Talk to me about log homes
Discussion
As a permanent place to live in, in the UK.
I've had a bit of interest in them for over 5 years after reading about builds such as GetCarter's amazing one in Scotland and seeing so many of them while on holiday in Europe. I gather they're much less popular here due to wood being less abundant (and of lower quality), and the wet climate.
I'm from the countryside myself, lived in a lovely area, but came to the city to find work and now live in a rented anonymous flat on an estate with hundreds of nearly identical houses. A few months ago I dropped off 3 colleagues at their houses after a business trip, drove through endless estates, and they all seemed to live in almost exactly the same type of house. I loathe buying something here.
Costs seem to be around £60k for a 3-bed kit delivered from Finland, and the rule of thumb is that much again to construct it and fit it out, and again for plot/groundworks/services. So could be good value compared to a similar place in the countryside?
But there must be downsides - less options for mortgage/insurance, hard to sell on, not extendable, more maintenance, and probably others I haven't thought about. Hard to get planning due to not being in the character of the area?
So what's the PH consensus on log homes for the average bloke?
Spending £150-180k. All the build blogs I've read are by wealthy people building a luxury retreat in the countryside as a second home or to escape from the city to retire.
This kind of thing:
I've had a bit of interest in them for over 5 years after reading about builds such as GetCarter's amazing one in Scotland and seeing so many of them while on holiday in Europe. I gather they're much less popular here due to wood being less abundant (and of lower quality), and the wet climate.
I'm from the countryside myself, lived in a lovely area, but came to the city to find work and now live in a rented anonymous flat on an estate with hundreds of nearly identical houses. A few months ago I dropped off 3 colleagues at their houses after a business trip, drove through endless estates, and they all seemed to live in almost exactly the same type of house. I loathe buying something here.
Costs seem to be around £60k for a 3-bed kit delivered from Finland, and the rule of thumb is that much again to construct it and fit it out, and again for plot/groundworks/services. So could be good value compared to a similar place in the countryside?
But there must be downsides - less options for mortgage/insurance, hard to sell on, not extendable, more maintenance, and probably others I haven't thought about. Hard to get planning due to not being in the character of the area?
So what's the PH consensus on log homes for the average bloke?
Spending £150-180k. All the build blogs I've read are by wealthy people building a luxury retreat in the countryside as a second home or to escape from the city to retire.
This kind of thing:
daytona365 said:
The picture is almost an ideal dream. The biggest question/cost in the UK is not the house, but what it sits on ie the plot and where it's located.
Especially as it should really be a bit out in the sticks, where planning permission may be difficult/impossible to get.(It would look a bit daft in town) Also if in the sticks getting services to it will be expensive. One way round is to buy an existing end of life pre-fab bungalow and demolish. You may have trouble getting a conventional mortgage if you need one
Getting a mortgage was at first a problem, but when they knew it was regular foundations and regular roof, it was sorted. Once you have a mortgage, insurance isn't a problem.
Log homes from Finland have a shelf life of 250 years... I just have to paint it with OSMO oil every 10 years or so.
Extending would be more of a problem.
FailHere said:
daytona365 said:
The picture is almost an ideal dream. The biggest question/cost in the UK is not the house, but what it sits on ie the plot and where it's located.
Especially as it should really be a bit out in the sticks, where planning permission may be difficult/impossible to get.(It would look a bit daft in town) Also if in the sticks getting services to it will be expensive. One way round is to buy an existing end of life pre-fab bungalow and demolish. You may have trouble getting a conventional mortgage if you need one It's a brochure photo of a 167 square metre. This 96sqm is close to the UK average 85sqm, costs around £44k + £4k delivery from Finland:
Land, yes.
Just had a read around how restrictive we are in the UK compared to the continent. Too risk to buy land without PP, land with PP will be expensive and the PP almost certainly won't be for a log house. Houses in decent spots ready to demolish are going to be rare. GetCarter demolished an existing wood house, but it didn't look in too bad a shape - I certainly can't afford to buy a liveable house just to demolish it
.singlecoil said:
dickymint said:
Nice but not what I would call a "log home"...... just planks?
I agree. Logs are round. The houses shown are very attractive though.
GetCarter said:
Getting a mortgage was at first a problem, but when they knew it was regular foundations and regular roof, it was sorted. Once you have a mortgage, insurance isn't a problem.
Log homes from Finland have a shelf life of 250 years... I just have to paint it with OSMO oil every 10 years or so.
Extending would be more of a problem.
I think I'll just keep an eye out to see if a suitable plot becomes available not too far from a city where I could work. Or find a job that would allow me to work mostly from home.
L555BAT said:
As a permanent place to live in, in the UK.
Costs seem to be around £60k for a 3-bed kit delivered from Finland, and the rule of thumb is that much again to construct it and fit it out, and again for plot/groundworks/services. So could be good value compared to a similar place in the countryside?
My first question would be why would you want a log cabin ?Costs seem to be around £60k for a 3-bed kit delivered from Finland, and the rule of thumb is that much again to construct it and fit it out, and again for plot/groundworks/services. So could be good value compared to a similar place in the countryside?
They tend to be used (in the UK) to get around a problem either of planning, access, materials / labour availabilty etc
I built a 5 bed 3 bath home 3yrs ago for £120k (plus my labour) so there doesn't seem to be any saving.
V8RX7 said:
My first question would be why would you want a log cabin ?
They tend to be used (in the UK) to get around a problem either of planning, access, materials / labour availabilty etc
I built a 5 bed 3 bath home 3yrs ago for £120k (plus my labour) so there doesn't seem to be any saving.
I'm not sure I do want one - just trying to learn a bit about them as an option to consider.They tend to be used (in the UK) to get around a problem either of planning, access, materials / labour availabilty etc
I built a 5 bed 3 bath home 3yrs ago for £120k (plus my labour) so there doesn't seem to be any saving.
As land is the issue, there may well be no saving to be made. I'd imagine that the additional cost to build a traditional looking (stone clad etc.) bricks & mortar home that'd be acceptable planning-wise would cost more though.
5ohmustang said:
Hello, fellow log home owner here. Did you ever pursue this?
No, unlikely that I will either.I realistically need to live in/near a city for the rest of my working life, and they just don't fit in here. Log homes in the UK seem to be more of a "I fancy one of those" thing than "I need somewhere to live", I think I'd be a bit eccentric to go for one in my position.
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