Small Log Homes: Storybook Plans and Advice

Good Reference for Building First Log Home

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This book is a great reference for the first time log home buyer. Many links to take you down other paths. Robbin outlines a few things that many new buyers should look out for in a compact way. There are also several nice photgraphs that will add to your idea database. The floor plans in the back of the book are great general floor plans to start and modify in your own way. I nearly used the entire book to plan my cabin project. Many thanks to Robbin for a great reference.

General Overview of Log Homes

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This book is a nice little overview of small log homes. It's not meant to be a "how to" manual, or provide detailed information. It's just a starter for those dreaming of building a log home.

Some of the positives are that the book itself is high-quality, the photos are very good for the most part, and it does provide enough information to help determine if a log home really is for you. Some of the negatives for me are the photos are unrelated (there will be photos of the exterior of two log homes, followed by a photo of a kitchen, followed by a photo of a porch, followed by a photo of another kitchen . . . interspersed with text that may or may not have anything to do with the photos shown); I would have preferred groups of photos of one home at a time so I could understand the house better. And the plans and elevations at the back of the book are "stand-alones" for the most part; they are unrelated to the photos shown earlier in the book. It would have been nice to have plans and photos of homes actually built.

It's a nice "starter" book, so I gave it four stars. For me personally, I would have given it three stars for its usefulness.

Good but not great!

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I'm trying to design some sort of floorplan for my future log home and I thought this might give me some ideas....it's not that great. In fact I'm disappointed from what I thought it would be and should have taken more of the reviews to heart. It basically goes over building a log home...ok - well I thought it would be focused more on its title: Small Log Homes: Storybook Plans and Advice. The advice it gives is probably stuff you've already heard before...and the plans are just more of the generic ones you see from all the log home manufacturers.

Just pictures and a few undetailed floor plans

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The pictures are beautiful, and there are a few floorplans at the back. The text however is useless, unless you need to be told that putting in lots of options will raise the price, create the floorplan based on your family's interests and that you shouldn't spend more than you can afford. It really isn't anything more than you could get with a 10 minutes trip to the website of a log home manufacturer, except that it has much less info!

It tells you, for example, that you should make careful and deliberate use of all the space by planning it carefully, but does not show examples of good planning, give you thought provoking questions to ask yourself, or anything that could help you do it.

The book mentions that there are 2 types of log cabins, names them and gives a few uncaptioned photographs, without even one word to tell you what the advantages of one over the other might be.

It tells you that a complicated roof is more expensive than an uncomplicated one. Did you need to be told? It does not tell you what the choices are in roof styles, the advantages and weather reasons you might want one more than the other, dispite the cost, and it certainly does not tell you what the price differences are (even an approx % difference would have been a start).

It does not suggest anything useful and should only be bought by someone who is on their way to the log home manufacturer in their area so that they can point to the pictures in the book and facilitate the teaching the company will then have to provide. This is for a person buying a finished, installed product, not building a home.

I was very disappointed and would never have bought this book if I had seen it in a bookstore. It is meant for someone who buys magazines exclusively for the pictures and does not read the articles. This will not help you build a house.

Concise, to the point

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A good, usable well-illustrated book for the everyday person..the middle class "dreamer". Not focused on millionare showplaces, but homes for the average family, homes under 2500 sq ft. Cozy photos and a nice selection of floor plans. A good working tool if you are considering a log home in your future.