Well you already know you can survive it in a trailer. Sorry, we live in the banana belt of Oregon so not much actual experience here. I'd build in frigid climes in a heartbeat. When I went to class, Skip said "You'll never be too hot or too cold in a properly built log home". My experience bears witness that he was right... as usual.
My wife and I are currently building a garage in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, with the house to follow in 2 years if the garage goes as planned. We feel that using solar construction methods and the thermal mass of the structure and a wood stove backup, we will be toasty. Anybody else out there with more experience in cold climate, butt/pass log construction, we would love to hear from you.
Hello,
From what I have read in cold climates, you are basically getting the R value of the logs since there is no thermal heat exchange in the log walls, no chance for them to store up engery. It is one way traffic for heat.
I’m in Vermont and looking to build and I think I want 12” logs, these would be around R=15 (1.25 r * inch) the code around here for normal houses is R=19 I’m thinking the less r value would be fine since I would have major gains in fall / spring.
Since you are a little colder you might want to consider bigger logs, that’s all. Or just have a good fire place.
Here is a link to some info, I’m not sure the source is 100% accurate, but it gives you an idea.
http://www.biglog.com/HTML/LogEnergy.html
I would love to take it but I wanted to know if it was even justifiable in the climate I live in before I would commit to that. Thanks for the answers. They are very helpful.
Hey dude... you live in a TRAILER!!! How bad can a log house be anyway??? HAHA. I, like you, are surprised that there haven't been a ton of responses from the folks up north who sat "eh" alot. I say go for it.
PS.... Question. How do you spell Canada?
Answer. C eh? N eh? D eh?
Skip Ellsworth, 1989.
the Ellsworth family passed thru Minnesota and was building cabins there at one time. Not the northern tip but plenty cold where they were at. I am in North Dakota and figured to get the R value I wanted would require 24" average thickness logs, little overkill as that corresponded to the 10" thick (R 34)walls of the shop we built. Most houses are built with only 2x4 walls soooo....... 18 to 20" should give you better than an average R values.
Making sure to have plenty of trees to block the wind would sure help also, most people building nowdays seem to forget the lessons learned by the pioneers around here.
Trying to remember from the class when this was discussed, think there is a section discussing different R values of different tree species also??
I was just wondering if anyone on here has built a home in Manitoba, Canada? If someone has how is it in the really cold winters we have? I am very interested in learning more about this and possibly building one. I have a great acreage (149 acres) with a mobile home on it. Our family (3 kids) is outgrowing the trailer and need to build bigger. Log houses seem like a very good alternative to the "stick houses" everyone is talking about. Anyone that has built in the area or close to it in climate (-40'C or -40'F is the same), I would like to here from you.