Surprising Advantages of Faux Log Siding Over The Real Thing

Here at TruLog, we’re not selling you wood. We’re selling you the look of wood, and all over our site you can find out about the many advantages our steel siding has over owning an actual wood log cabin. Most of that has to do with the high cost and diligence needed for real log cabin maintenance. After all, there’s the re-staining and/or re-painting, the re-sealing, and, of course, the replacement of any logs that might rot.

Avoiding those are going to be the bulk of the cost savings you’ll experience with choosing siding that looks like wood over the real wood logs. But as it turns out there are advantages that most people never realize until they take the leap. Let’s take a look at a few more of the ways faux log siding beats traditional logs.

Stain Just Isn’t Staining

First of all, it’s hard to find a stain that truly stains many of the types of wood used in log cabins. Most stains, even high-quality ones, simply sit on top of the wood like paint. At that point it starts to peel and flake off, especially on the side of the log cabin that’s facing the sun. Not only does this expose the wood to the elements, but it also looks really bad! Even the most meticulous log cabin owner can look bad simply because they’re staining every third year instead of scraping and staining every single year!

Now let’s take a look at our steel log home siding. It’s resistant to fading because the color is part of the steel. Not only will you not need to paint or use stain, you also won’t have to worry about the bad looks associated with peeling stain.

Log Homes Have High Insurance Rates

Did you know that a real log home is one of the most expensive types of homes to insure? Part of this is due to “out in the country” aspect of log homes, which places them further from fire stations and fire hydrants.

But if you already have a home in the country, you’re accustomed to this premium. So what’s the real reason that log homes are more expensive to insure? First of all, it’s the material. Finding just the right logs to repair a home can be difficult, and it’s likely that the entire log will have to be replaced even if it’s longer than the length of the damaged part. A small fire could lead to a huge section of the wall being repaired.

On top of that comes the labor required to repair a damaged section of a traditional log home. There are far fewer people with the skills to repair log homes than there are general contractors, and that means that the labor required to replace a log home comes at a premium price. Even many log home builders have no idea how to repair a log home, because it’s two very different jobs!

When you go with faux log siding over real logs, you simply don’t have to pay those high insurance rates associated with real log cabins. But you’ll still get a great look.

Repairs Are Huge

Let’s say that you have a traditional house (albeit one that’s covered in siding that looks like wood) that has a fire in the kitchen. It’s bad news, but as soon as insurance kicks in, a good restoration company could have your new kitchen back up and running within the week.

But when it comes to real logs, repair times are exponentially larger. After all, that kitchen fire damaged the logs, and those logs are both the interior and exterior walls. As we mentioned in the last entry, you’ll have to deal with larger sections of the interior and exterior as you replace entire logs, because replacing larger logs with smaller ones could lead to structural support problems. Finally, there’s the issue of support during the repair time; with entire lengths of weight-supporting logs gone, anything they were supporting will have to be cribbed just to keep the house from falling down! What was a single room fire is now affecting the entire outer wall of the house!

Do we really have to detail how you won’t have to deal with such problems when it comes to maintenance free log siding from TruLog?

The Sounds

Every house settles to some degree, but because of how most of them are built (and the soundproofing afforded by drywall), you don’t get too many loud noises. Usually there’s just some creaking.  While a standard house will weigh around 500,000 pounds, there’s a lot of empty space between the studs behind the drywall, so the pressure just doesn’t build up as much.

Log cabins, on the other hand, can really make some noise! Most of this is due to the sheer weight of the logs and how much weight they’re supporting. (If earthquakes have taught us anything, it’s that built up pressure released quickly can cause big things to happen!) When these logs naturally expand and contact, usually during the months after it’s built, the popping can be incredibly loud. Some new log home owners have compared them to a gunshot. The sounds made can differ from which trees the logs are made from, but you really don’t have to worry if you go with faux log siding from TruLog instead of real log cabin logs.

The Cost of Real Logs

When’s the last time you saw a large log cabin for cheap? The fact is, log cabins are incredibly expensive to build. Some of it has to do with the reasons mentioned above, namely the cost of materials and the specialty workers needed to build them. Also, transportation costs of the logs alone can add many, many thousands of dollars. With TruLog steel siding, you can get that great look of logs for a fraction of the price of traditional logs.

Here at TruLog, we’re proud of our product and how it looks on homes. It’s not going to crack or peel, and it can even help with insulation. A small kitchen fire isn’t going to take weeks to repair, and you’ll be saving money on your homeowners insurance at the same time. Find even more reasons to go with steel log siding right here!

 

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