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DESIGNING YOUR LOG HOME: Tips to keep you out of trouble?? Home Repair Articles | December 14 Adidas Ultra Boost 4.0 Sverige , 2004
Nearly every log home is a custom design, whether you are altering a stock plan or starting from scratch. By their very nature, custom floor plans open up a large number of untested ... - espec


Nearly every log home is a custom design, whether you are altering a stock plan or starting from scratch. By their very nature, custom floor plans open up a large number of untested challenges - especially if you are trying to design the house yourself. With almost all log home manufacturers Adidas Ultra Boost 2.0 Sverige , an in-house architect will take your design and turn it into a set of drawings that conform to their building system. Your home will be structurally sound. However, don't necessary expect them to point out every inconvenience or snafu in your design. This is a hands-on business, and in the end, your house design is on you... and you'll have to live with it. Here are a few pointers I can suggest to make your design more efficient.??

MECHANICALS: Open floor plans are the essence of the modern log home. They make a home feel larger, and keep the cook from feeling isolated. However Adidas Ultra Boost 3.0 Sverige , if you're planning a second floor you need to consider how you are going to get the plumbing, the electric and the ductwork (both supply and return) to the upstairs rooms. You won't be using the exterior walls for that, so you need to create enough interior walls on the main floor to fit all the mechanicals. Even if you use radiant-floor heating, you'll need ductwork for the air conditioning. There are some systems that use high-pressure ductwork much smaller in diameter than conventional ducts, so there are other possibilities if you are pressed for space. But the best solution is to think ahead. Each object in all likelihood will take its own space between the 2x4s. If you're tempted to use an interior full-log wall (or none at all) Adidas Ultra Boost Sverige , you may be sacrificing an opportunity to get more ductwork upstairs.??

PLUMBING: The wisest floor plans are the ones that try to keep the bathrooms together (either back-to-back or one directly above the other) and the shortest runs on the plumbing. This can't always be done, but when placing the upstairs bathroom, try to line it up with an interior downstairs wall. This way the plumbing doesn't have to snake all over the place.

CLOSETS:? I would venture to guess that log homes are usually notoriously short on closet space. I know my home is. First of all, it would be a terrible waste to put a closet against an exterior log wall. Why hide your beautiful logs? And because we try to keep the square footage down to a minimum, it almost seems a crime to waste precious space on closets. However Adidas Daroga Sverige , there's more than one reason to include them. Not only do we seem to collect more stuff as we get older, but by law in several states the closet determines whether a room is a bedroom or an office. This could affect the resale (or refinancing) of your house. Here is a suggestion: put two closets side-by-side on the wall separating two rooms; the closets may not be huge, but it doesn't change the shape of the rooms. Try to include a coat closet near your front door.?

WINDOWS: As I'm sure you've already read many times, you can't have too many windows in a log home. The wood sucks up the light like a sponge. If you have a large empty wall, the insertion of a window near the peak not only lets in more light Adidas Climacool Sverige , it adds character. Some people add windows along either side of a shed dormer. Placement can be critical; in my case, I had to move the roof line to increase the size of my bedroom window, because by code it needed to be 6' square for egress (In any upstairs bedroom you'll need your windows to be large enough to climb out in case of fire.). Also remember that too many direct-set windows will decrease the amount of air flow to your upstairs. In my house I added an awning (a small hinged window) to the bottom of stationery windows in my dormers. This helped let air in, but even so the rooms can be stuffy. A ceiling fan helps, but ultimately I may need to add a skylight to create a draft.

KITCHEN VENT: One of the more difficult decisions we made concerned how to vent the range hood. If you don't want your stove to be on an exterior wall Adidas Marathon Sverige , you are going to have an interesting puzzle. Will you run the exhaust duct between the floor joists to the exterior? Will the run be so long you'll have to add another fan? I gave in and moved my stove to the exterior wall, but then we had to cut a hole in the logs for the vent. Horr