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You can't see it from the road, but the personalized wooden shingle at the top of the driveway lets you know that you've arrived. It signals that at the end of that 450-foot, winding, gravel-topped drive, Carol and Carl Jensen's dream house sits in the woods.
"I feel like I'm outside when I'm in this house," Carol says. "I really enjoy that. I love the feeling of warmth from being surrounded by all this wood. It's so peaceful. So natural."
Glu-Lam-Log Laminated Log Home in Texas
The Jensens' 2,250-square-foot log home in Magnolia, Texas, is a custom design that blends the best of several traditional plans with the couple's own special touches.
"I think any custom home is a combination of things that you see and put together," Carol says. "We found a plan that we liked, expanded on it, changed it, then I drew our plan to scale and gave it to our builder."
Having done their homework, one major item that was decided right from the start was to use laminated logs in lieu of traditional solid log construction. Laminated logs, which are sometimes called engineered logs, are created by glue laminating several pieces of kiln dried dimensional lumber together and then milling the built-up timber into a log profile.
The engineered timbers offer the look of full logs but minimize the effect of shrinking and twisting. Because the timbers are built-up, wood species, like pine and cedar can be mixed. It's possible, for example, for a home to be cedar on the outside and pine on the inside. The laminating process also allows the manufacturer to select only the most aesthetically pleasing wood for use on the outside, visible layers. On the Jensens' home, all four layers of wood in the log are ponderosa pine.
"We went to several different companies and got their literature, but once we met Mac and saw some of his homes, we knew that this was the way to go," Carl says.
"Mac," a 70-something fireball, is TB "Mac" McMinn. He owns Spring Custom Log Homes in Spring, Texas, and is a dedicated advocate of the laminated log.
"I still build houses with conventional logs, but I prefer to use the laminated ones from Glu-Lam-Log," Mac says with a deep drawl. "It's perfect, if there is such a thing. They're stronger, straighter, you don't have any cracks, they shrink very little and come in random lengths so they're more forgiving on site," he says."Another thing that I like about building with laminated logs is that I can usually save my customers an average of $10,000 over a kit house." The savings, Mac says, come from cutting raw material on site, instead of having to search through a package of pre-cut logs to find the right log for the right spot in the wall.
Mac estimates finished, turn-key costs on his glue-laminated homes to be about $80 to $90 a square foot, based on how much wood is used on the home's interior. Because Glu-Lam-Log provided only the wall logs and log siding, the Jensens worked with Mac to purchase all other building materials -- such as windows, doors and flooring -- locally.
Phil Alman, who is a co-owner of Glu-Lam-Log Inc., located in Victor, Montana, says that he and Mac work well together because they share the same philosophy regarding customer service. "When you have a manufacturer that takes pride in his product, a builder who cares a lot about the customer, and a customer who is willing to do a little more work to get it all organized, the result is a project like the Jensens ended up with," he says.
After weeks of watching a neighboring kit home being built, the Jensens were convinced that their choice of construction method was the right one. "I'm very happy we did it this way," Carol says. "The one down the road was done by a reputable builder, but he had never built from a kit, and it took them forever. Mac made it easy.
Instead of purchasing a package of pre-cut logs, the Jensens bought logs by the linear foot. 'They brought their plan idea to me and we had to rework it just a little bit to fit the logs," Mac says. Once the plan was finalized, Mac measured the walls, estimated the linear footage that would be needed and sent his order off to Glu-Lam-Log.
When the logs arrived on site they were already planed, with an interlocking tongue-and- groove on their top and bottom and a drip edge that helps the logs' exterior shed water. Mac and his crew were responsible for cutting all of the home's notches, and window and door openings.
Once the home was finished, Carol and Carl set about making themselves at home. Those who visit the home now are forced to change their attitude regarding log homes. "People say, 'Oh, I hear you have a log cabin.' I always think of a log cabin as a 12-by-20 hunting lodge where guys go to shoot deer or bear," Carl says, "whereas, a log home is beautiful."
Carol agrees. "We found that there is a stigma attached to the logs," she says. "It's like a mind-set that a log home has to be rustic, dark and not worth a great deal. We're changing that by building homes like this one."
The fascination with log homes is far reaching according to Carl, an engineer for Houston's Compaq Computer. Shortly after moving into their new home, the Jensens were hosting a group of Taiwanese businessmen for dinner. "Here we were ready to eat, and they were outside looking at the logs!" Carl recalls. "On my next trip to Taiwan, I was at dinner with some of this same group and one of the Taiwanese engineers began telling the new comers to the group about my house -- they all asked for pictures!"
The Jensens' home is a two-story design with a detached garage. The wraparound porch and deck allows for a clear view of the surrounding woods, a landscaped yard of Texas wildflowers and flowering trees, and, most important to Carl, the lake. "It just needs to fill another 30 inches and the boat goes in!" he says with a laugh.
The home is constructed with D-style logs and stained with a protective natural oak stain. "We used rough cedar posts, rails and window trim outside for a nice contrast, too," Carol says.
The roof is a composition shingle with the look of natural cedar. Inside, the combination of ponderosa pine and a country decor sets the mood for warm, comfortable living.
"I really wanted to get back out into the country," Carol says. "This home is comfortable to us. It's cozy, open and it fits our lifestyle perfectly."
"I really like the pine in the ceiling and on the walls," Carl says. "I love to just lean back and look at all that nice, knotty pine, and think, 'This ceiling is gorgeous!'"
Carol is especially fond of the two-story, double-paned window wall and the large custom- made fireplace in the great room. "The fireplace is made of man-made stone from Montgomery Country Stone in New Caney, Texas. The style and color of the stone are customized for each individual home, so it's really personal," Carol says. "And, it's a great place to hang my 1869 buffalo gun, too," Carl adds with a wink.
The Jensens have ceramic tile floors in the bath rooms, hallways, kitchen, entryway and laundry room. We used a less-expensive grade of carpeting throughout the rest of the house," Carl says, "because we're considering putting in wood floors in a year or so."
According to Carol, she was country when country wasn't cool. "Country was something that I'd had in my heart for years, even before anyone knew what country was," she says. "We've decorated with a mix of family antiques, farm auction finds and primitive styles. I love to work with furniture, and I've refurbished probably 19 of the 20 or 25 antique pieces that we have here."
Glu-Lam-Log also provided matching ponderosa pine for the custom stairway leading to the bedrooms and Carol's sewing loft. Perched high above the great room, the loft allows Carol to work on her projects with a commanding view.
The Jensens truly believe that their dream home is the result of finding a builder they liked and could work with, a company like Glu-Lam-Log with a quality product and good customer service, and then taking the time to put their own special "brand" on the project. "When I'm in this house, I can feel the warmth and serenity of the wood and the design," Carol says. "It's us and hopefully we can retire here."