Forgotten Flare

When planning your dream home, it may seem that the list of design decisions is endless. The process tends to begin with bigger concepts, like cape versus chalet, and funnels down to the finer details, such as faucet style and finish. In between, decisions have been made on timber joist style, shingle color and lighting placement. What do all of these decisions have in common? They are all about integral parts of a home. The project can not proceed without someone asking these questions. When planning your home, don't forget the design decisions which are not required parts of the structure.
Gables trusses, window trim, stepped overhangs, timber purlins and over-sized fascia are just a few examples of the details which will give your home architectural flare. Talk with your sales consultant about including design elements which will set your dream home apart.

Pondering Design

Now that fall is upon us and the end of the year is rapidly approaching, I pause for a moment to reflect on several design projects. Whether it's a one room cabin along the river for that fly fishing retreat you have always dreamed of or a 10,000 square foot "Log Cabin" to call home, I've been working on it. This year has truly been all about our "custom crafting" from floor plans to large lathe turned logs and timbers.

As a designer, it's very exciting to design for a company with such a high level of craftsmanship because the possibilities are endless. No matter the size or style of your next project, I look forward to working with you.

John Lanner, Sr. Design Consultant

Energy Efficiency...The Details Matter!

Despite what some manufacturers may lead you to believe, the energy efficiency of your log home will depend on more than just the species of wood. In fact, there are several key areas to consider when discussing the energy performance of your log home.

An obvious place to start is the size of the log. A thicker log will perform better since it has a higher R- value and more thermal mass to draw from. As a result choosing a thicker log could lead to energy savings. Here at Beaver Mountain our standard 10" log wall will likely perform better than the a typical 6" or 8" log - regardless of species. However this is only part of the overall equation.

We feel it is important to pay close attention to the construction methods a manufacturer has in place in several key areas of the home. The areas that have been found to be crucial to energy efficiency are:

1) The ridge area of vaulted ceilings
2) The joint between the plate log and the roof
3) The protrusions of logs through the exterior walls (both frame and log protrusions)
4) The connection of the log wall with a frame wall
5) The connection of the window / door to the log wall
6) The log corner interface
7) The connections between the floor and the first “sill” log

The fact is many log home manufacturers leave these important items to the builder to determine how they should be constructed. At Beaver Mountain we address each of these items here, at our manufacturing facility. Our double tongue and groove between the logs is a double insurance against air infiltration/ heat loss, and our construction system is pre-cut, pre-grooved and pre-assembled prior to arriving to your job site. These added steps ensure that the assembly is air tight and your home is energy efficient.

We invite you to visit our showroom or take one of our scheduled tours or seminars to learn more about The Beaver Mountain difference and the energy efficiency of our homes.

Call 1-800-233-2770 for more information today!

Dan & Jean's Design - Part 6

Continued from June 26th...

Every day is one day closer to Dan and Jean's dream coming true.

Builder Jim Cammer and his crew are doing a beautiful job, concentrating on getting the outside of the home done during the nice days, which have been few and far between this summer. The numerous rainy days have not gone to waste as there is plenty of inside work.

Jim has worked closely with Mike (Beaver Mountain Customer & Builder Relations) on a couple issue that have popped up during the building process. In one case, Jim's crew needed a couple more pieces of lumber to finish the outside deck. Jim also felt that trimming the porch in a slightly different manner than shown on the blueprints would make for a more pleasing finished product. Mike was very accommodating and made arrangements for Jim and his crew to have the material they needed, without holding up the construction of Dan and Jean's home.

Jim and crew have several more weeks of work, but that doesn't stop Jean from thinking about holiday decorating or Dan from planning a BBQ for his first summer deck party. Hopefully they will snap some picture when the time comes and post them for all of us to see.

Yes! There is still plenty of time...

Q- Do we still have time to build this year? ..

This is a question I hear often this time of the year.

The answer – a resounding YES!!

If you are considering building, and you would like to enjoy your home next year, why wait? Start planning the home now, get your order placed for a fall delivery, and have use of it as early as spring 2010!

Here in the Northeast, summer seems to fly by and we all agree it is just too short. As we get into August and the start of the new school year approaches we realize that fall is close to follow.

Don’t let that discourage you. Actually, fall is a great time to build. It is typically drier in the fall than in the spring, and builders often are available, as the home they began in the spring is nearing or at completion. Builders also look to have work for the winter, and to get a house enclosed in the fall for indoor work over the winter months is ideal!

Beaver Mountain is currently scheduling production for September and throughout the remainder of 2009. With low interest rates, competitive pricing from builders and sub-contractors, and Beaver Mountain Fall and Winter building promotions, WHY WAIT?
Late summer and Fall are great times to build !

Call 1-800-233-2770 For more Information!

Dan & Jean's Design - Part 5

Continued from June 9th...

What an exciting day June 15th was for Dan and Jean. This was the day that three tractor trailers pulled up to their building site and delivered the logs for their home, along with many other materials, but after all it's the logs which make it a log home.

Site work was done, the foundation was poured, and Dan and Jean's builder, having picked up the first floor materials a week earlier, was not only ready for delivery of the main structural components, he was ready to begin assembly of the log walls.

In order to keep the project moving along, the builder had made arrangements with Mike (Beaver Mountain's Customer & Builder Relations) to schedule Technical Assistance. So bright and early on the 17th, Jim, Beaver Mountain's Field Technical Advisor, arrived to assist in getting the log wall installation underway. About a week later, the log walls were assembled and the builder was ready to move onto the roof system.

We will wrap up this string of post the week of August 10th, when we give an update on the building progress.

Thinking outside "THE BOX"

For the past several months I have worked with a lovely couple on their dream home. And while many of our correspondence has been by fax, phone and email- for now "the box" has made a lasting impression on Ken and Lori’s Beaver Mountain building experience!

These attractive and yet sturdy boxes are typically used to mail documents, drawings and other items that otherwise would not fit into an envelope. A few months back when Ken and Lori needed to review some documents, being the frugal, environmentally responsible person I am, I decided to try something different with my nearby neighbor.

I placed the first documents in “the box” and with Lori’s permission decided to drop it off at their house. Lori in turn, left me a message that after they reviewed the documents she too, would leave “the box” on the porch for me to pick up. Over the next several weeks we passed "the box" back and forth many times. All the while our design and engineering department, in conjunction with the builder, collaborated and analyzed the design, materials and site location in order to satisfy NYS Energy Star requirements. They analyzed windows, overhangs, thermal mass, color and type of roof shingles as well as the energy efficiency of the corner styles. As a result, Lori and Ken will be substantially reducing their carbon footprint not only with their design but with the use of geothermal radiant heat and enough photovoltaic solar panels to provide 93% of their electrical usage.

So over the next few months the chronicles of “the box” will quickly draw to an end but the excitement that comes with the delivery and construction of Lori and Ken’s beautiful new “Environmentally Friendly” Beaver Mountain Home will last for many years to come!Debbie D- Building Consultant

For more information on how Beaver Mountain can help you build your dream home call 1-800-233-2770

Dan & Jean's Design - Part 4

Continued from June 1st...

Our production department began milling Dan & Jean's wall logs on May 20th. This process involves taking a kiln dried rectangular "cant" of pine and running it through a special planer which mills a face on all four sides at the same time. Setting up the planer takes between four and six hours. Once the planer was ready, it took about four hours to mill Dan & Jean's logs.

Next, our precut production line took the lineal foot logs and cut them into all of the individual log pieces required for the log walls. This process includes cutting the logs to length, milling for splines, milling the necessary log corner joints and predrilling all of the logs for lag screws. After three days, the wall logs were cut and dry stacked.

Meanwhile, our panel shop was manufacturing the gable panel walls and precutting the rafters over the span of about one day. The component shop took about a day to manufacture the timber posts and truss pieces. Materials such as plywood, framing material, shingles, fasteners and finishes were pulled from inventory and packed for delivery in about 1 1/2 days.

Before we packed the logs for delivery, Dan and Jean were invited to visit our production facility and view their dry stacked wall logs. They arrived, along with their builder, and spent a little time sizing up the future rooms, taking snap shots and doing the "final inspection" of the wall logs.

Materials are pulled and we are ready to deliver Dan and Jean's package. Check back the week of June 29th when we will let you know how delivery went.

Dan & Jean's Design - Part 3

Continued from April 20, 2009...

Near the end of March, the quote was updated to reflect Dan and Jean's redesigned home, and the builder submitted revised numbers. After reviewing the new plans, quote and builder's figures, on March 31st, Dan and Jean signed their revised approval drawings, purchase agreement and Detail Specification Form. A delivery date of June 10th was agreed upon, moving the project to the next phase in the design process.

The project was next put into the engineering department schedule for completion of Construction Drawings, including foundation and framing plans and construction details which the contractor will use when building Dan & Jean's home. Thermal Performance Calculations were also run to document that the home will meet state energy codes. On April 27th, these Architect sealed drawings and thermal calculations were sent to the customer. The engineering department then began work on Assembly Drawings.

Assembly Drawings, which include log & panel wall cutsheets, precut timber cutsheets and rafter patterns, plus the material list were next completed and forwarded to the production department on May 11th.

In Part 4, we will continue to chronicle the manufacturing of Dan & Jean's home as we approach the June 10th delivery date.

Dan & Jean's Design - Part 2

Continued from March 30, 2009...
After reviewing the design, Jean decided she would like a third guest bedroom on the main floor and the master bedroom bumped out to give more space. I revised the design and with the bumped out master bedroom, we also added a covered porch for that room and a rec room down below in the basement area. I emailed the drawings on to Dan & Jean for their review, as well as their sales consultant Chris, for updated pricing.

"Some of the changes made were to better orientate things in the floor plan to take full advantage of the features inside the home, as well as views outside. "

Jean stopped in one day on her way by to talk about options for dressing up the appearance of the approach side of their home. She met with her sales consultant Chris and discussed adding some roof lines and more glass to that view of the house. At that time we invited them back, along with their perspective builder, to explore some of these options on the computer. Jean agreed the builder would be a big help at our next meeting so we could avoid making changes that would blow the budget.

We had our meeting near the end of January with Dan, Jean and the perspective builder Jim Cammer. We were able to dress the front of the house up with some false roof lines, some log siding to cover the exposed basement walls and some stone work around the entry way. We relocated a few windows and added a mudroom entrance from the rear of the house during this meeting as well. Jean loved the changes and was ready to move onto the approval drawing stage of the design process. We agreed to meet again once the ¼ scale approval drawings were complete.

We got back together in February to review the approval drawings and made some minor changes. We discussed different areas of the home and walked through each room thinking about the ways they intend on living in each space. Some of the changes made were to better orientate things in the floor plan to take full advantage of the features inside the home, as well as views outside. Once the revisions are complete on the approval drawings, they will be able to get final quotes from Beaver Mountain as well as the builder and his sub contractors. Revised drawings will be sent out shortly.

Now that our quote has been finalized and the builder has been able to put his numbers together Dan & Jean feel the project is coming in a bit over budget. I spoke with the builder and reviewed some changes we could make in the design that would reduce cost without compromising too much in the overall layout. We both felt these changes would be required to bring the cost down so we set up an appointment with Dan & Jean to re-work the plans.

I met with Dan & Jean around the middle of March and re-worked the design trying to shave some cost and bring them back into their project budget. We eliminated the bump out on the main floor along with the small private covered porch off of the master bedroom. This caused us to move the master suite back within the main footprint of the house and relocate a guest bedroom down to the daylight basement area. We were able to eliminate one of the garage bays in the basement to make space for the bedroom, as well as relocate the rec room, which was in the bump out below the master bedroom that we removed. These changes really make a lot of sense from a cost standpoint as well as from a “Building Greener” standpoint. We spoke to the builder on the phone during this appointment and he agrees we are heading the right direction. The next step will be updating the quote and getting revised pricing from the builder and his sub contractors.

Watch for Part 3, coming in June.

John Lanner, Senior Design Consultant

Dan & Jean's Design Process

While working at the Syracuse Home & Garden show this past weekend, I was asked the same questions over and over……..Do you sell pre-designed kits? What if we have our own floor plan? Can you custom design? These are all valid questions of which you will receive many different answers on throughout the log home industry, so I would like to give you our answer on “Design”. At Beaver Mountain we pride ourselves on custom designing your dream home to meet not only your wants & needs but your project budget as well.

The following is just one example of a typical design process here at Beaver Mountain, but I thought it would be nice to lay a project out for you from the start. Since this project is not yet complete and the design is often times a multiple step process I will be posting updates as things move forward……..

The design process for Dan & Jean Marie:

I first met with Dan & Jean Marie back in December for a preliminary design consultation where I learned they wanted to build in two phases. The first phase was going to be a two car garage with living quarters above, carriage house style, and then when they were ready to move up full time, they would attach a house as phase two. After reviewing their ideas, we soon realized it would be best to merge the two phases and build the house and garage all as one structure. This would reduce the overall footprint of the home and take full advantage of their site. We discussed a few options for positioning the house and decided it would be best for me to visit their site. We set a schedule for a site visit as well as a follow-up appointment to get the design started.

I made my visit to the site early one morning in December & took several photo’s of the area we all discussed locating the house. Based on the natural slope of the property and the beautiful country views, I felt we were in a great spot! I headed back to the office and put some of my initial ideas on paper to share with Dan & Jean Marie during our next scheduled visit.
The New Year arrived and Dan & Jean came back for the preliminary design session where we sat down at the computer and began the house design. We located the garage space below the house in the daylight basement area to take advantage of the natural slope of the land. Also planned for this space would be an entry / foyer with timber stairs up to the main living areas, laundry room, full bath and a utility room. The main floor was blocked out with the great room, kitchen & dining overlooking an open meadow to the west. To the east we planned for a master suite, (2) guest bedrooms and a full bath with the master suite capturing the sunrise over open fields separated by a wonderful tree line. The design session went well and gave us the info we needed to begin the estimate process. We discussed getting back together once they had a chance to review the preliminary design and we had a chance to run some numbers.

Watch for my next posting on Dan & Jean's design process the week of April 20Th.

John Lanner, Senior Design Consultant