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CCM Lodge Log
Homes |
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Why Lodge Logs for your new log
home? |
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It all starts with trees! All
Lodge Log Homes (unless requested otherwise) are constructed
with Western White Wood Pine from the Idaho National Forest,
utilizing slow growth trees that have grown for 100-150 years
at 4,000 - 6,000 feet of elevation. What this means is that they
are stronger, straighter, and denser than Midwestern or Southern
grown trees.
The process begins with the National
Forest Service, as a part of their forest fire prevention program,
establishing large tracts of land for forest thinning. The Forest
Service selects which trees are to be harvested out of each tract.
That tract is then put out to bid. Lodge Logs sends it's highly
experienced foresters to preview each and every selected tree
before bidding, to insure that the lot includes quality trees
that meet the company's standards.
After felling the selected trees,
they are brought to the company's 55 acre facility at Boise,
Idaho for processing and drying. Boise sits in a high desert
vally with low humidity. As a result, once trees are converted
to logs, they are rotated between open-air drying and kiln-drying
for a period of 12 to 18 months. Nobody in the industry does
as thorough a job of drying it's logs as Lodge Logs.
Kiln-drying alone dries only
the surface and a few inches of the log benearth the surface.
It takes long-term (12-18 months) of open-air drying to dry the
entire log to less than 15% moisture content, the optimum moisture
content. Thorough drying is a crucial step to reduce shrinkage
once your home is erected. Few other log home companies have
the land, climate, and patience to achieve this thorough drying
process. |
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The "V" Shaped Notch |
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Another important step that your
logs go through is the cutting of a "V" shaped notch
down to the core of each log. This notch facilitates the drying
process by getting air to the core of the log and moisture out.
The notch, however, stops before the ends of each log to avoid
creating a channel for insects. Another important benefit of
the "V" cut, which is done when the log is still green,
is to reduce cracks, just as a concrete contractor "scores"
the flat concrete to reduce the possibility of cracks. |
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Preventing Canting |
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All Lodge Logs are shaped through
a molding process involving the entire log. Some manufactures
cut the round portion off, squaring the log, a process called
"canting". Canting changes the pressure points and
the log can twist. You see this sometimes in 4x4 or 6x6 wolmanized
posts at your local lumber yard. |
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Strength and Durability
Using Bolts |
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The final step to insure the
lifetime integrity of your log home comes in the installation
of the logs on your foundation. Lodge Log Homes uses a bolt system,
not a nail or spike system for it's installation. With this process,
anchor bolts are placed in the foundation at predetermined locations
established by our engineers and spelled out on a bolt diagram.
Thest anchor bolt locations correspond to pre-drilled holes in
each log.
All our logs are pre-cut and
pre-numbered in the factory so you are receiving a pre-engineered
home, not something chain sawed on site. These bolts, using connectors,
are placed through each log, from the bottom to the top log and
tightened every third log. As a result of this process, 1,620
pounds per square inch of pressure is placed on the log wall.
This is why Lodge Log Homes can guarantee a maximum of 1/2"
shrinkage from the top to the bottom of the wall over the lifetime
of the home.
Our thirty years of experience
in developing log homes and over 9,000 shipped homes gives you,
the customer, the finest log home money can buy. Is there any
reason not to make your new log home a Lodge Log Home? |
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