From photos to checklists that help guide you, your home improvement books in your library should help provide you with the information you need to make your dream happen. Another criteria should be that the book should be a top-seller that is written by an industry professional. Here are two of the best home improvement books covering this style of design and construction:



Log Construction Manual: The Ultimate Guide to Building Handcrafted Log Homes by Robert Wood Chambers.

This log home book is an important guide for those who are going to build this kind of structure. It covers the design and construction process to help you get organized. The author provides information on shopping for kits, finding your land, estimating how much construction will cost, finding financing, choosing a builder and overseeing construction. Numerous checklists and forms are provided for your personal use.

This book has been rated as the best log home book ever. The illustrations are great and the text is not only objective, it is also factual. The approach by the author is presented as the best way he has found to do a particular task. If he finds someone else doing it a better way in the future, he says he will begin doing it that way.

The author covers building a log cabin modular home comprehensively. He explains how to plan for settling as well as details on proper chainsaw stance for cutting a lateral groove in the wood. If you really want to learn the most practical information in one log home book, this is the one to select. Without a doubt, this may be the best written instruction guide you will find.

The author seems to be a writer who can explain complicated home improvement and construction tasks in understandable English. For someone with little or no experience in log cabin modular home building to be able to try the techniques on real wood, you really do have a chance to do it correctly after reading this book. Even if you are hiring someone to build for you, this is still an excellent book to have.

The other informative book is titled Log Homes Made Easy: Contracting and Building Your Own Log Home by Jim Cooper.

According to Cooper, since these kinds of structures are products of modern engineering and building methods, their rustic ambience requires a combination of knowledge plus experience to build correctly. He knows what he is writing about as he has been both a builder and dealer. And yes, he lives in one that he built himself.

Cooper provides practical information on the necessary steps for getting started, how to organize and compare price quotes, using the internet, selecting an architect, how to plan the site, the well and septic systems, choosing and overseeing subcontractors, scheduling and controlling project costs. This guide to building a log cabin modular home also covers kits, financing and construction. The author devotes space to discussing the myths versus the realities of living in this type of house including maintenance and energy efficiency considerations.

It does not matter whether you plan to do some of the work, all of it or none of it. The step-by-step approach provided by both of the home improvement building guides are the best you will find before getting started. You certainly want a log home book that is both useful and realistic.

Learn as much as you can before taking the plunge. What is the payoff? Having a comfortable, attractive and functional log home reflecting your personal style means you will have a special place to enjoy for many years to come.

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