Two years ago we signed up to attend the
Log and Timber Home Show in Tampa, FL. For whatever reason, we were unable to attend and the company offered to either refund our payment or save it for any other show. We opted to save it and finally got to attend the show this weekend in Chantilly, VA.
We arrived at the
Dulles EXPO and Conference Center. We parked the rig at the outer edge of the parking lot and went in to register. Being a Friday and the first day of the show, it wasn't busy at all. That was good, we got to talk to a lot of the vendors and start collecting information.
There were many log home builders from companies of all sizes from the recognizable Jim Barma, Satterwhite, Kuhn, Lincoln Logs and Honest Abe to handcrafters, specializing in building one cabin at a time.
There were also a large number of log furniture companies, most featuring one of a kind products that were unbelievably gorgeous. Wooden flooring, concrete roof files and even old fashioned (but very updated) wooden tubs!
Then add in the folks that sell windows, doors, stains, and much more. The show folks also had a bookstore with other fun gifts. I bought a cute little wooden sign for our future cabin...hey, it had a moose on it!
Saturday was much busier, kind of what we expected. We attended
Log and Timber Home University from 9am to 2pm. We were presented with a great workbook for all steps of planning a log home. The topics covered were:
• Registration
• Welcome and Introductions
• Using this Course Outline
• Decision Tree
• Budget Decisions
• Site Decisions
• Design Decisions
• Building Green
• BREAK
• Choosing a Log Provider
• Timber Home Decisions
• Deciding on a Lender
• Deciding on a Builder
• Ways to Reduce Costs
• Questions to Ask Before You Buy
•Getting Ready to Build
• Just 35 Steps to Your New Home
• Construction Specifications
We really learned a lot and are glad we attended the seminar. The workbook will be invaluable for planning with many worksheets to copy and use.
In addition, back in the main show area there were on-going workshops covering topics ranging from preserving your log home to pitfalls to avoid to building green and much more. You can see a full list of the workshops and vendors
HERE.
We have found one company we are very interested in...
Blue Ridge Log Cabins out of Campobello, SC. We liked the fact that they are a modular log home builder. This means that the home is assembled inside, out of the weather, then trucked to your site and assembled resulting in a much quicker build time.
They build turn-key homes. The owner is responsible for site prep, staining, floor finishing and HVAC. Blue Ridge Log Cabins completes interior walls, floors, ceilings, interior door and window trim, baseboards and wall moldings, electrical wiring and panel box, outlet receptacles and covers, water heater, plumbing lines, kitchen appliances including refrigerator, range, microwave, dishwasher, cabinets, countertops, bathroom vanities, sinks, tubs, showers, medicine cabinets, mirrors, towel bars, ceiling fans, interior and exterior light fixtures, hose bibs, interior doors, windows, shingles, exterior eave vents, and roof insulation.
We hope to visit their factory in Campobello as well as a couple other companies in North Georgia. We're still not thinking of building the home for another 4-5 years but we need to keep researching and getting educated.
Tomorrow we will probably stop in for a short time to ask any last minute questions and say goodbye to some of the great vendors we talked to, then it's back to Maryland for our final week.
Still rolling,
Stu and Donna
There are a few more photos in our SmugMug Album.
that we bought at a yard sale last fall.
is the current post on one side. He still has one pole to go as well as adding guy wires for support...
