LESLIE: Byron in Arizona is on the line and has a question about a log home. How can we help you?
BYRON: I am planning on building a log cabin kit and – 8-inch logs. We’re in a very cold climate, 7,400 feet elevation and wondering if I need to insulate the inside of the logs or if the logs will give enough thermal mass to insulate the house itself.
TOM: Well, you mentioned you’re going to be in a very cold climate and generally, if you’re building a log – a home in a very cold climate, most people will insulate those logs. And typically that’s done by adding furring strips and then some sort of a sheet insulation, like an isocyanurate insulation or a Dow foam-board type insulation. And the other advantage to doing that is it makes the wiring a little bit easier. You don’t have to drill the logs to run the wires. You can use that insulation space to also run all your wiring.
BYRON: OK. Yeah. We were hoping to keep the logs exposed, just for looks, but we might be able to do that by some – on the outside of the furring strips with some planks or something.
TOM: Well, I think it will be warmer if you insulate them but let’s – if you want to just leave it raw for now, you could always go back and do the insulation later. I mean those logs are going to have some thermal mass to them, especially since they’re 8 inches thick. But I think, generally, the building practice would be, in a very harsh climate, to try to insulate the inside of those walls.
BYRON: I think I’ll take your advice and insulate and then, like I say, use some wood planks to make it look more like log on the inside.
TOM: Yeah, exactly.
BYRON: Alright. Well, thank you very much for your assistance.
TOM: Oh, you’re very welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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