Log houses — why we don't build them
Log houses have a long history across northern Europe and were probably the first timber buildings ever made. Modern machined logs — square or oval, glue-laminated — are a genuinely beautiful material, capable of a contemporary look with a traditional feel, and structurally they span well enough to open up large interiors without extra posts. We still do not build them, and it is worth explaining why.
Insulation is a matter of physics
A wall made of solid timber cannot insulate as well as a framed wall of the same thickness, because in a framed wall most of that thickness is insulation and in a log wall it is wood. Wood is a decent insulator for a structural material and a poor one compared with what goes in a cavity.
Log manufacturers know this, and the best answer is an insulated laminated log with insulation inserted into the section. It works, it costs considerably more, and it generally needs a thicker wall — and even then the amount of insulation you can fit is far less than the same depth of framed construction would hold. However you approach it, the thermal performance of a log wall of a given thickness stays below a framed one.
This is why log construction has been squeezed as energy requirements have tightened across northern Europe. If you are building a year-round home to a modern energy standard, check what your local code requires before committing to log — it is a real constraint, not a preference.
Far more joints to seal
A log house is a three-dimensional puzzle whose pieces are bars. A framed element house is also a puzzle, but its pieces are whole walls.
Measure the connections in linear metres and the difference is dramatic — a log building has several times the length of joint that an element building of the same footprint does. Every one of those is somewhere air can pass, which makes a log house much harder to make airtight, and airtightness is the honest measure of how well a building was actually assembled.
It moves after you move in
Solid timber settles as it dries and takes on moisture seasonally, and a log wall accumulates that movement across every course. Buildings are detailed to allow for it, but it constrains what you can do where the wall meets windows, staircases and fixed interior fittings — and it does not stop once the house is finished.
None of which makes logs bad
For a seasonal cabin where the look is the point and heating bills are occasional, a log building can be exactly the right choice. For a year-round home judged on running cost and comfort, framed timber elements do the same job better, which is what we build.