Log Cabin Kits

Why you shouldn't buy log cabin kits

Have you ever heard of a butt and pass style log cabin? Most people 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 home 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 kit log cabins 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?

If you are planning to build your own log home (or hire a builder to do it for you), you should educate yourself about the different styles and methods of building a log home before you start shopping for a kit or a builder. You should definitely at least know the difference between Scandinavian chinkless and Canadian Chinkless. You should also be familiar with the butt and pass style, because they have certain advantages that manufacturers and builders of log cabin kits won't tell you about. Advantages that you won't read about in log home kit magazines. A properly built butt and pass log home has many benefits, so here are just a few:

  • Butt and pass log homes are generally the least expensive type of log home -- some of our members have built them to code for $7,500 total for a finished house.
  • Butt and pass log homes are stronger than any other type of log home.
  • Butt and pass log homes last longer than any other type.
  • When built correctly, a butt and pass log home requires no ongoing maintenance (such as coating your house with sealants and other chemicals every few years). We've never seen a log cabin kit that doesn't require sealants or other chemical treatment every few years. Do you really want to breathe that stuff?
  • The average person can do everything required to build a butt and pass log home -- without buying a log cabin kit or hiring a builder.

As you can see, there is an entire log home universe out there for you to discover -- become the most educated consumer you can, or your log home might be the biggest financial mistake of your life.

Here are a few more articles that you might be interested in:

 

 

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