Which would you choose?
Assume that each cabin cost the about the same… (they likely did).
The first one is a log cabin that we designed and built using antique logs and locally gathered materials.
The other is made from a log cabin kit built by someone unknown to me. It is larger than the one we built.
I would really appreciate hearing your thoughts.
Originally posted 2015-07-26 13:18:57.
No comparison to me.
Kit homes can be nice, but handcrafted has history and skill behind it.
Anyone who has ever tried to build one by hand can truly appreciate how much work and crafting went into each log or timber. They were not run through a machine. They were hewn by hand and lifted into place by hand or clever ropes and ramps. To be able to repurpose these into beautiful homes by craftsman that appreciate the history, instead of burned down or buldozed, is another special gift and history.
My problem with kit log cabins is that I just don’t “get it”. If someone is going with something manufactured then go with stick-built, or use ICF’s, or stress skin panels…. I can make a beautiful home with any of them and they would be true to the materials used. To me a log is either something that fell in the forest, or something that was shaped by a man and an axe… it’s not something that comes out of a lumber yard… lumber comes out of a lumber yard! Don’t get me started. lol
There’s no comparison between identically milled and stacked log houses and the character and uniqueness of hand hewn and dovetail joined logs properly chinked in the old tradition. I can’t understand why anyone would buy a kit log home.
I agree Roger.
Why indeed would any one choose a kit log home?
I’ve never seen anyone who spent time with both of these forms of log construction that then preferred the new kit homes.
Most people are exposed to only the kits.
When the time comes to build their dream log cabin, they go to the log cabin store, and that is what is for sale there.
There is no money to be made in promoting the traditional time tested method.