Hirsilinna hirsitalot ja hirsimökit

When I look back, I realize that all standing, old log structures in Finland are some sort of manors or churches. To less degree, there are some other buildings but almost to no exception, they are in poor condition. Why is this?

Log homes were popular because it was easy to fell trees and stack them as a log home. Sawing was impossible because of the inadequate tools. What made the difference were the building location and artisan skills. Farmers and hunters built lone log cabins all over Finland’s forests. However skilled they were, they weren’t master builders and their log cabins tended to rot away.

When important building was in question, master builders did their very best. These log homes and log buildings were also investments, therefore it was sensible to keep maintaining them even it was expensive.

Locations were also different from moist forest clearings. Important log buildings are located on hills and they are built on stone or rock foundation. This way log home can stay dry and solid.

These two principles are still valid today. It is fairly cheap to have a log home frame, but it is expensive to have professionals working on it and to locate it on solid and high foundation. I will soon write more about choosing a good location for log home in the article series, but for now – have a nice day.

Finnish paper mills have been pushed into corner. Traditional cycle of currency devaluations in order to improve paper companies’ competitiveness has come to an end because of Finland’s European Union membership. Now it is the company that has to change instead of the currency value.

Finnish paper companies have been pushing hard to get in shape. Investments have been done near end markets and remote Finland has lost its importance as a production location. Right now the unimaginable is happening. United Paper Mills has announced massive downsizing programs, which focus especially on Finland.

Arrangements in the use of capital are another road that most paper companies are taking. Properties are sold to garner money to be invested in core functions. This in turn affects sawmills. There are lots of sellers but few buyers. Moreover the logging industry has been on the red for five continuous years and things are not going to get better any time soon.

Where am I getting at? Demand for various timber products in Finland is about to drop and that means business for log home manufacturers, which can benefit from lower raw material prices.

I got curious on what there is available on log mobile homes in the net. I made a search with Google like this “log mobile homes” and results were scarce only about 576 results. I started to wonder is it really so new an idea to have mobile home, which is made of logs?

In theory, the modular structure that log homes have makes it possible to put them into pieces and back together again – movable solution so to say. Difference with traditional mobile homes is that log mobile homes often stand alone from the ground, while traditional mobile homes have wheels under them at all times. This frequently gives difficulties for manufactured log home owners who want their log homes to be classified as log mobile homes.

So what about those search results? I found following results helpful:

http://www.house-uk.co.uk/
http://www.mobile-parkhomes.co.uk/

These two services seem to be most appropriate, however, looks like they belong under same umbrella, so no real competition between the two websites.

Rest of the sites that come up in the search are basically junk sites or then vaguely related like photographs or real estate sites that offer opportunities to own something. It appears that log mobile homes are really unique and new invention. Or maybe I should try to use different keywords. Maybe later.

Later is now (7th April 2006), slightly different view to log mobile homes comes in form of mobile log homes.