Log Wall Corners

Log Homes have a personality all their own and make a bold statement that can’t be matched by a conventional home. A given log home’s character is shaped by several factors. Certainly, the overall design of the home plays a large role, but the log profile also plays a large roll. While we have covered log profiles before, we haven’t touched on how they affect the corners where two walls meet. The different profiles have different corner styles, and these styles also contribute to how the home feels. Here are our most popular profiles and their corresponding corner styles.

With the contour (the most popular choice by homeowners) or V-groove style, a butt-and-pass corner system is typically used. In this style, the logs on abutting walls are at the same level as one another. At a given course, the log from one wall extends beyond the corner while the log from the other wall butts into it. In the next course, the roles of extended and butting logs are reversed between the two walls. The logs extending past the corner on every other course gives the wall a somewhat rustic appearance.

Our dovetail log profile actually gets its name from the corner style. Here the logs are straight in profile, and the logs are joined together at the corners in a way very similar to dovetail construction in furniture. This style of log also has a somewhat rustic character, since it was used in many early log homes, but can also work well with a more modern style log home. The logs can extend away from the corner but are typically trimmed tight to the corner.

For the massive Swedish cope logs, the bottoms of the logs are notched at the corner. This allows for the log to tightly nest with the top of the log below. This treatment is called a saddle-notch corner. With this design, logs from each course in each wall extend passed the corner, oftentimes by a fair distance. This treatment maintains the massive appearance appropriate for a Swedish cope home. With the clapboard style, a corner post is used.

In any of these styles, the insides of the wall will meet in a similar fashion. Although the inside profile may be either straight or rounded, each wall will butt up against the other wall at a corner. With our use of PVC Locksplines and foam gaskets to join the walls together, you can be assured that the walls and corners will be weather-tight for the seasons and years to come.

We would be glad to build you a log home featuring whichever of these log profiles and corner styles appeals most to you. Please call Real Log Homes today or fill out the form below for more information.