"Log" home show

[Scoutman]

I went to my 1st "log" home show yesterday in Atlanta. Just to get some design ideas. I use to think a kit home was alright. But none of them really had what I wanted. "REAL" logs. I was actually looking at kit sites when I was fortunate enough to stumble upon LHBA. Thank God I did! After learning what I have learned from the public side of LHBA I was quite disgusted with what I saw at the show. I took a break halfway through walking the showroom and went outside. Others were out there too. I wanted to tell everyone about LHBA and pass along the website. One company that advertises their kits as "hybrid" log homes gave me a DVD. I watched it last night. It's nothing but a stick-built home with half-log siding. It has really begun to irritate me how kit home manufacturers have conned the naive public. It irritates me just as much that the kit-buying public, for the most part, probably doesn't have what it takes to survive in really tough times. I know I can. I haven't been this excited to do something in a long time. I will be 55 this year. And I hope to have my REAL log home finished by the time I am 60. And if I die in the middle of the build I know I will die happy.

[rocklock]

I will be 67 in less than a week... I will be completing my log home in about a year... I may start another depending on many other things, none of which is my age... I would like to leave both of my boys a debt free log home that has a bunch of berries and others stuff...

The most important attribute is patience and stick-to-it-ness. Sounds like your heading in the right direction. Good luck...

[Scoutman]

Thanks Dave. I hope to leave my 1st log home to my daughter. Then build the one I die in where I really want to be. Big sky country!!

[loghousenut]

I'm 57 in two weeks. I can't wait to start another one. Scoutman, it is so much fun to watch the transformation take place. I watched my wife and her ex-husband build a very nice kit house that seemed to cause their divorce. I took her to class in 1989 and she has never wanted a kit house since. Maybe Rckclmber Ronnie will post the photo of a chunk of milled log sitting on one of his overdangles.

[Scoutman]

I don't know how much "advertising" LHBA wants. But i wish I had hundreds of business cards to hand out. All it would say is "LHBA. org".

[RPM]

Scoutman! Just to warn you.....It only gets worse! Once you start learning about LHBA, reading about what everyone else is doing, dreaming about your own log home, looking at all the pictures, then....the major "fix"....taking the class...Whoa! Now you've done it! You'll never be right again! And heck.....it's a lot of fun! Just remember.....the joy is in the journey! There is alot of joy too once the project is done I'm sure (I'm just starting; I have the land, I have the plan, I'm peeling my logs, I'll have my pad and driveway in this spring, etc.) but it probably has to do with the satisfaction of completing the project and enjoying the fruits of your labor. I agree with Rocklock and Loghousenut.....Your age doesn't have anything to do with it. Everyone runs the race at a different pace. Just know......you can do it. And you'll learn a lot in the process. Good luck!

[drmnoflogs]

I have a couple friends who have jumped on the LHBA bandwagon with us. They haven't taken the class yet, but are completely stoked about it all. Then there are others who are content to sit and watch their "log" home go up without them ever lifting a finger. Ten years from now, when their mortgage is still over $200K and their house is falling apart, they may wish they had listened.
We are still looking for logs, and one thing we are getting from loggers is "...and I know a mill who can cut them up into squares for you". We take their number, just for the other lumber we need. It is sad how the kit home manufacturers have turned a log home into, well, whatever it is now.
RPM is right! Every kit home we pass, we ask eachother how much we think they spent on it. We used to admire the fact they had a "log home". Your entire outlook on life will change.