This Fantastic Log Home Will Amaze You

Beautiful Log Home Overview

Take a look around this beautiful, well-maintained, and very private log home in the woods just minutes from town. The log cabin is nestled within one of the larger lots in Deschutes River Woods on 1.3 acres in Bend, Oregon. This peaceful, quiet property is perfect for watching wildlife, listening to the birds while relaxing on the deck, and hearing the wind in the trees and the rain falling on the metal roof. This charming, happy log home on a street with hardly any traffic is easy to keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Terrific floor plan with large master bedroom, open great room, and creative loft space currently used as an office. Tons of room to enjoy as is or add on to the current home, build additional shops, guest house, and/or store toys and equipment. All new appliances, new water heater, new roof with gutters and rain chains, new in 2018: wood privacy fence and a second garage door added with both now having automatic door openers.

Thermal Mass Benefits

This is just one of the log cabins you might consider when looking for a new home. This log home has recently sold. The reason this log home is easy to keep cool in the summer and warm in the winter has to do with thermal mass a property of logs that allow them to store heat. For example, in an environment where outdoor temperatures fluctuate throughout the day, the thermal mass of the logs can help manage temperature fluctuations naturally. Thermal mass is storing heat from the day's sunlight in the winter and releasing it back into the log house at night or storing cold air from a summer night and releasing it back into the house during the day.

Heat Regulation through Wood

Since wood has a high heat capacity compared to other building materials, it greatly helps to regulate the temperature in a log home. In the heat of the daytime, the wall absorbs heat from the outside but the temperature of the wall rises slowly. As a result, the log wall stores the heat during the day but does not release as much heat into the home. As night falls, the temperature outside drops but the wall has stored the heat from the daytime hours. The logs release this heat into the home, providing warmth in the night. The net effect of the log's thermal mass is to decrease the heat gain during the day and lessen the heat loss at night, moderating the room temperature and providing benefits beyond what is captured by a simple R-value measurement.

Importance of Solar Altitude

Another thing to consider when it comes to log homes is solar altitude. This is the angle of the sun relative to the earth's horizon. What this means is that in the winter the sun is much lower to the earth than in the summer. Using the understanding of solar altitude will help log house builders determine if your log home should be designed with covered porches or eyebrows to help block the summer sun from warming the logs too much in the summer. Allowing the winter sun to heat the logs is vital to creating a balanced and energy-efficient home.