Lithuania is The First European Union Country to Implement A Unified Log Home Standard
This standard regulates the quality of log homes, defines their manufacturing, along with all aspects of construction. According to the representatives of the wooden house manufacturers association, in taking these steps Lithuania has shown an example for other countries to follow. For example, log home manufacturers in Estonia have already contacted the association regarding advice in the drafting of relevant standards because they are also facing the same problems pertaining to the quality of log homes. Companies in Western European countries are also interested in the standards because these companies outsource wooden beams from Lithuania and other Baltic countries.
Companies that comply with the log building standard commit to the client that the house will be built to a high quality. There are currently more than 10 log homes manufacturers, coming under the wooden house manufacturer’s association umbrella, which are following this standard. In recent times the demand for wooden houses increased so dramatically that log houses were being manufactured and built by builders who didn’t have sufficient knowledge of log home building technology, and subsequently a number of poorly built houses appeared on the market and a lot of defects occurred. Now it would be difficult to identify the number of these log homes manufacturers because some of them went out of business or are now carrying out other activities.
The quality of a log house suffers not only because of the lack of technological knowledge but also from an attempted saving on the quantity of materials as well. These trends of skimping on materials are visible even now, especially when small producers (and those who work under the patents) try to save wood or the expense of certain technological solutions. Of course, it is getting harder for the larger producers to compete on the market, because customers are currently focusing on the product price.
Sometimes people do not think about how a cheaper built log house will look like in 2-3 years time or how much they will spend to repair the defects. It is often worth remembering the saying “Stingy pays twice”. This proverb is especially apt when choosing a log home manufacturer. If you choose a reliable manufacturer which works according to quality standards, you will not have problems in the years to come.
The wooden house manufacturers association brings together 20 wooden, prefabricated, framed, and other wooden house producers. It organises workshops for manufacturers, certifies companies, participates in standardisation activities, and monitors the expertise of log homes providers. One of its main goals is to disseminate the knowledge of traditional wooden houses and to minimise low quality wooden houses on the market.
