handcrafted log home, even though the price of a WoodsCrest Log Shell Package is the same price or even lower than some milled packages. When you add to a milled package the time to erect, cut window and door openings, insulate between logs and butt joints, spike or lag together, etc. the costs are equal. Can I design my log home? Back to top Back to top Certainly! All of our homes are custom built for you, we do not offer "kit" or "standard plan" homes. Our Website and Plan Book show home plans to give you ideas and pricing. We can provide you with a free estimate based on your design or WoodsCrest Log Homes' design team will work with you, your contractor or architect to design your ideal home and make sure that your topography, access, views, solar orientation, budget and lifestyle are incorporated into your home. How much do blueprints cost? Back to top Blueprints drawn for WoodsCrest Log Homes are drawn by our In House Designers and Drafters, on a CAD system (Computer Aided Design). Current Blueprint pricing is $1.65 per square foot. If you have a topo in electronic medium from a surveyor or engineer it can be incorporated into a site plan in the blueprint price, paper medium topo is an additional fee. What do you include in the blueprints? Back to top Blueprints do not include electrical or plumbing layouts, since codes vary greatly though out the world, and your electrician and plumber will submit their own plan to your building department. Blueprints are not stamped by a structural engineer, architect, etc. as this is not required in many locales and is not included in your Blueprint or Log Package price. If your area requires stamped plans, etc., you or your contractor are solely responsible for the cost and arrangements necessary for an engineer or architectural stamp. If any changes are then required which affects the log size, hardware, window and door size and placement, design, etc., notations circled in red on your submittal blueprints will then be changed at no additional cost. Your final blueprints will then be ready for submittal to building authorities and your WoodsCrest Log Home package price will be adjusted at this time. Any changes required or requested by client after this will be billed at the hourly rate. WoodsCrest Log Homes' blueprints are very detailed, typically drawn with 13-18 pages and include: - All drawings are plotted at 24" x 36" and at 1/4" = 1'- 0" Scale - Floor Plans - Elevations (drawings showing the home from four different angles) - Building Sections (normally 2-4, depending on size of structure) - Framing Layouts - Foundation Plan and Foundation Details - Log Construction Details and Notes - General Details and Notes What other services do you offer? Back to top WoodsCrest Log Homes In-House design team offers the following services at an additional cost: - Site Plan with Residence located within Building Envelope - Interior Elevations and Design - Landscape Planning and Site Planning - Coloured Renditions and Material Planning - Computer generated exterior flybys and interior walkthroughs (varies per square footage) What if I already have a set of blueprints? Back to top WoodsCrest Log Homes will provide a free detailed breakdown of the Log Shell Package based on your Blueprints. It is best to pick the company you want to deal with first and draw Blueprints with them. We will need to verify your Blueprints design and building suitability to WoodsCrest Log Homes' construction techniques. Permission to build from your Blueprints may need to be secured from the owner of the Blueprints. How much does the log package cost? Back to top An average home designed, blueprinted, pre-built in our yard, trucked to your site, and the crane, labor and supervision to re-assemble your Log Shell Package runs from $35 .00 per square foot U.S. funds. As all of our homes are custom, the price varies with detail, size, design and site complexity, location and weather. A free estimate on your design and location can give you a firm quote. What does the package include? Back to top A good analogy is, what does a car include? Are we talking about a stock Chevrolet, or a fully optioned Rolls-Royce? Both will get you from point A to point B, it is a matter of your personal style and budget. Our custom Log Homes are the same way, anything you desire we can build for you and incorporate into your Log Package. A typical package includes: - 9’ High 12” to 14” Average Mean Diameter Hand Peeled Full - Scribe Engelmann Spruce Log Walls - Overscribe Saddle Notches - Full Scribe Fiberglass Insulated Lateral Joints - *OPTIONAL: SofRod and Shoulder Cuts Pre-Installed on each Lateral Groove - Fiberglass Insulation Batting for Corner Notches - *OPTIONAL: Wool Insulation Batting - “No Mar Logs” No Hooked Tongs are Used During Construction or Re-Assembly - 5/8” Full Length Throughbolts pre-drilled with Springs and Hardware and Holes Pre-Drilled - Pre Assembled Western Red Cedar Log Railing built in sections - Pre Assembled Douglas Fir Log Stairs Main to Loft - Framed Temporary landing with Log Support Posts (when applicable) - Slabbing and Squaring of Logs for Framing - Slabbing and Slotting of Wall for Interior Framed Partitions - Sill Seal for Under First Course of Log - *OPTIONAL: Electrical Outlets Mortised Out, Electrical Chases Drilled and Flared for Plates - All Window and Door Openings Cut Out, Keywayed, Flattened and Flared for Installation of Units - All Flooring Cuts for Log Walls to Accept 2” x 6” Tongue and Groove on Loft Floor - All Log Wall Ends Trimmed, Curled, Sanded and Chamfered - All Top Wall Logs, Log Ridges and Log Purlins Flattened to Accept Owner’s Roofs Throughout Building - All Log Ridge/Purlin Support Posts Flattened Where Applicable - All Steel Pins to Secure Log Package with Holes Pre-Drilled - All Wooden Splines for Window and Door Keyways - All Logs Grade Stamped by a Registered TPI Grader with Over 70% “Premium”, the Highest Grade - Weekly Photos Emailed to You of Progress of Construction - 70 Page Copyrighted Construction Manual - One (1) Person from WoodsCrest Log Homes Inc. to Supervise the Re-Assembly of the Log Package on Owner’s Prepared Foundation. (Owner or Owner’s Contractor is Required to Provide a Minimum of Five People to Assist) - Building Sprayed to Help Prevent Fungus and Mildew - Import Brokerage Fee -Truckload(s) Freight to Site Do you build the whole house? Back to top WoodsCrest Log Homes builds only the log portion of your home and supervises its re-assembly on your site. We can also provide you with our own Custom Windows and Doors built specifically for our Log Shell Packages, Pre-Framed gables, Log Siding, Structural Insulated Panels (SIP's) and Sikkens stain, to create a "Dry-in" Package. These are quoted separately. It is not cost effective for you or us to send a crew and pay lodging, food and per diem in addition to wages. A local contractor can always beat the price of "traveling crews". What does it cost to finish the entire home? Back to top Your choice of finishes, contractor, labor and material costs in your area, building site and weather will affect the final cost of your home. We do not charge any more for our Log Shell Packages in Aspen, CO (Turnkey home prices of $500+ per square foot) than we do in Huntington, TX (Turnkey home prices of $100+ per square foot). Ask a local contractor or lender in your area for average prices of custom homes. Typically it will cost $5-$10 more per square foot for a WoodsCrest custom Log home over a custom stick framed home. This is due to finishes that would not normally be included in a stick-framed custom home and the time to allow for settlement with logs. In the end, a WoodsCrest Log Home will appraise significantly higher than a comparable stick framed home. How long will it take to build my Log Shell Package? Back to top Ten to twelve weeks is the average time to build and deliver your WoodsCrest Log Home to your site, we normally re-assemble 1,000 square feet of the Log Shell per day. This will depend on your design, weather and other factors. One of the wonderful things about building a WoodsCrest Log Home is that at the same time you or your contractor are doing roadwork, excavation, utilities, foundation and sub-floor, WoodsCrest's Log crafters are building your Log Shell Package, saving significant construction time. What is your experience and how many homes do you build? Back to top WoodsCrest Log Homes has been building and re-assembling Log Shell Packages worldwide since 1990. We have built hundreds of homes and commercial buildings. WoodsCrest Log Homes typically builds 30-50 custom homes each year. These custom structures have varied from 300 square feet to over 22,000. Our Staff and Log crafters average over fifteen years in the building trade, and several of our Log crafters are third generation Log smiths! What species of wood and styles do you utilize? Back to top Our wall logs are massive, full-length Engelmann Spruce, Douglas Fir, Pine or Western Red Cedar logs with a 12"-14" average mean diameter, with larger or smaller logs available. All of our logs are graded by TPI. We typically use in excess of 70% premium graded logs (the highest grade) throughout our log packages as opposed to most of our competitors who reserve the costly premium logs only for the structural components. We offer two log finishes, bare peeled and skip peeled. We offer several corner notches, Overscribe Saddle, Norwegian Shrink-Fit, Interscribed Flared Ends, Saddle, Dovetail and Diamond wedge. Styles include Scribe-Fit, Hand-hewn square logs and Full-chink. We also build Log Post and Beam and Timber Frame homes. What is T.P.I. grading and what does it do for me? Back to top Timber Products Inspection, Inc., the T.P.I. grading rules and design values are based on the nationally recognized standard ASTM D3957 "Standard Methods for Establishing Stress Grades for Structural Members Used in Log Buildings". In order to design with logs, WoodsCrest Log Homes must have log design values. To obtain safe design values, logs must be structurally graded. T.P.I.'s log grading program is the industry leader, accepted under all three of the National Building Codes and by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The T.P.I. log grade stamp provides you with the assurance of receiving building logs from a quality-oriented company who is building under a meaningful quality-auditing program. Every log in a WoodsCrest Log Home is stamped. Do you use live or dead standing logs? Back to top We prefer live trees. We know that every healthy, slow growth tree from Canada's Dry Belt Region, (we harvest in winter for lower sap content) will build a superior WoodsCrest Log Home. Occasionally a client will request dead standing primarily because the logs will have "Blue Stain", which gives the logs a more rustic look. Dead standing is either fire kill or beetle kill so there will be boreholes and blue staining in the logs. The common myth that dead standing logs do not shrink is not true. Dead standing logs have ambient moisture, the moisture that is in the air. Since most of the standing dead logs are harvested from the Pacific Northwest where humidity is high, these logs will still have a moisture content of 11-15%. Shrinkage and settlement must still be allowed for. What about air infiltration and shrinking? Back to top All wood shrinks when it is brought to a drier climate. This is true of kiln dried dimensional lumber as it is of full logs. Do not listen to the hype of some companies that claim that they will have no problems with settlement or air infiltration. All wood products will have some shrinkage in certain climates. This is why you will see nail pops and cracks in drywall and stucco in a stick framed home. Generally, it will take two to three winters for your WoodsCrest Log Home to reach moisture equilibrium equal to your climate. In some climates, it is inevitable that somewhere, in any companies log shell package, air infiltration will occur. To guarantee no air infiltration you may caulk the interior of the structure after the logs have reached moisture equilibrium with your climate. You may also choose to chink your log home; this will cost considerably less on a WoodsCrest "Full Scribe" Log Home than on a "chink style" log home as the amount of chink required is 1/4 or less, resulting in significant labor and material savings. Do you allow for shrinkage and settlement? Back to top Yes, our logs are air dried to an average moisture content of fifteen-twenty two percent. In Breckenridge, low moisture content in wood is five-six percent, creating two-three inches of shrinkage and settlement (compaction due to weight) in a nine foot stacked log wall. WoodsCrest Log Homes has taken extensive precautions and allowances to minimize the affects of shrinkage and settlement in your Log Home. - We over allow with a five-inch settlement space above window and door openings - Overscribe Saddle Notches - Full lateral scribing - Optional SofRod and shoulder cuts pre-installed on each lateral groove - Keyways and splines in window and door openings - Settlers on log posts and interior framed bearing walls - Drift pins around window openings - Drift pins on the top course of stacked log walls - Additional drift pins where necessary for structural integrity - Through bolts with springs and hardware at all log ends - Through bolts with springs and hardware on each side of door openings - Additional through bolts with springs and hardware where necessary for structural integrity - Batting insulation inserted inside the scribe on laterals and corner notches - Sill seal under first course of logs - Seventy page copyrighted Construction Manual - Wall slots pre-cut for interior framed walls - T.P.I. graded and certified logs with over 70% of logs “premium”, the highest grade - Experienced Staff, Designers, Drafters and Log crafters to design and build your home - One person from WoodsCrest Log Homes to supervise the re-assembly What is your Warranty? Back to top WoodsCrest Log Homes guarantees the workmanship for the log portion of the building by using only T.P.I. graded and certified logs and experienced Staff, Log crafters and Supervisors in our construction. Our building methods meet or exceed Log Building Industry standards. Any log work not completed according to blueprints or any missing or damaged material will be corrected, replaced or reimbursed by WoodsCrest Log Homes at its sole discretion.
|
