In the previous article, we talked about the logic of how the price of a log house foundation is determined and the steps you need to go through when laying the foundation. This time we will be talking about some of the most common mistakes that are made when planning and building a log house foundation. We will give you the knowledge that will help you to avoid these mistakes and keep more money in your wallet.
People are impatient in the log house design phase
Of course, log houses are no exception! This also applies to the design of other types of houses. We understand it very well, because once you have decided to create your true home and a nest, you would like to do this as soon as possible. You want to already see the walls rising and even better, see yourself cooking pancakes in the kitchen. Immediately! Already the following Sunday.
But good things generally don’t happen when rushing. Hurrying won’t give you a good home or a great log house either. The use of the whole house needs to be thoroughly and calmly thought out. For example, do you want to walk through the whole house whilst sleepy to get to the bathroom from the bedroom or take just a few steps? And how many floors will your home have? It is necessary to decide the layout of the rooms and, accordingly, the water, sewage, electricity and ventilation solutions. All these solutions must be properly designed, as they also affect the foundation.
Our experience has shown that the construction process of a custom log house from the design stage to the construction will take about a year and a half. Tender Ehitus does not currently offer standard products, each project is special. Even if people come with a possible project solution, you still need to make changes, which ultimately will take the same amount of time that would be necessary for designing the house from scratch. This is due to differences in people’s tastes and space needs.
All of us have probably acted hastily without thinking things through, and it is only rarely when this has led to good results. Indeed, very spontaneous trips are sometimes very cool, but you must put aside enough time to plan the things that are meant to last – you will want the home for decades. Hence, definitely plan time and patience for the design phase. Trust us, this way it will be much nicer making pancakes!
Not all issues concerning the log house are decided
There is no doubt that building a log house can be one of the biggest and most important projects in your life and you want to do everything correctly and within the right budget. But there are so many questions at the start that you can go crazy! What kind of roof? How much does the foundation cost? How much does the whole house cost? Can I have such a solution? Which kitchen? Are these windows suitable? Where should the house be situated on the plot? And a thousand more questions.
These kinds of issues are tedious for everyone, and it might happen that you give up and instead decide to solve some of these issues during the construction process. Stop! It’s definitely not a good idea because then the later situation will create boundaries and these limitations might not help with finding the best solution.
As you might remember, in the previous article we said that the house is built from the bottom up, but it is designed from the top down. Therefore, reserve plenty of time and energy with the architects and engineers to get all the questions right on paper. This way you won’t be making wrong decisions later at the building site.
Everything in the name of that carefree pancake making.
Let the log house ideas mature and start planning sooner rather than later
There are people among us, who can imagine things very accurately even if they only see it on paper from a sketch or drawing. Most of us, however, begin to get a sense and see things when the first 3D drawing is ready.
You get the first feel when you see the rooms and the furniture in it. You can be sure to get brilliant ideas about how things could be placed, and you will want to make changes. This is completely natural, it is your future home we are talking about. Our experience shows that usually about three rounds of changes will be made with the architect to arrive at a log house design that is perfect for the client. Once again, it is important to emphasize good cooperation with the architect.
All these changes take time and ultimately affect what the foundation should be like. Now, think what would happen if all these changes were made during construction! Often, it can initiate a domino effect where one change affects everything else – additional work will be needed and you will end up with incomplete solutions that could have been avoided when the house was still on the computer screen.
You will choose the wrong architect to design the log house
We do not doubt that you might have acquaintance that are very talented architects that design beautiful houses every day. The question is whether they have experience with log houses. Log houses have some specific features and if these are not taken into account, it can lead to costs doubling already in the design phase. Why?
This is because the drawings of an ordinary house are not suitable for the construction of a log house, which means that we have to redraw them with our architect. This will cost you extra. So, reading this article and choosing the right architect helped you stay within your budget better. Yes?
From experience, we can say that cooperation with architects and engineers is approximately 5–10% of the planned budget but avoids later failures and an increase in the construction budget by up to 30%.
Mistakes are made in the log house foundation construction stage
Again, we emphasize that the basic project is the alpha and the omega of a smooth and good quality construction process. Why? Because it deals with the overall concept of the construction.
Making mistakes in this case also means choosing the wrong partners. It’s important to choose the right partners for making the foundation, and we’ll be happy to help if you need a recommendation.
A good partner has experience with foundations and they specialise in this type of work. Working with experts will be easier and your home’s foundation will be good.
Some examples of what might happen if the above errors are made
- The foundation is smaller or larger than the log house shell built for you.
- Unless it is decided where the rainwater coming from the eaves will be diverted, there will be nowhere for the drainage system to drain to. Would you like it to go into the terrace? Rather not, right?
- Also, nobody wants to find out when constructing the toilet that the toilet drain wants to go into the log wall or to stay disturbingly far from it.
- It’s not too fun to discover that the power cord that was supposed to stay near the wall is now in the middle of the room.
- As forced ventilation has become a standard solution, you will hardly want to have ventilation ducts running along the beautiful log walls; these could have nicely been placed in the constructions in the design phase.
Of course, all such mishaps and problems are solvable, but solutions may not be perfect. Indeed, they will certainly lead to additional costs and unnecessary worries. However, building a home does by no means have to be such a problematic undertaking. And if you want to avoid all this, then you must start – as we do in Tender – from the basic project. Otherwise, the construction will be overbudget and you will not get such quality as you deserve.
We hope that you have saved many thousand thanks to this article, you will understand the need for building design documentation, and you can from early on consider things that people will not think of until, as they say – there is trouble in the house.
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