Timberline's log homes are very energy efficient. Due to millions of tiny air pockets in each dead standing log, our homes generally outperform the efficiency of conventional homes. Our pre-cut and pre-manufactured system of building provides a very tight home. They store heat in the winter and cool air in the summer. Any heating system used in a conventional home can also be used in a log home, and will be more energy efficient due to the logs unique insulating quality.

       The size of logs used to build a home will affect its energy efficiency. Here, in the Midwest, we recommend no less than our 10" diameter Swedish coped log, 6x10 Dovetail or 10x10 Butt and Pass style for full time residences. Smaller logs work great for cabins or vacation type structures that do not require heating and cooling year round.

     Most people are familiar with the rating of insulation in traditional stick built homes. For example, consider insulation with a R19 rating.  This insulation is rated in a controlled environment in a square foot section.  If you were to put that same piece of insulation in an entire wall and consider all the factors that actually affect thermal value, such as gaps, that thermal value is in truth closer to R13.  Add time and humidity to that and it decreases even more.

     There is no way to really measure the thermal value of a piece of wood perfectly because of the irregularities such as variables in density of the wood and knots in the wood.  Probably the best thermal value wood is the Balsam Wood because it is very light and basically nothing but a piece of insulation.  But there is no structural strength to it. The New England Spruce and the Lodgepole Pine are a balance of the best of both worlds, dense enough to be structurally sound, but enough channels to have good thermal value. 

     Log homes overall are much more energy efficient than stick built homes. For example, if we took a log wall 8' x 16' and compared it to the same size stick build wall with R19 insulation and sheet rock on one side and siding on the other, the log wall is going to have a constant thermal value of about R17 whereas the stick built wall will be near R13.

     We completed a home for a client approximately 3 years ago. This home is 4700 square feet on 1 level with 19 feet to the peak of the great room. This very large air space is heated with electric heat.  In the last 3 years, he has yet to run over a $200 per month heating bill.  We have many examples just like this one.  Our clients comment repeatedly on how efficient their homes are to heat and cool.