Log houses an option for prospective home buyers

Newcomers to this year’s Canadian Western Agribition might be surprised to learn that the week-long agricultural showcase has more than just cattle, tractors and saddles on hand.

Prospective homeowners can do their shopping for a unique new home — all-log houses.

Salesman Wayne Morris has been at it for the last 11 years, helping design and sell the homes.

He says there’s usually a sustainable demand for them.

“The dream is people typically — and not just young people, but some people in the city — want to be back in nature and have that rustic lifestyle,” he said.

Morris’ most-recent customer was a man from Swift Current; he bought and had a home built there in 2018, with a fairly quick turnaround.

Morris said that’s one of the selling points.

“Once you have a foundation on and a sub-floor, to put the walls up, it may take five days, or seven days depending on the weather (with a two- or three-person team),” he said.

Such homes have only one layer: The logs.

“You think about all the materials on a stick-frame house … there’s a lot of layers of material,” Morris said. “You’ve got paint and primer and drywall. You’ve got mud and tape and pink insulation and stick frames. Then you have your capping on the outside and whatever brick or vinyl (as siding).”

The time and labour it takes to put all that together is quite lengthy.

The log homes, unfinished on the inside, sell for about $90 to $100 per square foot, depending on the design of the home.

After 11 years of selling the homes, Morris said he’s not in it for the quick sales or to make easy money.

“I come from a profession as a paramedic, so I saw everybody at their worst, and now I see them at their best. People come into me, they have a dream … they want that rustic, elegant look. I work with them and follow them on their journey,” he said.

By his estimation, the sealed log homes are perfect for cold prairie winters.

“It absorbs and stores energy,” he said of the wood. “When things cool down at night, (the logs) radiate that energy back into your house again. (They’re) similar to a campfire rock; you wake up in the morning and touch the rock, it has thermal mass. That’s why it’s still warm.”