Have you ever heard of a butt and pass style log cabin? Most people who are shopping for log cabin kits haven’t, and there is a good reason for it.

You will probably learn more about log homes in the next five minutes than you would learn from talking to a log cabin kit salesman for five years. In the next couple of paragraphs we’re going to reveal the deep, dark log home secret: butt and pass.

The log home “industry” doesn’t want you to know about butt and pass log homes. When you pick up a log home magazine and flip through the pages you will see dozens of log cabin kits that look very beautiful, but you will almost never see a butt and pass style log home. Typically the kit log home magazines show Canadian chinkless and saddle notch log cabins. Why?

The kit magazines are 100% supported by advertising from manufacturers of log cabin kits. And here’s the big bombshell:

It is not possible to make log cabin kits out of a proper butt and pass style log home.

The reasons for this have to do with the technical nature of building a butt and pass log home vs. building log cabin kits that must be shipped somewhere else and “reassembled” by a builder. The reasons are too detailed to go into here, but suffice to say that there is no such thing as butt and pass style log cabin kits.

Why should you know about butt and pass log homes?

We recently had a student attend our class who had signed up for a “hands-on” log home building class with another log home building school. This student had already been working with logs and building timber-frame homes for some time, and he had quite a bit of experience, but he had never built a log home before and wanted to learn how. Here’s what he said about the “hands-on” class that he took:

A lot of people remodel their stick frame home at some point.  Often it’s either because they aren’t satisfied with some aspect of their home, or they want to try and build equity in their home.  The sad fact is most lose money when they remodel.  In fact, remodeling a home is usually so expensive, [...]

Okay, we admit that there is such a thing as settling in log homes. The catch is that it only occurs in log homes that were built the wrong way, in our opinion. If you build a log home using the butt-and-pass method, and you build it correctly, there is no settling to be concerned with. 

The Truth about settling

The problem is that kit log cabin builders need some reason to exist. If everyone knew about the butt-and-pass method of log home construction, there would be no more log home kit dealers. Why? Because you can’t make a “kit” out of a butt-and-pass log home. It simply is not possible — a butt-and-pass log home is so strong (when built correctly) that you can’t build it in a factory then take it apart and ship it somewhere else to reassemble it. It can’t be done.

So the kit builders choose the next best thing: building a type of log home that does come apart in their factory, and then they ship it to John and Martha’s property and reassemble it.

What’s so bad about that? Settling occurs in any type of log structure that has the ability to come apart, such as Scandinavian Chinkless, Canadian Chinkless and Saddle-notch log homes.

So after the kit builder reassembles John and Martha’s new kit home, everything is wonderful. And about a year later when the logs have finished drying, the settling is noticeable. Maybe the stairs are out of alignment. Maybe there is a gap between the log wall and the roof. Maybe a window has shattered from the weight of the logs above it.

These are some of the reasons that “kit” log home builders cut keyways and “settling space” above each window and door. So when the logs shrink and settle, they won’t crush the window or door. We’ve even seen log home kits assembled with a giant screw jack in the basement that allows the homeowner to “lower the roof” over time as the house settles.

One of the biggest problems with “kit” log homes is the price — most kit log homes are even more expensive than stick-built homes these days. But for just a moment, imagine that you have an unlimited budget and are planning to build or buy a log home. How would you know if it is any good?

Unfortunately most log home buyers wind up buying kit log cabins from the salesman who tells the best lies, such as:

“We use a shrink to fit notching system that gets tighter with age”

“The log home you are buying is built in the Scandinavian Chinkless style” (when in fact almost all chinkless kit log homes are built with the vastly inferior Canadian Chinkless style)

“Our logs are peeled with draw knives because it gives them more character”

“Our logs are machine-peeled for better quality control”

“Our logs are run through a lathe to insure they are all the same size and they fit together better, so they will last longer”

So we’ve put together a couple of pages about how to protect yourself when choosing the log home that is right for you. Take the time to read these articles and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to drop us an e-mail. We’re always available to answer log home questions by e-mail. Our e-mail address is on our contact page.

IMPORTANT ARTICLES ABOUT KIT LOG HOMES:

The difference between different styles of chinkless log home construction

The myths and truth about log homes and ‘settling’ (what the kit industry won’t tell you)

Why you shouldn’t buy log cabin kits

How to build a log cabin

The following article about Ken and Diane’s 9 week log home originally appeared, some years ago, in our Association’s Log Home Builder’s Journal:

Ken, His wife Diane and son Kenny in front of their new "9-week" owner built log home.

Ken is an investment advisor. He is trained to advise people in the purchase of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, et cetera. Ken and his family just finished building a new log home. He was one of the many recent builders who attended the last local Association meeting. We asked Ken to tell us briefly how long it took him to build the home, and how much it cost.

One of the most common questions we get is how to find good logs cheaply for building a log home. Rest assured, we spend hours in the seminar discussing log selection and where to get logs. Here are a few ideas to get you started.

Log home kits and trailer homes have a lot in common, when you really stop and think about it. But how? Think of it this way:

Any homes that are delivered on the back of a truck are mobile homes, even if they charge a lot of money for them and call them log home kits.

For years and years, folks in the business of making “real” log homes (as opposed to the kit kind) have always sneered at “kit homes”. They don’t tell you this in the fancy log home kit magazines because — guess what? The log home kit magazines are bought and paid for by advertising from the kit manufacturers. Most folks in the log home industry refer to log home kits as “mobile homes”.

Here are a few reasons why: