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Here we discuss the inspection and diagnosis of rot and leak damage on older log homes and other log structures that used vertical logs to form the building walls. This series of articles provides information on the inspection and diagnosis of damage to new and older log homes and includes description of log home insulation values and alternatives, and also a description of the characteristics of slab-sided log homes. Our page top photo shows an older vertical-log walled log home along the Susquehanna river in Pennsylvania.

© 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.

Guide to Vertical Log Wall Homes - the Original Green Cabin

Here is a vertical-log cabin in Minnesota. Photographed in 2006, this log cabin was built in the late 1920's or early 1930's as a fishing camp.

Thanks to the wisdom of the owners who at least kept a decent roof on the cabin, the log building endured for many decades. But it was in rough condition by the turn of the century, needing floor structure, roof, wall, and window repairs.

The vertical placement of most of the logs on this building permitted the original builders to use local cedar logs cut on this point of land extending into lake Superior even though the logs varied widely in diameter.

There was no problem of mating logs of different sizes at the building corners when this approach was used, yet the building corners and structure remained intact, even absent the structural tie of overlapping log ends.

The original log structure was not chinked nor well-sealed but inside the builders nailed furring strips between vertical logs, in some instances using oakum or newspaper as a chinking material behind the furring.

In comments and photographs below we illustrate the types of damage and log home failures that occurred in this structure.

The principal causes of rot and carpenter ant damage we found at this Minnesota log cabin were

• Rot at the bottom end of logs placed on sill beams that stretched between piers (Photo above right)
• Rot at the bottoms of logs behind horizontal trim boards - the boards may have been added later to cover existing damage, but the absence of any caulking let wind-driven rain enter and become trapped behind the trim boards causing extensive rot in these areas (Photo above left).
• Carpenter ant damage to interior partitions due to wood close to soil where floor beams rested on or close to dirt in more shallow areas of the crawl space at the right side of the building.
• Rot damage to several interior areas due to roof leaks, including fungal growth at the top of vertical logs inside where leaks at roof eaves soaked into the exposed end grain of the vertical logs. (Photo 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.

LOG HOME GUIDE
    Types of Log Houses - Log Choices
    Antique & Old Log Cabins
    Cracks, Checking or Splitting Beams & Log Homes
    Condensation &Moisture in Log Homes
    Insulation Values of Log Home Walls
    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
    Vertical Log Walls on Cabins & Homes

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• Additional technical contributors & reference sources for this article are listed below.
• 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.
• "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
• Critique, contributions wanted: Contact Us to suggest text changes and additions and, if you wish, to receive online listing and credit for that contribution.

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