An Introduction To Log Cabins
Posted By Houston Decorator on November 2, 2010
Pioneers in the remote and mountain regions of North America and Canada are often depicted in Western films as living in a log cabin, waiting for a severe winter to break, protected from the worst of the elements by the sturdy structure surrounding them. The wind may howl outside the cabin but the pioneer tosses another log on the fire and stirs the pot of stew that has been prepared and slowly simmers atop a naked flame. This may not reflect the actual reality of the adversity that the early pioneers and explorers of the North American actually experienced because it is an image created and perpetuated by film makers of western genre films but it is not a fiction that log cabins were the building of choice for the settlers of isolated and remote regions.
Fulfilling the necessary criteria that a building had to meet, they were durable and relatively simple to assemble but most importantly they made use of local resources within the forests of Canada and N. America. In isolated regions that had insufficient infrastructures this was of paramount importance because the transportation of resources and building materials to make a home could be difficult without adequate roads and means of transportation. Making use of locally available timber to construct a shelter would have meant less labour to be expended by each builder a log cabin. The tradition of log cabin building may be a European tradition and handicraft that was brought to the former colonies by European settlers. The structure is a style of building that has been predominately utilised in the Scandinavian countries and may have been introduced to the United States and Canadian wildernesses by European craftsmen in possession of the necessary carpentry skills.
These are countries that annually endure adverse weather conditions and temperatures can regularly be below freezing for extended periods of time therefore for the building of choice in such regions it must be a function to provide insulation. Wood does possess some insular properties naturally, before it is even treated with a preservative. It is often waterproof to varying degrees dependent upon the specific type of wood to be used especially in manufacture because the logs are not planed and the bark of the tree remains. For the modern day user of a log cabin there are different concerns and considerations to be resolved to the ones that the settlers and pioneers would have faced daily but the log cabin is still a relevant building in modern society and still merits inherent to its design that can solve modern day problems.
Even though it is constructed of wood a log cabin can be an environmentally friendly product because the wood is often collected from renewable sources. The construction of a log cabin also might use less resources than a brick building. Sand and cement are not required for a timber building apart from the chimney and therefore it also requires less use of water which is also a precious resource. The concerns which determined the popularity of the log cabin as a structure of choice for the pioneers may be different to the environment concerns and energy efficiency of modern times but it appears that the log cabin is an environmentally friendly option to other construction methods and is still a relevant building that is most importantly functional but also renewable and friendly to the environment.
Timber Buildings UK have a huge range of log cabins no matter what size log cabin you are after we have something to suit your budget and to fit the space you have. This article was written by Duncan Beech.
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