FAQ
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While logs have a substantial R value, the major benefit is from thermal mass.
Thermal mass stores heat. When the ambient temperature is higher than that of the mass, be it logs or earth or water, the mass absorbs heat. When the ambient temperature is lower than the mass, the mass radiates heat.
This means, during cool weather, your logs absorb heat from the southern sun all day, and radiate it into your home through the evening and most of the night. In warm weather, when your logs are shaded, they absorb heat from inside the home. This helps keep your home cooler during the day and warmer in the high country evenings as temperatures fall.
The payoff is found in your utility bill.
For a far more technical account of thermal mass and log walls;
for even more in depth information.
Protecting the Environment
Spruce and lodgepole pine killed by beetle epidemics and forest fires are an excellent source for house logs, logs that have little or no use in other applications. Standing dead timber dries naturally and in our high altitude, is extremely dry indeed. Our logs are not nearly as susceptible to shrinkage or twisting as either green or kiln dried logs. Additionally, it's nice to think of building houses without killing trees. Throughout the Rockies, vast tracts of timber have been standing dead for decades. Among this dead timber is a mosaic of young trees growing up from underneath. When Mammoth Mill & Log Homes purchases these logs, we remove a huge source of fuel and thereby lessen the danger and severity of forest fires.
A Word About Carbon Footprint
Log Homes and Timber Frame Homes may have the lowest carbon footprint of any type of construction. Carbon footprint is determined by measuring the carbon dioxide released as a result of using a particular product or other human activity. Carbon dioxide is the main component of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and a major contributor to global warming.
A report prepared by the Edinburgh Center for Carbon Management (ECCM) compared the carbon dioxide footprints of three structures and the benefits when more timber was introduced into the construction. The results were astounding. ECCM estimated that there could be up to an 88% reduction of greenhouse gases by using log or timber structural elements wherever possible rather than other conventional building materials. The reduction of greenhouse gases was achieved by replacing high energy materials with high CO2 production values, such as steel and concrete, with solid wood. The report states that the production of steel and concrete materials accounts for 10% of the total global emissions of greenhouse gases. These materials have a high CO2 output created during the extraction of raw materials, refining, processing and manufacturing of the finished product. As reported in a study published by the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, the energy consumed to process a tree into a finished sawn timber is about one-tenth of steel production.
In another report prepared by The Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM)3 compared four different structures using different wall systems – two woods, one concrete and one steel. The report found that the steel wall system generated 33% more greenhouses gases than wood and the concrete wall generated 80% more greenhouse gases than wood. The study also reported that the wood structures out-performed the steel and concrete houses in energy use and the impact on air and water quality.
Wood walls are typically framed or solid. Conventionally framed walls use a combination a several materials including processed wood products such as plywood or other laminated wood products, fiberglass insulation, exterior siding, interior sheetrock and some type of wall covering. Solid wood walls using logs or timbers have basically one product – the log or timber. The energy consumed and the CO2 produced in the production of logs and timbers is a fraction compared to the production of all the various materials in a conventionally framed wall.
Consumers are much more aware of the environmental impact of using different materials and are being increasing sensitive to the hazards of exposure to chemically processed materials. Logs and timbers are 100% natural. As a natural product, they do not emit VOCs or other pollutants into the outdoor or indoor space. Trees are produced from soil, water and air combined with the energy from the sun, in a miraculous process of photosynthesis. Ecologically and environmentally, solid wood is the only building product that is renewable, biodegradable, recyclable, energy efficient and extremely beautiful.
Sustained and plantation forest growth actually reduces greenhouse gases by consuming CO2 out of the atmosphere while the trees are growing. Political pressure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, such as the Kyoto Protocol, is sure to continue and it will become increasingly important to find solution. The use of solid wood construction such as with a log home or timber home can make a positive contribution.