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Back in 1993, when Warren Kimzey of Port Angeles, Washington came across one of our ads in a log home magazine something just clicked. He had looked at traditional pine logs and decided he couldn't tolerate the checking.
He'd also looked at western red cedar logs. He thought they would be attractive on the outside of the house but wanted something brighter for the inside of the house. He took a look at samples of our laminated logs and knew he'd found exactly the right product to build a home where he could integrate the spaciousness of an open beam log home structure with the stucco tudor look he and his wife admired. The Kimzeys worked with a local architect to design their home and found a local contractor to build it.
The house has nearly 2,000 square feet of living space upstairs, a full basement, and a 25x36 garage with 12 foot exercise room attached. Like most Glu-Lam-Log homes the house is built with a combination of logs and siding. The main level of the house was built with five lamination, all pine logs. However, matching siding was used over the framed lower level and garage. According to Warren, there's no difference in appearance, but this approach saved a lot of money.
Warren sent us the pictures you see here the year after his he built this home. Since it's nearly seven years since the house was built we thought we'd track down the Kimzey's to see if they had any comments to share with us. When asked what he'd change about the home Warren replied, "The only mistake we made was in the positioning of three light switches. I wouldn't change a single thing. We love the home just the way it is." When asked to tell us what he liked best about the home he focused on two things…the laminated logs and the Russian masonry radiant heat stove.
The decision to install the stove turned out to be another very wise decision. On a typical winter day the family charges the stove with wood only once. Although they use a supplementary furnace for backup, Warren reports that they've used only 40% of a single 150 gallon fuel tank in the last three years.
It's always great fun for us to follow up to see how our clients are doing.
To be truthful, we weren't surprised by the Kimzeys' satisfaction with their home. However, we were a bit blindsided by Warren's recent career change. When we first met Warren, he was a commercial fishing boat captain, spending half of his year in the Gulf of Alaska. Today, he's an Edward Jones representative helping clients plan their financial future. Warren says, he was sick of being away from his family for half of the year and wanted to be around more to enjoy his beautiful home.