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Our new log profile brings the look of Appalachian chinked-style logs to life. The design balances the character of traditional log homes with the expectations of modern living. Every aspect is designed to create a functional, efficient home while maintaining a handcrafted appearance.
The interlocking tongue-and-groove system uses a wood-on-wood construction method, creating a tight, reliable seal. Gasketed connections keep drafts and energy loss at bay, delivering a home that feels solid and secure. The logs are dried thoroughly to prevent shrinkage over time. There’s no need for settling jacks, which simplifies the building process and ensures long-term stability. The result is a home that functions as well as it looks, with no added hassle for the homeowner.
The Douglas Fir beams used in this style are hand-hewn, giving each one a unique texture and finish. These beams add a sense of craft and connection to the materials, making the structure feel rooted and enduring. Around the windows and doors, live-edge trims create a natural frame, letting the shapes and grains of the wood come through in subtle ways. These details come together to make a home that feels grounded in the environment while offering a sense of individuality.
This design emphasizes simplicity, with an approach focused on ease of use and durability. There’s no need to worry about adjusting for settling or dealing with gaps in the logs over time. The construction system ensures tight seals and lasting performance, so your home stays comfortable year-round without requiring constant attention. The materials are chosen and prepared with care, creating a finished structure that works with the environment, not against it.
Living in a home like this is about more than just having a place to stay. It’s about creating a connection—to the craft of building, to the natural materials, and to the history of Appalachian homes. It offers the opportunity to settle into a space that feels intentional, with details that reflect purpose and thought. Every corner and beam speaks to the effort put into its creation, inviting you to enjoy a home that fits your vision.
Gone are the days of drafty log cabins. Modern log homes are marvels of energy efficiency, a stark contrast to their predecessors. Early cabins used green logs with chinking made of mud, clay, and straw—a combination that couldn’t withstand temperature changes, leading to gaps and drafts. It’s no wonder many people still mistakenly believe log homes are cold and inefficient.
Today’s log homes, however, are engineered for superior energy performance:
Building departments often require blower door tests to measure energy efficiency, and our log homes consistently outperform expectations. In fact, they’ve been so airtight that engineers recommend installing air exchangers for proper ventilation. One of our homes achieved a 0.13 normalized leakage (Ln) and another a 0.63 ACH50 (air changes per hour)—well below the Energy Star requirement of 3.0 ACH50.
Modern homes often contain synthetic materials that release harmful chemicals into the air. Tightening homes for energy efficiency has inadvertently worsened indoor air quality, trapping contaminants that contribute to illnesses such as asthma, allergies, and respiratory issues.
Log homes provide a healthier alternative:
By combining energy efficiency and healthier indoor air, log homes stand out as an excellent choice for those seeking a comfortable, sustainable, and natural living environment. Whether it’s the airtight construction or the reduction of harmful chemicals, today’s log homes offer a lifestyle rooted in both tradition and modern innovation.
Air-dried logs are usually dried naturally by being left outside and exposed to the weather. An ideal location would be where logs are subjected to the sun and wind, usually high on a hill. This generally takes a minimum of 12 months under optimum conditions. The goal is to reduce the moisture content (M.C.) to about 25% or less. This will vary somewhat depending on the species. For instance, Northern White Cedar dries faster than Eastern White Pine. The manufacturer is also at the mercy of the weather and the climate that they may be in.
The slower the wood dries, the less checking normally occurs. Thus, the assumption that air-dried will have less checking. However, in a controlled environment like inside today’s new modern kilns where automatic “misting” can add moisture as needed (providing the operator is competent), little difference should be noticed. Air-dried may settle more, depending on the moisture content, than kiln-dried though since it usually has a higher M.C. Air-dried logs are less expensive, up to 20% less, than kiln-dried since the substantial investment and the high cost of running the kiln is eliminated.
Kiln-drying is the most effective way of ridding logs and timbers of mold, mildew, and insect infestation. The kiln is turned up to 150 degrees on the final days of drying, which kills larvae and insects. Kiln-drying also “sets the pitch,” which means the sap is crystallized and will not seep out later. Kiln-dried material is periodically checked during the drying process until the M.C. reaches the desired level. When the manufacturer kiln-dries the logs down to an average of 18%-19%, they will settle very little, as low as 1/2” for an 8’ wall.
Dr. Gene Wengerd, Ph.D. of Wood Doctor’s Rx, LLC, says, “kiln-dried logs and timber are better than air-dried products as the moisture content is lower in kiln-dried material, which means, in turn, that most of the natural shrinkage that will occur in wood as it dries will occur during the drying process rather than after installation. As a result, they will be more stable - requiring less caulking and fewer problems, like doors and windows sticking.” Other benefits he says are “the material is 10 to 20% lighter than air-dried and 50% lighter than green logs and that the logs are sanitized from mold, mildew, stain fungi and decay fungi (which cause rot), plus insects, their larvae, and eggs, are all killed when temperatures exceed 130°F. Furthermore, as these pathogens require water for their daily activity, the drying also eliminates the required moisture.”
He also stated that “when wood is heated over 150°F in the kiln, the sap, pitch, or resin in the wood that would be liquid at room temperatures is evaporated. The likelihood of seepage of sap after installation is virtually eliminated.” Another point he made is that “kiln-dried wood is ready for the application of the finish, and that in many cases, the finish itself will penetrate deeper with kiln-dried wood, providing longer-lasting finishes.”
Hochstetler has a unique, 2-step method of drying. Cants (square timbers which will be milled into logs) are air-dried for up to 9 months and then taken to our kiln to be “finished off.” This normally takes an additional 10 days or so (depending on the moisture content), until cants reach an average of 18%-19%. Having our own modern kilns (versus in the old days where we depended on others to kiln-dry our wood) has given us the quality control that is so important in proper kiln drying.
Using this 2-step method gives our clients the best of both worlds. First, with the slow drying of air-drying, you get minimum checking. Plus, with the kiln-drying, you get the benefit of a dryer, sanitized, stable log that doesn’t seep sap
Both drying methods have unique advantages, but Hochstetler’s hybrid process provides the best of both worlds for superior log quality.
Energy efficiency and “building green’’ have become top priorities for homebuilders today, particularly for log homes. Careful planning can result in substantial cost savings, with insulation playing a vital role in energy efficiency.
Thermal mass refers to the ability of wood to store energy and release it gradually, which enhances energy efficiency. A year-long study by the National Bureau of Standards compared ten structures, including two log homes, revealing the following:
Modern log homes are significantly more energy-efficient due to:
Hochstetler Milling has developed an energy-efficient system over 28 years of practical application and innovation, ensuring superior performance.
A Hochstetler log home underwent a sophisticated “blower door” test, measuring air leakage. The results were remarkable: The normalized leakage was Ln 0.13, much lower than most stick-built homes. This allowed the use of a smaller furnace, saving the homeowner thousands of dollars over time.
Just as “location, location, location” is crucial in real estate, “gasket, gasket, gasket” is key to energy efficiency in log homes. Properly sealing all areas where logs join is essential.
Key features of Hochstetler’s log profile include:
Selecting the right heat source is vital, with sustainable options like:
By building “green,” homeowners conserve resources, save money, and contribute to environmental sustainability.
Log homes today are designed to meet the highest energy-efficiency standards. With advanced technology, thoughtful design, and proper building techniques, they are not only environmentally friendly but also cost-effective in the long run. Hochstetler is committed to helping you build the energy-efficient log home of your dreams.
One of the most important considerations in having a successful dream log home building project is choosing the right builder. You simply can’t risk hiring the wrong builder.
A log home is not like a conventional stick home where it makes sense to contract with a builder for everything. The builder designs the home, pulls the permits, orders the material from a local building supply place, builds it and bingo, there is your house.
Having a custom log home built, on the other hand, is far more complex. For many years, you have been dreaming of building a log home of your own. Finally, after saving for all those years, the time is right, and things seem to fall in place. Perhaps you want a remote gathering place for the family and eventually move in after you are both retired. You cannot afford to leave anything to chance. Most importantly, “you,” and not the builder, should decide who your designer and log home manufacturer will be.
Sheri and her husband (not her real name) thought they were doing it the easy no-hassle way by handing everything over to a builder to take care of. Early on, they researched multiple log home companies for someone to help them realize their dream log home. Finally, they decided on Hochstetler Milling as someone they could trust with a great team of professionals and craftsmen to help them with their design work as well as supplying them with the quality log home they desired.
All was good until they stumbled across a local builder. The builder talked a good game, was local, promised to have them moved into the home by Christmas, said he didn’t need blueprints, and was even recommended by the loan officer at the bank. After seeing his work, they signed on the dotted line.
After a year of waiting and frustration, they and the bank decided it was time to dismiss their builder. First of all, the builder had barely started by Christmas, and here it was July of the following year, and all they had for a log home was a partially completed shell! The roof was partially covered with felt paper, and there were no windows and doors. The foundation was cracking in numerous places, and the subfloor on the wide-open upstairs garage suite and the breezeway were literally ruined because of all the exposure.
In her dream, Sheri had always wanted a lot of glass in her log home. However, the builder ended up reducing the sizes and quantity of windows from what she had understood she was getting. This was on top of making the home 4 feet smaller than what was agreed on.
Unfortunately, Sheri, with only a contract to build the house and no construction plans, had no real documents of what they had agreed on. Making it even worse was the fact there was no oversight from a third-party building inspector or architectural engineer to hold him accountable. Thus, the builder was able to take advantage of the unsuspecting homeowner by cutting corners, saving him a considerable amount of labor and money.
To remedy the problem, they came back to us for help. When we inspected the home, we found multiple items that did not meet code. The two main footings that hold up most of the floor and roof load, as one example, were less than 1/3 the size of what they should have been! Quite a few of the structural beams were undersized, besides the fact that they were ungraded.
They are in quite a fix. To finish the home as planned and to bring in another builder to remedy these issues would be cost-prohibitive and put them way over their budget. The bank needs the project completed but naturally does not want to give them any more money than what they originally borrowed. The builder did admit that he underbid the project. As much as they don’t want this builder back, it seems that is the only way that they will be able to afford to finish their home.
Sheri and her husband are not the only folks that had a bad experience when solely depending on a builder for their home design, material, and construction all in one contract. Currently, clients from multiple states are pursuing legal action against builders for taking deposits of up to $130,000 and walking off without building their home.
One builder, after using the deposit from a client for a hunting trip to Alaska, was unable to purchase material for the home, including the log package. A builder in southern Ohio uses a well-known log home company’s name to sell the log home packages and then turns around and substitutes material from other sources without the client’s knowledge. Another lady who lost her home in Hurricane Katrina gave a deposit to a builder and never saw or heard from him again. I know of several builders that finally met their day in jail, but what good does that do for their string of customers that have gotten fleeced?
With a little homework and some common-sense assessments, you should be able to steer clear of the above bad experiences. One of the key things is to have a check-and-balance situation. I can’t overemphasize this enough. Never entrust your entire life’s savings with a single company when planning your dream home.
Have the design done and order the log home direct from the manufacturer, and then have a separate contract with the builder to build it. This will give you a check-and-balance situation. The idea is that the manufacturer and the independent builder will keep each other in line. If you contract with only one to do everything, you lose this safeguard.
Often, a trusting client, like Sheri in the above story, will contract with a builder on a promise of a “no-hassle, we take care of everything approach.” While tempting, this opens you up to being taken advantage of. Splitting the contracts is the best insurance towards getting the dream home you have envisioned with the quality you were expecting.
