Humidity and the Log Home

[Captn]

I was reading someone's (not from this site) blog today and she was going on and on about why they had chosen not to build a log home because of all the maintenance log homes require in the high humidity of the Houston area ...
I had never heard of any particular issues with Log homes caused by humidity ...

What am I missing here ... does Humidity pose special maintenance requirements for log homes?

[JD]

Log homes require no more protection from humidity than any other wooden structure. Just because I cover my 2X4 stick frame house with vinyl doesn't mean the moisture in the air won't get to the studs. In fact, as the humidity changes, a log is able to absorb and release moisture, whereas an enclosed stud wall can trap the moisture inside. Yes you must protect your log walls from moisture but the humidity shouldn't harm them
Look at it this way. Many of the log homes built by the settlers are still inhabited, and they had none of the fancy commercial moisture protection most homes have now.
JD

[Captn]

So, we can affectionately say that she was "full of it"?

Or perhaps she just received bad info from a "Kit" manufacturer?

[rreidnauer]

Well, she's not exactly "full of it" as you say. The problem potential comes from errors in design and finishing methods of the typical kithome. There is a reason kithomes push a "seal, seal, seal!" montra, while the LHBA says, "no need to seal at all." You'll learn all about the differences in the class.

[Captn]

Thanks .......
I appreciate the quick response and I feel much better now ....

[dnwhansen]

I am in Western Colorado and the most common and cheapest cooling is via evaporative coolers aka swamp coolers. These blast your home with super humidified air. Are there members who have used swamp coolers in their homes and have they had any complications. Followup question: Most homes have a great deal of venting. And I understand that newer homes have much more venting than homes built in the "70's. How are LBHA homes vented?

[StressMan79]

swamp coolers are very effective in non-swampy (arid) regions. They cost very little to buy and operate (a fan, a pad soaked with water, maybe a pump that recirculates the water). I will likely be incorporating one into my home in NE washington.
Note for swamp cooler, you don't want ductwork, and you want throughflow (air changes). Sealing is a BAD THING when you are talking about this sort of thing.
funny thing about venting, "modern" homes are super tight, and they add vents... LHBA homes take a more passive approach, use breathable materials and only vent areas like the kitchen/bathrooms, with normal exhaust vents.
In short, don't seal your home if you are using a swamp cooler, but have a free path for the air to enter the building, be cooled, and exit the building. The instructors can answer any questions regarding venting in class.

[rreidnauer]

I don't have any data to answer you questions about swamp coolers, but I can provide some insight to your followup question. "newer homes have much more venting than homes built in the "70's" True, sort of. This is one of those things that just makes me wonder "what the heck are they thinking?" With older homes, you didn't have tyvek and other vapor barriers. Kraft paper was about as good as it got. Seams in sheathing and studding would have never been caulked. Doors and especially weight counter-balanced, double hung windows had poor (if any) weather stripping. Homes then were very breathable. Today, homes are sealed up so tight, (demanded by gov't regulation) that now, gov't regulation requires whole-house air exchange fans and window vents. (Am I the only one scratching my head?) Basically, the gov't created a solution to a problem that never existed, so they could solve the problem their solution created. (makes perfect sense, right?) That, on top of all the unnatural products in homes today leads to off-gassing of VOCs. (VOC: Volatile Organic Compounds. The very thing that gives your new car that new car smell, and creates the haze on the inside of your windshield, is the breaking down of those man-made product, typically oil based) Kit log homes also suffer similar problems because they usually seal between each course and apply sealant to the outer (and possibly inner) surfaces in an attempt to make them waterproof.
So, what makes an LHBA home different? Simple. They are built breathable. In fact it's one of the main points of the design. Using natural logs makes it virtually impossible to create a totally airtight structure. LHBA simply fore-gos the gov't problem/solution/problem/solution process. That's fully covered in the class.