Air-dried
Wood that has been allowed to dry without the application of heat or microwaves. Logs will be skip peeled then “stickered” until they reach their fiber saturation point.

Checking
Logs check, or crack, as they shrink- this is an unavoidable, natural consequence of the drying of wood. Trees tend to develop just one major check, and several smaller ones. We can’t stop checking, but we can have a lot of control over where the check happens in green logs.

Chinking
Material used between rows of logs. Traditional chinking is mortar based. Modern synthetic chinking, manufactured to look like traditional chinking, is similar to caulk but with greater density and durability.

Corner notch
A notch cut to interlock logs at a corner intersection. The type of notch will determine the appearance of the log corners. There are a number of notch styles used in constructing log homes, saddle-notch and dovetail are just two of the more common.
Dovetail corners: Used mainly with square or rectangular logs. The end of each log is cut to produce a fanshaped wedge. As the logs are stacked, the ends of the logs interlace and lock into each other.

Equilibrium moisture content (EMC)
The point at which the internal moisture content of wood is in equilibrium or “balance” with its environment. EMC is considered the final moisture level of wood, or the point at which shrinkage stops. In reality, wood will continue to gain and lose moisture in reaction to changes in its environment throughout its life. However, substantial changes usually don’t occur after wood reaches EMC.

Fiber saturation point (FSP)
The moisture level in wood at which all water between wood cells (free water) has been removed and only water contained within cell walls (bound water) remains. This is the point where shrinkage begins. Fiber saturation occurs at about 28 percent moisture content in most species of wood. This means that logs with moisture content above this level- whether at 30 percent or 90 percent- will experience the same amount of shrinkage. Only when the wood drops below 28 percent moisture content will it begin to shrink.

Handcrafted Chinked
A variety of handcrafted log homes that have gaps between the lengths of the logs (where the long grooves would be in a full-scribe-fit home). The gaps are called chinks. The chinks are filled with a synthetic material called chinking inside and outside and sometimes the corner notches are chinked, too.

Handcrafted log home
Handcrafted homes are built by hand. Our craftsmen fit each and every naturally-shaped log together. In handcrafted homes, logs never have visible end-to-end splices, or butt joints. We use large diameter old growth logs, almost always more than 10” in diameter, commonly 12” to 14” and frequently 24” or more.

Handcrafted Piece-en-Piece
Piece-en-Piece handcrafted log homes have no corner notches, they are a post and beam structure with scribe-fit log panels between vertical log or timber corner posts. This style is derived from historic French- Canadian buildings.

Hand-peel
The process of removing the bark and outer layer (cambium) of a log. Hand-peeling is done using a drawknife.

International Log Builders Association
Founded in 1974 as the Canadian Log Builders Association is a world-wide organization devoted to furthering the craft of log construction. The ILBA is a registered non-profit Society in Canada and the United States. The ILBA writes and distributes educational material on log construction to individuals, institutions and the industry. The organization is dedicated to the advancement of the log builders and to promoting the highest standards of the trade.

Kiln-dried
Wood that has been dried with the aid of a mechanical device called a kiln. Kiln-drying expedites the removal of moisture, although it’s usually impractical to dry logs to their equilibrium moisture content, so some shrinkage is still possible.

Log Delivery
Fraser River delivers all orders directly to jobsite, contingent on proper site access. All logs or timbers will be numbered or coded and loaded in reverse order so the last ones loaded will be the first ones used when log shell is reassembled. Any and all brokerage or custom fees are paid for and administered by Fraser River Log and Timber.

Saddle-notch corners
Get their name from the saddle shaped notch cut into the bottom of each round log. This notch on the bottom of the top log straddles the top of the log coming from the perpendicular wall. Both logs extend past the corner. The opposing walls of a saddle-notch corner system, both gable walls for example, start with a half log. This ensures that the logs overlap one another at the corners rather than butt into each other.

Scribe-fit log construction
Construction in which each wall log has a full-length long groove and corner notch, and fits to the naturally-shaped logs above and below without gaps. Also known as Scandinavian scribe, coped, chinkless and full-scribe, this method is the highest form of the log builder’s art.

Purlin and ridgepole
A purlin is a beam that runs parallel with the ridge, you can think of the ridgepole as the top purlin at the peak of roof. Fraser River will precut roof pitches on purlins, ridgepoles and log walls for ease of construction of roofs.

Structural insulated panel (SIP)
A building component consisting of a layer of foam sandwiched between layers of oriented strand board (OSB). In log homes, they’re most often used in built-up roof systems.

Thermal Mass
The ability of high-mass materials, such as wood, masonry or stone, to absorb heat energy and release it over time. Such absorption can improve energy efficiency by modifying energy demands. Wall systems with high thermal mass can, under certain optimal conditions, perform better than some conventional framed walls.

Timber Products Inspection Inc. (TPI)
A certified independent log grading organization. TPI grades to the standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) who developed log grading standards in 1980 titled “Standard Methods for Establishing Stress Grades for Structural Members Used in Log Building” (ASTM D3957). These standards offer criteria for uniformly evaluating the structural capacity and design value of logs.

Trusses
A structural building component fabricated from logs or timbers. Trusses are used to support roofs (purlins, ridgepoles, etc.) and floors. Trusses also give log roof systems their distinctive appearance.