Treading Lightly on the Earth*

Log and Timber Frame Homes
[*ee cummings]

October 15 has been designated “Blog Action Day”, when bloggers are encouraged to write about our environment and things regular people can do to reduce their environmental footprint on the planet and help steward the environment we depend upon to sustain our lives.

Here in beautiful North Carolina we are blessed with environments so spectacular and desirable that much of our drawn income over the year comes from visitors and tourists who just can’t get enough of us! This of course can cause some environmental stress, yet we’ve done a pretty good job so far of not urbanizing ourselves into depression and not so polluting our air and water that it’s struggle just to stay alive.

Out in the rural piedmont and mountainous west there is somewhat of a ‘housing boom’ going on. Despite overpriced land and housing in many areas of the country and a ‘bubble’ that is bursting as we speak, North Carolina still offers reasonably priced land and eco-friendly houses for young families, out-of-staters seeking vacation homes, and retirees seeking peace and a connection to the earth. A key to that housing boom isn’t just the relatively low price of land, it’s the popularity of log and timber frame homes and a sizable number of eco-conscious builders operating in our state.

The Log Home Advisor explains the industry and why it is that people from all stations in life are increasingly turning to these fine homes in lieu of the standard cheaply built tract homes of suburbia that seem destined primarily to become the slums of the future. The Log Homes Journal offers important tips on choosing the right location, the right home and the right builder to ensure you’re getting the most for your investment.

These and other sources (links below) will tout the environmental plusses of long, timber frame and hybrid houses. Some suppliers rely upon ‘culled’ timber from National Forest management, some get their logs from tree farms which produce largely for this industry. Still others, usually local to areas where homesteaders would want to live, boast that they get their timber from standing dead and down trees, which is a positive forest management practice that well serves the environment.

Here in western NC, we are dealing with infestations of insects that have killed off huge stands of southern pines and stately old hemlocks. While the US Forest Service and NC Extension Service are working hard to save young trees with new treatments landholders can obtain free for their trees, the swaths of standing dead still harboring these insects in their bark are a fire hazard as well as unsightly. This is a great deal of fine timber (pine and hemlock make excellent log homes) there to be harvested, and many harvesters are in the process of getting permits to do so. Why, the ultimate handyman could even build it himself! There are plenty of plans and instructions out there.

Thus a log home buyer need not feel guilty about the trees it takes to make their home, or to produce the timber for framing, or the siding inside or out. They get a sturdy, well-insulated shelter that will outlast almost any tract home in any suburb. Log homes are energy efficient, saving on heating and cooling costs as well as the energy resources used to generate electricity to provide heating and cooling. Log homes stay warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer than standard houses or modulars, and out here in the west where there’s lots of shade and nights are always cool, many happy log homeowners don’t bother with air conditioning. It’s simply not necessary.

These cozy homes can be heated with wood, which is handy if you live in the woods – you can provide your own fuel and keep fit while you’re at it! Wood burning stoves are constructed to last at least as long as the house they heat, with modern efficiency and pollution control technologies built-in. In some log homes with 2 stories and loft, or with 15-20 foot cathedral ceilings, the exhaust pipe can be situated in such a way that as much heat is gained from exhaust as from the stove itself. Most heating sources can’t claim this kind of efficiency, and most homes can’t claim the solidarity to keep so much of that heat inside rather than radiating it outside.

Even if you’ve chosen a model with whole walls of glass to make your beautiful view a big part of your everyday living, most homebuilders offer double-paned insulating glass that keeps the cold out and the heat in for prime energy efficiency.

More and more of the visitors to North Carolina fall so in love that they decide to move here and live where their hearts feel most at home. Luckily, we have the space, the environmental consciousness and the wherewithall to welcome them happily. Check out some of the great links below and see if your future plans might include a home in North Carolina. You won’t be sorry!

Links:

Log Homes Journal

Western Carolina Real Estate Co.

North Carolina Lands & Properties

Natural Log Cabin Siding

An Environmentalists’s Guide to Responsible Wood Heating

GARN Smokeless Wood Heating System

Greenwood Hydronic Wood Furnace

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