Studies have shown that the ‘thermal mass’ effect of wood makes it an excellent insulator. Thermal Mass means that it takes a long time for cold or hot air to penetrate through the log walls. The use of ‘radiant’ heat sources in log homes will achieve great savings during the winter months. During the summer months, log structures stay surprisingly cool without air conditioning. Test results have proven that log homes will out perform conventionally built homes of the same quality and R-value rating.
A Century Cedar Log Home using our six-inch wide logs, a R-38 roof and a R-19 floor meets the most stringent insulation codes for the State of California which is Zone 16.
Zone 16, which includes the Sierra Nevada Mountains, has a basic requirement for conventional built homes of R-38 for the roof, R-19 for walls, and R-19 for the floor. A copy of the energy calculations is on file in our California office.