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Last week's article "Pine Beetle Utilization" can be found HERE
The BC Log & Timber Building Industry Association has a big convention planned on September 23 and 24, 2010 at the South Thompson Inn in Kamloops BC. Chaired by Gord Borgstrom Senior Director, Community Economic Development, Mountain Pine Beetle Response Division of the Ministry of Community & Rural Development, conference attendees include Forestry Innovation Investment, and the National Research Council, and possibly UBC Wood Sciences, as well as log home suppliers throughout British Columbia. At issue are new building codes for log homes expected out of the US early next year. The EU is expected to model their own new log home regulations on whatever the US announces.
New Regulations
"While log home building is a niche market, there are more than 130 companies making log homes in British Columbia, all in rural communities," Dalibor Houdek of FP Innovations told Madison's in a phone interview.
"In 2006 there was $75 million worth of log home exports out of BC," explained Walter Bramsleven, of Sitka Log Homes Inc. and the BC LTBI, to Madison's. A new set of standards for the design and construction of log homes developed by the International Code Council Consensus Committee on Log Structures became available for builders, architects, building officials, and inspectors in May 2007. The International Code Council Standard on Design, Construction and Performance of Log Structures, approved by the American National Standards Institute was the first of its kind, and was intended to facilitate and promote the design, construction and installation of safe and reliable structures built with log timbers.
Considered by industry as the first step, these new building standards are now in effect. The next set of standards are expected to focus on energy efficiency.
In a letter to its members, the Log Homes Council within the US National Association of Home Builders called attention to changes to International Energy Conservation Code that could have far reaching consequences to the industry. The 2009 International Energy Conservation Code published in March 2009 includes significant changes to the minimum insulation requirements and efficiencies of HVAC systems. It will mean that all logs sold above the Mason Dixon line will have to be a minimum of 8" thick, according to the US Log Homes Council.
"The US and other countries are putting into place new regulations for energy efficient buildings in general," continued Houdek. "This will naturally affect log home builders. [ . . . ] While wood-framed homes can easily switch from 2x6 to 2x8's to increase insulating value, logs are only so big so we have come up with other ways to construct more energy efficient log homes. These include using new materials to make the logs tighter so less air can pass through, sealants, gaskets, caulking, chinking, vapour barriers and rain screens."
Houdek and FP Innovations have just published a book, "The Illustrated Guide to Log Home Construction - From Log Shell to Finished Home" to help log home suppliers provide a product that is in compliance.
"If a builder can't prove they will meet the new building requirements, they won't get a permit," said Houdek.
This is not Houdek's first foray into addressing more energy efficient log homes. He published "Thermal Properties of Log Homes" in the August 2002 issue of the International Log Builders’ Association's Log Building News.
"The energy efficiency of a home is determined by so-called R-values (resistance to thermal flow) of building segments such as walls, floors, roof, windows, etc, and by the air tightness of the building envelope," explained Houdek in the piece. "It is apparent that the logs used for log homes are only as large as is practical for a log builder. In my experience the majority of companies use logs averaging between 12-16 inches in diameter at midrange. That, combined with the average width of the lateral groove ranging between 2-4 inches, almost predetermines the maximum R-value one can expect from such a log wall."
It is this R-value that will be targetted by the new regulations.
Houdek continues, "Each of the following items were shown to account for larger portions of the total heat loss:
Houdek's new book details methods to decrease this heat loss.
"Due to the complexity of log construction and the inherent shrinking and settling of logs as they dry, the likelihood that something will go wrong is higher with log buildings than with conventional homes. [ . . . ] It is important that all log-to-log joint design and applied sealants are capable of maintaining the seal between individual logs throughout the life of the building," according to the book's introduction. "This publication focuses exclusively on finishing the log building. It covers provisions right from the foundations to ensure that the sill log will be tightly sealed, all the way to the installation of kitchen cabinets in a manner that will allow the logs to settle without damaging the cabinetry."
Anxious to provide information and solutions BC’s Log Home and Timber Frame building sector in time for the new building codes, the BC LTBI conference agenda will focus on identifying and addressing regulatory and policy barriers that hinder expansion of the BC industry, and developing a strategic international market development and expansion action plan.
Specific issues identified to date that the project will attempt to address include:
Madison's will report on the outcome of this important conference, and keep readers up to date on new log home building regulations as they are rolled out in the US and in Europe.
