Hirsilinna hirsitalot ja hirsimökit

Erlund is a log home manufacturer from Finland. A family company with an interesting enough product to be featured on a fantastic TV-series Grand Designs. Erlund has developed a fascinating panel-insulation-log wall that can keep up with rising European standards for energy efficiency of housing.

HOW TO GET IN
With Erlund House, I chose a fairly simple, classic model named Taru with two entrances, one from the side of the building and one from the terrace end of the log home. Side entrance has been planned as the main entrance so let’s go in through that.

INSIDE
In front of us we have a narrow corridor that curves to the right. No cabinets or space for clothes and outdoors gear. For families with kids, I can imagine this to be congested to the max. Corridor is lined with bedrooms and a bathroom, nothing much to comment but very efficient use of space. All the rooms are simple rectangles so there are no in-built closets.

AT THE END OF THE…
Not rainbow, but corridor and it opens to combined kitchen and living room (named lounge, but in my opinion it’s not lounge quality so I’ll just call it living room). Definitive plus here is that this open area just bathes in sun light thanks to those big windows.

WHAT ELSE?
Somewhat - was that it - experience, but one can’t expect much more from house of this size. Space has been utilized fairly well, even the hall area continues all the way through the house.

However, one thing especially troubles me, the only storage room in the house has entry from kitchen only. Given the severe space limitation, this storage room is bound to turn into utility room. Awkward positioning indeed and hampers the functionality (yes, I’m from Finland and here we are all for functionality) of the floor plan.

SUMMARY
Taru floor plan makes good use of the given floor area. Floor plan is slightly on the dull side, because of straight line designing, which also keeps the floor plan clean and simple.

Storage room area is desperately needed. Bedrooms are not that big and if you have to fill them up with closets, you have very little space left for log home living.

Definite plus in this plan are two toilets and their positioning. One can access them easily. However, in order to free that much needed storage space, I would be willing to give up the toilet or rearrange the workroom and bathroom/wc combo.

Like with any floor plans, one little change here creates many little changes here and there. It is often better to redraw the whole floor plan from the start for best results.

Now to what kind of family would this house be suitable? What do you think about it?

For the longest time I have not displayed any links on this site. I’m going to start doing it again. I’ll only include sites that provide quality information on log homes, log cabins and timber frame homes. The first one that I have decided to include on the list is a personal site of a dedicated family, which is building their dream home in Kentucky.

Log home building stories are usually quite dull (I’m probably alone with this opinion), they follow the same natural storyline:

Which log is the best?
Can you recommend a good manufacturer?
What about land?
Any good contractors?
Hurrah, we are weather-locked!
Decorating!

People need something to be inspired and motivated… people get this from their peers and given the growth of the industry most of us who live in log homes have done it by buying already finished log homes or employed contractor to build one. Isn’t it just natural that we follow people who have gone the beaten track before us?

Massie house blog is something different. The scale of their undertaking is so huge that you can’t get away with it by just working hard. One has to work determined to reach one single goal. Following how they learn as they go is eye opening and I can’t recommend their website enough.

First floor plan that gets the honor of being reviewed is Finnlamelli’s Aapo. Finnlamelli is less-known custom log home manufacturer from Finland. Excellent product quality and flexible manufacturing and deliveries make this company one of the first choices when you consider buying a log home from Finland. Being so strongly technology oriented log home manufacturer, Finnlamelli’s standard catalog models aren’t stunning architectural thrills, still I found one that I especially like.

COMING HOME
So you come back from work and pick up some groceries on your way. You park into the carport and expect to conveniently get those bags inside. No such luck! There is no access from the carport to wetroom and inside. Luckily overhangs extend far enough to protect you if it’s raining so you get inside without getting wet. There are two independent storage rooms connected to the carport one with optional access to inside the house.

HOME SWEET HOME
Open living room with cathedral ceiling greets you, once you get past the entrance. Statue-like oven is the focal point of living room. Imagine those warm and cozy nights, family getting together and playing board games and fire flickers through glass crate. Door to backyard veranda invites outside to sunshine and to sunset.

KITCHEN
From living room you have an access to almost every room in the house. Kitchen is almost integral part of living room and separated only by cabinets and the decorative partition wall behind them. Large kitchen area, plenty of room for dining table. Is there anything more natural than whole family having dinner together?

BEDROOMS
Three bedrooms make this log home a small family home. All the bedrooms have plenty of storage space, one comes with its own closet. Parents’ room is separated from kids’ rooms by living room, a nice detail that gives some privacy. Unfortunately same cannot be said about toilet, which is directly connected with living room. No matter what, it is always slightly embarrassing to use this kind of toilet when some guests are visiting.

UTILITY
Utility has lots of room for washing and drying machines also cabinet room for linen. This room also has a door to outside, you’ll probably find some kind of rack to hang laundry on. This kind of wetroom/mudroom area is reasonable to marry with bathroom and (as in Finland we are) sauna. Nothing splendid in bathroom, just very efficient, pretty much the same goes with rest of the house.

SUMMARY
This floor plan uses space extremely sparingly, providing good return for your money. Efficiency turns against itself and takes away some points, also carport should be connected with direct access to the house and mudroom. I can warmly recommend this floor plan, but with slight alterations. Luckily the company is up for the challenge since most of their homes are custom made.

Do you want your floor plan reviewed? Just leave a comment, I read them all.