Log Profile: What’s Your Choice?

In our last post, we discussed how the log exterior could be accompanied by other details like stone and stucco. After posting, we realized that we have yet to devote a post to discussing the various log profiles we offer. While the external accents of stone and stucco are nice additions to the log home, the appeal of the logs themselves are what attract us all to the log home design. Therefore, we decided to talk in this post about log profiles we offer and to share a few examples of each.

Contour profile

The Contour profile is the most popular profile among Real Log Homes customers. This style utilizes an eight-inch square log, with the top and bottoms flattened except for a tongue and groove system to lock the logs together. The result of this system is a classic, rounded log profile with a more uniform appearance than traditional logs. The tongue and groove system allows our houses to be rapidly constructed once on the building site, while providing structural integrity to the home.

V-groove (D-profile)

If you like the looks of our rounded Contour profile on the outside of a log home but want a neater finish on the inside of the home, then the V-groove style is just for you. These logs share the same features as the contour logs, with the same eight inch square profile and fast tongue and groove mounting system. In this style, however, the interior surface has also been made flat, for a clean interior look.

Dovetail Profiles

If the squared-off log look is something you desire for both your exterior and interior walls, then consider the dovetail look. These 11-inch-high logs look the same as our Contour and V-groove logs but feature a flat surface on both exposed sides. Dovetail log home construction is the traditional log style of the Appalachians. The profile name is derived from the skillfully crafted joinery used at its corners. Real Log Homes’ dovetail logs are produced from robust 8×12 log cants. The Dovetail corner is designed to shed water away from the home and create strong interlocking joinery. Traditionally there would be a gap between the logs that needed to be “chinked” for air and water tightness. We don’t leave anything to chance, so our dovetail profile employs the same single tongue and groove system used in our Contour, V-Groove, and Clapboard profiles. In order to give our customers the opportunity to have the traditional chinked look, we cut a bevel at the top of each outside face that we call a chinking groove. When not filled with a chinking compound this groove creates a flashing step that sheds water away from the logs below.

Clapboard

If you like the looks of a clapboard-sided house but want the benefits of a log home, then look no further than our Clapboard logs. This profile also uses an 8-inch profile log and assembles like our other logs but features a clapboard profile on the exterior with a 3.5-inch reveal. The interior has a flat surface similar to the V-groove style, while the corners have a contemporary square profile.

Swedish Cope

If you are looking for the ultimate in classic style log homes, then consider our Swedish Cope log profile. This profile uses an eight, nine, or ten-inch log diameter, and the entire log is used with only the bottom of each log coped in order to fit snuggly with the log below. The corners of our Swedish Cope log homes feature saddle-notch construction, enhancing the traditional appeal of this style. So, do you have a favorite profile in mind for your log home?  Leave us a comment and let us know which one you prefer.  And if you’ve got your heart set on one, feel free to call Real Log Homes today or fill out the form below for more information.