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Thoughtful lighting design is essential in a log home, where wood surfaces absorb more light than traditional drywall. Planning ahead ensures your home feels warm, inviting, and well-lit for every occasion.
By Steve Lykins Architect/Engineer at Hochstetler Log Homes
Light is one of the most important tools for architectural design. Light is what allows us to experience our world and our surroundings through our sense of sight. It can be said that the human experience is par-tially defined by light. So make no mistake: light is very important! Often times lighting and electrical design are an afterthought during the design of any home. With log homes in particular, lighting is especially important because the walls and ceilings typically have a natural wood finish, which is unique and beautiful, but does not reflect light like a relatively smooth painted drywall or plaster surface. Think about lighting the interior of the home as well as the exterior of the home. Think about how lights inside the home will look from outside the home at night. With a log home it can be especially difficult to change lighting design after construction has started, so start planning early!
There are four basic functions of lighting to consider in the design of a log home: general lighting, special task lighting, architectural lighting and security lighting. Look at every room and space in the home and decide how each of these functions will be met. How will you see in order to walk through the room safely? If it is a Kitchen, how will you light the work surfaces? Do you want to accent the beautiful heavy timber roof system with some directional lights? How will you know when someone approaches your home from the drive or street?
Balancing Natural and Artificial Light
The next step is to consider what types of light you want to introduce. There are two basic types of light: natural light and artificial light. Building codes govern both natural and artificial lighting and the amount of light required for any given room or space. Of-ten your most basic lighting needs will satisfy building code requirements, but you might choose to work with your designer and/or electrician to be sure that you meet building code requirements. The placement of windows, doors and perhaps skylights during the design of your home will ultimately impact the amount of artificial lighting required. Think about how you will orient the home on the site to take advantage of the rising and setting of the Sun during different seasons. Think about providing shades or awnings for big spans of glass so they don’t gain too much heat during summer. Be sure to include generous amounts of glass (whether windows or doors) in the spaces that you spend the most time. Many times the Great Room, Kitchen and Dining Room are most frequently used. Some folks also spend a lot of time in their bedroom and/or bathroom. Perhaps your workshop in the Garage or your hobby room in the basement is where you spend most of your time? Natural light is said to improve human emotion and some experi-ments have supported this claim. Be sure that you will enjoy the time you spend in these spaces by adding some natural light!
You must also use some artificial light because natural light is not always available when and where you want it. While there are many many types of artificial light, there are a few that are well suited for log homes. As far as light fixtures go, track lights are a good choice for lighting log homes. They are installed from a single point but many can be pointed in almost any direction. This is a great way to achieve architectural lighting for a big stone fireplace, heavy timber ceiling or custom woodwork in the home. Wallmounted fixtures (or ‘sconces’) are also a great choice for log home lighting. They can be installed easily on interior walls and they can invoke an intimate feeling very different from that of a basic ceiling mounted light. Chandeliers also have their place in log home design. A chandelier can be a great design feature for a Great Room or a Dining Room. Of course many task lights come in the form of an appliance (i.e., desk lamp, reading lamp) that can be moved around the home for flexibility. Other types of lights common to log homes are pendant lights over a Kitchen island, fluorescent strip lights for workshops/garages, vanity strip lights for bathrooms and of course ceiling mounted lights for a variety of applications. Recessed lights or ‘can’ lights are sleek and have a bit more contemporary feel, but they are difficult to install in a heavy timber floor/ceiling or heavy timber roof. You should consult your designer or electrician during preliminary design if you want ‘can’ lights in your log home as planning for them will be very important.
Choosing the Right Light Sources
There are several types of lamps (‘bulbs’) that are available for most of the fixture types listed above. Incandescent lamps have been around for over 100 years and they produce a warm, amber-colored light. These lamps are great because they enhance the warm and cozy feeling that is part of the log home experience; however, many codes require lamps to meet energy efficiency requirements that most traditional incandescent lamps do not meet. Consult with your designer or your electrician. Flu-orescent lamps are gaining popularity, especially as “compact” fluorescent lamps. These are the “spiral” type lamps that are so common now. These lights are great from an efficiency standpoint, but they emit a notoriously “blue” colored light. This is often not desirable for a log home, but some manufacturers are now producing warm-colored, compact fluorescent lamps and there are also lenses available for some fixtures that will change the color of light being emitted. Another op-tion is an LED lamp. LEDs are relatively new to the residential market so they may be expensive, but their efficiency is second to none. And, many manufacturers now produce LEDs that will emit just about any ‘color’ of light that is desired. At today’s prices LEDs will not take long to pay for themselves, so they are well worth the added cost if you will be in your home for 5-10 years or more.
Some thought should also be given to the control of lighting fixtures. Dimmer switches can not only control the amount of light that a lamp emits (effectively changing the ‘mood’ of a room or space) but they can also greatly increase the efficiency of a lamp, too. If you choose to use some dimmer switches be careful in selecting lamps because most compact fluorescent lamps are not dimmable. Motion switches will detect motion in a room or space and automatically turn the lights on only when someone is using the room. Photo switches can automatically control a light fixture based on the light in the environment (turn a light on at night and off during the day). Timers can automatically turn lights on and/or off at a scheduled interval. Lighting controls are a great way to save money on your electric bill!
Again, light is one of the most powerful architectural design tools available so put some thought into it early on in the design process. Think about how it will allow you, your family and your guests to enjoy the natural beauty of your log home and how it can enhance the design of the home. Think about how you will use light to help define your own human experience!
