InspectAPedia ®

Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, Repair, & Problem Prevention Advice
InspectAPedia
Home
| Air
Conditioning
| Electrical
Energy Saving
| Environment
Indoor
| Exteriors | Heating | Home
Inspection
| Insulate
Ventilate
| Interiors | Mold
Inspect/Test
| Plumbing
Water
Septic
| Roofing | Solar
Energy
| Structure | Contact Us
Directory of Professionals to Inspect or Test a Building


STRUCTURAL INSPECTIONS & DEFECTS
ADVANCED INSPECTION METHODS
AIR BYPASS LEAKS
AIR LEAK DETECTION TOOLS
AIR LEAK MINIMIZATION
AIR SEALING STRATEGIES
BEST CONSTRUCTION PRACTICES GUIDE
BUCKLED FOUNDATIONS due to INSULATION?
CHIMNEY INSPECTION DIAGNOSIS REPAIR
CRAWL SPACES
  Crawl Space Dryout Procedures
  CRAWL SPACE GROUND COVERS
DECK & PORCH CONSTRUCTION
DECK COLLAPSE Case Study
DECK FLASHING LEAKS, ROT Case Study
DISASTER BUILDING INSPECTION & REPAIR SAFEY
DEW POINT CALCULATION for WALLS
DEW POINT TABLE - CONDENSATION POINT GUIDE
EARTHQUAKE DAMAGED FOUNDATIONS
ENERGY SAVINGS in BUILDINGS
  ENERGY AUDIT - How to Use a Free One
  ENERGY SAVINGS MAXIMIZE RETURNS ON
  ENERGY SAVINGS PRIORITIES
  ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT CASE STUDY
  ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT LEAK SEALING GUIDE
  ENERGY SAVINGS RETROFIT OPTIONS
  ENERGY USE MONITORING
FLOODS IN BUILDINGS-priorities
FLOODS IN BUILDINGS-mold
FLOOD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT, SAFETY & CLEANUP
FOUNDATION BULGE or LEAN MEASUREMENTS
FOUNDATION CRACKS & DAMAGE GUIDE
FRAMING DAMAGE, INSPECTION, REPAIR
FRAMING DETAILS for BETTER INSULATION
FRAMING DETAILS for DOUBLE WALL HOUSES
FRT PLYWOOD
LOG HOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY
LOG HOME GUIDE
  Antique & Old Log Cabins
  Cracks, Checking or Splitting Beams & Log Homes
  Condensation &Moisture in Log Homes
  Energy Efficiency of Log Homes
  Leak Diagnosis & Cure for Log Houses
  Log Wall Height Changes
  R-Values of Log Homes
  Sealants, Caulks, & Coatings for Log Homes
  Shrinkage In Log Home Walls
  Slab Log Cabin Siding
  Spline & Gasket Designs for Log Buildings
  Spline Gaps & Gasket Omissions
  Types of Log Houses - Log Choices
  Vertical Log Walls on Cabins & Homes
  Wall Insulation Values in Log Homes
LOG HOME WALL INSULATION VALUES
ROT, FUNGUS, TERMITES
ROT, TIMBER FRAME
SHEATHING, Gypsum board
SHEATHING Homasote & Other Board
SHEATHING, OSB
SHEATHING, Plywood
SHEATHING, FOIL FACED - VENTS
SINK HOLES
SLAB CRACK EVALUATION
SOLAR ENERGY SYSTEMS
Splits in Structural Wood Beams
STAIRS, RAILINGS, LANDINGS, RAMPS
Straw Bale Construction
STUCCO OVER FOAM INSULATION
STUCCO PAINT FAILURES
SUMP PUMPS GUIDE
THERMAL EXPANSION of MATERIALS
THERMAL MASS in BUILDINGS
VENTILATION in BUILDINGS
WATER ENTRY in BUILDINGS
WIND TURBINES
WINDOWS & DOORS
WINTERIZE A BUILDING

More Information

InspectAPedia.comInspectAPedia ® Home & Site Map
InspectAPedia Blog - News Updates
Air Conditioning & Heat Pumps
Bookstore
Electrical
Environment
Exteriors
Heating
Home Inspection
Insulate Ventilate
Interiors
Mold Inspect/Test
Plumbing Water Septic
Roofing
Structure
Accuracy & Privacy Policies
Contact Us



Leaks at the window of a log home Home Buyers/Owners Guide to Finding & Repairing Air & Water Leaks in Log Home Walls, Doors, Windows
InspectAPedia®  -    

  • Guide to Diagnosing & Repairing Air Drafts, Water Leaks, & Other Problems on Modern Kit Log Homes
  • Log caulk, spline, gasket, and coating product guide for log houses
  • Log checking, cracking, shrinkage, & Leaks in log houses and log siding
  • Window & Door Installation Details for Log Homes can prevent later leaks & Damage
Our site offers impartial, unbiased advice without conflicts of interest. We will block advertisements which we discover or readers inform us are associated with bad business practices, false-advertising, or junk science. Our contact info is at InspectAPedia.com/appointment.htm.

Here we discuss the cause, detection, and cure of leaks on solid-log homes such as at cracks, checks in logs, log wall corners, at log wall windows, doors, sills, and eaves. Errors in placement of log splines, gaskets, or caulk are discussed along with various remedies.

This series of articles provides information on the inspection and diagnosis of damage to new and older log homes and includes description of log house and log siding insulation values and alternatives, and also a description of the characteristics of slab-sided log homes as well as all other types of log home construction. We include illustrations of log structures from several very different areas and climates in both the United States and Norway. Our page top photo shows a modern kit log home constructed in New York State.

For modern kit and factory-sourced log structures we include details of common construction and building defects that cause water and air leaks and ultimately rot damage and we point to key problem areas that need to be inspected carefully when buying or maintaining a log home.

© Copyright 2009 - 1991 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

Where to Look for Leak and Draft Problems at Log House Windows, Corners, & Log Splines

Measuring a leak point in a log wall at a window jambLeaks at the window of a log home

The windows in this new log home were installed with no spline/gasket seal between the ends of the wall logs and the window jambs. Our left photo shows our probing ruler penetrating almost 6" - the full width of the "D" profile logs (depending on where in the curved log face you're measuring) used in constructing this home - in other words, at the point where we've inserted our ruler there is absolutely no seal between the inside face of the window frame and outside of the wall jamb rough opening at the window jamb. We found this true also between the ends of the logs and the other face of the jamb rough opening.

This poor window installation detail on the solid log home combined with wide and checks in the logs near the windows (see photos below) to send water into the window assembly (see stains along our ruler where we had removed the interior sill and trim) and also into the building interior (see stains at the log/window assembly butt joint in the lower right of the photo.

Checks in a log wall cause window leaksMeasuring checks into a log wall

The photos above show the outside log wall at the same leaky wall. The checks in the upper half of some of the logs abutting the window jamb were as much as 2.75" deep (2" at the probe point in our photo above right). These leak points combined with the absence of a window spline and gasket or caulk barrier and permitted water to enter the window jamb structure.

The "cure" for this problem was a custom-designed window head flashing and additional exterior sealing using a sealant recommended by the log manufacturer. It was also important to seal the upwards-facing log checks, as we discuss further below.

Construction at the corners of a log home, and around openings for windows and doors must be tight and properly executed to avoid drafts, leaks, and condensation problems. During arbitration of a dispute between a log home owner and the builder we found that improperly-installed windows on the home were causing window condensation and wall leaks. At the builder's own log home, built a decade before, we found that these same details led to severe structural rot in logs under leaky windows.

Windows and doors must be set, framed, and trimmed wit care to seal straight components (such as window frames) abutting rounded log surfaces (such as a log wall or log slab siding walls).

Inspect where normal log shrinkage has opened minor cracks in logs (checking cracks are typically 1/8" or more in logs) and between logs. Checking between logs in a modern kit home log wall can determine if splines were installed where they should have been to prevent leaks and drafts between the logs in a wall.

Inspecting log home cornersInspecting log house for leaks at corner

From outside the building at its corners, look into the ends of the log corner to see if you can spot the type of spline or log interlocks that were designed by the manufacturer. If your probe extends into the log groove at a building corner for a distance greater than the outside overhanging portion of the log, the gaskets were not extended to the corner as they should have been. The incomplete caulking you see in the left photo is an inept attempt to seal drafts at the building corner.

Share this Article      

...

Technical Reviewers & References

Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

LOG HOME ENERGY EFFICIENCY
LOG HOME GUIDE
  Antique & Old Log Cabins
  Cracks, Checking or Splitting Beams & Log Homes
  Condensation &Moisture in Log Homes
  Energy Efficiency of Log Homes
  Leak Diagnosis & Cure for Log Houses
  Log Wall Height Changes
  R-Values of Log Homes
  Sealants, Caulks, & Coatings for Log Homes
  Shrinkage In Log Home Walls
  Slab Log Cabin Siding
  Spline & Gasket Designs for Log Buildings
  Spline Gaps & Gasket Omissions
  Types of Log Houses - Log Choices
  Vertical Log Walls on Cabins & Homes
  Wall Insulation Values in Log Homes
LOG HOME WALL INSULATION VALUES

  • Thanks to Arlene Puentes for the photograph of a checked log in a log home exterior. Arlene Puentes, a licensed home inspector, educator, and building failures researcher in Kingston, NY. Photographs © Arlene Puentes 2006 All Rights Reserved. Text © Daniel Friedman Arlene Puentes 2008 All Rights Reserved.
  • "The Logless Log Home," Jim Robbins, New York Times, 02/25/2010 Home section, p. D1 & D6.
  • "Shop Talk," Martin Mintz, AIA, Builder Magazine, April 1986, detailed solutions for log shrinkage movement by using a "T" jamb at windows and doors. A January 1986 Builder Magazine article shows window installation details in 8" thick log walls.
  • "Caulking, Chinking, Insulators, Sealants - which System works Best," Log Home and Alternative Housing Builder, Nov-Dec 1983.
  • Lincoln Log Homes Marketing, Inc., 6000 Lumber Lane, Kannapolis NC 28081 704-932-6151
  • Insulating Characteristics of log homes were neatly summarized by Roger Rawlings in "Log Homes in a New Light," Rodale's New Shelter, April 1983, p. 28

Books & Articles on Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, & Repair

  • Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
  • ...
STRUCTURAL INSPECTIONS & DEFECTS

More Information

InspectAPedia.comInspectAPedia ® Home & Site Map
InspectAPedia Blog - News Updates
Air Conditioning & Heat Pumps
Bookstore
Electrical
Environment
Exteriors
Heating
Home Inspection
Insulate Ventilate
Interiors
Mold Inspect/Test
Plumbing Water Septic
Roofing
Structure
Accuracy & Privacy Policies
Contact Us

More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

    ...
InspectAPedia.comInspectAPedia® Home & Site Map - Building & Environmental Inspection, Testing, Diagnosis, Repair, & Problem Prevention Advice: In-depth research & advice on diagnosing, testing, correcting, & preventing building defects & indoor environmental hazards. Unbiased information, no conflicts of interest.
GO TO the MOLD and INDOOR ENVIRONMENT INFORMATION CENTER for in-depth advice on avoiding testing for or cleaning up mold and other indoor environmental hazards, odors, gases, contaminants
The Mold Information Center:
What to Do About Mold in Buildings, When and How to Inspect for Mold, Clean Up Mold, or Avoid Mold Problems
GO TO MOLD TEST KITS: This expert-recommended mold test kit is cheap and yet top performing *IF* you use a competent analysis laboratory!
Use this simple, economical mold test kit
by following our instructions on how to collect and mail mold samples to our lab
GO TO IAQ/MOLD-TEST LAB SERVICES: Mold, Pollen, indoor air quality, field and laboratory services by an expert.Environmental Inspection, Testing, & Diagnosis On-Site IAQ, Gas, Air Testing, Mold Investigation, Sick Building Diagnosis, Lab Services, & Remediation Plan Preparation - indoor air quality testing, problem source determination, supporting lab work, written remediation plan addressing removal of environmental and other hazards and prevention of their recurrence.
GO TO our PRE PURCHASE BUILDING INSPECTION SERVICES: Authoritative information for home buyers and home owners is included with your inspection.
Building Inspection, Problem Diagnosis
, Forensic Investigation & Testing, Repair Consulting

CONTACT Daniel Friedman - Dan is a senior ASHI home inspector, nationally recognized expert on building inspection, building failures, and sick building investigation
Contact Daniel Friedman for website content suggestions or for fee-paid consulting

02/25/2010 - 09/22/1991 - InspectApedia.com/structure/Log_Home_Guide.htm - © 2010 - 1988 Copyright Daniel Friedman All Rights Reserved - InspectAPedia® is a Registered U.S. Trademark