Zoning and other construction regulations controlling sewers, septic tanks, drainage, wells, utilities, and driveways would not have limited their activities when someone decided to put up a new home. But today, local taxes and permits on everything under the Sun make, building a new house a nightmare for the prospective homeowner.



One of the few disadvantages of the half-frame house is timbermechano-sorptive creep, which over long periods of time, which can mean centuries, causes the structure to lean. The forces of nature through the elements of moisture, temperature effects of expansion and contraction, and settling in the ground cause the building to become somewhat contorted, that is leaning this way or that. The severely out of square house can not be easily squared up without great expense, and building codes pertaining to historical buildings will not allow cheap remedies. But this is never a reason not to use this construction technique.



The timber frame home does not have the insulation on the inside of the walls and roof that more conventional construction uses. Instead, insulation can be placed on the outside of the structure and covered with panels. In fact, insulation in the form of weatherized panels can be obtained prefabricated for covering the exterior. The insulating rating, the R factor, can be as good as that found in conventional homes, keeping them snug and warm in the winter. However, the log cabin will not have the exterior panels, the logs themselves forming an insulating barrier to the outside cold that is touted as sufficient insulation quality to compete with fiberglass batting.

Log homes in Pennsylvania can be prefabricated and built on site to reduce the cost of construction. Others are handcrafted as they are built, but are more expensive. The style and beauty of the early American frontier homes can be enjoyed today, as easily and as much as it was hundreds of years ago. When building a log cabin, consider carefully the architecture and the layout of the kitchen, family room, bedrooms, placement of windows, skylights, doors, and patios or decks, and you will have a home to be enjoyed for a lifetime.